Mr Chris Barber

[Chris Barber]

Hi just after some advice please, 7 of us booked on Bills Lakes in France  last year and as our town St Helens went in to local lockdown on the 18th September  it stopped our travel to France in October. We contacted Bill and asked for  a move of dates or a refund and we got nothing apart from a 100 euros off our next trip (which we never got). I tried to get the money back via the bank but Bill refused and so we lost all the money. We had booked another trip with Bills Lakes before all this happened  for the 8th of May 2021 and as we cannot travel again I tried  to contact Bill again but he has blocked me from the facebook page  and when I log into the web site customer log in the holiday is not there and the places are being re sold. I have contacted Bill but he is ignoring me so not sure what we can do or who to complain to. We have fished in France for the last 15 years and never had any problems with any fishery during our stay anywhere so not sure what is going on with Bill , any advice. 

[Carpbell_ll]

Like a lot of fishery owners bill is not willing to take the hit for covid, as it is a holiday place and not a club/syndicate i think bill is being a bit mean a lot of guys that have had winter on a few different syndicates are screwing, one was asking for a extension into the summer over on FB, Yeah that will happen.

To be fair mate i doubt there is much you can do inside the law and bill knows that, best not going back and review the heck out of his business on any review sites especially google search page, i have been paid twice now to remove honest reviews from google, one from a vape shop the other from a tyre and exhaust centre. 

[yonny]

1 hour ago, Chris Barber said:

I tried to get the money back via the bank but Bill refused

How did you pay? By bank transfer?

I think based on law your Oct holiday is a write off but if you've paid for a May tip and he's ignoring you then it's plain and simple theft and the bank would have to act no?

[dayvid]

Post this on other forums as well such as 

CarpForum - The UK Carp Fishing Forum. Information, chat and advice

[ouchthathurt]

Did you ever get it sorted mate? 

[bluelabel]

Given he's British, a solicitors letter and small claims court... failing that slag him off mightily on every place he advertises... make his life hell

[davew]

Sad to hear about your losses, the decent venues have looked after their customers during this difficult period, some have not!!! The properly registered venues (for French tax purposes) and I would think Bills Lakes fall within that category have received Government support (similar to the UK system) so there is very little if no excue to treat customers better. As a former fishery operator in France (retired now), my best suggestion would be to report your story to the wide carping world, forums, magazines etc., it probably won't get your money back but at the very least it will put people off going to money grabbing venues who simply don't care about their customers! Good luck!