# Beware of www.sportswearfactory.eu



## freezing_snowman (Apr 13, 2009)

Has anyone dealt with this sportswear company in Latvia before?
The owner name is Kevin Van Lancker. He's a real nice person when trying to close the deal. However things changed after payment.

His companies:
https://www.sportswearfactory.eu
https://www.facebook.com/thesportswearfactory/
https://www.facebook.com/halebrand (also by them)

We have made an order of custom cycling kits with them back in April 2018 and paid a total of €1,117.60 EURO. (attached is the invoice)
However, they are not delivering on time nor do they want to let us cancel our order. Now they are holding on to our money and forcing us to wait and accept the order which we are not comfortable with.

Kevin has even threatened to sue us when we said we want to share our bad experience online. This is the first time I have seen merchant wanting to sue the customers when they failed to deliver.

Does anyone know if there is a way for us to get the money back if we are not in Latvia?

Would really appreciate any help. Thanks!


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## tlg (May 11, 2011)

freezing_snowman said:


> We have made an order of custom cycling kits with them back in April 2018 and paid a total of €1,117.60 EURO. (attached is the invoice)
> However, they are not delivering on time nor do they want to let us cancel our order. Now they are holding on to our money and forcing us to wait and accept the order which we are not comfortable with.


When were the kits to be delivered and how late will they be?


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## Finx (Oct 19, 2017)

I thought that EU had some really strict consumer protection laws. Is that only in the UK?


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## freezing_snowman (Apr 13, 2009)

The whole account

4 April - We started conversation with them. Everything was good. 
12 April - We ordered and made full payment via transferwise.com (believe we can't chargeback)
25 April - They showed us test print and we feedback accordingly on the same day.
3 May - They showed us samples of the print and we feedback accordingly on the same day. 
23 May - We asked for status update but there's no reply. 
28 May - *They replied they can ship next week.* 
12 June - *We asked for status update and they said they will sew and ship the clothes next week. *
22 June - We asked for status updated but there's no reply. 
25 June - We emailed to cancel the order and proceed with the refund. No answer on status.
26 June - We got really uncomfortable and emailed to ask for a refund by 1 July but there's no reply. 
30 June - We informed them we will share our bad experience online if there's no refund from them. They immediately replied that we are ridiculous and the reasons for the delay is because they had other big orders to rush. and they will sue us if we share our experience online. 

We are in Singapore so not sure if we are covered under the consumer protection laws in EU.


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## freezing_snowman (Apr 13, 2009)

Someone has shared with me in email that they also got ripped off by this Kevin. And Kevin was in the news for scams before. 

News link:
https://www.nieuwsblad.be/cnt/dmf20160208_02116584

Account shared by others: 


> Hello,
> 
> we have read your complaint about the sportswearfactory.eu (Mister Kevin Van Lancker). We were wondering if you ever received your clothing, unfortunately we have been ripped off by him for 64.000€, for 2 years he paid correctly to gain trust, then he started to ask for payment after delivery 15.000€, became 20.000€ then he paid some and so after a period of 8 months he managed to have a debt of 64.000€ with us and then fled to Latvia, his first company was Orana Dynamics here in Belgium, after that it became Orana Produced Sia, after that The Sportswear Factory and I see its now Sportswear of Tomorrow Sia. He regularly chances the company name to avoid legal prosecution, but after a tip from someone in Latvia, even there he made victims, we could inform the Belgian Federal Police he would be here on the 6th of July, they arrested him on 7th of July at his parental house, the day before his wedding. Unfortunately his parents could bail him out after paying 34.000€ to the State, he appeals against the court's decision. So there will be another trial, if his is absent this time he will be arrested again. Now of course he thinks he is the smarter one.. until we meet in court. I am trying to get as much information as possible against this crook. This person made victims all over the world, hopefully now Interpol will be after him.
> 
> ...


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## Jay Strongbow (May 8, 2010)

Talk to you Credit Card company. If you sent cash or similar, well, don't do that again.


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## n2deep (Mar 23, 2014)

We informed them we will share our bad experience online if there's no refund from them. They immediately replied that we are ridiculous and the reasons for the delay is because they had other big orders to rush. and they will sue us if we share our experience online. [/QUOTE said:


> As long as you tell the truth,, they could potentially sue but what court will punish you for telling the truth?


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## calidreaming (Sep 8, 2018)

Call your credit card provider. Do a charge back. Return the items if you haven't already. Anyone can be sued. When posting state your personal experience and be truthful. With that said no jury or judge will hold you accountable. 

The co. is blowing smoke up your rear end. Thanks for the info I'll be sure not to shop there!


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## Rinko888 (Nov 18, 2021)

freezing_snowman said:


> Has anyone dealt with this sportswear company in Latvia before?
> The owner name is Kevin Van Lancker. He's a real nice person when trying to close the deal. However things changed after payment.
> 
> His companies:
> ...


Hi ,

I am also having problems with the company. I paid sums of money coming up to 6 months ago and I am am still waiting for progress. It has greatly affetced my business progression and it has been so stressful. It looks like I will have to go down the legal route as I have asked for my money back several times as there has been no movement whatsoever. I just wondered what if any resolution as reached ? 

Thanks


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## PBL450 (Apr 12, 2014)

Rinko888 said:


> Hi ,
> 
> I am also having problems with the company. I paid sums of money coming up to 6 months ago and I am am still waiting for progress. It has greatly affetced my business progression and it has been so stressful. It looks like I will have to go down the legal route as I have asked for my money back several times as there has been no movement whatsoever. I just wondered what if any resolution as reached ?
> 
> Thanks


Thanks for posting and reviving this thread. This is the very core of RBR and I appreciate everyone who offers up beefs and bouquets. It benefits the entire community when you circle back and post updates as you go. So, thanks, at least from me. I pay attention to these kinds of threads, which frame maker is hassle free, which one doesn’t uphold a warranty policy, who has good customer service? That kind of thing. 


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## kevinvanlancker (6 mo ago)

hi. Here is a small update from myself. It will be my only comment on here as I am not interested to discuss anything on a forum such as RBR. I just want to say that there are usually 2 sides of the story. I recognise that sometimes there are problems in manufacturing custom made sportswear. We, and as far as we know, most of our colleague-manufacturers are doing their utmost to minimise this. However, in certain months, our output is thousands and thousands of pieces with almost all orders having deadlines. Of course, it happens we miss deadlines. Sometimes this is our fault, sometimes this is the client's fault (who, of course, will not elaborate on the latter on here). That is the only reason I do not want to discuss project by project. I am available by myself, or via my team, to discuss any open matters and are doing whatever we can to help everyone as good as we can. Within our capabilities, that is, of course.

Then, to come back to user @nicosport who posted slander on here. At the time of his post, they initiated a legal case against us, of which I was not aware. My business relationship to them ended somewhere in 2010, if I am not mistaken. At the time we acted as middlemen between teams and them as manufacturer. However, despite the big words here above, that 'interpol was looking for me' and 'he will end up in jail forever', I actually was released the same day and the only reason I had to come to police in Belgium, was to explain why I did not attend the court case. As stipulated earlier, I wasn't aware I was being sued by a company who let me down in the first place. We had debts to them, as the teams who ordered clothing, did not get what they ordered or the deadline was missed. Something typical for this industry, unfortunately.

When I was made aware I was being sued, I hired the necessary lawyers and in February 2020, the highest court in Belgium ruled I was not guilty to ANY of the claims and neither did we owe Nico Lapage Sport any money. Nico Sport applied for bankruptcy and even family members of the Lapage family informed me they were ashamed to learn the managers of the company tried to hold me responsible, even though they knew I was in my right.

Today, we work for the leading cycling-, activewear-, and other sports brands in the world. The representatives of these brands visit our factory on a regular basis. We no longer work for teams as we leave this up to the brands. We also try to help smaller brands, which isn't always an easy thing to do. That is why most factories accept only large brands as clients. I see also that the people who claim here (via their side of the story) that they have been let down by us, are some of these small business owners. While I do understand their frustration, I do not think writing on here is the right place, nor will have the issue resolved. Sometimes, the solution in their eyes looks easy, but in reality it could be much more complicated. We do respect every client and try to honor all of their wishes. I see a client on here complain that they transferred 500 EUR to us, while 50% is part of a deposit they would get back when placing orders. It's just an example where one can write whatever they want on here without us providing our side of the story. And as said higher above, I do not think this is the right place to resolve such issues/problems. Imagine I would start to write here publicly the list of clients that owe us money (..). The discussion would never end.

To ensure this topic has all the information needed, I also included a page of the Appeals Court House of Ghent, Belgium. The court ruled that NEITHER I, NOR THE COMPANY IS GUILTY of the claims made here by user @nicosport

Document is a scan of the original and therefore in Dutch. Please use Google Translate.



















Hence, I invite everyone who has any issues, to get in touch with myself ([email protected]) or my colleagues and we will always try to help you. This is not a promise that your issue can be resolved fast.

Respectfully
Kevin Van Lancker
+40 742 442 381
[email protected]


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