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

MrsTinks

I deeply sympathise with everyone who's been caught up in this, I think it's horrid and bordering on criminal (whether it really is or not will I'm afraid be up to the investigating officials to decide) and I can only send you all my deepest heartfelt sympathy.
I know everything must look very bleak at the moment but instead of throwing things on credit cards (this always worry me) then try to "cut the cost of Christmas" by using the ideas both here on the christmas board and on the other boards like OS (some great food ideas there!), grabbit and freebies boards.
If you DO feel you have to resort to using plastic to salvage christmas then visit the Credit card boards for advice on how to do this with the smallest cost incurred possible to yourself. And make use of Martin's reminder for when the 0% deals run out

I believe that there is some works in progress to try and "salvage" christmas by some high street vendors in co-operation with the government (see earlier this thread) but at the moment I guess it's a matter of crossing your fingers

Wishing you all the best

alwaysbusyMUM

Don't worry there, that's one thing I wont be doing, my BIG HUGE bank loan is finally paid on the 4th Dec, so whent he Tax man is paid on the 4th Jan, I'll have the money I normally pay onthe loan free as of the 4th Feb, just when the Argos bill will arrive, sorted, just was hoping to use it for a deposit on a holiday instead.

toozie_2

alwaysbusyMUM wrote:

How can this company who supply the bonus bond vouchers say Farepak was due to place/comfirm the first order in mid october, we can't add or change our order from 1st Sept, so why wait till OCtober to order the vouchers

The more we find out the more fishy this is starting to be - Farepak where obvouisly being kept going to pay the supplies of the Kleeneze products, WITHOUR MONEY, of which most of their agents are still waiting for. Should have shut the b****y lot down.

Couldn't agree more. Last year my agency was up to date by the first week in October, as it was this year and my vouchers arrived by the 19th October.
So surely normally, all vouchers would be already ordered by the first week in October at the latest. so they had no intention of ordering, as they couldn't pay the supplier, because they'd spent 'OUR' money on keeping another company the the pack's head above water.

Do these directors give a s---t, no water off a ducks back, no scrimping at Xmas for their wives, and no kids making do with less in their mansions.........grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

hesweb

Having read these messages for the last week I can sympathise with everything that has been said.
I have a 20 month and 7 year old, and I have lost £500 of vouchers. It would be great if something could be sorted out before Xmas (and I truly hope it is), but I relied on my vouchers all year - they were my Xmas, birthdays, school shoes and clothes, and everyday I feel sicker as the reality of it all sinks in.
My 7 year old has been great (without actually telling her the truth about Santa), but it was my means of saving for the extras thru the year.
At least I got an email confirmation back from the administrators today saying they have received my original email regarding a claim - its the not knowing thats causing the stress, and the sleepless nights.

emilyj

I understand that the BonusBonds order would not be fully confirmed until after all the payments were in, and Farepak would know exactly who had fulfilled payment, but I would think it would take quite a while to print, collate, address and get ready all those vouchers for posting- longer than just a few days.
So it would be interesting to know from someone at Grassroots if they have a lot of vouchers ready to go - or if they realised something was wrong....

hesweb

Have just found this on web search for 'Farepak'

'Meanwhile, according to executives close to Farepak, the company had lined up new loans and had agreed to be bought by Park Foods, a rival company, in January. However, sources close to HBOS, EHR's bank, said that the plans were " unrealistic".' - yesterdays Telegraph - they also quote that it is only £15m of money lost.

Does this mean that it was HBOS that have caused all our problems?

emilyj

hesweb wrote:

Have just found this on web search for 'Farepak'

'Meanwhile, according to executives close to Farepak, the company had lined up new loans and had agreed to be bought by Park Foods, a rival company, in January. However, sources close to HBOS, EHR's bank, said that the plans were " unrealistic".' - yesterdays Telegraph - they also quote that it is only £15m of money lost.

Does this mean that it was HBOS that have caused all our problems?

I certainly think they have a case to answer as to why they waited until that very small window of time, all the money was collected from Farepak customers, and none of it was paid back, to finally say they would not support the Group any further.

And I repeat- the Group cash situation would have looked very different at the end of December, when the three other companies had sold all their Christmas stock.

alfiebilly0

Hi i would like some advise i have posted earler in the week, were i said that i had lost £900 to farepak.
Tonight through the post i have recieved a kleeneze catalogue, i thourght that kleeneze was part of farepak and went into administration earlier in the year. On the back of the catalogue the address is registered office farepak house, westmead drive,westlea, swindon the telephone number is 08703 33 66 88 and this number is active although the office is shut. Could somebody please claify if this is part of farepak.

emilyj

Kleeneze, along with Farepak, was part of the European Home Retail Group (EHR).

In around 1995, the Farepak Group, which consisted of Farepak Hampers and a cooked meat business, bought Kleeneze.

The Group name was changed to Kleeneze plc because it was the biggest part of the Group.

Then the group bought other businesses (among them I Want One of Those, Kitbag, and a book-selling business which was sold at a huge loss of around £20 million) and changed its name to European Home Retail.

When Farepak went into administration on October 13th, Kleeneze was sold to Findel, so is no longer connected in any way, except that a Director of Farepak Hampers is the MD of Kleeneze Ltd (William Rollason).

So Kleeneze is still operating -their headquarters are in Bristol.

alfiebilly0

So if the MD of farepak is also the md of kleeneze he is then just trading under a different name
is this right,and why are they still printing on the back of the book the swindon address as the registered office. and the bristol address is written next to the heading promotor in the uk