Flavourly pivots but fails to heed the lessons of its previous endevours

You remember Flavourly, the snack delivery company that raised over £500k on Crowdcube and over £100k on Angels Den and then delivered a wipe out for shareholders. Well they are now failing with beer. Seems the poor service record is something the pivot hasnt changed.

This is an all too typical tale for Crowdcube investors  - over 300 in this instance.

In January this year, Flavourly forced all shareholders to sell their shares using a clause in the AoA which allowed them legally to do so. The company was sold to Drinkshare Holdings for £118k. You can read the full story here - it's shocking. There are too many main members of the Flavourly team involved as SHs in the Drinkshare outfit for our liking. How this is legal is anyone's guess.

Ryan O'Rorke is a major mover behind both but he didnt have any comment to make. He never does unless it's some PRing nonsense. The other members of Drinkshare are no better.

Reading the reviews on Flavourly, you start to wonder if the management suffer from some self- harming mental illness. Taking money off customers and breaking all your promises is not the way to conduct a successful business. It is exactly what they did at Flavourly V1, so at least they are well practiced.

We very much hope that these guys go down now before they cause anymore damage. And we would hope that all sensible investors will note the names involved and act accordingly the next time they surface for money. 

Crowdcube customer service goes missing

Crowdcube sent an email to the unlucky investors in Flavourly, saying how sorry they were for their loss. Oh and giving them no advice on the state of their EIS relief.

Flavourly funded on Crowdcube in 2015. £500k was invested by over 300 people. A few days ago the main shareholders and the key Directors sent a one line note to investors to say they would now be forced to sell their shares - at a ~85% discount to the price they paid for them just over a year ago. We wrote about it here.

Today the same investors received an email from Crowdcube - see below - 

Hi [...],

We understand that the major shareholders of Flavourly Limited have issued a drag along notice to all other shareholders. As the value offered for each Called Share under this notice is less than the price paid by you during its Crowdcube round, you may be able to claim loss relief (if eligible).

If applicable, you should have received your EIS3 form to enable you to claim any tax relief you may be entitled to and if you haven’t yet done this, we recommend you do so. Income tax relief can be claimed within five years of the year you made the investment.

If appropriate, loss relief is also available under EIS. You should seek professional advice if necessary. For more information about EIS, please visit the HMRC website:

 HMRC - 'How to claim EIS tax relief'

Once again, we understand your disappointment and if you have any further queries please do let us know.

Kind regards,

The Crowdcube Team

We put a comment on this post that referred to the loss of the EIS relief as the shares had been sold within the 3 year period. 

To be more precise and to help Crowdcube investors who do not have access to expert advice, we have looked into this further and have found the following - 

1. EIS relief at 30% that has been claimed on this investment will be lost on the proceeds of the sale not the initial investment as the sale has resulted in loss. So for example if you invested £10k and have claimed 30% under EIS, you will have your EIS income tax relief withdrawn based on 30% of the sales proceeds ie ~ 30% of £1500 or a withdrawal of ~£500 of the initial £3k. The loss you can claim is then reduced by the balance of the relief you claimed ie ~£2500 will be taken off your loss claim.

2. So for example someone who invested £10k and had claimed £3k. They would now have £500 of that withdrawn so they could claim only £2500 against income tax. The loss they made when they received their sale proceeds of £1500 is £8500. But they have to reduce this by the relief not withdrawn ie £2500. So they can claim loss relief on £6000 only.  

3. If you have deferred capital gains into this EIS investment then this will also have to be corrected.

You should of course check this with a tax expert. We did. But we are not experts.

So the net result seems to be it would have been better for the company to close. You would then have kept all the relief and be able to claim on the full loss. 

Oh and what about the service from Crowdcube on this? There is none. The interns at Crowdcube simply dont have a clue. Sad but there you are. They really dont give a fig about their investors - but we do :))!!

Flavourly snacks leave a very bitter taste.

This is really hard to believe.

Flavourly, a very poorly run snack subscription service, initially raised money on Angels Den and then in 2015, over £500k on Crowdcube. The Crowdcube investors bought in at £1.2m - which for CC is low.

We have written a lot about Flavourly here. It has been disaster since day one so this should really come as no surprise. It's the way it's been done that takes one's breath away.

Now shareholders have received an early and very unwelcome Christmas Present from the directors/majority shareholders of Flavourly Ltd - Andrew Veitch, Ryan O'Rorke and Kevin Dorren - remember those names.

These directors/shareholders have gone behind the backs of the Crowdcube shareholders and triggered the Crowdcube Drag Along clause, which states that all shareholders must sell their shares if the majority holding agrees to the sale. The text is below

We, Andrew Robert Veitch, Ryan Lrwin O'Rorke and Kevin Matthew Dorren (the "Selling Shareholders"), together holding a majority percentage of the A Ordinary Shares of the Company, have agreed to transfer all of our interest in our shares in the Company (the "Sellers' Shares") to the Proposed Buyer (the "Sale"). We, therefore, constitute the Selling Shareholders for the purposes of article 10 ("Article 10") of the articles of association of the Company (the "Articles"). Pursuant to Article I O, we, the Selling Shareholders hereby give you, the remaining shareholders of the Company (the "Called Shareholders"), notice that you are required to transfer all of your shares held in the Company (the "Called Shares") to the Proposed Buyer. This notice, therefore, constitutes a "Drag Along Notice" (as such term is defined in Article I O) and is given pursuant to and in accordance with Article I O (the "Drag Along Notice").



No one was asked but they are now having to agree that they will sell their holding - at a massive loss. In fact the email we have seen says absolutely nothing by way of explanation or apology. These 3 geezers are exactly what Crowdcube promotes.

The 3 directors/shareholders of  Flavourly have sold all the company's shares to Drinkshare Holdings Ltd. The total sum made from this sale is to be £118k - against the 2015 valuation put on the company at the time by the same directors of £1.2m.

Wait there is more.

Drinkshare Holdings was incorporated in November 2016. It has no trading record. The sole director is one Alistair Duncan Stewart, whose record speaks for itself. The company as yet has no shares issued. Stewart is listed as an investment  specialist who seems to get involved in liquidating companies.

So what is going on here?

Why didnt Flavourly follow the normal process and just close down like so many Crowdcube funded companies? This way investors do at least get some money back, but it seems unlikely to us that Drinkshare is going to turn this company around and if it was, why couldnt CC shareholders have a piece of the action?? They did after all hand over in excess of £500,000 to Rorke and his mates. That has all now gone where?

Utter shambles. Or Scam? The 2015 valuation was low to entice £500k into their bank. We have to assume that most of that has now gone. It's all perfectly legal of course....for the moment.

Finally, as a reader kindly pointed out, anyone who claimed S/EIS with Flavourly will have to repay HMRC. Nice.

Flavourly reviews are still appalling

Flavourly have funded on at least two ECf sites in the past 3 years.

In the interests of fair play, we wanted to give Flavourly a chance to get some good reviews - previously as reported here they have been very poor.

So it came aa a shock to look at Trustpilot's opening page for them and to find that 12 out of the 20 most recent reviews are 3 star or less. With comments like 'Do Not Use' the one star ratings are numerous.

What is it about customer service that this company simply cannot understand? Shareholders really should stick their oars in the get rid of the current management. Good reviewers like the idea and the main complaint is not about the concept but the atrocious customer care.

Flavourly - surely time to jump ship!

Here are some more fantastic reviews for Flavourly - a continuing saga from Crowdcube that has to have the worst customer service record since the Titanic. Anyone seen the life jackets by the way?

This is what happens when you build a customer base on Groupon offers with no systems in place and it appears no staff in the office.

Love the incredibly lame responses from the CEO - they have been saying the same thing for over a year but have not managed to address any of the problems. The overall rating would be far lower but Flavourly have challenged many reviews which now just remain with a Trustpilot note saying deleted.

Flavourly reviews

Average

6.9

 from 0 - 10

Review company

187 reviews on Trustpilot

|

Latest review 45 hours ago

Rating distribution

stars	count
1 star	27
2 stars	14
3 stars	15
4 stars	34
5 stars	97

Nick Booth

Cambridge, GB

6 Reviews

Published 45 hours ago

Group On Total Rip-off

Was given a Group On voucher for Flavourly for Christmas. Validity was until end of March. When I went to redeem in February, the Flavourly website said my voucher had expired.

I suspect this website is a complete scam as the wording used in the redemption process is riddled with errors and incorrect and inconsistent use of terms to describe the voucher code redemption process. Very disappointed to be ripped-off in this manor. Hopefully these guys will be shut down ASAP.

Roger Gemmell

1 Review

Published 6 days ago

Incompetent admin; incompetent customer service

Got charged despite quoting voucher code. Wrong beer sent. Silent customer service.

Reply from Flavourly

Published 5 days ago

Hey Rodger,

Ryan here, owner of flavourly.com!

I just wanted to say sorry about this, I don’t have any emails from you to support@flavourly.com or twitter or Facebook so we were unaware you had any issue with your account.

The last correspondence we had was back on the 2nd of this month. I have asked my customer service manager to contact you directly. Please look out for an email from Amin and he will sort this out immediately.

Thanks,

Louise Hall

1 Review

Published 14 February 2016
Updated 14 February 2016

Can't cancel!!!!!!!!!

I have tried several times to cancel my subscription online. Originally bought a food box as a Christmas gift for a nephew, I received the next box, it was ok. Decided to cancel as I couldn't really see the worth. Tried several times from January to cancel online, it goes all they way through the process and then does back to your membership page, no confirmation of the cancellation. Turns out my Feb box is being processed, so clicked the box to cancel this, guess what? NO confirmation, no contact number, just email, so now got wait to see how quickly they respond. Not impressed.

Reply from Flavourly

Published 7 days ago

Hey Louise,

Ryan Here, Owner of flavourly.com.

First of all I have to apologise about this, we try to make cancellation as easy as possible and always provide a support line for customers who get stuck.

I don’t see any previous email’s from you in the support line, if possible can you email Amin my customer service manager on support@flavourly.com and he will ensure this account is cancelled for you.

I would have stepped in sooner however I did not know you were having issues cancelling.

Thanks,

Ryan

Marc Peter Fisher

1 Review

Published 10 February 2016
Updated 10 February 2016

Waste of time.

Update: Flavourly contacted me and have resolved the situation. Thank you and we look forward to our Feb box.

I started my subscription in early January. I thought the cook box was a great idea. I even considered adding a beer box if I liked the food box.
The Jan box was full of Christmas items, some of them being useless. As I imagined they were just using up stock I decided to continue and wait for my February box.
The money was taken from my account this month and since the 3rd Feb it has shown as processing on my account. Now the 10th and still no box. I waited longer than the 48 hours for the delivery. I have sent them an email with no response. Feeling quite unhappy at the moment.

Reply from Flavourly

Published 10 February 2016

Hey Marc,

I have just noticed you have given us a 1 star review for a few problems that we are not aware off. Can I ask where you sent your email as I have checked all inbound channels and can't find it.

If possible can you drop us an email to support@flavourly.com and I will get this mixup sorted out for you.

Beer52 and Flavourly have alarming similarities

Here are some reviews of a company that raised equity crowdfunding on Angels Den a while back, taken from the Business Matters website. This company is 'advised' by Ryan O'Rourke who runs Flavourly. Flavourly raised money on Crowdcube. Flavourly's reviews have been an issue for sometime and have been mentioned on this blog.

You begin to see a common theme here?

To prevent equity crowdfunding descending into the abyss something needs to done.

• 
  

  Takis • a year ago

  
  

  Scam, scam, SCAM. Badly marketed, hidden charges, impossible to cancel, can't get through to anyone. If it doesn't get resolved soon, I will also ask my bank to block payments.

  
  

  
  

   

  •

  Reply

  •

  Share › 
• 

  
  

  Jons • a year ago

  
  

  total scam. send a letter by recorded delivery to their address and instruct your bank to block future charges from them. its the only way out

  
  

  
  

   

  •

  Reply

  •

  Share › 
• 

  
  

  Johnno • 2 years ago

  
  

  Total scam. It's virtually impossible to stop the subscription and they keep taking money off your card details

  
  

  
  

   

  •

  Reply

  •

  Share › 
• 

  
  

  Ricko • 2 years ago

  
  

  I couldn't agree more with arvedui, their concept is great but their business practices are appalling. Avoid Avoid AVOID.

  
  

  
  

   

  •

  Reply

  •

  Share › 
• 

  
  

  arvedui • 2 years ago

  
  

  Beer52 is a fucking scam. It's almost impossible to contact them, and there's no easy way to cancel the subscription. I've been trying to stop the delivery for some time now and have not managed it. Avoid at all costs!