 Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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not good news
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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correct .. I booked and paid for accommodation, lift passes, ski hire and transfers on the 20th for chalet in la tania 31st-7th Feb. actually spoke to pip on that day. had call from administrators at 1.30pm today to say that ski power were in receivership and that we had no holiday and no comeback (paid by debit card). still have easyjet flights paid for separately from bristol to geneva. any suggestions .. totally gutted
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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I worked as chalet chef and my girlfriend a host back in 09/10. We left after around 6 weeks as they treated their guests and staff with utter contempt. The only surprise about this is that it took so long.
Hope the people who have booked with them will be refunded somehow.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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@uwechris, send you a pm.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| Frank Lundy wrote: |
| The only surprise about this is that it took so long. |
True. Stayed at the Farandole in LDA when it first opened, 3? years ago. Just like Fawlty Towers. Ski Power had terrible write-ups on the net, even then, and I made sure everything that I was told on the 'phone was in writing. Why did I book? It was very cheap as it was their opening week. We survived it but said never again.
uwechris, so sorry for you and I hope you eventually get something back.
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You are not alone uwechris  We booked the day before you for the same week and have been told by the administrators we will not get any money back.
It would seem they knew on the 16th that they were in trouble but continued to take bookings.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Yep, and I said then I'd only use them on a self drive basis not entirely trusting them not to go bust. Not being smug but we always accept the credit card surcharge out of innate paranoia since I worked in the insolvency sector!
Odd timing of admin for a seasonal business unless just after balances for half term fall due, would have expected the bank to pounce once money in but before it was spent in a quiet period e.g. retailers get killed just after Christmas!
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| uwechris wrote: |
| correct .. I booked and paid for accommodation, lift passes, ski hire and transfers on the 20th for chalet in la tania 31st-7th Feb. actually spoke to pip on that day. had call from administrators at 1.30pm today to say that ski power were in receivership and that we had no holiday and no comeback (paid by debit card). still have easyjet flights paid for separately from bristol to geneva. any suggestions .. totally gutted |
http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/problem/how-do-i-use-chargeback
It's possible that you could do a chargeback rather than a section 75 claim. Phone up your bank and ask them.. And keep asking them.. And get through to a manager.. And then get through to their manager.
They'll fob you off for sure at first, and they might fob you off when you've spoken to the third manager.. But it's worth a go. By no means a certainty, but the transaction was only on the 20th, so they might do it.
Give them a call. It's worth a go.
And for everyone else, this is a reminder to always pay on credit card. If you don't have one, get someone else in the group to use theirs.
Also, you don't have to pay the full amount on the credit card to claim under section 75. You only have to put £101 on the credit card and then you're protected for the whole amount via section 75.
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You know it makes sense.
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would insurance cover this situation ?
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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| Randomsabreur wrote: |
Yep, and I said then I'd only use them on a self drive basis not entirely trusting them not to go bust. Not being smug but we always accept the credit card surcharge out of innate paranoia since I worked in the insolvency sector!
Odd timing of admin for a seasonal business unless just after balances for half term fall due, would have expected the bank to pounce once money in but before it was spent in a quiet period e.g. retailers get killed just after Christmas! |
I imagine the poor start to the season did them no favours, and if they were running on a shoestring anyway then it would have been the straw that broke the camel's back. Most holidays I've been on in the past are due for final payment 6 or 8 weeks out, so I tend to think that many half term families may have already paid up.
The whole story stinks, both for customers who've been ripped off and the staff who are stranded out there.
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Poster: A snowHead
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@Little Martin, unfortunately insurance is unlikely to cover the TO going into administration - thats where ABTA would come in.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| Dav wrote: |
| Randomsabreur wrote: |
Yep, and I said then I'd only use them on a self drive basis not entirely trusting them not to go bust. Not being smug but we always accept the credit card surcharge out of innate paranoia since I worked in the insolvency sector!
Odd timing of admin for a seasonal business unless just after balances for half term fall due, would have expected the bank to pounce once money in but before it was spent in a quiet period e.g. retailers get killed just after Christmas! |
I imagine the poor start to the season did them no favours, and if they were running on a shoestring anyway then it would have been the straw that broke the camel's back. Most holidays I've been on in the past are due for final payment 6 or 8 weeks out, so I tend to think that many half term families may have already paid up.
The whole story stinks, botth for customers who've been ripped off and the staff who are stranded out there. |
6 to 8 weeks out would have been a while back - straight after new year would have been perfect cynical timing, but given newco being formed I suspect a pre- pack admin, possibly agreed with the bank in advance...
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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@Randomsabreur, yep, good point. Like I say, the whole thing stinks.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Got the ski power news today! Was told by Pip that the web page had issues so could we do a direct transfer! Travelled with them a few years back and had no reason to think it was dodgy. They even took an extra payment for lift passes 2 weeks ago. Terrible
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Sounds like wrongful/fraudulent trading to me but as usual the directors will get away with it as they have friendly Insolvency Practitioners. Left the industry partly due to the ethics or total lack thereof...
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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I booked with ski power. Same experience of (what I believe to be) wrongful trading by Pip - including attempts to take more money from us just last week, and encouragement to use bank transfers instead of credit/debit cards which would mean that we would have got our money back. I have reported to the Administrators and send them the relevant email chains etc.
To the staff in La Tania in case they are reading this - we have paid in full for a chalet w/c 28th February. We would be very happy to pay your wages + food and drink expenses if there is some way to arrange for us to still use the chalet, which we would assume will be empty this week. We have asked the administrators what the situation is with this, no idea if it was owned by ski power or others, but it does seem a shame that we have paid in full and now it will sit empty (presumably it can't/won't be rented out to anyone else now ski power in administration). If there is anything you can do to help sort this out locally please contact me by PM.
Equally if anyone has accommodation available in the area and feels sympathetic enough to do a very good price please let us know... 
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@nikki_c, I'd be quite surprised if Ski Power actually own the chalets they use. I'm not certain of their exact circumstances, but in my experience tour operators more often than not rent the chalet for the season from the chalet owners, rather than buy them outright (some resorts have quite strict restrictions on who can actually own properties). There are instances where the chalet is indeed owned by the company but (in my experience only) these instances are fairly rare. So, in that scenario, I'd imagine the chalet owners have been let down and will looking around for a new TO to take the properties on for the rest of the season (perhaps unlikely at such a late stage).
Sorry to hear of your disappointment, it really does seem like there's been some underhand and inscrupulous business going on. I guess a sign for us all to be vigilant of whatever incarnation this newly formed company and/or its offshoots takes.
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Anyone tried contacting their bank to get a refund? Did it work?
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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@uwechris, hi uwechris. We were in the same boat for this week. They took the last of our money on the 16th. We got a call on the 22nd from the administrator when we were leaving on the 24th.
Craig Norwood the owner of ski power owns the chalets. He rents them to ski power. He opened a new company on the 20th called ski chalet creations. If you would like to contact us please do on hilaryrushworth@icloud.com. Hilary is happy to coordinate any action that is possible. We believe a fraud has been committed and have taken appropiate action with regard to that. We also have a paper who is looking to write an article.
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I see there are several of the (presumably stranded) staff advertising for jobs on the Chalets Direct solutions room jobs page. The rumours are they have not been paid. Maybe someone on this board has ideas how to help them?
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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So sorry to hear about the issues with Ski Power - I hope that you manage to get something sorted.
For any staff reading this please feel free to send us a copy of your cvs and I will forward it onto other companies looking for staff. My e-mail + contacts are on the website linked below.
For any guests who have been stranded we have some February availability left (unfortunately not half term - sorry) so please feel free to get in touch too if you would like to book something else - we can try and fit round your existing flights and transfers where possible. We are fully bonded.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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I'm new here but felt the need to register to add information on ski Power which might help those who've been ripped off. really sorry to hear about it -really awful.
Myself and friends,3 families booked Ski power premier chalet Jonquille over Xmas 2013. We booked it for the"legendary cuisine" promised and all of Pip Parry's sales rubbish about the wonderful chef and food. The chef was a really nice bloke doing his best but unable to provide even decent food because the chalet had no cooker. He had to try to cook for 14 of us including Xmas dinner with a microwave and 2 rings ! We paid 14k for this not including flights passes ski hire etc. it was an absolute rip off, there was no hot water for half the week and not even any fresh coffee- cheap instant served in little bowls with hot water provided in tea pots with no lids ! so we complained when there - resort manager Gary Papworth dismissive and slippery , and again when we got back which elicited an unpleasant response from Pip threatening legal action if we posted any negative trip advisor reviews. So we sued , 2 day court hearing and won. Full amount should have been paid in November but nothing. Craig, Pip and Gary turned up to court and simply lied especially Gary - he just spouted nonsense which the judge "entirely rejected". The only thing they did say which was true as that the cooker had been broken since the end of the previous season, they'd promised the chef a new one but hadn't ordered it till a few days before we arrived and Gary had tried to stop us finding out about it- as if we wouldn't notice the food was rubbish and cold. Gary also tried to blame the resort staff saying variously that they had a drink problem, were mentally unstable , annoyed customer by being unprofessional, which was really odd as a defence especially as we thought the staff were great. I suspect Gary will have known what was happening and I doubt he's missing his wages but I live in hope !
However whilst in court Craig Norwood said he owed all the chalets inLa Tania personally and in December I had an email exchange with him where he listed all the large debts he had as an explanation as to why he couldn't pay the court award. This predates him putting ski power into administration by a good few weeks and lists debts of over £180k and he stated clearly ski power has no money to settle the court award of £5k. So he knew back in December he was trading whilst insolvent which is a criminal offence. I've provided the emails and details to the administrators. there is also new legislation covering Phoenix companies which is situations such as this requires the administrators to refer the case to the insolvency Service for investigation into the potentially criminal conduct.My lawyer colleagues at work say that if Pip was chasing money so close to ski power going into administration it's clearly a criminal issue.
Craig Norwood is already advertising his chalets in la Tania on other ski chalet sites including Unplugged Courcheval, Ski Europe, Muchbetteradventures and snow traveller. In effect reselling the holidays he's already sold via ski power and taken money for. I've emailed and rung a few of them so they know and can take a view as to whether they want to continue to sell his chalets. There may be others he's advertising with as I just had a quick look online .And finally His home address for his new business is different to that registered for ski power so he may still be at his original address and just giving a PO box address for the new one.
I don't know whether any of this is of use . If you pursue him I hope you have more success than we did.
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Hi Hawyeye14, would you be able to make contact with us at hilaryrushworth@icloud.com. She is gathering information for a case we have raised. Many thanks.
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You know it makes sense.
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Hi
Yes I've already dropped her an email and offered to forward all the emails and relevant details I have from Craig Norwood. My legal colleagues at work dug out the recent legislation on Phoenix companies so I'll forward that as well. Hope it helps
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Hi Hawkeye14 and others
Your email is extremely interesting and rather damning of Mr Norwood and his business methods, thanks very much for recounting your experience.
I'm one of a party of 18 who have been similarly affected, we were due to stay in Chalet Topaz for a week, and had paid all monies outstanding by the beginning of Jan. While other members of our party have been able to claim back their losses, I can't and am out of pocket £1600. I've also had to pay out a further £2000 to take the same holiday anyway or lose the additional payments I'd made to easyjet, ski schools and the like.
Up until I read your email, I wasn't sure that my suspicion of him trading while knowing the business was insolvent would necessarily apply to us (although I could see that it definitely did to others), however your description of his court statement changes my view completely and I think we have a case for action on the basis of fraud being committed. I raised my grave concerns with the current administrators who have acknowledged my letter and state that they will come back to all the creditors with proposals 'shortly', which may include liquidation or compulsory liquidation. Any others who have similarly provided the administrators with details of their proof of debt may well get a similar response.
I am trying to publicise the story via our local media. I don't think it's even remotely ethical that this man should be allowed to continue to trade in any capacity which involves him being able to take money off unsuspecting members of the public. Publicising the case via the media may have some impact, but I suspect the best way will be to have him barred from holding company directorships and make him personally liable for his debts. By my rough reckoning he must have got around £300k of payments for holidays he is not going to honour, and his timing is outrageously cynical as the terms and conditions of his website require payment 12 weeks before the start of the holiday, which means he must have got the entire season's payments in his bank at the point that he folded.
Someone has mentioned that they thought he was on the wrong end of a property deal and was likely to be liable for financial penalties as a result, this being the reason he folded when he did, but I'm not sure what the evidence is of this, and given the indebtedness of his company overall I don't know if this is a red herring.
I'm not much of a Facebook specialist, but it may be sensible to set up a FB group to gather similarly aggrieved creditors to ensure our approach is coordinated. I'm definitely up for holding him to account, but want to be careful that it doesn't involve paying out more money which I now don't have in legal fees and which I can't get back.
Mr Norwood, if you're reading this you should by now be aware of the anger of the many people who you've shamelessly and fraudulently taken money from. This is not how decent people behave. Have no doubt about the determination we have to make you honour your obligations.
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Poster: A snowHead
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If you want publicity for this case, has anyone thought of contacting BBC TV's Rogue Traders? It's the kind of case they like to get their teeth stuck into.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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What an absolute criminal bunch of cu^ts.
Hope you lot are successful in bringing some sort of criminal action against them.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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This is a very good time with an election on the horizon to be writing to local MPs to highlight this scandal and get them involved. Had a similar experience 3 years ago and local MP and MSP both made statements to local newspapers to highlight the plight of the customers.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Here's another wrinkle which may help anyone needing to build a fraud case against Ski Power. It seems that not only is Craig Norwood attempting to re-sell holiday weeks in his La Tania chalets, that equally odious sounding chap Gary Papworth is doing the same. Gary, I've heard, was a resort manager for Ski Power. He has very recently set up a company called Ciel Bleu Chalets Ltd (see link below) and is currently advertising chalets Topaz, Renoir, & Jonquille.
http://www.cielbleuchalets.co.uk/
There's no pricing or availability page on that website, but if you check out Jonquille on the Chaletfinder.co.uk website (see link below) it currently shows all weeks as being available for booking for the rest of this winter season. Chaletfinders' website has a link (marked 'owner website') which leads to Ciel Bleu Chalets
http://www.chaletfinder.co.uk/accommodation/chalet-jonquille--32152/
Ciel Bleu, according to a Google search, was registered on 28 Jan 2015, and has a London address. So, it was established about the same time as Ski Power went into administration, no coincidence I bet. Mind you, to read Garys' "about me" website page, he makes it sound as if he's been operating for much longer than that. He is also advertising the chalets as 'catered' - ie. with staff. Wonder how he managed to recruit such wonderful sounding troops (according to his blurb) at this short notice, given that I heard that the Ski Power staff were all given their marching orders.
Good luck with your cases, I really hope that someone manages to put that dodgy sounding trio (Craig / Pip / Gary) out of the game for good.
Wing Co Chris.
Bourg St Maurice.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Hi again
Thanks for recent replies. Yes Facebook page seems a good idea to try to coordinate information and action. I'm not volunteering as I'm not a Facebook user and so I don't know what I'm doing !
Also there needs to be as much online information as possible about Craig Norwood's new company, the companies where he's advertising his chalets and Gary Pathworths new business which clearly shows Gary knew what was happening even when he was resort manager and would have been aware staff weren't going to be paid.
I suggest anyone who's been affected e mails the companies advertising Craig Norwood's chalets (ski Europe, Courcheval unplugged, Muchbetteradventures and snow traveller) puts details in Review Centre about his new company, those advertising his chalets and Gary's new company. It needs to have the name of the company in the title then if you google them for a review it comes up. If enough of us do this it'll pull up the info about the way they've behaved on any search of their companies. That way others will be put off using them and with enough people posting information the companies selling his chalets will presumably stopping doing so. I don't tweet so don't know whether tweets would also help get info out there.
Another thought is to contact Trading Standards given the scale of the money taken and the clear wrongful trading. They may well be interested and pursue legal action or at least out pressure on the administrators to do this. I'll find out which local authority area ski power was in and contact them to see if they'll progress it as a case of wrongful trading.
Any media interest local or national would be good. The local paper in Sussex may be interested in running something - it's always worth an email to the news desk. Again any publicity even the local paper puts pressure on the administrators as they can be referenced in the coverage and the reporter can contact them for a view/quote. if a number of us affected e mailed the paper that'd get some attention. I'll find out what the local on is and post it on this forum unless someone lives in East Sussex and knows.
And of course we need to keep up pressure on the administrators.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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There's already an article in this week's Tunbridge Wells Courier with whatever details were legally publishable. It's not on line yet, but I'm going to get in touch with the journo tomorrow to ask when it will be, it's easier to circulate that way.
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Appalling act on behalf of the company's directors to so unashamedly open up a new venture reselling weeks for which they've already received payment. I would like to think the Alpine community would shut them out completely but, regrettably, my experience of living and working out there is that many of the operators are as bad as one another (and a surprising number appear to live in East Sussex, oddly!). I'm sure they'll be welcomed back into the cartel that is chalet operators in the French Alps. I've said it time and time again (in ordinary life and not specifically in relation to unscrupulous holiday operators) that directors of failed companies should be prevented from starting up a new company within 12 months or even longer in the event they intend to start a new company with the same activity.
We were a day away from booking Chalet Topaz in La Tania for a week in March. We'd have been £3,500 out of pocket.
Good luck to all of those who are out of pocket at the moment. I sincerely hope you're able to recover at least part of your down payments.
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For Astraeus. Hmmm. I do think your comments about many chalet companies being as bad as one another, are a bit harsh. In my own experience (13 continuous years out here, involved in the ski holiday industry), I would contend that outfits like Ski Power are pretty rare. If they were the norm, the catered chalet business would likely be much smaller & most folks would probably have gravitated to self catering by now.
As far as the rest of the Alpine community perhaps being indifferent or complicit, do bear in mind that it's barely been a fortnight since the SP news broke. And it does take a little time to suss out the twists & turns of what exactly Mr Norwood & Mr Papworth are up to now. Looks like they are using mostly 'non mainstream' advertising websites for re selling the chalets. And I've heard that sites are pulling the plug on them, once the situation has been explained. For example, just Google 'chalets direct jonquille'.
None of the chalet operators I know condone what it looks like Ski Power have done. Rest assured that the jungle drums are beating out here, and word of the debacle is getting around.
Wing Co Chris.
(not a chalet operator).
Bourg St Maurice.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Although this is appalling conduct it is unfair to paint all tour operators with the same brush. For every dodgy company there are plenty of small, independent Chalet operators who go above and beyond at every opportunity to provide the service that they advertise.
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I'm not familiar with the chalets, but it may make sense for someone who is certain of which ones they are to post something on Tripadvisor, since Jonquille (mentioned above) still looks 'live' with some glowing reviews of Ski Power. Would be important to stick to straight facts in any posting on TA.
How are people getting on with chargeback claims on debit cards?? It's always good to know how well supposed protection really protects you.
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FAQ
