EmpireDirect in administration...

[Podie]

Blimey...

website said:

Mark Firmin and Richard Fleming, both of KPMG LLP, were appointed in the High Court as Joint Administrators of Empire Direct Plc on 19 January 2009. The business is unable to trade in administration due to low stock levels and operating losses and accordingly the stores have been closed. The administrators are working hard to assess the position for customers who have made payments and not received goods. We will endeavour to contact these customers over the next few weeks.

Anyone interested in acquiring any part of the business should contact the administrators forthwith.

The administrators anticipate that the following helplines will be available from as early as possible on 20th January 2009.

If you are a customer then please call the helpline on 08714729000. If you are a supplier then please call the helpline on 08714729001. Alternatively you can send an email to [e-mail].

Please note that emails will be responded to as soon as possible, however this may not be on the same day that we receive your query.

The affairs, business and property of Empire Direct Plc are being managed by the Joint Administrators

The Joint Administrators act as agents of the company and contract without personal liability

Mark Granville Firmin is authorised to act as an insolvency practitioner by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales Richard Dixon Fleming is authorised to act as an insolvency practitioner by the Insolvency Practitioners Association.

[BertB]

That is very surprising! I was on their website only the other day but thankfully they didn't have what I was after.

[anonymous-user]

Shame - always had good service from them!

[Z4monster]

I'm suprised as they used to have a tie-in to insurance companies. When I got my TV and Video blown up by lightning it was Empire who replaced them via the insurance. Maybe they lost that contract due to poor service, which is exactly what I got on that occasion.

Still a shame to see they go pop. Another bunch of people out of work and not spending money in the high street. I feel sorry for anyone in this boat.

[blindswelledrat]

Who and what are Empire Direct?

[randomman]

blindswelledrat said:

Who and what are Empire Direct?

Hopefully not the film mag!

[AdeTuono]

bks! They owe me £750 for a dishwasher.

[sprinter885]

I believe they are the online electrical (mainly) retailer who may have been connected with Empire Stores who I believe used to (?) own Littlewoods stores & Empire catalogue (a la Grattan )?

Google for certainty ....???

p.s. they also used to offer "affinity"/discounted deals with e.g. HSBC customers too.

Edited by sprinter885 on Tuesday 20th January 09:23

[anonymous-user]

AdeTuono said:

bks! They sold me some air for £750

EFA

[SJobson]

Wonder whether the extended warranty thing you could get if you signed up with them is ring-fenced?

They did have some very good deals occasionally - got my Sony Vaio laptop from them 18 months ago for £499 when everyone else was selling the same thing for £800+.

[sprinter885]

That'll ^ be why then....!

[SJobson]

Yes, it did seem suspiciously cheap, particularly since they were still selling secondhand on eBay for over £500 until mid-2008! Not all of their deals were quite so keen, but it did seem they picked up a limited range of stock quite cheaply and sold it at small margins.

[randomman]

AdeTuono said:

bks! They owe me £750 for a dishwasher.

probably not the film mag then

[elster]

sprinter885 said:

That'll ^ be why then....!

Indeed they have been cheaper on a lot of items since becoming an Online Store.

I don't see this as a bad thing in the long run though. I hope it is a revival of the local electrical stores. I doubt it though, just means the supermarkets will dominate.

[pbirkett]

I wonder if it had anything to do with the fact their after sales service was truly terrible? I have first hand experience of dealing with that bunch of crooks who seemingly did everything they could not to honour the warranty of my panasonic plasma tv when it failed well within it's 5 year warranty, presumably the remaining 3 and a bit years of it has gone up in smoke...

I started a thread over on avforums about it if anyone is really interested I am sure you can search for it (and I sure as hell ain't typing it all out on an iPhone!) but suffice to say I was far from being the only one who experienced st service from that bunch of cowboys.

[Podie]

Must admit, if I want anything "digital" I get it "direct", rather than from an "Empire"

I was just surprised that a seemingly large enterprise had gone - although I've seen the comments on AVForums in the past.

[adove]

(Probably best we don't suggest things like that on PH! I'm sure they've got more pressing issues at hand, but it's a suggestion that could potentially land people in trouble. Trust you understand. PH Mod Team)

[Podie]

Woah... that's libelous...

[jon-]

I was working for www.electricshop.com when KPMG was called in a few years ago for administration (FWIW electricshop is now a strong business again). That was a hard admin and empiredirect is 4 times the size. Hopefully someone will snap up the business and honour existing orders.

Always buy stuff on creditcards online, at least then you're protected.

[Dogwatch]

Got a tumble drier at a good price and one or two other items from them a while back. Sent a more expensive carpet cleaner than the model I had ordered so they were more than happy to exchange! Didn't have to use after-sales service so can't comment on that.