... Groundspeak quickly shifted from "we will tell you every thing we can" to "we don't have to tell so we won't."
Your best chance is to contact Groundspeak directly. Some businesses who are registered under VOES state that they will work with individual customers who might be able to claim the VAT back. Groundspeak has not said anything about their willingness to do so.
Groundspeak doesn't seem to be a registered company in the UK, according to the Companies House records, so it can't be VAT registered. I expect that is why they won't reveal their VAT number, even though it is a legal obligation to do so.
Where are the VAT payments it collects from UK members going to then?
