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Difficulties getting refund for not delivering - www.sportswearfactory.eu
Has anyone dealt with this sportswear company in Latvia before?
The owner name is Kevin Van Lancker. https://www.sportswearfactory.eu https://www.facebook.com/thesportswearfactory/ https://www.facebook.com/halebrand (also by them) We have made an order of custom cycling kits with them back in April 2018 and paid a total of €1,117.60 EURO. (attached is the invoice) However, they are not delivering on time nor do they want to let us cancel our order. Now they are holding on to our money and forcing us to wait and accept the order which we are not comfortable with. Does anyone know if there is a way for us to get the money back if we are not in Latvia? This is the first time we have encountered a merchant like this. Would really appreciate any help. Thanks! https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...8255b6f87f.jpg |
Thread moved from General Cycling Discussion forum to Manufacturer Feedback forum. |
There is a member here, named Ziemas, who is based in Riga, Latvia, and should be fluent in the language. You can send Ziemas a private message asking for advice. When I had a problem with a supplier from Canada, I identified an office at a provincial government there dealing with consumer complaints. I contacted them and they helped to resolve the issue.
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Originally Posted by 2_i
(Post 20426855)
There is a member here, named Ziemas, who is based in Riga, Latvia, and should be fluent in the language. You can send Ziemas a private message asking for advice. When I had a problem with a supplier from Canada, I identified an office at a provincial government there dealing with consumer complaints. I contacted them and they helped to resolve the issue.
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Someone has shared with me in email that they also got ripped off by this Kevin. And Kevin was in the news for scams before. http://forums.roadbikereview.com/images/smilies/mad.gif
News link: https://www.nieuwsblad.be/cnt/dmf20160208_02116584 Account shared by others: Hello, we have read your complaint about the sportswearfactory.eu (Mister Kevin Van Lancker). We were wondering if you ever received your clothing, unfortunately we have been ripped off by him for 64.000€, for 2 years he paid correctly to gain trust, then he started to ask for payment after delivery 15.000€, became 20.000€ then he paid some and so after a period of 8 months he managed to have a debt of 64.000€ with us and then fled to Latvia, his first company was Orana Dynamics here in Belgium, after that it became Orana Produced Sia, after that The Sportswear Factory and I see its now Sportswear of Tomorrow Sia. He regularly chances the company name to avoid legal prosecution, but after a tip from someone in Latvia, even there he made victims, we could inform the Belgian Federal Police he would be here on the 6th of July, they arrested him on 7th of July at his parental house, the day before his wedding. Unfortunately his parents could bail him out after paying 34.000€ to the State, he appeals against the court's decision. So there will be another trial, if his is absent this time he will be arrested again. Now of course he thinks he is the smarter one.. until we meet in court. I am trying to get as much information as possible against this crook. This person made victims all over the world, hopefully now Interpol will be after him. Personally I think he produces not very much, I informed some time ago all the Italian, Belgian, Dutch, French, German and Swiss suppliers to beware of this person. So hardly no one here will deliver him materials unless he pays upfront. Kind regards PS. He doesn't work for big companies, this is just a smokescreen. Please avoid |
Sorry about your situation. I tend to gather information about a potential supplier before placing any large or even medium order. This does not eliminate chances of being burnt but reduces them to a level that one can live with. I would still persist in filing complaints wherever you manage even as a social service.
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Let's clear up some things
hi. Here is a small update from myself. It will be my only comment on here as I am not interested to discuss anything on a forum such as this one. I just want to say that there are usually 2 sides of the story. I recognise that sometimes there are problems in manufacturing custom made sportswear. We, and as far as we know, most of our colleague-manufacturers are doing their utmost to minimise this. However, in certain months, our output is thousands and thousands of pieces with almost all orders having deadlines. Of course, it happens we miss deadlines. Sometimes this is our fault, sometimes this is the client's fault (who, of course, will not elaborate on the latter on here). That is the only reason I do not want to discuss project by project. I am available by myself, or via my team, to discuss any open matters and are doing whatever we can to help everyone as good as we can. Within our capabilities, that is, of course.
Then, to come back to user @nicosport who posted slander on here. At the time of his post, they initiated a legal case against us, of which I was not aware. My business relationship to them ended somewhere in 2010, if I am not mistaken. At the time we acted as middlemen between teams and them as manufacturer. However, despite the big words here above, that 'interpol was looking for me' and 'he will end up in jail forever', I actually was released the same day and the only reason I had to come to police in Belgium, was to explain why I did not attend the court case. As stipulated earlier, I wasn't aware I was being sued by a company who let me down in the first place. We had debts to them, as the teams who ordered clothing, did not get what they ordered or the deadline was missed. Something typical for this industry, unfortunately. When I was made aware I was being sued, I hired the necessary lawyers and in February 2020, the highest court in Belgium ruled I was not guilty to ANY of the claims and neither did we owe Nico Lapage Sport any money. Nico Sport applied for bankruptcy and even family members of the Lapage family informed me they were ashamed to learn the managers of the company tried to hold me responsible, even though they knew I was in my right. Today, we work for the leading cycling-, activewear-, and other sports brands in the world. The representatives of these brands visit our factory on a regular basis. We no longer work for teams as we leave this up to the brands. We also try to help smaller brands, which isn't always an easy thing to do. That is why most factories accept only large brands as clients. I see also that the people who claim here (via their side of the story) that they have been let down by us, are some of these small business owners. While I do understand their frustration, I do not think writing on here is the right place, nor will have the issue resolved. Sometimes, the solution in their eyes looks easy, but in reality it could be much more complicated. We do respect every client and try to honor all of their wishes. I see a client on here complain that they transferred 500 EUR to us, while 50% is part of a deposit they would get back when placing orders. It's just an example where one can write whatever they want on here without us providing our side of the story. And as said higher above, I do not think this is the right place to resolve such issues/problems. Imagine I would start to write here publicly the list of clients that owe us money (..). The discussion would never end. Further I can send anyone who would like to, a copy of the arrest of the Appeals Court House of Ghent, Belgium. The court ruled that NEITHER I, NOR THE COMPANY IS GUILTY of the claims made here by user @nicosport Hence, I invite everyone who has any issues, to get in touch with myself ( kevin at sportswearoftomorrow dot com ) or my colleagues and we will always try to help you. This is not a promise that your issue can be resolved fast. Respectfully Kevin Van Lancker +40 742 442 381 ( kevin at sportswearoftomorrow dot com ) |
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