Couple fear lost £350 deposit for daughter's 1st birthday party after company's Instagram 'disappeared'

A couple who paid a party planner a £350 deposit for their daughter's first birthday party fear they won't get their money back after the company's Instagram account disappeared and the company was dissolved. Shyam and Shradha Parmar, from Hertfordshire, decided on Nottinghamshire-based company Luxury Creations for their arrangements after seeing the business' account on Instagram.

But after a month, the Instagram page had vanished and the couple couldn't contact the company's director after realising that the business was listed as liquidated on Companies House. Now, the director has replied - but only after the couple posted on Facebook expressing their concern.

Mrs Parmar said: "As soon as I saw the Instagram page was removed, there were alarm bells ringing. I was really gutted. I was crying and upset. It's my daughter's birthday and it's hard-earned money that we've paid. For someone to take that money is not nice. Now we have to work extra hard to pay for another planner we've found.

"I'm on maternity leave and my husband's not working at the moment. This birthday party was supposed to be a memorable day for my daughter and we wanted to give her the best day. This is ruining it."

Eager to book her daughter's party for December in advance, it was in June this year that Shradha Parmar stumbled upon the Luxury Creations Instagram account. Impressed by what she saw, she exchanged messages with the account owner including ideas for the party with regards to decor and soft play for child guests.

In August, she was telling friends about the plans and opened Instagram to show them the Luxury Creations Instagram account. But when she searched the username, she found the account had been deleted.

Worried, she tried immediately to ring the phone number for Ms Parvez, printed on the receipt she had been provided upon payment. But the phone number rang out.

They also found Companies House listed Luxury Creations as having been dissolved in April 2024.

Mrs Parmar found the director on Facebook and messaged her on there, but still had no response, she claims. She then found another phone number on the Luxury Creations Facebook page.

Again, she could not get through to speak to the director. She finally sent her an email, but claims that the director still did not reply to her.

At that point, Mrs Parmar posted on a local Facebook group asking if anyone knew how to contact the woman. To her surprise, the director then responded.

She told the couple to take the post down in order to receive a refund. But the couple say there is no guarantee that the woman will give them the money back if they take the post down.

The couple later found out that in May, a new company called "Luxe Events By Ikra Ltd" was set up at the same registered address as Luxury Creations Limited. Nottinghamshire Live asked Nottingham City Council if it had received any complaints about either Luxury Creations Limited or Luxe Events By Ikra Ltd.

A spokesperson for Nottingham City Council said: “Our Trading Standards team has received some complaints about Luxe Events By Ikra Limited. As there is a live investigation currently taking place, we cannot disclose any further information at this time.”

A spokesperson for Luxury Creations said: "We were unable to access the Instagram account, our main point of business, and therefore made the decision to close this down and create a new account.

"The couple were advised we are happy to process a refund, however we would require them to remove their posts as they are false. No attempt of contact was made to us. We were still happy to provide the service which was booked and had no intention of cancelling."