furniture order

tinmanscarecrow

Hi Wadsterboy ,I too recieved the papers today ,not sure what to do as I have already been re embursed by my bank through chargeback,do I need to contact my bank ,or Whitemaund ,or will the bank deal with everything ? I'm not sure about all the legal ins and outs ,you sound as if you are very well informed.
It seems I may have put in my claim to the bank at just the right time.Thanks again for the info.

tinmanscarecrow

boxnumberone

I've came to this one late. I bought 2 Gainsborough sofas from Furniture Warehouse in February 2010. They delivered the sofas no problem in April but one had a fault. This is where the problems started. I made over 300 calls in total (got the phone records to prove it) to them and only had the phone answered twice. Sent them over 60 emails and got two back, one of which was abusive. Sent over 20 recorded delivery letters to both their office and Peter Ablewhite's home address. Eventually got a replacement from Furniture Warehouse after hassling Gainsborough daily who sent them a replacement (When I contacted Gainsborough they had had no record of the sofa being faulty from Furniture Warehouse) who got fed up with me.

Sadly that replacement also has a fault. That was delivered in September. The same story with Furniutre Warehouse. Gainsborough sent out a representative to look at the sofa and they sent a new arm to Furniture warehouse at the begining of October and I have been unable to get through either by phone, email or letter.

I reported them to East Sussex trading Standards way back in May and they were not the least bit interested. I reported them to my credit card provider, Halifax, as I paid with my credit card and they have been of very little help and unwilling to get the sofa replaced. I guess I will have to put it in the hands of a solicitor as I was led to believe that the credit card company was as liable as the company that i purchased it from.

At least i got my good even if they are faulty. Gainsborough have a 10 year guarentee on the sofas but are avoiding doing anything about it as Ablewhite is still in business as a sole trader.

Catch 22 and the law is an joke. I have faulty goods that no one will take responsability for it.

boxnumberone

Also forgot to say that the Ablewhite family also runs two furniture shops in Brighton called Furniture Hut and that there are several other business listed at a Ablewhite's address at 12 Chatsworth Road, Brighton.

Chatsworth Cleaning Services (Window cleaners apparently and contact listed as Peter Ablewhite. It has a fax listed against it as 01273 541123)
Haggle Ltd (set up on the 2nd Nov 2009 and showing as still active)
The Clearance Centre
1st Call Able Services (its number is listed as 01273 504914)
and as we know Furniture Warehouse (although also found tel: 01273 273890 listed against it)

Why not get in touch with the Ablewhites who all ran Furniture Warehouse (Peter, Sarah and Tina) through their facebook pages and wish them a happy new year.

www(dot)facebook(dot)com/sarah.ablewhite
www(dot)facebook(dot)com/peter.ablewhite
www(dot)facebook(dot)com/people/Tina-Ablewhite/1131344241

boxnumberone

Just an update on the situation with Peter Ablewhite and Furniture Warehouse.

The IVA was granted and Whitmaunds are no longer handling the case. It is now in the hands of a company called Kirker and Co with a lady called Laura Bosier handling the case.

Contact details are as follows.

Kirker & Co
Roland Gardens
London
SW7 3PQ
Tel: 0207 580 6030

Laura Bosiers mobile number is 07960151811
emailis laura@kirker.co.uk

tinmanscarecrow

Hi boxmumberone,

Thanks for the update ,did you find this out from Whitemaund or were you at the creditors meeting ?I haven;t heard anything from Whitemaund since recieving the IVA papers.

boxnumberone

Spoke to Laura at Whitemaunds who informed me that the IVA had been approved and that the case was now being handled by Kirker & Co. Spoke to Kirkers who confirmed that they were acting on behalf of Peter Ablewhite. You will get something out informing you of this but I would get in touch with Kirker & Co anyway to stake your notice.

You may also wish to send an email with your story of Furniture Warehouse/Peter Ablewhite to The Argus, Ablewhite's local newspaper. I know they are aware of the story of Mr Ablewhite's deception and the countless people he has left out of pocket. The publicity will help make sure this man or his siblings can not continue to rip people off.

[EMAIL="editor@theargus.co.uk"]editor@theargus.co.uk[/EMAIL]

The Uckfield Furniture Warehouse shop has been rebranded Furniture Hut which is run by Peter Ablewhite's son Chris. The scam continues.

Rebeccaa

Hi,

It’s very important thing that in our home which type of furniture we have placed in our living room and other side of our home. My friend suggests me who is an interior decorator, living room furniture store where I have got really very attractive and high quality furniture.

Thanks!

jbloggs1

It sadens me that none of you guys are not looking at the big picture as to whether there may be a reason to why all this happened. Furniture Warehouse has been running for over 15 years in which time has offered really good low prices and good service. All this trouble came about when Mr Ablewhite decided to take a back seat on things and put his trust in someone to take over the running of things. However this person took advantage and lied to him, and put in a very deep hole financially, for the last 8 months Mr Ablewhite has been trying to put things right but due to the downturn in business overall this could not be acheived. It was with deep regret that the company was shut down before suppliers and customers where refunded their money. It isnt easy running a business in any climate never mind through a recession. Everything was done to try and rescue the business and make sure everyone got what they wanted but this unfortunately wasnt acheived. I am sure you think that Mr Ablewhite has just dissappeared with the money but he hasn't I can promise you that. Instead he has entered an IVA in order for you guys to get at least some of your money back, but as you can surely understand, Mr Ablewhite is nearing the age of 70 and the last thing he needs is to loose his house which I'm afraid to say is a lot more important than any piece of furniture, for anyone especially at that age. If he was to loose it or go bankrupt, then no money would be paid at all to anyone due to not having the one business at this address being the cattery, that can actually pay what is owed, so before you go and try to prevent business to the cattery just think about what damage that could do to the refunds made. There are many companies out there who go into liquidation everyday and start up the next. I have very strong feelings about this, but that is another story. It is true that a Mr Gary Ablewhite is running his own business in Brighton and recently taken over the Uckfield store until the lease has finished and is still going after 20 years of trading, this is not a new business start up from Furniture Warehouse, this is a completely different company and has no connection what so ever. Furniture Hut is a reputable company and does not deserve to be dragged down just because it is in the same family. It is also very unfair for the othe siblings in the family to be pulled into this, after all they only worked there and tried to help, it has caused extreme distress to the whole family, so please leave them in peace. These things happen more and more nowadays. Please can you try to think about the damage you cause when you make comments like these everywhere, you certainly wouldn't like it if it happened to you.

tinmanscarecrow

Hi jbloggs1
It sounds like you have a personal connection with this company!!!

And while we all understand it would be hard for anyone to lose their house and would not wish it on anyone ,I can't help feeling that for some one to get into that much debt doesn't happen overnight and if Mr Ablewhite had taken more of an interest in his financial affairs perhaps he wouldn't find himself in this situation.
The people posting on this site have every right to be angry about the way we have all been treated by this company ,who ever is to blame and we all have a sob story to tell .I am almost 70 myself and have for the last 25 years cared for my disabled husband ,I saved for a long time to purchase the furniture I ordered and was worried sick when I realised that I was going to lose almost £800 pounds and lost a lot of sleep over it all ,to you and Mr Ablewhite £800 may seem like a drop in the ocean but to us it is a lot of money,and I felt as bad about losing it as if I had been mugged.
The company had no right to keep taking money from people knowing they weren't going to be able to supply the goods and they had no right to ignore peoples phone calls emails and letters, that only made matters worse and was adding insult to injury,so please forgive me for not feeling any sympathy and remember Mr Ablewhite is not the innocent party in this dispute we are ...

boxnumberone

I sent 8 recorded delivery letter to Peter Ablewhite at his home address (and 12 to the Burgess Hill store), the first of which was in May, but did he reply..... no. No letter, no phone call and no email. I am looking at the big picture. We are told he owes nearly £500,000 so what this has to do with the fact he is nearly 70 is beyond me. I'm sure that ,if as you say, he tried for 8 months to sort things out comes as great comfort to all the supplier and customers left out of pocket.

You say 'It is also very unfair for the other siblings in the family to be pulled into this'. You may wish to correct me but did his daughters work in the customer service department? The same department that rarely answered the phone and shouted at customers when they did actually get through.

I run a business so please don't patronise me. The fact the man didn't run his business properly is his fault not ours. I work hard, pay my staff and my suppliers on time. Furniture Warehouse was taking money and not even putting the orders through to the suppliers and that comes straight from one of the companies that suppy him.

He entered a IVA for our benefit!!!! That's nice of him. Are you sure it was not so he could keep his house. You seem to be well informed. Perhaps you would like to share with us how you know all this facinating information?

You say 'Please can you try to think about the damage you cause when you make comments like these everywhere, you certainly wouldn't like it if it happened to you'. Why should people not be made aware of what this man did and no, I wouldn't like it done to me but then again I wouldn't take peoples money and leave them with nothing or faulty goods the way he did.

People are angry and have every right to be so. I kept records of all communication with Furniture Warehouse and Mr Ablewhite so I can back up the fact that they/he ignored me. Took my money and ignored me. It took threats of legal action to actually get them to do something. The goods I received were faulty, not there fault granted, but my contract was with FW and they just ignored everything I did to contact them. Does that sound like 'for the last 8 months Mr Ablewhite has been trying to put things right'. I'm lucky that I have the ways and means to pursue this further but other don't.

It saddens me that you feel you have the right to tell us we should look at the bigger picture but then again you are not one of Mr Ablewhite's unfortunate customers.