16/05/2022
》》 Statement from Mattew Sutton 《《
I would like to provide one post within this group, but I will not be responding to any comments. This is also a personal statement from me as a director.
This is something we never had the opportunity to do so with the other ‘Don’t Travel with Matthew group’ as Every time we attempted to join the group we were declined and or refused an opportunity to do so. The benefit of this new group, is we now can with it being public.
When Travel with Matthew started back in 2019, we had just 9 months of trading behind us before a pandemic hit, and stopped us in our tracks.
Until that point, we had a great reputation across Merthyr Tydfil and beyond; and had grown from strength to strength with a fantastic team and great customers.
I understand that during the pandemic, and therefore just after, we have faced a number of challenges and our reputation has gone downhill on a large scale.
We most certainly grew too quickly, and that I will take responsibility for, but also we have had the general backlash of covid catch up with us.
During the pandemic, as a business, and looking back we more than likely should of closed the doors, and not continued to trade. But we did continue with our passion behind us.
The main area we have fallen behind on has been refunds, and I deeply apologise to anybody who has been affected by this.
Over the last few weeks, I have put my heart and soul into getting this done, but when names keep appearing in these groups, of people I know I have personally issued a refund for, it’s not helping when they continue to state they haven’t had it when we know they have, and if I need to start providing proof into comments I am more than happy to do so should I be allowed the opportunity.
I understand alot of the comments are also accurate and some people are still waiting, which I am getting these done as quickly as possible.
A total of £26,000 in refunds have been issued within the last 7 days, and we have very little refund wise left to process, meaning these will be done rather quickly. We are getting back on top of the areas we had fallen short.
As I have said above, There are people claiming within the groups that they are owed refunds, who are not, and this is not doing us any good when we are trying to get back on top of the ones that are.
There are also people claiming charge backs for trips they have actually travelled on since these groups have arisen, which is also causing us a delay, when we are having to liaise with banks constantly, defending our case on people who have had their hot tub break or coach holiday back earlier this year or even last year, and since the publicity have decided to try and issue a chargeback for this.
There was also a wales online article on a dementia group claiming they had not received a reply, when I had personally been in contact with them the week leading up to that article going into wales online. Which I have supplied all the documents proving this.
The other wales online article with customers awaiting refunds, I cannot defend, as I accept this is accurate and I know we have fallen behind.
The post regarding an elderly lady with a Peppa pig world booking, is actually a booking that is going ahead, and we had sent the travel information out in the post that day.
The nature of our business has changed from holidays to private hire, and this has been something in the pipe line for a long time. But, the groups circulating on social media, could of created a different outcome.
The company could of been liquidised. Which would of more than likely been the easier option for us as directors. instead, Myself and Lewis have ensured we’ve kept trading to ensure the customers and suppliers that have been owed funds are paid by us. Instead of liquidising and it’s what we continue to do daily.
The backlash of that decision, we have both dealt with, much of which has been on a very personal level, but we understand that the negative comments are much from frustration of where we went wrong.
We are doing all we can to do the right thing and ensure we are back on top of everything as quickly as possible, but, your understanding that it’s not something we can do overnight is greatly appreciated.
Many of the things posted within both groups have been speculation, and I would love nothing more than for the opportunity to answer each and every one of the comments or questions that have been raised, however I am constantly denied that opportunity. Especially by Vicky the admin of the other page, who has stated so many things, without fact, over just £22 which was actually a trip she travelled on. The tour itself yes involved travel time of around 3 hours but with a coach tour, pick ups can take some time. Something that clearly wasn’t taken into account.
I will inform you all openly, that there are solicitors involved with the comments that have been made without fact, and those that have been made deliberately to cause damage without any reason, we know we fell behind on refunds, and a few supplier payments, but we are doing all we can to get this rectified. Involving solicitors isn’t something we wanted to do, but it’s the only way to ensure the admins of these groups are controlling the information and only allowing factual information for the public, as like I’ve said above much of the information still contained is far from true.
I will not be replying to any comments on this post, but, as I have mentioned anybody who is genuinely awaiting a refund and not just claiming to be, please do email [email protected] and I will reply.
For all tours departing later this year, they will be going ahead, and all customers travelling up until 16th June, should of already received their emails.
We will be doing all we can to make the last tours of Travel with Matthew run smoothly and for you to enjoy.
Much of what is now contained within these groups seems to of become extremely childish, with images of us, screenshots of profiles, and so on so fourth, I understand people are annoyed with us, but, we are ensuring that we get back on top of where we went wrong, and you have our word that this will be done in everybody’s interest.
This is the whole reason for us not taking further holiday bookings, and deciding to focus on correcting where we had fallen short.
As I have said I won’t be answering any comments, as it’s difficult enough to read everything when we are putting our heart and soul into trying to correct things. But. If any of our customers or suppliers have any questions please do email us and we will come back to you.
I do apologise to anybody who has been affected by our errors, but you have our word that we will do the right thing, and get back on top of everything as quickly as we can.
