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

charliefarly

i got a cheque from SANTANDER and it bounced.

Suffolk_Trading_Standards

For the attention of all Utopia Consortium limited customers.

With reference to Suffolk Trading Standards post on the 23rd of March 2011.

An update on the current situation regarding Utopia Consorium Limited can be found on the Suffolk County Council website.

To access the latest trading standards update on this issue please go to the Trading Standards section of the Suffolk County Councils website and click on the latest news tab from the menu on the left hand side.

vikingaero

Suffolk_Trading_Standards wrote: »

For the attention of all Utopia Consortium limited customers.

With reference to Suffolk Trading Standards post on the 23rd of March 2011.

An update on the current situation regarding Utopia Consorium Limited can be found on the Suffolk County Council website.

To access the latest trading standards update on this issue please go to the Trading Standards section of the Suffolk County Councils website and click on the latest news tab from the menu on the left hand side.

Here's the link:

http://www.suffolk.gov.uk/BusinessAndConsumer/TradingStandards/latestnews.htm

robmar0se

Suffolk Trading Standards Advice on Utopia Consortium Limited



For the attention of all Utopia Consortium limited customers that have paid for a Dyson Vacuum Cleaner which they have not received.
Suffolk Trading Standards have been in discussion with Utopia Consortium limited since the beginning of 2011 following complaints regarding their supply of Dyson vacuum cleaners.
As a result, on the 16th of March Utopia Consortium Ltd agreed to stop taking new orders for Dyson vacuum cleaners and to issue refunds to all outstanding customers that have paid but not received a machine.
In view of the amount of refunds that needed to be made we requested that Utopia Consortium issue refunds to those customers that ordered Dyson cleaners first and until last week we were receiving updated lists of these refunds on a regular basis to allow us to monitor the situation.
Until the 21st of March our checks indicated that refunds were being made, however from that date Utopia informed us that their account had been frozen by the bank and that any cheques cashed after this date were being rejected. After making enquiries with the bank we can confirm that this account was not closed due to Utopia ceasing to trade or due to a lack of any funds and we are aware that Utopia are currently trying to arrange new banking services.
Please be assured that we do take this issue very seriously and fully understand the frustration felt by many customers still owed money, however currently it is our opinion that it is in the best interests of all consumers still owed money to continue to liaise with Utopia on a daily basis to discuss, assist and monitor the situation.
As such Suffolk Trading will continue to work with Utopia to try and ensure that they can resume the refund process. As soon as we know how and when this can be achieved or there is any other substantial update on this issue we will update the Suffolk Trading Standards website

Here is Suffolks post in full:

Question for them is what has Utopia done with all the cash he's taken - where is it?

Tyke4885

robmar0se wrote: »

Here is Suffolks post in full:

Question for them is what has Utopia done with all the cash he's taken - where is it?

Absolutely! The post from Suffolk Trading Standards raises more questions that it answers. Why would the bank freeze an account that has sufficient funds available?

Previous posts indicate he is bouncing cheques from two separate accounts. It appears that Utopia are giving Trading Standards the runaround just as much as their long suffering customers.

Just what on earth is going on here?

The man must be a complete and utter incompetent or just a very slippery rogue and I suspect it may be the latter!

I emailed Trading Standards again last week and they just replied by directing me to their website without addressing the many questions which still remain about the operation of this "business".

Keep the pressure on. If we let up on the complaining, he will use any opportunity to walk away from all this WITH OUR MONEY!

MOWGLI

I bought a Handheld Dyson from Utopia back in January, I still have not received it, they promised it would arrive but it never has. They have ignored my emails and phone messages. From reading this forum it sounds like I have been truly conned. I cannot believe that the police have not been involved, this is not right. I will be contacting them tomorrow to see if there is anything that can be done.

Iwantitnow_2

Having been away for a week, I am disappointed to see that no further progress has been made.

I ordered on 3 December, still no cheque, (even a bouncing one), and no reply to my many enquiries.

robmar0se

Tyke4885 wrote: »

I emailed Trading Standards again last week and they just replied by directing me to their website without addressing the many questions which still remain about the operation of this "business".

Keep the pressure on. If we let up on the complaining, he will use any opportunity to walk away from all this WITH OUR MONEY!

Under freedom of information act, Suffolk have to make information available to you and anyone else who requests it.

[EMAIL="foi@suffolk.gov.uk"]foi@suffolk.gov.uk[/EMAIL]

It is painfully clear that the longer Suffolk p*ssyfoots around the more likely that Ensinger can "loose" the cash he has taken. Its time for Creditors to be called in, assets frozen, and Ensinger investigated for misleading the public. His trading practices were dishonest, he offered to sell via Credit Card facilities which he did not have, he said he had the items in stock which he didn't, and further did not comply with long distance selling regs.

I also don't see how Suffolk can make statements that refunds will be made by 1st April without checking that Ensinger had the necessary cash balances to pay for these; if as Suffolk said they had a list of all the unfulfilled orders, then surely it was a relatively simple next step to see if there was sufficient funds to meet this, and if not, to trigger alarm bells. Sounds to me that Suffolk might have been rather naive. I have never heard of Banks freezing accounts because of the volume of payments/cheques, it is usually because of suspect behaviour or insufficient funds - especially if it is true that now both Barclays and Santander have frozen accounts.

Tyke4885

robmar0se wrote: »

Under freedom of information act, Suffolk have to make information available to you and anyone else who requests it.

[EMAIL="foi@suffolk.gov.uk"]foi@suffolk.gov.uk[/EMAIL]

It is painfully clear that the longer Suffolk p*ssyfoots around the more likely that Ensinger can "loose" the cash he has taken. Its time for Creditors to be called in, assets frozen, and Ensinger investigated for misleading the public. His trading practices were dishonest, he offered to sell via Credit Card facilities which he did not have, he said he had the items in stock which he didn't, and further did not comply with long distance selling regs.

I also don't see how Suffolk can make statements that refunds will be made by 1st April without checking that Ensinger had the necessary cash balances to pay for these; if as Suffolk said they had a list of all the unfulfilled orders, then surely it was a relatively simple next step to see if there was sufficient funds to meet this, and if not, to trigger alarm bells. Sounds to me that Suffolk might have been rather naive. I have never heard of Banks freezing accounts because of the volume of payments/cheques, it is usually because of suspect behaviour or insufficient funds - especially if it is true that now both Barclays and Santander have frozen accounts.

All the above is so true. This whole affair reeks of deliberaste dishonesty and not just poor customer service or operational problems.

I think Suffolk trading standards need to get tough and initiate some proper ACTION.

Failing that, stop hiding behind "confidentiality" and be honest and open about just what exactly is going on. Tell us if the accounts are frozen or not, whether there are funds available for refunds or not, and tell us exactly why the banks are not honouring those cheques. There is too much confusion at the moment and surely people have a right to know what is going on. The curent post from trading standards does not address these issues sufficiently.

KEEP COMPLAINING,KEEP ASKING FOR INFORMATION AND DONT LET HIM GET AWAY WITH IT!

vikingaero

Problem is that Trading Standards are often toothless and don't have the powers to act against rogue traders. That's not their fault that Parliament hasn't given them the powers to deal effectively with people like Ensinger.

On the flip side there are people such as motor traders who are heavily Policed by TS.