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

lesley1801

I have been watching this forum since early December when I was foolish enough to pay cash into Utopia's bank account. I seem to have had all the usual emails - right up until two weeks ago when they promised to send me a delivery date. There;s no excuse for being stupid, - but xmas present buying was stressful and this seemed a good deal.

I've sent emails, threatened small claims court and police, spoken to Caroline, left numerous phone messages and tried to get my money back.

What an apalling way to treat customers. They do seem to be a real company but they are complete imcompetents. Don't know what to do next.

Just wanted to join the chat. I think there must be a lot more like me who are just waiting and hoping.

Can't understand why people who paid after me seem to have somehow received theirs. Did they shout louder than me or are they something to do with Utopia?

Has anyone else received theirs. I placed my order on 7th December.

dorzov

I have similarly been waiting since early December.

If you are still waiting for your delivery then I would advise you contact Consumers Direct (Tel: 08454 040506) who will contact Utopia's local trading standards and will advise you to send a request for a full refund which Utopia is legally obliged to provide to you under the distance trading act if you have been waiting more than 30 days. Utopia have had my request for a couple of weeks and I have had no response whatsoever so I will commence legal proceedings shortly.

My personal opinion of Utopia is that they are running a "soft" scam and relying on people to give up chasing them so the onus is on all of us to persist and take action not just threaten to. I notice they are still freely trading on their website which is quite frankly a disgrace, but only continued legitimate complaints to the authorities will curb this.

Hope this helps, I will keep you posted on any further developments with my own case.

siddha

Like many others on this forum I have made the mistake of dealing with this firm and am now without either Dyson or refund. The advice here is good and I will follow it............ But my blood boils and I would dearly like to take the matter much much further.

robmar0se

lesley1801 wrote: »

I Can't understand why people who paid after me seem to have somehow received theirs. Did they shout louder than me or are they something to do with Utopia?

Has anyone else received theirs. I placed my order on 7th December.

I believe that the reason maybe, if the claims are true, that later orders may have been fulfilled because of cost factors. The price of Dysons has risen since the new year, even discounting the VAT rise. If this company, as it appears, takes orders, and when they have the required wholesale lot, they then order. Now if the price has risen by 20%, he would make a loss on early unfulfilled orders.

As another poster intimates, he is then sitting on these, either hoping you will go away, or the price comes back. However this doesn't explain, if true, that some have now got refunds.

If I was anyone still waiting for December/November orders, you must formally send a written cancellation, recorded delivery, stating that under long distance regulations thay have 30 days within which to refund.

The problem now is that if too many claim refunds, he may decide to go into receivership, then everyone looses. The Ensinger family is quite numerous around the Cambridge/Norfolk area so would not be a great problem for them.

Good luck.

vikingaero

robmar0se wrote: »

As another poster intimates, he is then sitting on these, either hoping you will go away, or the price comes back. However this doesn't explain, if true, that some have now got refunds.

If I was anyone still waiting for December/November orders, you must formally send a written cancellation, recorded delivery, stating that under long distance regulations thay have 30 days within which to refund.

Ensinger identified the complainants on MSE through their usernames where possible and made sure they got their refunds or Dysons. The ones who he couldn't ID were sent private messages via this site as some people have said. These people would have been supplied Dysons meant for other customers. In retail/business, he who complains the loudest...

So what of the current crop of complainants who seem to have ordered in Nov/Dec? Well their Dysons have probably been supplied to other complaining customers and will have to wait for the next batch of stock to be available.

dcirulis

Hi All, I ordered a cleaner from these muppets this morning paid by CC. then thought .....Hmmm Maybe too cheap so started searching this forum. Lo and behold SCAM!. Have now contacted CC company and put stop on card.

Thank you to all who have given advice on this company BUYER BEWARE if its too good to be true ..... It PROBABLY IS

Iwantmydyson

Exactly what I got on 31st December - foolishly I paid by bank transfer and have not heard from them since in spite of continuous emails etc - am just about to start legal proceedings having got most of the way through the cancellation/refund attempts process to get them dead to rights.

Buy elsewhere

Lucky you - I did a cursory check for phone numbers and addresses on the website before paying but as it was over the holiday weekend I didn't actually phone up - I just paid - more fool me!

pinkymike

To all those regular posters who accuse us newbies of being part of Utopia then so be it. I have only written as a first time blogger to explain what happened to me so that it may be of help to others.

My ordering followed same pattern - card problems, would i like to pay by cheque/direct transfer. Foolishly sent a cheque ( I only got £5 discount unlike others) on 7 feb. Started to have doubts when it didnt arrive by 9th (original expected date of receipt) found this site and read all postings.

Having managed to speak to Anthony on 11 feb on one of the rare occassions when the phone was answered he apologised sounded genuine and promised it would be despatched Monday 14. I fired off by email usual threatening letter followed up later that day with another threatening legal action - all in big red letters.

On 15 feb receive email from Anthony to say item being despatched by fedex. Also email from fedex with tracking number. Tried to input tracking number into fedex but wasnt recognised by them.

Today Wed 16 Feb DC31 arrives.

My advice. Dont use them, if you have try seriously threatening emails. I think as others have said it is a scam they rely on people not being bothered to chase up their non delivered items and pocket the money. good luck

clawlessdragon

Well... I'm not sure what you have done differently to others.
I placed my order on the 7th Dec. I sent numerous e-mails - even spoke with the guy a few times - each time he promised an update but never got back to me.
On 11 Jan I took my case to Trading Standards - wrote a letter (by recorded delivery) to request a refund and 30 days in which to do it.
30 days had passed - not a peep... so I've been back to Trading Standards who advised on a second letter to take action before I take them to court. This I'm doing today (I can't get hold of them on the phone)...
So I find it hard to beleive you placed an order on the 7th, spoke on the 11th, and reced your goods on the 15th!

Shekou

Fordnmt wrote: »

We ordered a Dyson DC25 Animal earlier this week and got the 'unable to process credit card, can you pay by transfer and well give you a tenner off' email. Being slightly suspicious at this point I rang the sales guy Anthony and he seemed OK so we paid £219 via transfer. I am now wishing I did a quick google search to find this thread so I'm feeling a bit stupid now.

Anyway I have tried calling (answerphone) and no reply to my email yet - I will let you know what happens as it seems like some people have ended up ok out of this - let's see what happens...

UTOPIA CONSORTIUM LTD - If you are reading this, this is a good chance to help reassure people thinking about placing an order with you in future... I can assure readers that I am in no way connected to them - not sure how else to prove it (photo with a tea bag again :-) ) but I'm happy to take suggestions as to how...

This company are crooked, as the credit card scam above shows, the ignoe emails, no one answers the phone or the answerphone memory is full! no doubt with disatisfied customers!!!! I have reported them to Consumer Protection and the Trading Standards people.
Like you I am one of many many people duped by their glossy ad but surfice to say they actually operate out of a cottage on Knox Lane, Bardwell
They need closing down :mad: