Ho ho oh no! Midlands families let down after Guernsey grotto mix-up

Tuesday 14 December 2021

A mix-up has led Midlands families who wanted to meet Father Christmas accidentally buying tickets for a grotto in Guernsey hundreds of miles away from where they live.

Guernsey's Earlswood Garden Centre is hosting Santa in the run-up to Christmas, but the similarly-named Earlswood Garden and Landscape Centre in Solihull in England is not.

However, the Solihull garden centre had upset customers on its hands when it broke the news to them that they had mistakenly bought tickets to see Santa in Guernsey, having got the two Earlswoods confused online. 

Birmingham Mail reported that children were left in tears by the confusion.

The Earlswood Garden and Landscape Centre in Solihull said it is sympathetic to the upset children.

Pictured: In a statement on its Facebook page, the Solihull-based Earlswood Garden and Landscape Centre explained the mistake some customers had made while booking tickets to see Santa in the wrong place.

It said: "We appreciate this may cause some upset to families and children looking forward to visiting Santa. However, we are not connected to this event or the Guernsey garden centre in any way and are unfortunately unable to help with ticket refunds."

The Guernsey grotto has been organised by a locally-based business called Sprinkle of Magic. It sells party favours, balloons and decorations and arranges special events like the Christmas grotto at Earlswood. 

It said it is aware of several families mistakenly buying tickets for the Guernsey grotto, thinking it was in Solihull, and partial refunds have been arranged.

Pictured: The Sprinkle of Magic grotto booking page does not state that the grotto is in Guernsey, but the homepage of its website clearly describes it as a "local Guernsey-based business".

In a statement issued to Express this morning, Sprinkle of Magic said: "We do apologise for any confusion caused. All of our social media posts tagged our local garden centre and our website shows as based in Guernsey. At no time have we ever advertised as this being based in Solihull.

"As per the description on our product page for the grotto, all tickets are non-refundable. However, as a gesture of goodwill for any confusion caused we will be contacting anyone affected by this within the next seven days to offer a 50% refund.

"Around five families have been affected by this."