Still waiting on refunds as Click Frenzy returns

Click Frenzy founder Grant Arnott said he accepts not everyone was happy with Click Frenzy last year, but said the "overwhelming majority" were interested in getting back on board. Picture: Stuart Walmsley Source: News Limited

Small business owner Christina Johns is still waiting for a refund from Click Frenzy. Picture: Supplied Source: news.com.au

CLICK Frenzy, Australia's biggest online sale, is back for round two but some retailers are still waiting for their refund after they were burned by the first, failed attempt at the sale.

Many small businesses that were relying on Click Frenzy – a website which gave customers a 24-hour window in November to bag a bargain - did not receive the promised online traffic and some say they were left out of pocket.

Christina Johns, owner of christinascrafts.com.au, said she lost money by participating in the sale and is still waiting for $990 that was promised to her by Click Frenzy founder Grant Arnott.

Ms Johns said she received a "condescending" email from Mr Arnott offering her money back but also accusing her of lying about her poor sales because she posted on her website that she was "frantically packing orders" after Click Frenzy.

Ms Johns said she posted that on her website to save face in front of her customers.

Mr Arnott wrote in an email sighted by news.com.au: "It is difficult for me to believe this was the disaster you claim when I see what's written on your site - nonetheless I will issue a 60 per cent refund on your investment for what you claim are dismal results and an overall failure and wish you all the best with future marketing initiatives."

Ms Johns accepted his offer and gave him her banking details, but "also gave him a piece of my mind in a very nice way".

"I wasn't nasty, wasn't malicious, I just pointed out the fact that I believe he mislead me and why I believe he mislead me," she said.

But after that she never received a reply – or the $990 refund.

Ms Johns said she lost money through Click Frenzy because she didn't get enough sales to cover the cost she invested.

As well as the fee she paid to participate in Click Frenzy, she paid a web designer to be on call to make sure her site wouldn't crash, and she offered discounted shipping in anticipation of the high volume of sales Click Frenzy said it would deliver which ended up "costing a fortune".

Mr Arnott told news.com.au Ms Jones hadn't been in contact recently but he would look into her case.

"Look we certainly had some dialogue with Christina, I'm surprised to be honest because she posted pictures on her site saying how busy Click Frenzy was for her and how many orders she was dispatching so we will need to look into this," he said.

"We actually thought on that basis she would have been happy with the event."

This year Click Frenzy plans to hold four sale events. The first on April 23 is "Mother's Day Frenzy", followed by "End-of-Financial-Year Frenzy" in June, "Father's Day Frenzy" in August and "Click Frenzy E-Carnivale" in November.

An email Click Frenzy sent to businesses this week showed that they would be required to pay a "minimum deposit" of $1000 for this year's April event. Retailers will be charged on a cost per click basis. Click Frenzy said it would refund any business whose cost per clicks do not exceed $1000. However, Mr Arnott told news.com.au some retailers would be able to negotiate a different rate based on sales.

"We are moving to a performance-based model that makes sure we are rewarded on the results we get for retailers," he said.

"The click throughs are a base rate that's not negotiable, it's super cheap, it's actually really cheap.

"When it comes to cost per acquisitions [sales] we don't want to divulge the commissions but it's fair to say it depends on the volume of sales they do and what the margins may be.

"It will be worked out on a case by case basis."

The media kit attached to the email said Click Frenzy had "listened", "learned" and had been "working hard to put right the issues from our inaugural campaign".

The advertisement encouraged retailers to get involved and focused on the positive aspects of the campaign.

"Click Frenzy was a winner for the majority of our participating retailers," it read. "We know it didn't work for everyone, but we've been overwhelmed by the positive feedback and support from clients who achieved amazing results."

Small business owner of lingerie website Zodee.com.au, Simon Pallister told news.com.au that he was undecided about whether he would participate in Click Frenzy again.

After paying $1500 to particpate in the November online sale the category Zodee was meant to be a part of "simply did not exist", he told news.com.au

When Mr Pallister did finally get hold of someone, Click Frenzy added some banners to the site "but that was with less than two hours to go in the sale".

Mr Pallister called the first Click Frenzy a "complete c**k-up".

The retailer said he decided to participate at the "eleventh hour" because he felt like he couldn't turn down the opportunity to expand his customer base.

While he said he "probably" saw a return on investment for the money he paid, Mr Pallister said it was hard to tell if it actually translated to more customers, because Zodee had advertised the Click Frenzy sale to its existing customer base.

"What galled me about the whole thing from a tech perspective was that Click Frenzy were sending warnings out days and hours beforehand saying 'make sure your infrastructure is ready to receive more traffic'," he said.

"So we ran through our web architecture and gave it a little more capacity but it turned out that it was their own system that went crashing down".

He said the whole thing had left a "sour taste" in his mouth but said he would probably hedge his bets this time, but he still hadn't made any decision.

Mr Arnott told news.com.au in Mr Pallister's case there was "definitely" a production error.

"With the site under such high load, we were unable to make rapid changes, but we are rectifying this problem for future events," he said.

"I'm not sure when those banners were added, but I'm not disputing Simon's claims.

"There hasn't been a request made by Simon or any communication after the event, but if there is a grievance and Simon wants to discuss it with us we'll address it."

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Uranium mine still leaking 30 years on

SHUT DOWN: The closed Mary Kathleen uranium mine near Mount Isa in Central Queensland. Source: The Courier-Mail

THE state's last uranium mine at Mary Kathleen - in the Selwyn Range between Mount Isa and Cloncurry - is still leaking radioactive water from the site 30 years after production stopped.

But, according to a committee report handed to the State Government this week, the return of uranium mining to Queensland is "risky but manageable".

"The uranium mining industry has a number of inherent environmental risks," the report said.

"In general, these risks are consistent with other large-scale mining activities . . . and are manageable."

The report says the Mary Kathleen mine's pit is still full of highly contaminated water to a depth of about 50m, and since the mine closed in 1982, several other studies have found "ongoing environmental legacy issues".

Those include the seepage of acidic, metal-rich, radioactive waters from the base of the tailings dam into the former evaporation ponds and local drainage system.

Surface waters downstream of the mine's tailings dam have concentrations of contaminants that exceed the Australian water quality guideline values for livestock drinking water.

Australian Conservation Foundation spokesman Dave Sweeney said there was no evidence that uranium mining was safe because not one former mine had been rehabilitated properly.

"In the Northern Territory there is a range of old mines, maybe a dozen or more, that are still being cleaned up 50 years after the event," Mr Sweeney said.

Although Mary Kathleen is no longer considered an economic uranium mine, it does have a resource of minerals known as rare earths which are used in consumer technology products such as smartphones and tablet computers.

The remaining uranium could be mined in conjunction with the rare earths.

Queensland Mines Minister Andrew Cripps said a new uranium mine at Ben Lomond would fall under a rigorous standard that was the best in the world.

The State Government said new approvals for uranium mining would be based on a system to ensure remediation of mine sites.

A spokeswoman for the minister said any restart of activity at the abandoned Mary Kathleen mine would require a rigorous environmental assessment by the Department of Environment and Heritage Protection.

So far the Government's survey has found only 10 potential deposits in Queensland, but it claimed any new uranium mine would probably employ about 700 people and cost more than $300 million.

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Qld MP Driscoll still facing allegations

A QUEENSLAND MP facing questions over business dealings says he's done "absolutely nothing wrong" apart from forgetting to declare an interest to parliament.

Rookie Redcliffe MP Scott Driscoll said he and his wife have been unfairly attacked.

But he said he would update his wife's interest register on Tuesday to show she receives income of more than $500 ($500) from her company.

"I regret this oversight and will rectify this today," he told parliament.

Mr Driscoll said he was proud of his wife.

"She doesn't deserve the politically-driven personal vilification she has received in recent weeks," he said.

"All for being the wife of a member of the Queensland LNP government."

Premier Campbell Newman said he understood the pressure Mr Driscoll and his wife had been under.

Mr Newman said his family was the target of similar attacks during last year's election campaign.

The latest allegations against Mr Driscoll involve claims he used his electorate office as a secret base to run operations for the Queensland Retail Traders and Shopkeepers Association, of which he was formerly president.

He's also been criticised for failing to show the books for the association to explain where $700,000 had gone.

His wife has also come under fire for receiving money for consultancy work she did for the Regional Community Association of Moreton Bay, amid claims Mr Driscoll was secretly running that organisation too.

Mr Driscoll said he had referred all the issues to the Integrity Commissioner, despite being confident he has done nothing wrong.

He said his only mistake was failing to indicate his wife received more than $500 in income from a private company she runs.

Opposition Leader Annastacia Palaszczuk asked Communities Minister Tracy Davis to publicly release all investigations and audits into allegations surrounding the misuse of taxpayer funds to the Regional Community Association of Moreton Bay.

Ms Davis said investigations were underway into allegations that were raised anonymously last year.

"They will be investigated in full and I will receive the results from that," she told parliament.

"When that occurs will be at the discretion of the department, because it will be a full investigation."

Mr Newman said the Crime and Misconduct Commission (CMC) had already been investigating some of the claims and had found no evidence of wrongdoing.

The premier said he'd had a similar experience to Mr Driscoll.

"I myself, and my wife, know only too well about ... trial by media, but particularly the tactics of the Australian Labor Party to use the CMC as a political weapon to attack people," he told parliament.

"To attack people, to take their reputations down."

The premier said he expected the media and opposition to pursue the issue further.

"But what I say to them is ... everyone deserves a fair go," he said.

Mr Newman said he had seen nothing that indicated Mr Driscoll was unfit for office.

Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie accused the opposition of using parliament for "gutter politics".

He said if there were concerns about Mr Driscoll or other government MPs, they should be raised through the appropriate channels.

Ms Palaszczuk called on Mr Driscoll to respond in detail to all of the allegations against him.

She posed several questions, ranging across claims of sexual harassment, financial mismanagement and inappropriate dealings, for Mr Driscoll to answer before 5pm (AEST) on Tuesday.

She also called for Mr Driscoll to publicly release his, and his wife's, unedited pecuniary interest registers.

"We have heard today a very brief explanation from the member for Redcliffe ... and it does not go to the root of all the questions that need to be answered," she said.

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Still living under a shadow

Jay Thomas Hart / Pic: Today Tonight Source: The Daily Telegraph

A NORTH coast community organisation is standing behind one of its employees after it was revealed he was living under a new name after twice being acquitted of murder.

Jay Thomas Hart, 45, had passed all the criminal checks required for his job with young people, a spokeswoman for the community centre said.

Hart, who was acquitted in 1994 and in 2006 of the murders of two young Aboriginal neighbours in the north coast community of Bowraville, was tracked down this week to his new job and the new home in the Newcastle area where he has been living under his new identity.

He was living in Bowraville when the two young people - Clinton Speedy-Duroux, 16, and Evelyn Greenup, 4 - went missing in 1990 and 1991.

No one was charged following the disappearance and suspected murder of another neighbour, Colleen Walker, 16, about the same time. Hart has always denied any involvement in any of the three cases.

A spokeswoman for the community organisation which now employs Hart, which helps disadvantaged and troubled youth including young Aboriginal people, said yesterday that they had no plans to sack him.

"All our staff members have had criminal checks and they have all come back clean," she said.

The Daily Telegraph has chosen not to reveal his new identity.

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