WARNING Utopia Office Ltd consortium - cheap Dyson DC31 Animal - or not!

pod1977

Still waitng for mine aswell despite an e-mail (from John) on 29th Dec saying it would be shipped the following week once the warehouse re-opens and an e-mail (from Anthony) on 3rd Jan saying that my Dyson would be shipped last week along with tracking details. I've sent e-mails back on Friday last week and this week threatening to report them to NFIB but still haven't heard anything. I have not reported anything yet but have had enough (after over a month) and have just started that process ....

LeightonBelle

I ordered a Dyson animal just before Christmas, too late to despatch and received this week. Paid via Internet Bank as advised there was a technical problem with site taking card payments.
Their customer service was excellent, they kept me informed of progress and advised me when despatched.
I would recommend and I only paid £94.99 including discount for making payment via IB, and NO I am not connected with them in any way. Just a consumer looking for a bargain.:j

harvin

I echo the views of Pod1977.
Communication hasn't been too bad - until now.
Not heard anything since last Friday when I asked when I would receive it.
Have seeked advise from the OFT and will give Utopia 1 week to send over my Dyson otherwise I will be doing everything I can to legally get my money back (with compensation) and get this company shut down.
I'm certainly not a happy consumer. Rant over!

clawlessdragon

Mr_Mark wrote: »

Dear All,

Like most of you who tried purchasing a Dyson DC31 from Utopia Consortium, my wife has been conned into paying by bank transfer c.f credit card. No contact possible from Utopia since and obvious that same message to pay by bank transfer is solely to give the individual customer no power to pursue the money.

I telephoned government fraud helpline today who took details and were well aware of Mr Ensinger and his bogus company.

Suggest you all do the same to see if some collective actions from naive members of the public stops this ongoing scam.

Fraud helpline number to report you lack of goods against payment is 0300 123 2040

Mark

I ordered begining of Dec - out of all the methods of contacting this company, only the mobile number works - but each time I speak with someone the promise to look into the order and get back.. they never do.
I too contacted the above fraud helpline today - they were unwilling to take details or take it further until I had taken this up with consumerdirect first. If I had no luck with them, then they would take up the case and log a crime reference.
Consumerdirect were very helpful - I now have a case logged with them, and they gave me the wording to use in my letter to Utopia referencing "Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000" for my money back. THis I am typing up tonight, and sending by recorded delivery to Utopia- hopefully this will be enough to get my money back...

harvin

robmar0se wrote: »

Just checked Fedex number given above, doesn't track.

I too don't understand the psychology of all these happy buyers who haven't posted on MSE before who are rushing to to say how great everything is. We know there are unfortunately scammers out there, we also know that companies' engineer positive feedback - case in point, I wrote a factual but fair report on a company that I have dealt with over several years, who let me down - the company then offerred me £20 to remove it - when I declined, lo and behold we have new posters saying how brilliant the company is - strange as it always appears after a negative report!

The purpose of this thread is to warn people that sending bank transfers to companies they have not dealt with before is a risky business. Really Utopia (who I gather are reading this) would be better advised to get their business model sorted, after all it is now over 3 months since they stated they have a CC problem - if they can't get a merchant account with the CC's, there is probably a very good reason - if the CC's are not prepared to take the risk, should you?

FYI: checked a previous tracking number and it DOES track. I can't post the link as a new user - but go to FEDEX domestic tracker and put in the previous reference on 07570958990 into the reference and you'll see a successful delivery.

Thought I would check this out as I received an email from John at Utopia last night with my tracking number. It's getting collected today and meant to be delivered to me on Thursday.

I will advise you all if I get the parcel on Thursday. I know a lot of people have stated they haven't received their goods and this brought me to this site - ended up googling Utopia Office to see if I was the only person experiencing problems with this company. (Appeared I wasn't!)

...and before I hear that I'm somehow related to this company or the Ensingers - no I'm not. But then again, I admit it's hard to tell as I'm a first time poster etc.

Anyway, for those of you that would appreciate knowing the outcome of my long outstanding order (purchased on 5th Dec) - I'll keep you posted.

irn01

I, like many others, have been scammed by Utopia Consortium. I ordered a Dyson DC31 Animal online on 3 January. I too received an e-mail from 'Anthony' advising that, due to problems with their credit card systems, a bank transfer or cheque was needed, and offered a £5 reduction. I sent an e-mail querying this and 'Anthony' responded
'Situation is we are unable to process any form of card payment s at the moment'
As I was a little suspicious but duped by the professional looking website, I sent a cheque rather that bank transfer and lo and behold I have found that the cheque was cashed today. Subsequent e-mails have not been answered and their answer machine is full so no message can be left.

I have sent a threatening e-mail today advising that if they do not send it today I will report them to anyone who will listen!

Watch this space as I will track them down.

harrismfc

I am a new user to this site mainly because this is the first time I've been subjected to a "scam". I, like many of you, transferred my money by BACS after being told about the Credit Card situation. My money went through on the 3rd December and was told that the Dyson was put aside and would be shipped as soon as the money was in there account. I waited and waited, phoned and emailed but to no avail. Then I emailed yesterday and threatened that if I didn't receive a positive reply then I would go to the National Press and the fraud department at my bank. Guess what, I received an email from "John" with a FedEx tracking number on it. I done a search on FedEx with the number but they have no record of it. I'm just waiting to see if it arrives tomorrow as the email stated. I'll let you all know.

bogey888

I too was emailed last night with FedEx tracking number. Checked FedEx with tracking number tonight and Dyson (hopefully!) has been picked up from Utopia's offices. Fingers crossed it will arrive tomorrow, will be a relief when it arrives.
Ordered mid December, also do call their accountants on this thread, spoke to Caroline who was helpful. She emailed John Essinger for me, I did get an initial text from him them it went quiet for a couple weeks, so was surprised to get an email last night with FedEx details.

By the way, I work for the press so no connection with Utopia at all.

seh

I ordered the Dyson DC31 Handheld Animal from Utopia as most other places have sold out. I am certain they are scammers and will be cancelling my credit card as soon as my bank opens . I had an email from "Anthony" asking for a cheque or bank transfer, he must be joking! It was badly written and arrived at 10.30pm last night. Is there anyway that they can be removed from Google? I guess not. I will buy from Dyson or Amazon once it is back in stock!

pilot_steve

I, too, got overly hopeful with this company and ordered online last week. When nothing had happened, I tried to phone them during business hours and found and answerphone. This is strange. Stranger still is that the answerphone was full - maybe with hopeful job applicants since the vacancies page advertises the same phone number.

I received an email (sent after 10:30pm last night) from "Anthony" saying that they could not process card payment d/t a "technical issue at our end" and they had deleted my card details, and I am invited, with a £5 discount, to sent the money by bank transfer or cheque. This, along with the time of the email, seems suspicious - hence the reason I found this forum. Google is my friend :T

As someone else pointed out, if they cannot get a trading account with the credit card companies, then there is a problem. I think I will pass on this bargain on the basis that if it seems too good to be true, it usually is.

As an aside, it seems that pretty much everyone in the world is out of stock... Argos is not restocking (despite it still showing on their webiste) and it will not be in the next catalogue coming out next week or so. I wonder if the model has been discontinued by Dyson?