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

col.humph

I too ordered a Dyson DC33 from Utopia on March 2nd, I too recieved an immediate reply advising me of their problems with credit cards, but unlike you I foolishly money tansferred £154.99, since when nothing has been delivered and I am unable to contact anyone despte sending umpteen e-mails and telephone calls. I am at resigned to losing my money unless anyone has any advice of what I can do to either get Utopia to deliver or refund me.
Thanks

robmar0se

vikingaero wrote: »

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.

I'm not sure that is entirely accurate - do you recall the recent case of the Lapland Christmas theme park whose directors were taken to court by Sussex Trading Standards and found guilty of misleading the public? The Lapland directors had a very sophisticated website, took tons of orders, and filtered the cash out, the emphasis is still trying to trace where the dosh all went. Sounds familiar?

Iwantitnow_2

No fresh posts for over a week and yet 100+ viewings per day!

Has anyone managed to contact our mutual friend yet?

Any more information from Trading Standards?

robmar0se

Iwantitnow wrote: »

No fresh posts for over a week and yet 100+ viewings per day!

Has anyone managed to contact our mutual friend yet?

Any more information from Trading Standards?

Suffolk Trading Standards - 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.

Since it is now over two weeks since Suffolk posted their update, I agree with you, that they should be updating this more regularly than they are. I am somewhat cynical about how Suffolk formed their "opinion" as CC companies and banks don't appear to hold Utopia in very high esteem. If I was Suffolk I would be looking to protect customers interests and freeze all assets, and spend some time investigating where the cash has gone.

Hurdyman

A bit of background info. Like many other people, I paid for a DC31 mid February, received nothing and followed up with the same lack of success.
I reported all this to Suffolk TS around three weeks ago after reading the warnings on this site.

I rang Suffolk TS again at the beginning of this week to ask how things were progressing and why the info they posted had not changed after having had a fortnight to move things along. I spoke to their "reception desk" who couldn't tell me anything so passed me to the team dealing with this. I was told that nothing had changed since their message was posted. I questioned this !!! All they could tell me was that the banks had frozen Utopia's accounts and, until they were defrosted, nothing could be done. I asked about the time scale involved in this. They couldn't give one - not even a rough estimate as to whether we were looking at weeks, months or years.

We need more info and demands for their message to be updated every week.
I suggest that we all, individually, ring Suffolk TS weekly to stir the dust, keep up the pressure and keep this at the top of their work pile or this could be swept under the carpet and Utopia get clean away with our money.

Iwantmydyson

I agree - Come on Trading Standards - get a grip - and let's hear from you!

Edwinabell

I'm still awaiting my refund plus court costs, seems I threw good money after bad! Suffolk Trading Standards are just fobbing us all off. I wonder what they actually acheive in their work, no wonder the government are cutting them down, we're paying these people for nothing!

Tyke4885

If you look at Suffolk Trading standards website, the home page proudly displays a mock up road sign which proclaims "Suffolk, a rogue free zone".

I don't think so!

Despite a barrel load of complaints about this company and the fact that it appears to have practised a criminal deception over a protracted period of time, Suffolk Trading Standards don't appear to have achieved a great deal.

Mr Ensinger is still in possession of a great deal of cash which doesn't belong to him.

Trading Standards are not keeping people sufficiently informed about the progress (or lack of progress) of their investigations. It is not enough to hide behind "confidentiality". Surely people have a right to know just what is going on. Apparently, they say the bank accounts are frozen. If this is true, why is it so? Banks just don't freeze assets without good reason. Is it because he is being investigated? If so, why not say so. It is very frustrating not being told what is being done to recover our money.

Has anyone considered involving their MP or maybe the press about this matter?

smos585

Banks don't freeze accounts because of high activity. Accounts may be frozen due to exceeding overdraft limits, non-payment of interest, or due to fraudulent activity.

Suffolk Trading Standards are being less than fullsome with the information they are giving, one welcomed their involvement, but all that appears to have been achieved is that Ensinger has been stopped from deceiving yet more potential customers.

What has Suffolk done for those with existing orders? Well initially they gave us hope, but this appears to have been a false dawn. There has been no update now for three weeks, and frankly if this is not negligent, then is is bordering on being incompetent; Suffolk is rapidly and literally becoming the villain of the peace. One has to question the helpfulness of their statement "it is is in the best interests...etc" - why is this the case? Who says it is in our best interests? Does Suffolk become liable if this proves not to be the case?

If Suffolk is still "talking" to Utopia on a daily basis, then they should be more pro-active in giving feedback to all parties - there are now after today, only three working days till 3rd May - so come-on Suffolk get your finger out...........

smos585

As soon as I posted I get a very quick reply - see the Suffolk website, but reproduced here....

Utopia Consortium has informed Suffolk Trading Standards that it is currently unable to obtain banking services and so is struggling to resume the refund process negotiated with Suffolk Trading Standards last month. As a result of this Utopia has informed us that they intend to work with another company that specialises in helping businesses that are suffering from cash flow issues and unable to obtain banking facilities. As such Utopia Consortium Ltd have told us that once an agreement has been made, this company they will start to deal with Utopia’s outstanding debts and customers.

Suffolk Trading Standard’s main aim has always been to obtain refunds for all outstanding customers and please be assured that we will continue to work to this end. We are concerned that this issue has not been resolved yet and we will investigate any potential criminal breaches in line with our enforcement policy.

As stated in our previous update consumers owed a debt from Utopia can pursue them in the small claims court, however you need to consider the additional cost that will be incurred with taking this action, and due to the uncertain future of this company this may involve a further risk.

As soon as we have further information regarding this issue we will update this website.

Again questions for Suffolk, still remain unanswered - "where has all the cash gone?" Shouldn't you be investigating where the cash has been filtered away to?