Staff at a wedding gift firm that left hundreds of Jewish couples without presents have formed a new company, trading from the same address.
Online gift firm Wrapit left 2,000 couples and 72,000 guests with undelivered gifts when it ceased trading last August after owing more than £6 million to creditors.
But a new company called Please&thankyou is run by the same people, using the same offices, thanks to a legal loophole called a “pre-pack” which allows an insolvent company to sell its best assets before going into administration, and then buying back the firm cleared of much of the debt.
Danny Kessler and his wife Amanda were married in Manchester last March, but received no presents.
“We were deprived of all of our gifts and our friends and family only received refunds after going through painstaking struggles to re-claim through credit card companies,” he said.
“It was embarassing to have to point out that our presents weren’t delivered and it also put our guests to a great deal of trouble. Only half of them received refunds.”
Commenting on the opening of a similar business by many of the figures who led Wrapit into debt, he said: “It’s a disgrace if people can do this. They should first consider the thousands of people who have had their first years of marriage tainted by this debacle.”
Wrapit was started by Toronto-born Jewish ex-fashion writer Pepita Diamand eight years ago but went into administration after being in the red every year since 2002, which left HSBC unable to lend any more money.
Its last full year of trading saw it lose £630,000 on a turnover of £6.3 million.
Peter Gelardi, who was managing director at Wrapit, is the Please&thankyou chairman.
“The disruption and embarassment caused to the couples remains a source of irritation to many people, and I sympathise with them.”
On Wrapit, he says: “It cost me every penny I had, including my house. The money behind Please&thankyou is not mine.”
The new venture is run by his son Nicolas and Canadian actress Shaleen Hudda, who was customer services manager at Wrapit.