Ten years ago, Gala Tent was in crisis. The Rotherham-based marquee and gazebo supplier had built a thriving online and telephone sales operation, but success came with a hidden cost: relentless card fraud. Without a reliable way to authenticate customer payments, the business was being targeted daily. Fraudsters had even listed Gala Tent on underground forums as an “easy hit.”
For the board of directors, the situation was unsustainable. Each fraudulent transaction meant lost goods, wasted staff time, and painful chargeback fees. More importantly, it threatened the company’s reputation and its ability to trade.
Fast forward to 2025, and Gala Tent is marking a milestone very few businesses can claim: a full decade without a single fraud-related chargeback, thanks to the payment security innovation that began inside its own walls — SOTpay.
The Challenge: An Unstoppable Tide of Fraud
In the early 2010s, Gala Tent’s sales team were processing large numbers of telephone orders every week. It was a fast, convenient way for customers to buy, but it also left the company exposed.
-
No authentication: There was no way to prove that the person on the other end of the phone was the genuine cardholder.
-
Daily attacks: Fraudsters quickly exploited this, making repeated attempts to purchase high-value goods.
-
Chargeback pain: Every successful fraudulent payment resulted in a chargeback, leaving Gala Tent out of pocket for both the goods and the fees.
The directors explored various workarounds — extra checks, manual verification steps, stricter card acceptance rules — but nothing solved the problem. The payments were still “unsecured,” and the liability still sat with the merchant.
The Turning Point: Building What Didn’t Exist
In 2014, CEO Jason Mace made the call: Gala Tent couldn’t go on like this. He tasked the IT team with finding a solution that would authenticate telephone payments and shift liability away from the business.
There was just one problem. No such product existed.
So the team decided to build one. What began as an internal project to protect Gala Tent evolved into a payment security solution that would soon reshape the way businesses take remote payments.
“We knew we couldn’t be the only business facing this problem,” recalls Jason Mace. “If we could solve it for Gala Tent, we could solve it for thousands of other merchants too. It wasn’t about stopping one fraudster — it was about changing the way remote payments worked.”
The Solution: SOTpay
By 2015, Gala Tent had rolled out SOTpay, the world’s first agent-assisted pay-by-link solution designed to secure telephone and remote payments.
Here’s how it worked:
-
Instead of taking card details verbally, agents sent a secure link to the customer via email, SMS, or web chat.
-
The customer entered their details directly into a PCI DSS-compliant environment.
-
The transaction ran through 3D Secure authentication, shifting liability from Gala Tent to the card issuer.
-
No card data ever touched Gala Tent’s systems, dramatically reducing PCI scope.
This approach was so effective and forward-thinking that the PCI Security Standards Council later updated its guidelines to formally recognise out-of-band authentication methods like SOTpay. What began as a fix for Gala Tent went on to shape the payments industry — giving merchants everywhere a way to secure card-not-present transactions.
The Results: Ten Years, Zero Fraud-Related Chargebacks
The results were immediate and dramatic. Fraud attempts dried up as criminals realised Gala Tent was no longer vulnerable. Chargebacks for fraudulent transactions disappeared.
Since implementing SOTpay in 2015, Gala Tent has not suffered a single fraud-related chargeback in ten years.
For the business, the benefits have been clear:
-
Revenue protection: Goods are no longer lost to fraudulent orders.
-
Reduced costs: No more wasted time and fees dealing with disputes.
-
Improved reputation: Customers trust that payments are handled securely.
-
Peace of mind: Staff no longer fear every phone order might be a scam.
What began as a defensive move became a cornerstone of Gala Tent’s growth.
From In-House Solution to Global Adoption
What’s remarkable about the Gala Tent story is how its internal solution became a global trend. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, remote payments exploded. Businesses worldwide suddenly needed a way to authenticate payments outside of face-to-face environments.
Many global payment providers rushed to replicate what Gala Tent had been using for years: secure pay-by-link technology.
But Gala Tent had the original. The company’s early adoption of SOTpay meant it entered the pandemic years with a robust, proven system already in place — and ten years later, it still hasn’t looked back.
The Legacy: Proving What’s Possible
Today, SOTpay is used by businesses across industries: retail, call centres, utilities, travel, hospitality, and more. But its roots remain firmly in Gala Tent’s fight against fraud.
The company’s ten-year fraud-free milestone is more than just an impressive statistic. It’s proof that:
-
Fraud can be stopped, not just managed.
-
Liability can be shifted away from merchants.
-
Innovation can change industry standards — Gala Tent’s early adoption of SOTpay helped influence the PCI Council itself.
“When I look back, it’s incredible to see how far we’ve come,” Jason Mace reflects. “We went from being a daily target to being virtually bulletproof. Ten years without a fraud-related chargeback is something we’re incredibly proud of — and it shows just how powerful SOTpay is when you put it to work.”
From Victim to Vanguard
Gala Tent’s journey from a fraud-hit merchant to a fraud-free pioneer is a testament to the power of innovation. What started as a desperate need to stop chargebacks has grown into a payment security solution protecting businesses worldwide.
In 2025, Gala Tent celebrates more than just ten years of security. It celebrates being Patient Zero — the first to prove that SOTpay could transform the way businesses defend against fraud, and the business whose innovation helped shape the future of PCI DSS.
Ready to protect your business the way Gala Tent did?
SOTpay was born out of necessity, proven in the toughest real-world environment, and refined into a solution that’s now keeping merchants across every sector safe from fraud. If Gala Tent can celebrate a decade without a fraud-related chargeback, so can you. Don’t wait until fraudsters put your business on their target list — book a free demo today and see how SOTpay can safeguard your revenue, your reputation, and your customers’ trust.
Start Your Journey to a Fraud Free Future
