Wrapit brides' fear over new firm

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Some Wrapit customers staged a protest against the company

The founder of the wedding gift registry Wrapit - which went bust last August - is launching a new gift website.

Brides who lost thousands of pounds in his last venture, told Peter Gelardi on BBC Radio 5 live they feared for his new customers.

Fiona Robertson is furious that Peter Gelardi is launching a new business despite his previous one going bust.

The 31-year-old lost £2,000 worth of wedding gifts in the collapse of Wrapit.

Mr Gelardi's new online gift business - Please and Thank You - sells some of the same gifts as Wrapit and is run from the same address.

Former customer Fiona, from Purley, accused him of repeating old mistakes.

"You're about to do this again. You're about to take money from people again and not supply them with goods."

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Mr Gelardi told her he accepted that she and the other disappointed brides felt "hard done by" and apologised for his part in the business's failure.

"It was a tragedy for everybody," he said.

He said he sold his home to fund Wrapit and lost that investment when the business went into receivership.

But he said that 90% of Wrapit's customers had a "wonderful experience" and blamed the bank HSBC for the "insane decisions" to withdraw finance "at a critical time".

Another bride who lost gifts was Camilla Gray. She was also a shareholder in Wrapit and is suspicious about the new venture.

She said a new website was being developed for Wrapit before it folded and rumours are circulating on the internet that the website is being used for Please and Thank You.

Mr Gelardi denied that, and said the same details appearing on both websites was a mistake.

"It's a completely different company.

"The basic business is fundamentally different from the Wrapit business."

In a statement, HSBC said it was "not responsible for the closure of Wrapit".

"The business had been experiencing trading losses for some time. We made our concerns very clear to the directors and urged them to take independent professional advice on a number of occasions.

"When it became apparent the company was using payments from new bookings to fulfil old orders, whilst other customers were remaining unsatisfied, we gave the company two weeks advance notice that we would have to withdraw card processing facilities."

Please and Thank You launches on 1 April.