CUSTOMERS across central Victoria are among many left out of pocket and with orders unfulfilled following the collapse of two related blind supply and installation companies.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Adorn Blinds Melbourne Pty Ltd and and Adorn Blinds Pty Ltd have gone into voluntary liquidation and liquidator Cliff Sanderson said initial investigations suggest there are at least 187 creditors with claims likely to exceed $1,050,000.
Mr Sanderson, from Dissolve Company Liquidators, said that figure included about 150 claims by customers as well as employees, trade suppliers and the Australian Tax Office.
"I can advise that the companies - Adorn Blinds Melbourne Pty Ltd and Adorn Blinds Pty Ltd - are unable to complete or fulfill any outstanding orders," Mr Sanderson said.
"Anyone with a claim against the companies should send an email to daniel@dissolve.com.au if they haven't already done so. However, at this stage, it appears unlikely that there will be any funds available to compensate customers or pay a dividend to creditors."
Bendigo local Melissa Chisholm is chasing compensation for allegedly faulty and delayed installation work, and says she knows of 44 other people who have had similar issues with the company.
"Since July, we've had 13 installation dates with them," Ms Chisholm said. "Multiple of those (dates) have been either cancelled or installers have arrived and they haven't actually been able to do any work at all. I started a VCAT application but I've gotten to the point now where I can't actually proceed because there's so many different ABNs."
Ms Chisholm said there were already issues five weeks after her initial engagement with the company in July 2021 when a sales consultant visited her property.
Ms Chisholm said many customers were required to pay a 50 per cent deposit on booking, and then a week before the installation date they were required to pay the remaining 50 per cent "before they've even provided you with any service or any sort of product".
"Curtains aren't cheap, like our order in particular was $9000 to do our whole house," she said.
"And we've spoken with a couple of people that are older or some of them are single mums, so they've saved for a really long time to get a nice fit out of window furnishings and they've come out of it with absolutely nothing."
Ms Chisholm said she tried to call the company in May, but its website and phones were down.
Mr Sanderson will provide a detailed report by August 25.
"It is likely I will be applying to ASIC to seek to have the director banned, for a period of time, from acting as a company director," he said.
If you're reading this it's because you're a loyal subscriber to the Bendigo Advertiser. If you want to get more out of your subscription join the discussion on the Bendigo Advertiser's subscriber group on Facebook today.
Lucy Williams
Journalist with an interest in telling regional and rural stories, and covering the diverse array of topics that matter to the people of Bendigo.
Journalist with an interest in telling regional and rural stories, and covering the diverse array of topics that matter to the people of Bendigo.
