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doo
7th Oct 2008, 19:16
Zoom Airlines Pre-Bankruptcy Money Transfers Probed by Trustee
By Joe Schneider

Oct. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Zoom Airlines, the closely held Canadian carrier that declared bankruptcy in August, is being probed because of transactions valued at more than C$27 million ($25 million) during the past three years, court records show.

Doyle Salewski Inc., the trustee overseeing the bankruptcy, is ``reviewing these transactions to determine if they were a breach of the fiduciary responsibilities of the directors,'' Paul Salewski, the trustee's vice president, said yesterday in a report to Ontario Superior Court of Justice. ``These reviews are at a preliminary stage.''

Zoom redeemed C$6.1 million of preferred shares from co- founder Hugh Boyle, forgave a C$6 million debt to Go Travel Direct, a Quebec-based travel agency Boyle had set up, and acquired C$14.8 million of preferred shares in Go Travel, according to the report.

Doyle Salewski wrote Go Travel and Boyle demanding repayment of the money, Salewski said in the report.

Boyle said today he was unaware of the report and hadn't received the demand letter from the trustee. He said he would comment after he had read the documents.

Zoom, based in Ottawa and Glasgow, Scotland, ceased operations Aug. 28, blaming high fuel costs and an inability to obtain new financing.

The flight cancellations came without warning and left hundreds of passengers stranded on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean with little time to make alternate plans.

The airline owes about C$200,000 in unpaid wages to its employees, according to the trustee's report. Zoom had 710 employees in Canada and the U.K.

The case is In the matter of the Bankruptcy of Zoom Airlines Inc., CV-08-7752, Ontario Superior Court of Justice (Toronto)..

To contact the reporter on this story: Joe Schneider in Toronto at [email protected].

A2QFI
12th Dec 2008, 17:09
Zoom ceased trading 2 weeks before the first leg of a return flight to Toronto by my partner. She has very quickly had a refund of 2 x £10 seat selection fee and the C/C charge on the transaction - about £24 in all. She was a 'grey' area in that she paid with a VISA debit card and not a true credit card. Presumably getting one refund however small is a good sign? She is owed about another £400 and has now passed the 12 weeks suggested as the time to process a 'chargeback' on the transaction. Also, as less than half of the money paid/owed was actually for the flights but for taxes and other charges, should she be looking to Zoom for refund of these or should she be asking the government agency who levied the charges for a refund?
How is anyone else waiting for refunds getting on, please?

caaardiff
14th Jan 2009, 11:44
reportonbusiness.com: Zoom Airlines may fly again (http://business.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090113.wzoom0113/BNStory/Business/home?cid=al_gam_mostemail)

Interesting! Hope its true :D
But would you really want to take on the brand after all thats happened?
How about a new name and image?

airhumberside
14th Jan 2009, 11:50
Co-incidence but the company behind the plan is called Globe Span Capital

A2QFI
6th Mar 2009, 15:38
Any body actually had a full refund yet - please? Partner still waiting after 5+ months but there appears to be an element of bank incompetence involved.

diesel862
6th Mar 2009, 16:37
Refund - Airline Ticket or as a creditor ?

silverstreak
6th Mar 2009, 19:12
... Globespan Capital... Think its Edinburgh :p

A2QFI
7th Mar 2009, 11:40
Ticket - as per my post of 12th Dec. We have been waiting that long already and getting nowhere!

eastern wiseguy
7th Mar 2009, 12:06
Surely as the VISA DEBIT card is not a CREDIT card you remain in the general creditors list. By that I mean they will pay off banks lessors etc etc well before they reach the smaller fish.....doesn't sound too hopeful that you will be attended to anytime soon.

A2QFI
7th Mar 2009, 14:11
In UK the bank debit card, issued by Visa, has been regarded as a 'credit' card and my partner has already had a refund of the fees she paid for pre-booking a seat. The large amount for the fares and taxes etc remains outstanding. Her claim, for a chargeback, is against her bank (Barclays) and not Zoom. The bank has been losing paperwork, not respnding to corresponence of any kind and generally hoping the problem will go away. My question related to whether anybody who has not been subjected to delaying tactics, has yet had a refund.

eastern wiseguy
7th Mar 2009, 16:24
Point taken......get the solicitor in.....

A2QFI
5th Aug 2009, 03:36
To bring this thread to a happy ending I can report that my partner got a total refund of the balance of her airfare yesterday, after 11 months! Her claim seemed to be going nowhere (see earlier posts) and after months of silence and filing a complaint about the slow handling of her claim she got a letter, in May, saying that her claim had 'timed out' as she had failed to return a form sent to her in January. She never received it, they never picked up that she hadn't returned it = claim closed, saving them £337 BTW!

We filed a claim with the Financial Services Ombudsman and 6 weeks later the money has suddenly appeared in her bank account. All that is needed is to fill in a VERY simple 4 page complaint form which can be downloaded on line, attach relevant supporting documentation and send it off to the Ombudsman.There is no fee of any sort and it certainly worked for her.