PhilJW

Hammersmith and Fulham (my local TS office) at least got an email back from them - presumably because it came from a Trading Standards officer - but they simply said that "they are aware of the need to issue refunds and will be doing so shortly".

Hammersmith have passed it back to Birmingham but advised me to wait another two weeks to see if a cheque arrives.

I and everyone reading this knows this is not going to happen and that the email was simply lies to delay the inevitable.

I was wondering how everyone else is getting on? I think unfortunately legal action is the only way to go in the short term, unless Birmingham have had so many complaints that they are taking action, which they wont tell me as Hammersmith havent refered the case yet!

unhappy

I've not heard back from Birmingham Trading Standards (despite a number of follow up messages) and my local Trading Standards don't appear to be a lot of use either.

Anyone had any luck via their small claims court proceedings yet?

PKM

I served "time of essence" on Sportex as advised by my local trading standards department and surprise surprise Sportex never replied.

My local trading standards department have now advised me to claim a refund via my credit card company under section 75 of the consumer credit act 1974 stating that because I have received no response from Sportex they are in breach of contract.

I have already pointed out that I used AMEX to pay PayPal who in turn paid Sportex, plus the fact that AMEX's terms and conditions state tickets are excluded from their refund policy but they still say I should claim against the credit card company ?

They went on to say that if the credit card company will not provide a refund in 14 days I should contact the Financial Ombudsman service !

I don’t hold out much hope but I can only do what my local trading standards department advises, I will keep you all informed

unhappy

Any luck with AMEX?

PhilJW

We had to give a witness statement to Hammersmith and Fulham TS last week, who tell us that Birmingham are taking it seriously.

Apparrently they hardly ever get to the point of taking witness statements unless there is a possibility of criminal proceedings being taken.

It may be worth everyone pressing Birmingham TS to find out how far they are down the road, but it does sound like they are progressing.

PKM

Would you believe it, after following the advice of my local trading standards department I have now received a refund from American Express (I did have to chase them a few times).

I would suggest to anyone that paid with their credit card to claim against your credit card company even if the payment was made to PayPal

My refund was obtained despite the fact that American Express terms stated that they will only refund transactions taken place in the last 90 days and they do not refund any purchases of tickets (I used the words hospitality package in my letters)

If I can help anyone else please contact me.

Good luck

PhilJW

If anyone is still pursuing this, I have just spoken to Birmingham Trading Standards who tell me it has been passed to the police and CPS who are considering criminal proceedings.

Hopefully if they do, then we will have an address or pount of contact to issue a civil action. If they decide not to then they will pass it back to TS and then we can issue proceedings through them.

But apparently there are several people who are owed upwards of £5000 each - someone bought 23 packages from them.

unhappy

I got a similar message - not heard anything from them for a while though. Did anyone actually start court proceedings against this crook?

Leighw1

Hi, myself and another guy i've got to know through this experience were also wripped off by this bloke, i'm glad i've found people with similar experiences as have taken out a small claims court case against him, however the papers were sent back to me as "not known at this address" was the response, predictable enough. Anyway i did a land registry search on the address i had, which is same as above, and its owned by a Cassius Thompson, so no luck there, may well re-send normal post with a receipt of postage as mentioned above.
But anyway, both myself and this other guy have now contacted trading standards in Northants and sent letters asking to be informed to Birmingham Trading standards, please feel free to keep me posted, i see his web site has now dissapreared as have his e-mail addresses, however i know he has debentures at twickenham so he'll be back, tickets are his living, keep going, this is the 2nd case of this nature i've been involved in being wripped off, both through ebay as it happens, but the other guy was caught in the isle of wight and is in court next week, so they do take it seriously if there's enough people been done.
cheers

unhappy

Just in case anyone is still following up on this........

I received a letter from Birmingham Trading Standards that they have pursued various avenues (including through his bank account with Lloyds) but had no success. It appears they are now closing their books on this. Seems this thief may well get aware the scam after all.

Leighw1

He's on the run mate, but will re-surface again, i've got someone tracing his debentures at twickenham, tickets are his living so he'l re-appear !