Empire Direct have gone into administration. Updated more.

DING_DONG_6

Triker wrote: »

Info here http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=17721975&postcount=6

and here http://www.soon.org.uk/cvpage.htm


Good luck with the interview.

Thank you for the info...........................good luck to you also if I get any more info from one of my very good work collegues who is still there for the duration. I will advise you asap.




Thanks

Triker

Just to update people re my situation, managed to get through today to someone on the suppliers number 08714729001.

Got the same info as everyone else although he did seem to check my order number against their system and confirmed.

Asked a lot of question about method of payment, when, how, in full etc, what with, with which bank. Gave the info that it would be a few weeks before anyone contacts me re anything.

Took my address and phone number and that was it really.

Horrible state of limbo now, no fridge, no money.

Lessons learned......will have to purchase things via credit card in future but feel very wobbley about this as it took a lot for us to become debt free and we don't want to go back there.

I will be insistent that whatever we buy over the next few months will be an instant transaction i.e. goods handed over straight away. No delivery in a few days nonsense. Which in turn means that will be not be ordering v. much online and certainly not high value items, so all those internet companies will be hit by default by Empire Directs demise. No one will be able to convince me that I should trust them with my money and await delivery which is a shame because they need business to keep going but I do not have the time, energy or money to muck about over this issue.


I sincerely hope that all of you that have lost their jobs and have found their way here to MSE, stick around. This is a great resource for you and will supply you with support and advice for free. There are many different boards to access pertinent to your circumstances. I hope that each and everyone of you find employment elsewhere and that you never have to go through this again.

optimusprimer

Hi all, I have just heard about this shambles and thought I would seek out some advice.

I ordered a TV from them a couple of weeks ago and it was paid via finance with Barclays Partner Finance. The TV was due to be delivered last Saturday (17th) but got a call in the morning saying the van had broken down (in hindsight an excuse) and could they rearrange for this sat (24th).
So my situation is that I have a TV that probably won't be delivered on finance. Anyone any idea what will happen? If the TV doesn't get delivered (which I guess it won't) where do I stand with the finance? Would I be able to cancel it or is it too late as they have paid ED for the TV?

All very confusing but at 11.30pm its hard to find advice or know where to look!!
I will call them all in the morning and see what happens!

al1982

Tricker how did u pay? visa debit card?

Triker

al1982 wrote: »

Tricker how did u pay? visa debit card?

No maestro debit card, so nil protection.

laticsforlife

kimdegsidash wrote: »

Hi Vimtodave - think you are in a similar position to us. Keep posting on this site for updates on how we are getting on. Might be best to just try and get your old tv back and repair it elsewhere.

I too have a TV in for repair, and want to know if anyone has managed to track down where theirs is.

The galling thing is that whilst not an expensive item (in the whole scheme of things, £200) it only had a freeview fault and worked fine as a TV and DVD player.

I have just called Yorkshire Multimedia and a helpful guy looked up my postcode and said they had never had it, so it was likely at ED's Bradford site (which is not now staffed).

So goodness knows how and if I will ever see it again, like a previous poster says it isn't ED stock and they have no right to keep it (nor realise value by selling it).

I sent an e-mail on Tuesday and their 3 day expected reply timescale is fast approaching (I don't hold out much hope of a reply)

I also spoke to ED using the helpline and the guy said all they were doing is taking details and passing it on to KPMG.

Not hopeful and it was daughters TV which was a 2007 Xmas gift. :mad:

exempireemployee

webbo34 wrote: »

Sorry to hear about you loosing your job shaftd, you got shafted by the sounds of it. Could you tell me if this went on at your store; http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=17911603&postcount=58

What I am about to say is not directed at the hardworking, honest employees of empiredirect, but at the dishonest, spineless people that don't have a conscience.

OK, if store managers knew leading up to the administration announcement that there was NO WAY they could fulfil orders, why didn't they subtly tell customers to go elsewhere? That is what has !!!!ed me off the most, because a long time ago I used to work for an electrical retailer and there were many dishonest people there, mainly "sales managers", that (for example) would sell guarantees on the "accidental damage" promise - yet the guarantee didn't cover accidental damage.

I thankfully didn't purchase anything at empiredirect in the last month that would cause problems (but I almost did!). If I had, I would be talking to my solicitor right now, with the evidence you and the other ex-empiredirect employee have provided; like someone else has mentioned - what the company was doing was indeed fraudulent; in simple terms they were engaging in contracts with customers that they could not complete.

The empiredirect directors* cannot get away with this, they mustn't. They need to made an example of. They have obviously exploited a loop hole in the company administration system so that they are protected from liability.

It really is sickening and I hope they get what's coming to them - instead of being honest about whatever problem they had, they've made it worse (hmm, sounds familiar...*cough* Darling). They are nothing but con men in my opinion.

*Remember their names;

Madan Showan, Chairman
Amarjit Singh, Director
Jaswant Toor, Director
Manohar Showan, Director

If you see any companies springing up out of thin air with any of the above named as directors - BEWARE.

if you would like to know any more about how the company was operated don't hesitate to ask

exempireemployee

adandem wrote: »

With regards to the 5 year warrantys, it wouldn't surprise me if this was just a ploy to sell more, ED knowing full well they'd never have to honour them.

They'd got to have known for sometime that the company had serious problems.

you're right, it was a ploy. and they did know

Pingu69

Ordered Plasma TV Wednesday 14/01/09 by Phone using Credit Card Decided to wait until Monday (19th) for Delivery Got Phone call Monday to say the Delivery Hub had been Broken into (now know the real reason)
So rang The ED phone number of the Homepage (using saynoto 0870) (01132351770) Was Told my details would be passed on to the Administrator so then decided to call my Credit Card Company (Abbey) was told that as the Delivery Date has now passed I am entitled to a full refund which should show on my account within the next 5 Days will post again when or if it arrives
Looks like I may come out of this ok but would like to wish the other customers good luck and sorry to hear about the employees who have lost there Jobs as having dealt with ED many times before found you all very helpful

kimdegsidash

Update for all people who have tvs in for repair under the Empire Direct extended warranty. We were told today that our TV will have to remain in the warehouse until the administrators have conducted a full stock check and they would contact us after that time, expected to be about 3 weeks. Great. :mad: