WATCH ABOVE: A mother is furious after a Scarborough soccer club shut down and failed to refund her $500 deposit. Cindy Pom reports.
TORONTO – Melissa Ezard doesn’t know how to break the news to her soccer-loving children that they won’t be lacing up this season.
“I felt sick to my stomach,” Ezard said after finding out their local soccer league shut down abruptly and she won’t be getting her $500 deposit back.
“We’re a middle class family and it is a lot of money for us,” Ezard said. “I believe we are entitled to a refund because they aren’t providing service.”
Just For Kicks Soccer Club in Scarborough, where Ezard’s three children played four seasons, informed parents in an email Wednesday evening that it is shutting down immediately due to debt and won’t be able to provide refunds.
“I’m really heartbroken over it. I wish this wasn’t the case. I’ve used my money and my family’s money to keep it alive,” said club owner Nick Voronka, who operated the league for eleven years.
“We have each run out of money and no longer have credit and have fallen into financial ruins,” he said.
Voronka said he incurred $120,000 in lost revenue due to soaring permit fees and low enrollment. He explained he has been hit with permit fee increases by the Toronto District School Board for the rental of gyms and soccer fields. Voronka also said the TDSB banned his advertisements in schools this year, which he believes is the main reason there are 500 fewer players enrolled for this summer compared to last year.
But the low registration rate is puzzling for parents like Ezard.
The club owner admitted that he was not being truthful.
“Unfortunately we lied and said spots were full,” he said.
Voronka told Global News that he plans on filing for bankruptcy on Friday and suggested parents try to get their money back through their credit card providers.
But it doesn’t help parents like Ezard who paid most of the deposit in cash.
“Now we need to look into if we can even afford to register them somewhere else,” she said.
She started a GoFundMe page to help families who cannot afford to re-register their kids in a new league.
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