Red Letter Thieves - some advice please
Discussion
I have a £250 voucher for them. I called them when the sh!t hit the fan at the end of July with their company and was told to call back another time as they couldn't guarantee bookings.
I called them a couple of days ago and they told me my voucher had expired at the end of August. I replied that I had tried to make a booking but due to their company circumstances was unable to do so. They said they had no record of my call and weren't honouring my voucher as I hadn't called. They told me to email customers services, which I did - no response. I was also advised to notify the credit card company - not much use as it wasn't purchased by credit card.
I am actually really angry - the voucher was a present and so far they have had £250 for absolutely nothing at all. What a disgraceful company.
Any suggestions/ideas?
I called them a couple of days ago and they told me my voucher had expired at the end of August. I replied that I had tried to make a booking but due to their company circumstances was unable to do so. They said they had no record of my call and weren't honouring my voucher as I hadn't called. They told me to email customers services, which I did - no response. I was also advised to notify the credit card company - not much use as it wasn't purchased by credit card.
I am actually really angry - the voucher was a present and so far they have had £250 for absolutely nothing at all. What a disgraceful company.
Any suggestions/ideas?
Just had a long call with one of their supervisors who has rather foolishly confirmed to me that they have many people in this situation.
It appears that they are not honouring very many of their customers vouchers who have either expired due to waiting for RLD to sort itself out, or were purchased before the old company went into liquidation.
I think I'll write to the MD next.
It appears that they are not honouring very many of their customers vouchers who have either expired due to waiting for RLD to sort itself out, or were purchased before the old company went into liquidation.
I think I'll write to the MD next.
Sneaky little loophole in UK company law allows the old company to write off its debts and not honour what it sold before. But then re-form under the same brand (but slightly different name) and start all over again.... very sneaky, very sly and frequently done time and time again.....
Good luck and if all else fails, try the small claims court. But as recommended try Trading Standards first. Legally they might have the law on their side, but since brand is everything to them in this particular market - they need to keep customers happy or risk loosing everything....
Oh, and I notice that Dragons Den is back on BBC2 - no doubt without that dizzy woman behind all of this... Millionaresse my arse.... more like jammy cow who happened to be in the right place at the right time, and when the sh1t does hit the fan disappears of the face of the earth with several million quid. Shisters the lot of em....
Good luck and if all else fails, try the small claims court. But as recommended try Trading Standards first. Legally they might have the law on their side, but since brand is everything to them in this particular market - they need to keep customers happy or risk loosing everything....
Oh, and I notice that Dragons Den is back on BBC2 - no doubt without that dizzy woman behind all of this... Millionaresse my arse.... more like jammy cow who happened to be in the right place at the right time, and when the sh1t does hit the fan disappears of the face of the earth with several million quid. Shisters the lot of em....
lord summerisle said:
just out of interest is there any expiry date on the voucher at all?
Yes there is, end of August. However, I was unable to book during August due to their problems. It would seem to me that the only decent thing to do would be to honour their customers purchases.
off_again said:
Sneaky little loophole in UK company law allows the old company to write off its debts and not honour what it sold before. But then re-form under the same brand (but slightly different name) and start all over again.... very sneaky, very sly and frequently done time and time again
for example see 'XXXX of leather'
lord summerisle said:
Sneaky little loophole in UK company law allows the old company to write off its debts and not honour what it sold before. But then re-form under the same brand (but slightly different name) and start all over again.... very sneaky, very sly and frequently done time and time again
for example see 'XXXX of leather'
Who were they before then?
Why does Leatherland ring a bell?
Incidentally (O/T) have you noticed they always site near DFS?
alltorque said:
Millionaresse my arse....
off_again then said:
......disappears of the face of the earth with several million quid.
Call me Mr Picky, but doesn't that make her a millionairess??
Ok Mr Picky.....
Ok, my anger came through and obliterated any chance I had of actually writing anything sensible or legible....
But, from what I understand most of "her" money was paper to start with - based on the valuation of RLD. Now that we have seen that RLD is a sham and was / nearly trading insolvently, she has got away with it. Again, from what I understand, "she" has made off with quite a considerable amount of money which since RLD was liquidated is no longer available to pay suppliers or creditors of the company. Chances are that she wasnt a millionaresse before hand (paper valuation only, based on a lie), now that she has legged it with the cash from the company she is.... well based on loans etc - dont you just love dodgy directors....
Anyway, what's "her" name anyway - I forget.
Unfortunately, if the current Red Letter Day company is a brand new limted company, it will have no legal or financial obligations in respect of the original company. Although this sounds sneaky, it reflects the very essence of the limited liability concept i.e. that the debts of a company are the debts of that company only - not the directors or any subsequent company set up by the directors. Whether there is a moral obligation or not is another matter.
The only time directors (or subsequent reinacarnations of their business) can be pursued for old debts would be if they could be succesfully convicted of fraudulent trading. However, that is exceedingly difficult to prove in court. Businesses fail for all sorts of non-fraudulent reasons and trying to establish whether fraud occured when a business is failing is virtually impossible - unless it was absolutely blatant, which it rarely is.
The only time directors (or subsequent reinacarnations of their business) can be pursued for old debts would be if they could be succesfully convicted of fraudulent trading. However, that is exceedingly difficult to prove in court. Businesses fail for all sorts of non-fraudulent reasons and trying to establish whether fraud occured when a business is failing is virtually impossible - unless it was absolutely blatant, which it rarely is.
It pays to keep your ear to the ground.
The general advice is to go directly to the organisation who provide the service i.e. don't use an intermediary such as RLD. It usually works out cheaper and there is less chance of things going wrong.
So, decide what gift you want to organise, find a venue where you can do such a thing, book it directly yourself.
The general advice is to go directly to the organisation who provide the service i.e. don't use an intermediary such as RLD. It usually works out cheaper and there is less chance of things going wrong.
So, decide what gift you want to organise, find a venue where you can do such a thing, book it directly yourself.
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