Love Island All Stars Islander Josh Ritchie has been absolutely dragged by a balloon company after it claimed that Josh got a bunch of free balloons for a birthday for free after saying he would promote the company on his social media but then failed to do so. Josh has now responded to the allegations after the post went viral.
Bloomin’ Air Events claimed Josh Ritchie worked with them to get a balloon installation to celebrate his 30th birthday, with the company charging him a small fee with an agreement for Ritchie to post about the company on his social media. The owner of Bloomin’ Air explained how she made a three hour round trip twice to assemble the balloons, and didn’t even receive a thank you. Josh has now responded, admitting he let down his side of the agreement.
In the lengthy (and now deleted) the Bloomin’ Air owner explained “After leaving the venue, I had asked Josh to send me any photo’s he had taken infront of the display & I sent him some pictures I had taken of just the display itself.
“After numerous attempts of trying to reach out to see when he would do the post or story, he finally read my messages & sent me a voice note stating he’d “been busy” and that he “wasn’t just not going to do you a story/post”. Which was understandable as it was his birthday week, so I backed off & left him to it… Josh then posted stories flying to Vegas, at which point I knew I wasn’t getting my social media advertisement from him.”
She added: “A month has now passed & I’ve not received as much as a thank you from Josh never mind a social media post. I have lost out on over £400 with nothing in return.
“I want to spread this awareness as I know I’m not the first small business owner to be stung by false promises from ‘Influencers‘, but I’d like to make sure I’m going to be one of the last.”
The screenshot Bloomin’ Air shared of its conversation with Josh
Before the post got deleted, Josh Ritchie actually responded in the comment section. Josh said “As you aren’t replying to my messages and leaving this/facebook posts up to get a reaction I’ll also post on here. I completely hold my hands up and say it’s my fault I’ve missed the last message after telling you I was going to post after my trip to Vegas. I would never want to disrespect a small business and I’ve said I would pay the rest of the invoice and post for you.”
Josh Ritchie also said that people had been messaging his girlfriend Sophie Piper about the balloons drama, adding “I don’t appreciate you using a picture of my girlfriend so people are now messaging her when she has nothing to do with it.”
As of publishing, Josh Ritchie has turned off all the comments on his Instagram after people were leaving comments regarding the balloons saga, with one simply saying “balloon bum.”
