Dear Bikers and Track day enthusiasts,
I thought I should warn you all about my recent experience with Focused Events and I hope it will give you pause for thought when booking a Track day or foreign Track Event with them.
A number of mates on a forum are going to Almeria in mid to late September, I belatedly decided that I had just enough money to join them for four fantastic days of dry track, something we’ve all been missing this so called British summer. I phoned Focused Events and they were more than happy to take my money and I was really looking forward to it, drooling over pictures of the track and watching other people’s You tube vids to get an idea of the circuit, or to make sure you can maybe acquire a slight edge over your mates, as you do..
Unfortunately for me, just before the inevitable thunderstorm in the Cadwell Park micro-bloody climate, I crashed. Tipping in to Coppice, a false neutral, a touch of the brakes and wham! No, not a George Michael, stoned, sleepy foray, on a poor, defenceless corner shop. No, a whopping 120mph, tank slapping, over the bars, surfing the bike on my arse (according to the witness right behind me), rolling, screeching and terrifying crash that fortunately only left me with torn leathers, a dinged helmet and some torn tendons in my throttle hand. Enough about me though, the bike faired surprisingly well for such a tumble and when I say well, it’s still going to cost me a small fortune to put right, we all know that sinking feeling of necessary, functional bits and bling replacement.
So the next day, realisation dawned on me that not only was I injured but that there was no way I was going to be able to afford to get my bike back together and go to Almeria, it’s just not possible. I rang Focused Events and informed them of my decision, telling them I’d had the crash and that I couldn’t afford it now and that I was injured. Their response was “We’ll check you crashed, ”I said ”go ahead.” I was told that they needed to discuss it with a manager and they’ll get back to me. I asked why a manager was necessary when it clearly states in their terms and conditions that I’m entitled to a refund up to ten days in advance of the event. Six phone calls and an email still haven’t managed to find this vital yet elusive manager, where is he and what’s he doing?
He, or she, is like the ‘Higgs Boson’, they know it’s there, they know they’ll find it, there’s just no evidence that it exists yet, even thought they think they’ve found it, it hasn’t presented itself to me. This is unforgiveable, this is ‘the run around’ and in the finest words of The Dude, ”this will not stand man….”
I wonder what they’ll think when I speak to Trading standards, I wonder whether they realise the power of the internet, its many forums and magazines, I wonder if they know that I will not stop until I get my refund and most of all I wonder if they realise how many £455s they will lose because of this one refusal for refund. People talk, I wonder if they’ve thought about that too?

That's disgusting, in today's age with many connected to the interwebs, you would think that a company would be more prudent with their policy. I could understand their stance if it was a few days before the event, but come on, it's a month out. What a total load of crap that you can't get your money from them. I suspect this manager is just a run around and excuse. I Hope it turns around and they smarten up.

You only have to look on TDR forum to see the bad press Focussed get,personaly ive never had a problem with them but it seems many have

I'd put this in TDR and every other major bike forum you can find bud. Will be a pain joining them all but worth it. Speak to Trading Standards as well. One phone call from them would probably have them refunding your card pretty quickly.

Unfortunately, I only took a screenshot of the top half of their T&Cs, their little add on leaves me with no choice now... Never again with FE. EVER.

Ronin, have you not got any travel insurance? As one of the reasons your not going is because your injured, you should be able to make a claim.

Thats well shit, what was the add on they put on? surely if it stipulates refund with in 10 days of event you should be refunded?

I never like FE trackdays guy who did the breifing was a knob No Limits all the way.

I got this today (even though I have paid) - I think they've lost my paperwork.
It clearly says non-refundable deposit in the mail but couldn't speak to the T&Cs of the original booking

Dear Customer,

According to our records your balance for this event remains unpaid and the deadline for settlement was by 27th July. To confirm your place/places please can you urgently contact us to arrange payment and inform us of any optional extras that you wish to add to your booking.

Please note as in accordance with our terms and conditions your deposit is non refundable and should you wish to cancel your booking prior to full payment being made then you will lose your deposit. Your place on the event is not secure until final payment has been received

If you require any assistance with finalising your booking please do not hesitate to call us.


Regards,

Focused Events

phone: 08702 646268
fax: 01798 815608
email: [email protected]
internet: http://www.focusedevents.com

Sorry to hear you crashed Ronin, pleased that at least you are basically OK.

Just had a read of the FE Ts&Cs, these bits would seem to be relevant:

1) "Please note that we are unable to offer refunds, transfers or cancellations within ten days of the event."

2) "For our European events a £200 non refundable / non transferable deposit is required to secure your place.
Should you wish to cancel your booking prior to full payment being made then you will lose your deposit."

This quite clearly leaves them obligated to refund you the balance, which is £255. That should be easy enough for a politely insistent gentleman such as yourself to squeeze out of them!

As to the rest, were you implying by your earlier post about a "little add on" that quote (2) mysteriously appeared on their website after you informed them of your crash?

If so, that is one of the most cuntish things I have heard, but might be possible to unpick - I doubt you are the first person to suffer an attempt at a retrospective Ts&Cs change at the hands of a web-based vendor, if indeed that is what they're attempting, can you clarify?

Well in an effort to help out my good buddy Ronin i thought i would devote a moment or two to his cause - to help him beat the man as it were. But i think sadly i will end up being a disappointment ......

Using web archive.org i had a fish back through time - this archive tracks changes to websites over time and as luck would have it they sent one of their little digital crawlers to visit Focused Events 45 times in the last 6 or so years. Here are their terms and conditions from June 2010......

http://web.archive.org/web/201006121413 ... /terms.asp

It still entitles you to a refund minus the deposit though...... but with their website always showing everything sold out/only 2 places left etc etc you would have thought they would have been able to shift it on to someone else without any problems, given you a refund and maintained a happy status quo amongst the biking populous. Maybe they're struggling to fill the spaces and just being economical with the truth on the website?