A GIRL from Mold was able to celebrate her ninth birthday in style despite the Prestatyn events company organising her party cancelling hours earlier.

Gemma Smaje’s daughter, Layla, turned nine on June 26, and was due to mark the day with a party at Mold & District Ex-Servicemen’s Club, organised by Prestatyn-based Garden Den/Go Big Events.

But Gemma was told that afternoon that the business had halted trading, before it released a statement the following day saying it had “no other option” but to close altogether.

And while Gemma and her family were able to salvage the party at short notice, she said she is still awaiting the refund she was promised.

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Gemma said: “I burst into tears, because I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t let her down - I don’t normally do parties for her because I can’t normally afford them.

“My mum sorted out a buffet, and I don’t know how my dad managed to get a DJ. It ended up being quite successful, but it could very easily not have been.

“We had to spend hundreds of pounds to rectify the issues caused by them, within two hours, to save my daughter from being let down.

“It just wasn’t acceptable how they cancelled on me last minute, and without a proper apology.”

Garden Den/Go Big Events, which had been running for eight years prior to last month’s closure, said in a statement that anyone with outstanding bookings who will require a refund has been asked to email gardendengobig@gmail.com.

Gemma said she has tried this, albeit to no avail so far.

Anyone seeking a refund has been asked not to arrive at its shop, as the business said it cannot assist with cash refunds.

The business also asked people to be “patient” and not become “aggressive and threatening”.

In response to Gemma’s comments, a spokesperson for the business said: “We have apologised and apologised to every person whose booking was cancelled.

“Yes, parties were cancelled, and this was due to the business closing; (but) we have not denied anyone a refund. All refunds are being processed as quickly and efficiently as possible.

“This is taking a lot longer than we had hoped due to the amount of customers claiming to be from a booking who are not, family members trying to get refunds as well as the customer, and customers claiming a through their banks which has caused it to take longer in processing everything.

“The decision to close the business is not something that was done lightly and we tried every avenue to stop this happening, but it just was no longer an option we could continue with.

“No-one is going to not get a refund, and we do understand this is taking longer than we would have liked, and we understand that this is not ideal.

“However, everyone putting their stories in an email and messaging 100 times a day just slows that process down, as we are trying to deal with everyone in a timely manner.”