Unfairpak Forum - How Farepak Stole Christmas

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11th December, 2006


• HBOSplc
The Mound Edinburgh EH 1 1 YZ



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AN OPEN LETTER TO THE UNFAIRPAKFORUM
Dear Ms Hall,
Thank you for contacting us about Farepak.


Direct Line Fax No


./


0131 243 7053 01312437082



I would like to assure you that we very much understand the financial hardship that Farepak customers are experiencing in the run up to Christmas. That is why we made by far the largest single donation to the Farepak Rescue Fund.
The Unfairpak Campaign
Vour campaign's online petition, which you have referred to in recent media interviews, contains a number of completely inaccurate and very misleading allegations.
To be absolutely clear. We did not claw back £1 m a week in Christmas savings from Farepak customers as you are alleging. We did not even bank Farepak. Rather, we provided a loan facility to EHR, the relevant holding company.
The reality is that the debt outstanding to HBOS actually increased during EHR's and Farepak's most difficult financial period.
Banks provide loan facilities. They do not own or run companies. Vou are, therefore, wrong in claiming HBOS was somehow responsible for what happened at FarepaK. ICis a fundamental business principle that the directors and owners of a company are responsible for the orderly management of its affairs. The buck stops there and nowhere else.
The Farepak Response Fund
We were very disappointed with the position the Unfairpak Forum campaign took after we announced our £2m donation to the Farepak Response Fund - by far the largest contribution. At that time, you said our donation "absolutely disgusted" you.
We believe that your very negative stance may have discouraged other corporate contributors. Perhaps if you had issued a more gracious response following our donation, the fund would be significantly higher than it actually was when it closed.
We provided the largest single contribution to the Farepak Rescue fund. We did so even though we knew that making this donation might make some people think that we were somehow "culpable". We were prepared to take that risk - the observation is, of course, completely wrong - to get the fund moving.
The Public Know Better
The vast majority of people understand the fundamental distinction between a bank and the owners and managers of a business. That is why successive attempts by your campaign to encourage customers to withdraw their business from HBOS have had no impact.
We can count on one hand the number of customers who have said they may take their business away fromHBOS. The public - and our 23 million customers - know better.
Our Morai Obligation
Our moral obligation, we believe, is to our customers, shareholders and, where appropriate, the wider community. We have more than discharged that obligation. We really have gone the
extra mile. "
Banks hardlyever make~a- charitable -donation when a company that they have~provided finance to collapses. If banks were to make a significant contribution every time a company went into administration, then the UK banking system would be in a very sorry state.
Farepak is, however, a different set of circumstances to most corporate collapses. That is why we have broken the golden rule of banking. That is why we made the most significant financial contribution to the Farepak Fund. We did so because we do recognise the financial hardship Farepak customers are experiencing up and down the country.
To Sum Up
We made the largest single contribution to the Farepak Fund. We made this £2m donation because we recognise the real financial hardship that people are experiencing up and down the country.
I would ask you to remember that the facts must come first. Unfounded allegations help no one -least of all Farepak customers.
We call on you to set the record straight. No doubt you will also reflect carefully about the fact that some of your remarks may well have deterred companies from making contributions to the Farepak Response Fund.
Yours sincerely,
\...--........
-- \ ""
S<:/ \; j(/ fF> /
(~ 0, ~~{.J,Ul~
'~
Shane O'Riordain,
General Manager, Group Communications, HBOSplc

HBOS plc, Registered in Scotland No. SC218813. Registered Office: The Mound, Edinburgh EH1 1YZ. HBOS plc is a holding company, subsidiaries of which are authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.

(edited a little by nommo to read easier)

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All good things come to those who wait!!!

All I can say is They need a new typist, we all make mistakes typing-but we dont do it for a living and as for the letter itself well shane is that as good as it gets

Geez im gonna defend HBOS here - it is actually the way it has scanned in Sandra- Anne <gggg>

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All good things come to those who wait!!!

Thanks Suzy. I think we can tear all those arguements apart, and have. As we all said last night. Change the record HBOS.

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Gill

"...the steps you tread make up the road. You need to know - without your stride there is no path..."

Sorry HBOS thats the only time I will say sorry to them

hey aint we just set a precedent I stuck up for HBOS and you said sorry to HBOS bet they frame this post

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All good things come to those who wait!!!

I think I can see what happened there.. did you scan it in and use OCR suzy? Was it 'multi-column' or something?

Anyway - onto the letter itself. Facts. I would like to know some facts (devoid of spin).

I have one and only one question.

Following the shares being suspended in EHR - how much has HBOS received back from EHR/Farepak/The Administrators?

Simple question. We know you are reading the forums... so go on - clear your good name.

they will need to its the only time its going to happen

Bet they twist it and try and say we've said sorry to them for everything.

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Gill

"...the steps you tread make up the road. You need to know - without your stride there is no path..."

They only mentioned FIVE times , how they made the BIGGEST contribution

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I scanned it into a word document Paul - then I copied and pasted over here - but the scan into the word document was all "funny" in the first place.

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All good things come to those who wait!!!

Terrible isnt it eh?
In a letter that long (and still says nothing LOL) I thought they could have got at least another couple of "We made the largest donation" mentions.

And thats a new one, suddenly its our fault that the fund wasnt bigger because by criticising HBOS, we put people off!!!!!!!! I think most businesses contributing to the fund would have the intelligence to realise why HBOS were being criticised, they may not agree but they would know about the role HBOS played and that this campaign would not criticise any other contribution, be it pennies or pounds.(well OK I will add thiose slimy Directors in here too, if you can call that a contribution LOL)

[quote="suzy"]-

.
To be absolutely clear. We did not claw back £1 m a week in Christmas savings from Farepak customers as you are alleging.

Where did this money go then Hbos and who has it now?

The reality is that the debt outstanding to HBOS actually increased during EHR's and Farepak's most difficult financial period.

All the more reason to stick with Farepak until all the money was paid in. Would be silly to stop while they still had a healthy cash flow.

ICis a fundamental business principle that the directors and owners of a company are responsible for the orderly management of its affairs. The buck stops there and nowhere else.

Then why did Hbos not allow the directors to dispose of the company when they wished to do so. They ( Hbos ) seem to be pulling the strings. We had nothing to do with it says Hbos ?

We were very disappointed with the position the Unfairpak Forum campaign took after we announced our £2m donation to the Farepak Response Fund - by far the largest contribution. At that time, you said our donation "absolutely disgusted" you.

What did they expect , did they expect us to jump up and down and say we have been robbed of £40M but hey we are getting £2M back Hooray for Hbos.
We believe that your very negative stance may have discouraged other corporate contributors. Perhaps if you had issued a more gracious response following our donation, the fund would be significantly higher than it actually was when it closed.

Talk about trying to shift the blame without Unfairpak we would have received nought.

We provided the largest single contribution to the Farepak Rescue fund. We did so even though we knew that making this donation might make some people think that we were somehow "culpable". We were prepared to take that risk - the observation is, of course, completely wrong - to get the fund moving.

Heard it before and thankyou.

Our Morai Obligation

Ha Ha

I would ask you to remember that the facts must come first.

How about giving us some you had the chance in this letter but it is just the same old bank speak.
quote]

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John Boy

I am now confused I thought there would be something new to read in the statement but it is only the same bull we have heard from them time and again. As sue7 says the mentioned "largest Single Donation" five times they did not put five times in.

Our Morai Obligation
Our moral obligation, we believe, is to our customers, shareholders and, where appropriate, the wider community.

Yep we know your moral obligation but should it not read Shareholders , employee's customers and the wider community(via a differant route), you do have a charitable arm to do the wider community bit. I will Never aplogise to HBoS.

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We walked the long and winding road to get a measure of justice.

all this is doing is glossing over .......... it's not answering any questions nor clairifying any of the murky water??? in fact they are doing a clive really by just shooting themselves in the foot.......... all that will be taken from this statement is WE WE WE not this and that happened to the money ......... or have i got something wrong ???


tina xxxxxxx

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I know God only gives you what you can handle I just wish there were times he didn't trust me so much lol