A Ski Slope Story

Certain allegations have been made on the slope website www.theslope.ski which are completely untrue.

It’s time to set the record straight.

Webskill (Pty) Ltd is a website developer, providing services to a range of customers.  The services include website development, email, SEO, Google Ads and general internet marketing consultancy.  Webskill was formed out of Fullhouse, which has been involved in website development since 1999, and we provide a high level of committed service to our customers.

One of these customers was Avalanche, a ski slope operator in Cedar Square.  The service was provided to the owner of Avalanche, Lance Cuyler, from 2015.  In fact, Webskill had a previous relationship with lance, when he ran Tiffindell Ski Resort (another of Webskill’s customers since 2004, and still a customer).  Lance approached Webskill to develop a new website in the domain www.avalanche.co.za.  The domain was registered for Lance and still remains his property.  This is an important point.

In 2019, Avalanche ceased to operate. It is not for us to go into the reasons for the closure.  We were then approached by Dave Ringwood, who had negotiated with the owners of Cedar Square to take over the operation.  Dave, an entrepreneur, had grand plans, and took over the premises and slope of Avalanche and approached Webskill to continue the service, to which we agreed.  The website and email service was continued for several months.  During the period in question the website received in excess of 5800 visitors.  However, all invoices sent to Mr Ringwood were ignored.  We sent many reminders but could not get any response.  Then, eight months later, Mr Ringwood finally responded, saying that because of COVID, he had not been able to operate and thought that we should waive any fees.  It took him 8 months to come up with this ‘proposal’.  Had he brought it up when he first had a problem, we would have discussed it.  In fact, many of our customers did approach us and we reduced or waived fees for the duration of COVID.  But Mr Ringwood did not, although he continued to invest in The Slope and in his new operationAction Park  next to Cedar Square.  Finally, we informed Mr Ringwood that we could not continue to provide service without payment, and gave him an ultimatum – to pay or be discontinued.  He did not pay, so we discontinued the service.

Now Mr Ringwood is making false allegations about Webskill on his website.  Let us examine this.

The domain avalanche.co.za is the property of Lance Cuyler.  It was registered for him and paid for by him.  It is not the property of David Ringwood and he has no claim whatsoever. We hold the domain for the domain owner, who has in his possession confirmation from us that the domain is owned by him, thus protecting him fully.  The allegation that Webskill acted in any underhand manner is simply a lie, put about by a disgruntled bully who didn’t get his own way, who did not pay for services rendered, and took many months to respond to requests for payment.  Payment was never made and, since Mr Ringwood registered another domain whilst starting the first discussions with us is a sign of his Machiavellian dealings.  If he intended to launch The Slope, why is he even bothered about the Avalanche domain?
Everything we state here is verifiable – the ownership of the domain, the unpaid invoices and the many reminder emails sent to Mr Ringwood, the date of registration of the second domain and other proof.  In our opinion, this is a bully, getting his just desserts and a clear case of sour grapes.

If you have read these ridiculous allegations, then we hope you also read our rebuttal and then make up your own minds.  Perhaps speak to other creditors of Mr Ringwood’s various operations?

Just a little extra information.  When Mr Ringwood first approached us, he asked us to develop a website for his wife’s business, Zuca, a school and other travel bag retailer.  We did create a website, with an eCommerce facility.  It was a difficult development, as many of the 110 emails demonstrate, but we got through the hurdles and went live with the website, email service and eCommerce and Zuca ran for some 10 months, from December 2019 to September 2020.  During this time, sales were made and Zuca continued to operate.  But, true to form, the Ringwoods simply refused to pay for the service, raising spurious objections about website issues, despite constant apologies for failing to provide content.  But the sales continued, while payment for the service did not.  A letter of demand from our lawyer was simply ignored.  Finally, we lost patience with the entire relationship and walked away.

Now, Dave Ringwood chooses to publicly accuse Webskill of bad practice.  He should be ashamed.  He and his wife act as though he is the wronged party and tries bully-boy tactics to try to acquire a domain to which he has no title.

It is only Mr Ringwood’s false allegations that have prompted this response.  If you are a supplier to any of his, or his wife’s, operations, we suggest that you tread carefully.