another company taking advantage of the british public during coronavirus lockdown

the charming @SchoolLettings emailed customers today to politely demand a £50 ‘retainer fee’ to keep their booking post pandemic

SLS then deleted hundreds of complaints on their fb to muzzle us..

FULL STORY:

I started this thread after SLS deleted all comments and complaints made on facebook about their outrageous '£50 retainer' emails sent today (1st may) - during a pandemic where people are losing their jobs and money! They reference ‘helping schools’ to disguise it..

CONTEXT:

School Lettings Solutions essentially wanted all customers who had bookings at the facilities they hire out to pay an additional £50 on top of their usual booking cost - just to have the right to keep their slot when the lockdown is over. It wouldn't even go to your...

booking costs, just to keep them ticking over.
After 5 hours of complaints from people on the SLS FB, they sent a follow up email to say it was meant to be a 'voluntary payment' but that they'd worded the email incorrectly. Keep reading to see why even now it still seems to be...

a compulsory 'voluntary payment'! Anyone who received the original email can see that's a blatant lie (attached)...and it transpires that hundreds of people could have already paid the £50 'retainer' out of fear of losing their booking in the hours previous. It was potentially...

blackmail, for want of a better word.

Their follow up email then stated that 'The voluntary retainer...gives us the opportunity to...maintain the £20 million income we have generated...'. So people who have less money due to coronavirus should help SLS to profit even more...

A pattern then started to emerge in the complaints that SLS weren't even paying many companies what was owed to them!
The follow up email also stated '...thank you to all of the...groups that have been in touch since our email and confirmed their slots' - which is clear proof...

some people had already rapidly paid the £50 to avoid losing their slot!

The initial post with complaints was going viral on fb and they put a stop to it by essentially muzzling us all on their facebook and deleting any trace of it. As someone who was leading the complaints...

the head of SLS Nick Bower did then call me but was unbelievably unapologetic and disregarding of any wrongdoing. I asked him repeatedly why he deleted all complaints and whether, even after their follow up email, people would lose their slots if they didn't pay this now so...

called 'voluntary fee'? He didn't... comment and the phone call ended very abruptly - although i did manage to squeeze in that i would be taking this further... and so that’s what's happening!

please RT my initial tweet to get the word out. if you’ve been affected, reply with..

your experiences of @SchoolLettings so we can mobilise and i can organise all complaints to take to regulators! Please reply to me @kommyM so i can log everything!

I suspect something very dodgy is going on here and only with your help can we get to the bottom of this...

No company should be allowed to take advantage of people EVER, let alone during a pandemic.

Please also LEAVE A REVIEW for them on GOOGLE (as these cannot be deleted) - just google 'School Lettings Solutions'.

We will see justice done here.

kommy
@kommyM (twitter)

p.s. in addition to replying: please also mention (@) the venue that you use through @SchoolLettings in your reply to my tweet! schools etc will think twice about their association with SLS if they know what they’re doing (whilst pretending it’s for the good of the schools!)

UPDATE: an ex assistant manager of SLS giving some vital (anon.) info on the inner workings of @SchoolLettings - not only trying to rip off customers, they’re also refusing to furlough certain staff and now making many redundant.

POINT ( @Lostock_HallJFC) schools will be supported by the Government, SLS stated that on their fb page.

They don’t need the extra income and SLS won’t be sending to them.
Why would sls need money? They’ve furloughed staff.
Most of the people clubs using SLS don’t run for profit.

UPDATE @SchoolLettings precharged hundreds if not thousands of accounts (of many non-profit’s e.g. kids footy teams & the british public) the day before government lockdown. this was ONE DAY after telling customers they wouldnt. coincedence? clear pattern emerging.

UPDATE i’ve received many messages stating that many people’s/non-profits retainer fees have been upwards of £300! not just the £50
stated in my original tweet (as a casual booker myself, i suspect that’s why they only tried to swindle £50 in my case) @SchoolLettings

REPLY from @SchoolLettings to customer ''The retainer is voluntary & 100% your choice. It is just an option if you wish to protect slots for your kids/adults when planning for next season''

so it's 'voluntary' BUT if you want your slot it's compulsory?

https://twitter.com/SchoolLettings/status/1256192459404652546?s=20

@SchoolLettings company house accounts show a lovely comfortable balance of £700,000+ as of Aug 2018 (2 years on would be even more?) this is just the company balance and doesn't include whatever amount the directors might be paying themselves etc...

COMMENT by @OfficialBBDFL

Many of the venues run by @SchoolLettings have received
@FootballFoundtn funding with the support of the @FA @LancashireFA and SLS are now profiteering as a result of that investment...so the FA and CFA are certainly looking at this

BACKTRACKING here is the mentioned email showing @SchoolLettings pretending it was voluntary. whilst still saying if you want your slot it’s still compulsory. whilst also saying staff have been furloughed. and pretending it’s to ‘support schools’ who are already supported...