Left in the dark, parents demand refunds, file fraud claims for cancelled hockey camp

WINNIPEG (CityNews) — Several Winnipeg parents say they are owed hundreds of dollars — in some cases thousands — after paying for hockey camps that never took place.

Dating back to spring 2020, parents registered their kids in various sessions of the highly touted World 3-On-3 Hockey program, which was suspended due to COVID.

Some fought hard to get their money back. Others never saw a dime.

“People are facing such hardship and families are going through a lot,” said Sina Barkman, whose son was enrolled in the winter session. “People are losing jobs, losing businesses and were trying to give their child this opportunity for this hockey program and it was just so upsetting to me that this was happening to so many people.

“You can’t do this. You can’t take people’s money.”

CityNews did reach Mike Loustel, the camp director, via Facebook Messenger. He says all parents will get their refunds. He claims he hasn’t gotten a salary from the camps since April 1 of last year and is paying people back with his personal money.

“We have a plan in effect,” said Loustel. “We were set up for 40-50 refunds a year. Not 800. So it’s an overwhelming accounting mess.”

But some parents say they were promised a refund that never materialized.

“I tried to contact him again and his phone line was just disconnected,” said Chelsea Deogracias, whose son enrolled in the spring 2020 session. “And so I kind of researched a little bit and looked on Facebook and reviews just online, and realized a bunch of other people were going through the same thing as us.”

Others say they were told they would get a credit for future programs.

But some report registering their kids for the summer camp, only to be turned away at the door due to capacity. The camp’s website has been shut down.

Most recently, parents report the camp advertised upcoming spring sessions to take place at the Winnipeg Winter Club. But the athletic club has confirmed Loustel never actually booked ice time there.

In a statement, the Winnipeg Winter Club’s general manager made it clear they had no affiliation with World 3-On-3 Hockey or their programs.

Parents detail a severe lack of communication since last spring.

It took Barkman about 15 unanswered emails and 15 social media messages for her to get her money back.

“I was very happy to get that,” she said. “And I took it to the bank, it cleared. I was sort of uncertain at the time if it would or not, based on so many false promises and just lack of information.

“In speaking to other families, they were all like ‘how did you get this? What do we do? We want our money back.’ So I don’t know how I got so lucky.”

Jon Hobson, whose son registered for the fall/winter session, was refunded by his credit card company after a fraud claim

“COVID hit and it probably hurt him too,” said Hobson. “But I mean, it’s unacceptable to not respond to us.”

Winnipeg police confirm they are assessing several complaints of fraud. And the Royal Bank of Canada has filed a statement of claim against Loustel in court.

Loustel says the refunds will start flowing April 15 and take three months to complete.