DK Windows in liquidation - owing €1.5m in customer deposits

[Cervelo]

A couple of chippers in my locality don't accept card payments, cash only - I hope I don't end up out of pocket and hungry one of these days...

Mine make me pay in advance, should I be worried and insist on paying when the order is given to me

 

[Cervelo]

Personally speaking when a company won't take credit card payments when they did in the past, that's a huge red flag

 

[Cervelo]

I have two patio doors replaced by Rationel and they wanted full payment before installation. Huge company.

I don't have a problem with this as long as It's not all upfront at the time of ordering
And the final payment is only payable when the company is arranging an installation date with you

 

[peemac]

Good in theory, but a company knowing they are in dire financial straits might still conveniently forget this in the weeks before they collapse.

Simple solution. Directors become personally liable if they do not show that this was offered to the customer.

Hello,

Anyone handing over large deposits in advance of work being done, needs their head examined...that's the real consumer education piece.

Sure, booking deposits are appropriate and yes, perhaps a further element of a deposit for customised items that need to be made in advance, but there's no justification for having to handover 40% - 70% of the price in advance.

You'd be surprised at how many people would "change their mind" if a substantial deposit is not required. Good tradespeople will book the required contractors weeks or months in advance and also order materials. If someone cancels, it can be difficult to suddenly fill that time, but you still have all the costs associated, so 40%-50% deposit is the norm and further payment just before work commences is the norm.

There are many unscrupulous people out there that will do their damnest not to pay if you wait until completion to ask for payment

 

[Marsupial]

Business Post today:

‘I’m not on a beach in the Bahamas’: DK Windows & Doors founder on €2m worth of unfulfilled orders

Liquidators of company told creditors last week that only a ‘very limited’ number of the 225 unfulfilled orders placed with the company had even been started

www.businesspost.ie

Extract:

The founder of a window and door company which was placed into liquidation with €2 million worth of unfulfilled orders has insisted he did everything he could to get through “difficulties” faced by his firm. Darragh Kane, sole director of DK Windows and Doors Ltd, said the company “bent over backwards”, but was unable to overcome the challenges it faced last year.
He said he had an investor lined up in late 2024 but this fell through, and he faced other issues including a “factory fire” with a supplier.
“We honestly tried to do best by the customers,” he told the Business Post. “We had no intention of closing the doors,” he added.
Kane is facing more than 200 angry creditors, some of whom allege his company took in deposits when it should have known that orders could not be honoured.
Kane said he had put hundreds of thousands of his own money into the company and was now “bankrupt” as a result.

 

[Leo]

Simple solution. Directors become personally liable if they do not show that this was offered to the customer.

And all they have to do is bury it in the small print that no one reads.