Farepak in administration: What to do? (Merged Thread)

michjoe

kate1976 wrote:

I sent an email but it was returned to me as undeliverable so recorded letter it shall have to be!!:mad:

I sent an email on behalf of my sister the agent, it wasn't returned but I think we will send a registered letter as well. Not getting my hopes up too much though. I would like to get my hands on the so called Managing Directors at Farepak and take my anger, upset and frustration out on them!

karren

debnlee wrote:

im to saving with freedom and yes theyve gone bust to, ive got 2 young children and i really dont know what im going to do now christmas is ruined.

I a in the same boat, I really dont want to get into dept, so am looking into buying usefull presents that they can open, and this has taught me a valuable lesson, its not about the money, and i m not being weird but as long as we have our health etc we will be ok, but at the same time I am so angry as they have basically stolen this money, and from the poorer end of the market too.

Rining people last night was awful and I am never ever doing anything like this again. I am getting a jam jar and using that in future!!

michjoe

black-saturn wrote:

I'm not being funny but those of you who have spent thousands of pounds on vouchers what on earth do you spend them on? I never spend that much on christmas.

Everybody spends different amounts at Christmas. We did save with Farepak scum, £1000 a year and have done for a few years, we have 3 kids and 1 grandchild. We just enjoy giving them all a good Christmas, paid for up front! My partner and I also get each other a bit of a treat as well.

karren

michjoe wrote:

Everybody spends different amounts at Christmas. We did save with Farepak scum, £1000 a year and have done for a few years, we have 3 kids and 1 grandchild. We just enjoy giving them all a good Christmas, paid for up front! My partner and I also get each other a bit of a treat as well.

Besides is it actually anything to do with any one else what the money is actually spent on? I saw this as a way of saving money and heloping others to do the same and having vouchers meant there was an end product ie money in a jar can be so easily spent on other things, and cash in an account is used for other things ie pocket money and milk and bread runs.

hurrah

Latest news from Swindon.

http://www.thisiswiltshire.co.uk/news/headlines/display.var.972046.0.christmas_gift_club_firm_goes_bust.php

michjoe

karren wrote:

Besides is it actually anything to do with any one else what the money is actually spent on? I saw this as a way of saving money and heloping others to do the same and having vouchers meant there was an end product ie money in a jar can be so easily spent on other things, and cash in an account is used for other things ie pocket money and milk and bread runs.

I agree, the comment was probably made by somebody who doesn't have kids

K9cuddles

The admin:

Shagun Dubey and Martha Thompson, business restructuring partners at BDO Stoy Hayward LLP, were appointed as joint administrators of the European Home Retail (EHR) owned company, on Friday.

oops_a_daisy

billsavings wrote:

From this is money site.
Was the company not insured for this sort of thing?

The Hamper Industry Trade Association requires all member firms to lodge a cash bond in case of such circumstances. The association said, however, that the bond was inadequate to fully compensate customers in this case.

Is there no regulation to stop this sort of thing happening?

Consumer magazine watchdog magazine Which? said, 'They are not regulated by the Financial Services Agency. It is very unfortunate there has been a bit of a gap in regulation.' "

I have spoken to Park this morning and asked them if they are going to offer any kind of a guarantee for next year as because of the above I just do not trust these schemes anymore, I know it has nothing to do with Park but it has raised some alarming questions. They have said that they are going to send me a letter - I will post it here when it arrives but if they do not offer a guarantee I will not be saving with them next year. I just collect for me and my Mum & Dad but others in my family save with other agents - it is quite easy to have savings in total in a family of thousands ( just to answer Black Saturns question ) I think I will be using that ING account that I opened to get the bonus on to pay the money in by DD every month next year.
One other thing to mention is that some agents earn extra money by running these agencies - so not only have they lost out on their savings but they have also lost out on their pay for running the agency
I save up for the vouchers to spend on Christmas but also to give some of the vouchers as gifts. Some people save for items such as electricals and food/drink hampers. What is going to happen to all of the orders that would have been going out to the farmers at this time of year from farepac ? this could have quite a knock on effect to farmers and retailers too. I hope they put the owners of Farepak in prison for fraud.

MEMBER02

I urge everyone who has lost money with farepak to write to their mp,ive just contacted my mps secretary who advised to put this in writing and they will look into matters,if lots of people do this surely this will be investigated by the goverment,LINK BELOW TO FIND YOUR MP-
http://www.parliament.uk/directories/hciolists/alcm.cfm

K9cuddles

MEMBER02 wrote:

I urge everyone who has lost money with farepak to write to their mp,ive just contacted my mps secretary who advised to put this in writing and they will look into matters,if lots of people do this surely this will be investigated by the goverment,LINK BELOW TO FIND YOUR MP-
http://www.parliament.uk/directories/hciolists/alcm.cfm

Does anyone want to knock up a template letter? Inc about how the governing body HITA (??) are pointless??!!