Jim Langan's furniture gone bust

I ordered sofa on 6th of Sept., I was promised delivery in Nov, delay in delivery story used a few times , still in the docks story used a few times. I'm worried as I paid by Laser Card, rang bank they are looking into it. They say your only covered in case of fraud. This is to me as i was lied to , so in my opinion it is, waiting for call back from bank. I also asked Jim Langan's on the last call if everything was ok and were they going anywhere as I was worried about the length of time, I was assured everything was fine . Anybody else out there pay by Laser hearing anything back?
 
Hi Eady 5,

Myself and my brother used out laser cards to purchase our sofa. We paid 1700e in total for it. I contacted my bank this morning (AIB) and they told me that there was no cover on a Laser card as it is a debit card. However they said you might be covered on a Vias debit card. Im going to ring the number on the back of my card as the NCA advised to ring that number. I will let you know what they say.
 
Did Jim Langan own Classic furniture as well or was it another member of the family.
 
It is sad to hear about those of you who have been caught up in this unfortunate saga. For those of you having to repurchase or for those of you wary of where to buy furniture products at the moment, I can recommend Arnotts on Henry Street and Kenneth Hodgins near the Beacon South Quarter in Sandyford. Both of these companies are finacially solid, give great service and have a wide range of products that come from the best suppliers. I would also recommend buying Irish. There is traceability, lead times are realistic, and if there's a problem you don't need to wait for the next consignment from China. This will also benefit the economy. Lastly if anyone has queries regarding buying fabric sofas I am in the business and would be happy to talk to you. My number is 086 8369305.
 
I paid in full for a suite of furniture in Carrickmines in December and was told it would be a minimum of a 10 weeks wait for delivery. I called last week to find out the situation and they advised they would be delivering it on Paddy's Weekend.

I rang my bank (AIB) and they advised me that as I paid with Laser card, as soon as the money leave the account they can not do anything about it, so they CAN NOT refund the money to a standard laser card.

I found this information which people might find usefull:
http://www.consumerconnect.ie/eng/News_+_Research/Press Releases/Jim_Langan_Furniture.html

I hope we all get our money back or products delivered
 
For anyone who is trying in vein to get an answer from the company, according to the CRO website, Jim Langan has the following company addresses

Search Results




[broken link removed][broken link removed][broken link removed][broken link removed][broken link removed][broken link removed][broken link removed][broken link removed][broken link removed]Click on the Company/Business Name to retrieve the relevant details.[broken link removed][broken link removed][broken link removed][broken link removed] Found: 2 [broken link removed] [broken link removed] Name
NumberAddress
Type
JIM LANGAN FURNITURE VALUE LIMITED341595UNIT 10 LIFFEY VALLEY RETAIL PARK DUBLIN 22 Company JIM LANGAN'S FURNITURE LIMITED3143115 MULBERRY PARK CARPENTERSTOWN ROAD CASTLEKNOCK DUBLIN 15CompanyName
NumberAddress
Type
[broken link removed][broken link removed]
 
Surely the best thing is to form a group, assemble all the information and make aan appointment with the Fraud Squad. Simple as that. It is the only chance you will have of getting any money back. If he has gone away he will have to come back and I would suggest (with all and sundry grouped together) if it can be proved that he has acted fraudulently, is to get a Court Order to restricting him from reducing his assets under a certain amount.
 
Yes i agree. I think we should form a group get together to see if we get any money back.
Is this not fraud? (their website is still up and running)
Did any body get any deliveries?
I am waiting on a dinning table & chairs since end December!
 

Would be interested in knowing where you are getting that from??? Up to this minute on the CRO the company is still showing normal staus. Jackobyjo, your posts are unhelpful to people who need to get a clear prespective and gather the facts. Comments along the lines of its in Receivership (when it is not) and he has a big mansion to hide in with lots of nice furniture (!) do not help. I have been at Liquidation Meetings and there is always one person who gets the crowd going. They all start going off on individual tangents and get nowhere. All it does is set everyone on edge. People have more than a right to be angry, they could potentially have lost a lot of money and may not get it back. Being angry will not get your money back. The only thing that will help is pooling your knowledge and start being practical. Be angry later. Try and get your money back now.

From a CRO point of view, here are the facts:

REC does not = Receivership
Most Recent Documents = Rec = Received.

Documents can either be REC (Received) Reg (Registered) or RET(Returned)

The status of this company is still showing normal. So they have 7 days to lodge the form appointing the Receiver. Does anyone know is a Receiver being appointed, or is it a Liquidator (Creditors Liquidation) ? There is no point in going in all guns blazing until all of the facts are straight.

I did a company search on the document that is received. It is a B10 change of Directors. It is nothing got to do with a receiver or Liquidator, it is one of the two directors trying to resign. I would not be happy with this and it does not comply with company law. There are two Directors of Jim Langan's Furniture Value. One of the Directors filed a B10 himself online and resigned himself as of 26th February and lodged the form on 3rd March. He cant just do that. This document is REC as in Received. By Liam Walsh resigning himself, he only leaves the company with one officer Jim Langan (Director and Secretary) This is illegal as a company has to have two officers. Nobody else is joining in place of Mr. Walsh. Obviously Mr. Walsh knew what was coming down the tracks and was trying to get out before the proverbial poo hit the fan. Anyone interested should ring the CRO and ensure that this B10 is rejected. The CRO should reject this document automatically, however, if it were me I would ring/send an email to them. This will ensure that Mr. Walsh is not allowed resign. I would also phone ODCE (Office of Director of Corporate Enforcement) explain the situation and see what they say.

This is the process under which a Receiver will be appointed.
Statutory requirements
A notice of appointment of receiver (Form E8) must be filed with the CRO within seven days of appointment and must also be published in Iris Oifigiúil and in at least one daily newspaper circulating in the district where the registered office of the company is situated.

Once a receiver is appointed all invoices, orders for goods and business letters issued by or on behalf of the company must contain a notice to that effect.

Where a receiver is appointed on behalf of debenture holders, who are secured by a floating charge, a statement of the company's affairs (E10/Form 17) must be submitted to the receiver who must file a copy of same with the CRO.

The receiver must file abstracts of her/his receipts and payments on Form E9, for each six-month period from the date of her/his appointment, and any lesser final period up to the date he/she ceases to act. A notice of ceasing to act must then be filed on Form E11.
 
Ok, had a look at the accounts filed online for 2007 and they were not that healthy.

Also, this company was struck off and then restored for non filing of accounts.

Directors Payments amounted to some €475,000
Wages and Salaries amounted to over €1.2m. (for 21 people)
There were large creditors (over €2m) including VAT and PAYE and Bank Loans.
However, the net shareholders funds was still in the region of some €267K.

They appear to be tied into big leases as well, fine when the economy is booming, but I reckon their turnover fell considerably, leaving them exposed (well the Banks exposed) and the Bank pulled the plug.

Amongst the transactions is listed that the company paid €95K to a Marketing Company Destiny Consultants connected to one of the Directors. Mr. Liam Walsh.

Destiny Consultants was struck off in 2005 - it has never filed any accounts and yet the 2007 accounts of Jim Langan show €95K paid. and €96k paid in 2005. Not an ideal situation - large sums paid to a connected struck off company.

There is a fixed and floating charge over the assets/property of the company by Bank of Scotland (Ireland) Limited. There is also a personal guarantee by Mr. Langan who owns 99% of the Company with Mr. Walsh holding 1%)

The last accounts were filed by KPMG as independent Auditors. Someone should ring them and ask them to clarify the position on behalf of their client.

The one positive note is that a recent article in the Times stated that the company wanted a Receiver appointed with a view to a members voluntary liquidation. Under a voluntary liquidation the company can pay its debts. So perhaps the 2008 Accounts were ok and they still have cash at Bank. But the reality is the turnover and assets probably dropped with still big commitments to pay and they could not do it. Bank probably not likely to extend themselves any further.
 
Just checked the website of the Office of Corporate Enforcement .There is a downloadable complaint form [broken link removed]
Section D of this form relates to Reckless and Malicious Conduct .If they were taking cash deposits after the 26th Feb when Mr Walsh resigned then there is possibly a case of Intent to defraud creditors.
We should all complete this form and get it off to the ODCE .
 
They (CRO) wont accept Mr. Walsh's resignation. The form will be rejected and they will be asked to correct it. It will not initially be treated as fraud, sometimes people make a mistake, ie file the form for one director to leave before filing the new one for the incoming Director. By all means, make CRO and ODCE aware of the situation.

Also, Mr. Walsh's resignation comes almost to the day that the 2009 Annual Return with Accounts for 2008 was due.

Phone KPMG - might be able to help or point in right direction with the appointment of the Liquidator/Receiver.

Interesting Article about trading while insolvent here.

http://www.finfacts.ie/irishfinancenews/article_1015039.shtml

As said earlier, the Times said that the Directors were hoping for an examinership or voluntary liqudiation, which may still indicate all will be paid. So do not lose all hope yet.


Good Luck with it.
 
I'm caught up in this just like the rest of you for almost €2k that I paid in full on a suite and I've been looking into what can be done. I'm not really interested in speculation and found this Last Word podcast to be most informative on your rights [ http://audio.todayfm.com/audio/20090304170010.mp3 ], you can also listen to the Joe Duffy podcast but again he is speculating and sensationalising as opposed to give anything that may help people. I paid by credit card so there is some hope for me of claiming against the credit card company (according to this guy from the Consumer Affairs dept) under Section 14 of the Supply of Services and Sale of Goods Act. Unfortunately if you paid by cash, voucher or laser you don't have much by way of rights (I'm sorry to bring bad news). As far as the company is concerned, it is illegal to trade while insolvent which they seem to have been doing and if this is the case then the Director for Corporate Enforcement will be brought in and the Directors will be fined, possibly jailed and definitely stricken off being allowed to run a company again but only give you or I some satisfaction that they didn't get away with it, it won't get our money back.
If you can't go through your credit card company then the best thing to do is to take it up with the liquidator directly but you will be down the line in terms of who gets paid first (Revenue, Banks and certains suppliers will be before customers).

My advise would be to try all routes and hopefully something will come off. Best of luck - it is hard to take at a time when people don't have money but keep the chin up and maybe this is patronising but at the end of the day it is only money.
Hope this helps someone.
 
In future anyone buying furniture should refuse to pay anything untill the goods are available.Why do we have to wait weeks for furniture to arrive ? it does not happen with cars/electrical goods We the consumers must force the furniture trade to have the stock available In the current climate consumers can not be sure of the future viability of any retailer
 
i was told today that there is a security gaurd out at the liffey valley store who is going to lose his job and is letting people into the warehouse to take what they are owed. a friend of mine went out yesterday and was told there were 94 of the chairs she wanted and he let her in to take the six she had ordered.worth a try i suppose!has anyone heard anything more about a receiver/liquidator being appointed yet my bank said i need a letter from whoever it is in order to start arranging a chargeback on my visa!
 
babsie00 said:
i was told today that there is a security gaurd out at the liffey valley store who is going to lose his job and is letting people into the warehouse to take what they are owed.
Click to expand...


Would take this with a pinch of salt. I would think most of the goods are long gone and the keys well guarded.

Very upsetting to hear people losing their money on Liveline yesterday. Bad form.
 

You don't need a letter from the liquidator - a newspaper clipping from a reputable and established newspaper or print out from a reputable website will do stating that a liquidator has been appointed to the company. Obviously if you could get the letter then that would work best.
 

I was out there today and I was told by a guy who has been calling out every few hours that on Sunday the staff who were just told the news were letting people in because they didn't care any more but only a few people got in and got to grab anything. On the contrary from the above story some people yesterday were shaking the door and the security guards called the police as they thought they were going to break in. The police came and just tried to calm people down whilst being very understanding of the situation, they reminded everyone that it was illegal to loot a shop regardless of what has happened, apparently someone from the Gerry Ryan show was there as well (probably egging them on for good radio).
 
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