BLOC cancelled.

I'm with Natwest and I phoned them first. They put me through to the 'disputes' dept. I told this woman on the phone and she already knew it was with regards to Blocshop, as she called it. A few days later a two page Natwest form turned up. It was a bank-specific form so I presume each bank's is different.

The cover page said something about the claim being lodged with Visa, not Natwest itself. The form asked about the service you paid for, the problem which arose, the contact you have made with them and for any proof you have.

It said you need to have contacted the company, Bloc, before claiming. I lied because I didn't actually contact them. I wrote that I phoned them the day after the went into administration and someone told me to wait for further information. Also, as I said, send a print off of your ticket and the bloc site. The money must have taken under two weeks to get to me.

I recommend you go into your bank ASAP and ask to speak to a manager/supervisor. Not all workers know a lot about chargebacks so they may try and fob you off. They should have a form which you can fill in there and then. You may, however, need to post that off to a head office but either way it will get the ball rolling.

I wasn't expecting much but it all went through. Turns out a mate who I went with got his back recently too, although that was with a credit account.

Good luck with it.

thanks for the info, man

I rang up yesterday to follow up on the fax i sent it - the woman on the phone said they've recieved it but nothing else has really developed, other than some event on the 27th or 17th, which she had no info or details about. Said she'd push it on to make sure it keeps active and said these things can take up to X weeks anyway. So i guess i'll just wait another bit and then call back again, if no luck then i may pop down to the bank and see.

sounds promising that you heard of other people getting the money back tho

You'll want to get it sorted ASAP before the company's funds run out really.

  On 8/2/2012 at 7:21 PM, spratters said:

You'll want to get it sorted ASAP before the company's funds run out really.

indeed, but as far as i'm aware (or from what they originally told me to do) i've done everything I can.

guess i'll just be cross'in dem fingers :)

Two months since the festival that bankrupted them, Bloc organizers Alex Benson and George Hull are giving their side of the story:

Bloc organisers speak out

"Perhaps most importantly to many Bloc attendees, the statement addresses the issue of refunds. Bloc's administrators have provided a form that should help ticketholders claim a chargeback from their banks, which is the only method of being reimbursed."

  Quote

In short, they say that all of the problems undermining the festival stemmed from London Pleasure Gardens not being the venue it had said it would be.

 

 

Hull and Benson maintain that the festival was not oversold, but since huge parts of the venue were unfinished (including things as big as The Hub, a 2,800 capacity space that should have housed one of the main stages), too many people congregated in a small portion of the otherwise massive space, which led to overcrowding. They did what they could—even stopping the scanning of tickets to ease overcrowding at the entry points—but ultimately could not adjust to the circumstances and had to cancel the festival.

As a (now former) resident of Newham who watched his taxes get pissed away on this joke of a venue, I reckon they've probably got a point. Bloc wasn't the only disastrous event at the site and the place has subsequently gone bust itself.