Money down the drain
I was one of a few thousand gullible Kiwis who thought the idea of a monster slide was fun, and forked out a few scored dollars for two tickets for the Wellington one. It has been postponed due to the lack of a venue, but it is becoming clear I think that we will never get our refunds (I asked two weeks ago).
Stuff reports:
Businesses claim they are owed tens of thousands of dollars from a controversial water slide event that left a trail of unhappy customers and upset volunteers and workers. …
Structural Support & Panel NZ Ltd (SSPNZ) director John Manson said he was owed $34,215 for 40 tonnes of scaffold supplied for the Sumner event. …
Christchurch youth development worker Lolina Avia supplied 32 volunteers, aged 15 to 25, to help set up the Sumner event. She invoiced Templeton through an organisation for a $2300 donation, including GST.
She said there were also outstanding wages for four staff members she supplied. They worked 11.5 hours each at a rate of $19 an hour.
A $1600 transaction from Templeton’s bank account had gone through to Avia’s account for the volunteers but she said it was still $700 short. …
Gayl Johnstone, owner of the 0508Tempfence Christchurch branch, said Trill Productions was still to pay $1725 for 500 metres of temporary fencing in Sumner despite giving the impression it would pay in advance. Her invoice was emailed before the event, on January 30. …
The Nelson and Christchurch city councils said the event still owed $2118 and $750, respectively, but the payments were not overdue. …
Two of his companies, Illuminate Youth Events NZ Ltd and Illuminate Global Ltd, were liquidated on February 5.
According to the liquidator’s report, Illuminate Global Ltd was left owing creditors $158,000.
Looks like this will head the same way, so I suspect Wellingtonians who paid in advance will never get a refund.
This makes me think how could one avoid in future losing money like this? Doing a credit check on a company is not worth it for an individual buying tickets. Perhaps the suppliers left out of pocket should have done so?
If Templeton’s activities result in another company being liquidated, with huge debts owing, should regulatory authorities ban him from being a director?