Anyone had recent dealings with Farmison online butchers

JosephK

For last three Christmases have been given, as present, a Farmison gift voucher. Last month when went to order meat, there was only a few bits and pieces on website so left it a couple of days in case that was a glitch. When looked again, there was a message saying Farmison no longer accepting orders and a redirect to Donald Russell website. There was also an email address given for queries.

Did a bit of digging and found trade/business journals saying Donald Russel had taken over Farmison. So contacted email address on Farmison website, they have not replied to my three emails. Also contacted Donald Russell who, although they have taken over Farmison, say they are different companies. Which strikes me as a bit doublethink.

Any thoughts as to possible progress or do we have to accept the voucher is down the drain as though Farmison had simply gone under?

user1977

What's the (full legal) name/number of the company which the voucher is from?

From a quick look at Companies House there's a company formerly named Farmison Limited (until 2023) which is now defunct:

FL MEAT REALISATIONS 2023 LIMITED overview - Find and update company information - GOV.UK

JosephK

Was Farmison & Co, based in Ripon, different to Farmison Ltd., Birmingham. Looking at gov.uk site there appears to be an Old Farm Ripon Ltd. which is linked. May be worth trying.

Thanks for link

Renfrewman

As an aside things do not seem to be going well for Donald Russell either:-

More than 100 jobs at risk at Aberdeenshire butcher - BBC News

Will people please learn that giving vouchers is not always a good idea?

sheramber

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81954825#Comment_81954825

https://www.thegrocer.co.uk/news/farmison-and-co-split-up-after-sale-of-brand-and-factory-site/711239.article

JosephK

So far, no good. Old Farm Ripon Ltd & Pinnacle Foods Ripon do not appear to have websites and I'm not going near Ripon in foreseeable future. Consign a letter to Royal Mail's TLC?

echointhevalley

Farmison was, before stopping taking orders, a trading name of Donald Russell Ltd. Whether they will honour the gift voucher is another question. As Renfrewman mentioned, Donald Russell are also going out of business in the coming months unless something drastic happens - they've already sold one of their factory buildings to Mackies - https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/business/local/6991859/mackies-cold-store-kintore-aberdeenshire/

sheramber

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81955934#Comment_81955934

Donald Russel only took part of the business.

According to the link above the Ripon shop and meat processing plant were taken over by a local company now trading as Ripon Foods.

echointhevalley

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81955978#Comment_81955978

Yep, Donald Russell took over the Farmison brand name and the products/existing suppliers - took it all up to Inverurie. You're absolutely right about Ripon Foods taking over the Ripon factory.

Th7777

I have a similar issue with a Farmison gift card and no-one answering the care@farmison.co.uk email - or the phone and email at Donald Russell - does anyone know if a chargeback on the crd used to buy the gift card would work in this situation ?

Thanks

eskbanker

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81995819#Comment_81995819

Since you got what you ordered, i.e. a gift card, chargeback won't apply…