Time for an update guys, for you and for David Simon who is currently trawling the net in fear of his livelihood no doubt.
So, I decided to pay Who Blackpool a visit. Obviously I didn't travel there just for them, but as we were in town for a long weekend I figured it would be a good idea to walk into the store and ask for my money back.
Lol, you should have seen the looks on their faces. David Simon looked like a rabbit in the headlights when he figured out who I was. The best thing was, he immediately pushed the responsibility onto Cathy (again), so we waited 30 minutes for her to get back from lunch so she could handle it. Nice guy.
These guys are the best, honest. On going back for my refund (myself and three others who were down for the weekend), we were told we were trespassing and had to leave. I went off to call the Police outside, and Cathy actually threatened the others by saying "shall I get (someone) up here to knock them out," to which David replied, "no not him, he'll do it too quickly."
(and yes, it was "knock" not 'chuck'.)
I didn't think the Blackpool Police would do anything of course - they can't settle an online dispute, but I called the bluff and phoned anyway. Apparently the woman on the phone was well aware of several reports regarding issues with the store. No surprise there then.
After we stepped outside for trespassing, David was kind enough to BS me for a few minutes on his doorstep. Funniest thing was he said I could be done for "slander" which was some kind of rubbish attempt at humour. I told him to have me arrested there and then - the bloke is clueless about freedom of speech on the internet, especially if you speak the truth. Going to court for 'slander' would be a nice payout for me I reckon!
He also rudely told the asian girl with us "Can you stop talking please, I can't understand what you're saying," even though her English is fine. When inside the store he told her to "shut up," and stuck his had in her face, and squared up to one of my friends nose to nose.
Make of that what you will.
So yeah,
nasty pieces of work, the both of them, and very much as you would expect. I really wanted some honesty out of him, and at one point I just said "please can we just drop the crap and be honest about it - you've taken my money and you know it, same as everyone else." But their resolve is incredible, like pathological liars who only admit their guilt through facial expressions when you turn up on their grotty doorstep. All I got was "you need to send a letter via your solicitor and contact the previous company owner..."
Hmmm, more on that shortly...
However, it wasn't a fruitless visit. Here's what I learned:
1: The shop is actually nice for enthusiasts, or at least it would be if it wasn't run by crooks. I partially see why they've resorted to theft: they have no business. The place was dead as a doornail and stock was literally piling up in there. Blackpool is broke as a joke too. The entire street next door is condemned to demolition, shame they couldn't have included one more shop eh?
2: Reverse psychology only works on idiots. Both David and Cathy were careful to note several times, "thanks for your comments online, it's brought us a lot more business." Ha ha, yeah, all good. In that case folks, feel free to spread the word.
Obviously it's great for business, which is why these guys spend most of their precious time writing fake positive reviews all over the internet and contact webmasters to remove the negative ones. Pull the other one. I'll be sure to drum up some more business for you though, no need to thank me.
3: Cathy let their sneaky tactics slip, which I was grateful for as it saved me much bother playing cat and mouse with small claims courts. After we all left the store, one handed me a piece of paper with
Zygondayz written on it, which Cathy had given them as a point of contact. Apparently it's the name of the 'previous' company. Then it clicked with me why they kept telling me I "have to write a letter through a solicitor" to get a refund. Here's how they work:
Who Blackpool rip people off all the time. Taking money and not sending goods is part of their operation. But in the event anyone tries to take them to court or get their refund back through small claims courts, they write the refund off as
responsibility of the previous company. Who Blackpool was owned under the following company names:
2008: Kaled LTD
2009: Zygondayz
2010: S ParsonsIt costs about £20 to register a new company each year, and every time they open a new one the previous company is placed into 'insolvency,' meaning they can't provide refunds for items sold under that particular company name.
Clever eh?
Or is it? The one thing that can never change is their actual names, David Simon and Catherine Simpson. Each year with the change of the company, they switch around positions. David will become secretary and Catherine will become director - the year after they'll switch back.
But what happens if you just sued him, David Simon, rather than Who Blackpool? If you sued him for illegal practices and as a victim of theft, in court all of this information would be evidence for a massive payout.
So there you have it, the truth in black and white guys. I'm not interested in my money anymore - the look on their faces was worth £100 quid easy. But I'll be sure to notify people of my experience of the company so by the end it will have cost them a lot more than my refund would have done. Thing is, if they'd just given the money back in the beginning, I would have walked away most likely.
Negative reviews and reports are cropping up regularly all over the net. Amusingly I keep seeing these guys stick comments and replies up to people on review sites complaining that it's me, even though I'm nothing to do with them! Talk about paranoia... you'd have to be stupid to think you could rob so many people and only get negative reports from one guy.
The best thing is, as noted on this thread already, all negative reports on the net are genuine, but every single positive report is still being written by them. That means no real positive reports exist on the internet at all. Impressive.
Take it easy folks, if anything at least we've established that Who Blackpool is a clear no go for Star Wars memorabilia and collector enthusiasts. Just stick with the reputable places and all should be well.
Subject: Re: WHO Blackpool-Do not buy online! 
Tue Apr 06, 2010 7:45 am
items I was clearing out and WHO won a few of them. They then paid via pay-pal with an e-cheque(think this may be the problem),it took a while to clear but the funds went into my account so I duly posted the items off to them.
