When their recently purchased horse went lame, Pip Gordon felt they were owed a refund. The Disputes Tribunal agreed. But that was just the start of a long struggle to get her money back. It turned out the seller has a history of not paying, and is a repeat offender on Fair Go.
In August 2022, Pip Gordon’s 20-year-old daughter Jorja was over the moon. She’d found a horse she believed was her ticket to becoming a competitive show jumper. Sally, or Sal, had good lineage, and photos showed her looking great in action. Even her mum was happy.
“The fact that I, as a non-horsey person that’s scared of horses,” Pip Gordon says, “I can put a cover on her, hold her, you know, she doesn’t scare me, she’s just so nice-natured.”
Watch more on this story on TVNZ+
Jorja had seen the advert for Sal on an Instagram post from Goldengrove Stud Farm. The price was $9500. That’s no small amount to her mother, who’s a teacher in Canterbury, and her father, who’s a swim coach. However, they’re happy to fund their daughter’s passion. It just meant it was really important to get the purchase right.
Jorja was confident she was making a good choice. Goldengrove Stud Farm has bred horses that are competing at a top level in the UK, the US and Australia as well as here in New Zealand. But Jorja wasn’t aware that its owner and sole director Paul Ffoulkes had also been on Fair Go before.
In 2021, Fair Go found out about three customers all owed money by the business – money ordered to be paid by the Disputes Tribunal after they had issues with the horses they’d purchased. In each case, Ffoulkes made excuses or didn’t pay. Helen McNaught was owed $20,000 and believes she would never have seen the money if Fair Go hadn’t got involved.
Clearly in pain
But back to Jorja’s showjumping dream. All was going well for a few months. She connected beautifully with Sal and started to take her to lower-level competitions. Until one Friday evening when Sal was clearly in pain and could hardly walk. Jorja says it looked like she’d broken her leg.
This took them by surprise. When they bought Sal they’d had the vet do the usual checks. They’d been made aware of a previous leg injury by Paul Ffoulkes and his wife, also called Pip. but had done all they could to check it out. At the time, the vet’s report said: “The owner cannot recall which limb, or whether or not it was an injury to the hock or fetlock. The X rays (taken by the Ffoulkes) are not locatable.”
To play it safe, Pip paid for her own x-rays and was pleased to hear that no issues were spotted.
But now, there clearly was a problem. “Obviously we had more tests done, which meant more money, more x-rays.”
It wasn’t good news. There was a problem in a different joint, the pastern, an area that hadn’t been x-rayed before. The vet assessed that Sal had chronic arthritis that had likely been present for some time.
Pip Gordon says she was told “there might be periods of time when Sal appears reasonably sound and we’ve found that to be the case, but that extra weight of a rider would just aggravate her”.
Jorja felt they should get their money back. “If it had been maybe four or five years down the track this would be a different situation, but I only rode the horse for four months.”
The Gordons contacted the Ffoulkes who expressed their sympathy for the situation. Pip Gordon says the Ffoulkes suggested they could help by providing feed products or access to vets but I said “no, we can’t ride that”.
Jorja thought about trying to breed from Sal, but genetic testing showed she had abnormal chromosomes that meant she wouldn’t be suitable for breeding either.
Consumer Guarantees Act
So the Gordons took the case to the Disputes Tribunal. Their argument was that Sal was advertised for show jumping but couldn’t do this because of her condition. As a result, they considered her not fit for purpose under the Consumer Guarantees Act (CGA).
At the tribunal, the Ffoulkes argued Sal had been sold privately by Pip Ffoulkes so the CGA wouldn’t apply as it’s only for sales made by a business. But the Gordons argued Sal had been bought from Goldengrove Stud Farm.
“Jorja came across Sally on the Goldengrove Instagram page, we paid the money into the business account, there’s a Goldengrove brand on her.”
The tribunal agreed. The Ffoulkes then argued they weren’t to blame as they had mentioned a previous injury. The tribunal referee acknowledged this wasn’t a case of deliberately trying to mislead, but said the “law provides a remedy whether the misrepresentation is deliberate or innocent” and the horse was sold as suitable to ride and showjump but its condition meant this was not possible.
The tribunal referee said: “I am satisfied that Sally’s condition is so significant that no-one would have purchased a horse with such problems had they known, and that Sally has no real value given her condition and the fact she is unable to be bred from.” The referee ordered the Ffoulkes to pay $9500 back to the Gordons by October 2023.
They didn’t. Instead, they applied for a rehearing. This wasn’t till eight months later. Applications for a rehearing should be made within 20 working days. Still, the referee agreed to consider it on the basis of Paul Ffoulkes’ claims of ill health. The referee wanted to know of any new information in the case, but when it was established there wasn’t any, the rehearing was dismissed. However, still no payment.
During the tribunal, the Ffoulkes had also argued they should have Sal returned but followed that comment up by saying they “may well destroy her”. The Gordons felt this was unnecessary as Sal appeared content if she wasn’t ridden and there were medications available that could relieve any pain if necessary. The referee agreed that if the Ffoulkes saw no value in Sal, the Gordons could care for her. Of course, keeping a horse is still a costly business so the Gordons wanted to keep up the pressure to have their money paid back.
‘System favours the person at fault’
And so Pip Gordon’s experience of dealing with the civil justice system in New Zealand began. “The biggest part of the story, for me, is that the system is weighted towards the person at fault.”
She says this because she was surprised it was up to her to pay to have any further action taken. She paid for advice from a lawyer and also for bailiffs to get involved. Her experience with the bailiffs didn’t go well. Twice they went to the Ffoulkes’ property, each time coming back empty handed. Their reports noted that “sheds are in poor condition, needing repairs. Horses were on site but Pip (Ffoulkes) stated that they belong to other persons. The company’s only asset was a tractor.”
Pip Gordon then received a letter saying they didn’t seize the tractor “because it would cause financial distress to the Ffoulkes or the business”. She said that “floored me, because I’m sorry, but how do they know that their financial distress is any different to my financial distress? You know, this is the money owed to us.”
And she says they’re counting on it. After over a year without a horse, they decided to go ahead and buy a replacement for Jorja, resigning themselves to getting one that was much cheaper. The horse, Charlie, cost just $3000 and isn’t suitable for showjumping but at least Jorja has one to ride. They also have the ongoing costs of feeding and caring for Sal.
So it wasn’t welcome news to receive a letter from the bailiffs saying they’d closed the case. She felt fobbed off. She asked Fair Go to get involved.
Fair Go got in touch with the Ffoulkes who sent an email explaining at length why they still felt the CGA didn’t apply in this case and saying they had lodged an appeal. The Gordons were unaware of this appeal so we rang the Ffoulkes for clarification. Pip Ffoulkes answered but said because of the appeal she couldn’t discuss the case.
On checking with the court, we were informed no appeal had been lodged.
By this time, the bailiffs had apologised and reopened the case. In fact, Fair Go’s call to the Ffoulkes happened to be made at the same time as two new bailiffs arrived on the Ffoulkes property. This was mentioned to Pip Gordon when the bailiffs manager called to say a truck had finally been seized. Pip Gordon told him that “going at them from all sides” was a good thing. And it seems she was right.
Within two weeks she received a letter to say the money was on its way. “I like to think having two bailiffs in your driveway and Fair Go on the phone at the same time may have made them realise we weren’t going to roll over.”
It’s now over two years since Sal went lame and finally they feel justice has been done. $8000 has already been paid into their bank account. The rest is on its way.
Watch this story on TVNZ+
