Although I agree with most of the comments and think most people who paid into Farepak were a bit silly, it had been operating successfully for many years. There are many other companies who do similar things.

 

However in this case it is Farepak's parent company who are the culprits here. They took the customers money approx £45 million and used it to borrow money to buy other companies,who turned out to be a bad investment.When it all went belly up the bank refused to lend more money.Can you blame them, then the shops who provided the vouchers all demanded their money in October,and they didn't have the cash to pay for them.

 

The people to blame are the millionaire owners and directors of the parent company.

I feel very sorry for the people who lost out, and the fact that the owner person was in Argentina paying £3000 a night in some hotel a few weeks ago. -_- And when he was interviewed by ITV asking if he was gonna apologise he just ignored them.

 

And when the kids are on the news crying over the fact that they're gonna get **** all for Xmas too is not a nice sight. So no I'm not sick and tired of hearing about it. -_-

 

The people to blame are the millionaire owners and directors of the parent company.

 

Absolutely, and these fukkers are the ones who should be legally obliged to pay back everything they lost, not the taxpayer; they fukked it, they should fix it, simple as, so what if it means they gotta sell their posh homes or their two Jags or Mercs, fukk 'em, these scumbag Capitalist b/astards who play fast and loose with peoples' hard-earned money make me puke... <_< It's about time the law in this land stopped protecting these fatcats from the consequences of their bad decisions... Nick Leeson got sent to prison for making dodgy deals which fukked up Barings bank, so I reckon a similar sanction should happen here...

FAREPAK HELP CALLS 'RIP-OFF'

VICTIMS of the £40 million Farepak Christmas savings collapse are having to spend up to 30p a minute to call a premium-rate helpline.

The 0870 service was set up by the administrators to advise 150,000 savers on how to claim compensation that could be just 4p in the pound.

Angry politicians last night claimed savers were being exploited.

Labour MP John Mc-Fall said: "This is a double penalty. It's bad enough losing so much.

"Now they are charged such a lot to seek help."

 

This is a bit unreasonable <_<

FAREPAK HELP CALLS 'RIP-OFF'

VICTIMS of the £40 million Farepak Christmas savings collapse are having to spend up to 30p a minute to call a premium-rate helpline.

The 0870 service was set up by the administrators to advise 150,000 savers on how to claim compensation that could be just 4p in the pound.

Angry politicians last night claimed savers were being exploited.

Labour MP John Mc-Fall said: "This is a double penalty. It's bad enough losing so much.

"Now they are charged such a lot to seek help."

 

This is a bit unreasonable <_<

 

B/astards! Utter b/astards.... Totally and utterly disgusting... Try and defend that then Craig, Rob..... You cant, it's utterly indefensible and just downright crooked... Lock these scamming con-artist b/astards up.. NOW!!!!! <_< <_< <_<

 

Absolutely, and these fukkers are the ones who should be legally obliged to pay back everything they lost, not the taxpayer; they fukked it, they should fix it, simple as, so what if it means they gotta sell their posh homes or their two Jags or Mercs, fukk 'em, these scumbag Capitalist b/astards who play fast and loose with peoples' hard-earned money make me puke... <_< It's about time the law in this land stopped protecting these fatcats from the consequences of their bad decisions... Nick Leeson got sent to prison for making dodgy deals which fukked up Barings bank, so I reckon a similar sanction should happen here...

 

If there is evidence of fraud or wrong doing then they should do time but I think it wrong for company law to be changed to make directors liable for company collapses, if Ltd liability was removed it would kill the enterprise culture in the UK stone dead in an instant. Ltd liability is essential in business, no one would set up a company if they thought they were going to lose their house and car if the business failed

B/astards! Utter b/astards.... Totally and utterly disgusting... Try and defend that then Craig, Rob..... You cant, it's utterly indefensible and just downright crooked... Lock these scamming con-artist b/astards up.. NOW!!!!! <_< <_< <_<

 

No I will not be defending it

If there is evidence of fraud or wrong doing then they should do time but I think it wrong for company law to be changed to make directors liable for company collapses, if Ltd liability was removed it would kill the enterprise culture in the UK stone dead in an instant. Ltd liability is essential in business, no one would set up a company if they thought they were going to lose their house and car if the business failed

 

But the facts are, they messed up with other people's money, not their own.. It aint right and nothing you can say is gonna change my opinion, it's a question of morality and Corporate Responsibility... If Nick Leeson can get done and sent to prison for messing up, then the Farepak people should get done as well, simple as, they are fukkin' parasites, the whole premium rate phone line scam should tell you exactly what kind of scum they are... I find it utterly bizarre that you have no sympathy for the investors in the scheme who put their money in in all good faith, but seem all to ready to defend the greedy Capitalists who tried to make a quick buck on the side instead of playing it safe and failed their investors (but then, you are a Thatcherite so I suppose I shouldn't be that surprised by your attitude..), we are not talking about the 'Lloyds Names' here, or people who play the stock market, we're talking about ordinary folks who just wanted to put their money into something they were led to believe was a sure thing...

But the facts are, they messed up with other people's money, not their own.. It aint right and nothing you can say is gonna change my opinion, it's a question of morality and Corporate Responsibility... If Nick Leeson can get done and sent to prison for messing up, then the Farepak people should get done as well, simple as, they are fukkin' parasites, the whole premium rate phone line scam should tell you exactly what kind of scum they are... I find it utterly bizarre that you have no sympathy for the investors in the scheme who put their money in in all good faith, but seem all to ready to defend the greedy Capitalists who tried to make a quick buck on the side instead of playing it safe and failed their investors (but then, you are a Thatcherite so I suppose I shouldn't be that surprised by your attitude..), we are not talking about the 'Lloyds Names' here, or people who play the stock market, we're talking about ordinary folks who just wanted to put their money into something they were led to believe was a sure thing...

 

Nick Leeson was found guilty of fraud and he was tried under the laws of a different country not the UK, he fiddled company figures to disguise losses so he committed fraud on a grand scale, if any enquiries with regards Farepak uncover any fraud or wrongdoing by the directors then I will be the first to come on here saying they should be jailed, if the company collapsed because of the economic climate or simple lack of demand then that's just the way of the world.

 

In terms of the phone lines they were not set up by Farepak directors they were set up by the insolvency administrators and the directors of Farepak had nothing to do with the phone line.

 

The people who invested all this money into Farepak were naive though :

 

1) When the company issued a large scale profit warning some 4 months ago did people still plough money into the scheme ?

 

2) Farepak were not licenced by the FSA the governing body of financial companies in the UK so why did these people hand out money ?

 

Would you buy a holiday with a travel agent not registered with ABTA ? no, so why were these mugs investing into something that was unsecured

 

They did not do due dilligence on this company before handing over the money, they should have, ignorance of financial services is not a defence for these people

 

2) Farepak were not licenced by the FSA the governing body of financial companies in the UK so why did these people hand out money ?

 

 

Did they know this before or after though...? That's the question.. Did the company make it explicit to people that they were not licenced by the FSA...?

 

So, maybe they were mugs, does that mean they deserve to be ripped off by incompentent, bungling idiots..? Christ, you'll be telling me next that people who put into company pensions for 20-odd years (which is what Govts have been advising people to actually do for decades...) and now find themselves in a situation where there is a financial black hole in the scheme and their pensions are effectively worthless are 'mugs' as well....

 

 

 

Did they know this before or after though...? That's the question.. Did the company make it explicit to people that they were not licenced by the FSA...?

 

So, maybe they were mugs, does that mean they deserve to be ripped off by incompentent, bungling idiots..? Christ, you'll be telling me next that people who put into company pensions for 20-odd years (which is what Govts have been advising people to actually do for decades...) and now find themselves in a situation where there is a financial black hole in the scheme and their pensions are effectively worthless are 'mugs' as well....

 

There is a difference though Scott, Farepak published annual accounts and profit/loss, pension funds are not as accountable to the stock market, surely anyone who is going to invest up to £2000 in Farepak would check out their financial status first and make sure their money is safe ? these days anyone with a net connection can find detailed accounts on every company in this country so before handing over a penny they should have checked the financial standing of the company, if they didn't then sadly tough $h!t

There is a difference though Scott, Farepak published annual accounts and profit/loss, pension funds are not as accountable to the stock market, surely anyone who is going to invest up to £2000 in Farepak would check out their financial status first and make sure their money is safe ? these days anyone with a net connection can find detailed accounts on every company in this country so before handing over a penny they should have checked the financial standing of the company, if they didn't then sadly tough $h!t

 

What does 'annual' profit/loss accounts matter if all this blew up in their faces in a matter of a short period of time...? You could publish an annual account six months ago and things would be perfectly okay at that particular time.... Checking things out on the Net is all very well, but it depends on how often the company update their information....