Simply Weddings Abroad - Gone Bust & False ATOL Protection

ginger39

Just found out that the people i booked my wedding through, Simply Weddings Abroad (part of Ace Deuce Limited) have gone bust.

Didn't find this out til i couldn't get hold of them; their phone numbers don't work, there's no response to emails and the online invoice portal has been taken down. Only when i i tried to find an alternative number on the ATOL website did i find that the ATOL number they advertise isn't even theirs????

Bank won't help me because i didn't use a credit card (we don't have credit as a rule) and i am coming up blanks everywhere else. I have resorted to logging a Fraud Complaint with the police but i won't be getting the money back that's for sure!

Devastated....especially so close to Christmas.

Faith177

Do you have wedding insurance at all?

Alan_Bowen

Yes the ATOL Shown 9345 is clearly nothing to do with them, it belongs to a Turkish Cypriot operator and I assume you never got an ATOL Certificate which should be issued the moment you make your first payment. The one thing that would worry me about their website, which still looks live, is that there is no physical address anywhere.

I assume you did get some documentation, it might be worth contacting Trading Standards in the area in which they were operating, it is a criminal offence to pretend to hold an ATOL licence when you don't and if the people behind it are prosecuted, the court can make an order for compensation but that is dependent in finding where the money has gone.

So sorry it has happened to you but a warning to check ATOL numbers before booking and make sure you get an ATOL Certificate as soon as the booking is made.

ACG

Ive just had a quick look on companies house - there were 2 directors, it has been registered at 3 addresses in 2 years (essex, cornwall and now london).

One of the directors has started a new business in NI.

When a company is swapping a changing addresses its always a little iffy in my eyes. If your near any of those addresses it might be worth knocking on. I remember a company doing something similar to my, knocked on and got fobbed off, knocked on an hour later with 2 large relatives behind me and got my money back in cash.