Company gone bust, now I cant go Kitesurfing!

[Shrimper]

Hi all, I'm after a bit of advice.

Approx 18 months ago I bought my old man a 50th birthday present - a taster day of Kitesurfing for the pair of us. As he's always wanted to have a go, I thought it would be a great idea. We went along to the day, only for it to be cancelled due to lack of wind. They sent us home and arranged for us to come on the next available day, which was fine by us.

However, before that day came about, we received an email saying that the guy running the company had to return to Australia for personal reasons and so all courses were abandoned for the time being. After sending him an email a month later he replies saying that he has had to halt the company and was in the process of sorting full refunds to everyone who was outstanding a days activities. I followed this up with emails every two weeks to remind him how much money he owes me (approx £300). At first he was politely replying, but now I have had no reponse for over two months.

Does anyone know what I can do? Being a student, £300 is a months rent or quite a few nights in the pub....

Thanks in advance, Sam

[jamesuk28]

Did you pay via Credit Card? if so simply ask the CC company to do a chargeback.

[therealpigdog]

please tell us that you paid by credit card. if so, contact your credit card company first as they may be able to help you recover the money. this is often the cheapest and easiest way of progressing.

[Piglet]

What was the trading entity? You say the company has gone bust, was it ever a company or was it just him operating as a sole trader?

How/who did you pay?

[_Voyager_]

Its worth pointing out that you only have to pay £1 worth on the credit card and bizarrely they are liable for the ENTIRE purchase price. It is something Martin Lewis is always banging on about.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/section7...

[Shrimper]

Nup didnt pay on credit card, only had a Debit card at the time..

He may have been a sole trader, there is nothing in any of the paperwork I have to suggest he was a limited company or otherwise. Everything was fairly professionally done, it was definitely not a one man band who suddenly thought he could start selling kitesurfing days. If only it had been windy the day we went...

[Eric Mc]

Sounds like he's done a runner back to Oz. It also sounds like he was a sole trader which means that, in theory, you could chase him personally for your money back - but it probably won't be worth the effort.

[_Voyager_]

Visa do a charge back system so you might be lucky if you used a visa debit card.

[russ_a]

I also got ripped off with a Kite Boarding lesson - chaps were English though!

[Shrimper]

Eric Mc said:

Sounds like he's done a runner back to Oz. It also sounds like he was a sole trader which means that, in theory, you could chase him personally for your money back - but it probably won't be worth the effort.

I'm looking at going down under as part of my travels next year, maybe I'll try and bump into him then..

Thanks for the comments so far chaps, much appreciated.

Russ was it based down in Whitstable??

Edited by Shrimper on Tuesday 20th January 13:53

[Vee]

Shrimper said:

Nup didnt pay on credit card, only had a Debit card at the time..

Which bank ?
VISA debit is covered.
Swtich/Maestro isn't.
You have to initiate the chargeback within 120 days of not receiving the service though.