Jim Langan's furniture gone bust

I work in a small family run Furniture Shop and since the news broke about Jim Langans we have had customers wanting to place orders but not pay a deposit of 25% of the value of goods. However some do not want to take delivery of the furniture until end April early May. From experience this could run on until June/July, in the meantime we order in their furniture, store it and in some cases have to pay for it in full when we take delivery. You suggest that we do this without deposit we already have 2 suites on our hands where less than 25% deposit was paid and ordered in very specific fabrics (that would not appeal to everyone) and when we went in one case to lift it out of our delivery truck and customer came out and said oh that wont fit in goodbye. The other customer wont answer the phone to us. This is quite a common occurence.

Some radio hosts have already done untold damage telling people to keep haggling for money off, in our experience some people think they are coming into an auction not a furniture shop.

The closure of Jim Langans and Classic Furniture just a few weeks ago is going to cause fear in people and with justifaction so I suggest people should pay with credit cards if worried that way everyone wins.
 
check this out dunno if its the real deal or not got it of another site..

[broken link removed]
 
Sorry - if you type [broken link removed] into a browser, you get the following message, so his statement is not real I would think ...

Website Under Construction
please call back soon
 
I don't care about his bloody statement etc, too little to late if you ask me, I just wanna know who the liquidator is so that I can apply for my refund from visa.
 
same here. In the lucky situation that I paid with credit card and now all that I want is the name of the Liquidator so that I can begin the process of recovering my deposit.

Then I have to start the whole process of shopping for the furniture all over again. Problem is, who do you trust to fulfill your order in the current climate ?
 
To be honest, I think you are better off buying off small local retailers who have been established a good while. They usually have their items in stock also. Thats where I'll be going from now on, they tend to do better deals also. Having said that I did purchase a sofa from dfs online and it arrived a week before they said it should, they were a pleasure to deal with, very helpful.
 
Assuming that the company is going about the liquidation process in the normal way, they would have no access to the website or to the shops / warehouse.

I dealt with JL a few years ago and found them to be one of the better retailers on price & service - as did many people. Jim Langan himself is a decent sort and I can imagine & understand the personal pressures he is going through at the moment.
I also understand the type of rents & rent reviews they were subject to and the total and utter contempt that landlords have for independent retailers with legal letters flying if rent is even late for a week. - You are then charged €400 + for the pirvilege of receiving this letter.
There is no negotiation and costs & threats keep coming on a weekly basis. - Particulary from the owners of Lifey Valley. (I have first hand experience of their attitude to independent retailers with a rent increase from €145k to €385k per year which forced me out)

My guess is if there is someone to vent anger at, it is the over greedy landlords of the major shopping centres and their contemptous attitudes to small retailers.
 
I hope the statement about getting some money back is true. I paid by Laser Card , as I thought I was being smart at the time keeping credit card bill down. I now have no sofa , no comeback on my 500 euro and when I go to buy a new sofa , I'll use the credit card but still be wary as I have already wasted 500.00 . I also had Sasha vouchers to use and they closed their doors also.
 
mcaul said:
My guess is if there is someone to vent anger at, it is the over greedy landlords of the major shopping centres and their contemptous attitudes to small retailers.
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First off JLF isn't a small retailer. Secondly it wasn't the landlords that forced Jim Langan into taking peoples money 2 days before he calls in the liquidator. I don't know if the company was insolvent for long beforehand or it just happened the day before but if it was and they continued to trade then the law will decide who was to blame and I'd doubt it will be the landlords. I know of plenty of businesses who have renegotiated their rents in recent weeks or months due to the current climate and the extortionate rents being paid. I have heard other rumours as to why this company continued to trade but as I have no basis to back it up and I'd prefer not to get kicked off this site as it is quite informative, especially in times like this.

Anyway, to let people know that AIB Visa have informed me that their Chargeback facility is available to their customers for up to 120. By default it is 60 days but because of the volume of claims associated with the Jim Langan liquidation and the fact that it is a furniture company and with furniture purchases people generally pay a deposit or in full in advance, therefore they have decided to extend the chargeback claim period to 120 days - lucky for me as I made my purchase of close to Eur2k approx. 105 days ago. Fingers crossed still. If this is true and AIB Visa have made an exception in this case then I'd like to commend them as I'd be first in with the boot on other banking related matters recently.
 
ive just tried to get onto the langans website and i cant get in at all anyone else had this problem??i also asked the person who originally posted that "statement " on another site where they got if from they told me by just doing a google search on the words "jim langan furniture" ive tried this and cannot find where they got this statement from so i am a bit weary of its authenticity like jlodublin says when you enter the website address the site is under construction!
 
We too were taken for over 1,000 we paid up front in cash. Any news on the liquidators? I have been so upset and depressed all week, no money, no table and chairs. Can someone please explain to me why people who pay cash are treated so badly, if you pay credit card you get your money back, is that correct? So should people who paid cash not be looked after by the liquidators. I'm not saying people who paid credit card shouldn't but if they do get it from Credit Card company??
The table we picked out and locker we cant find the same anywhere else. I'm just devastated by these events it has really made we loose all my trust in giving deposits i the futute
 
kerrybiffo said:
same here. In the lucky situation that I paid with credit card and now all that I want is the name of the Liquidator so that I can begin the process of recovering my deposit.

Then I have to start the whole process of shopping for the furniture all over again. Problem is, who do you trust to fulfill your order in the current climate ?
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I've moved on and ordered a replacement bed from Collins furniture in Belfast. I have bought from them before and you pay on delivery. No deposit. Excellent service and my bed will be here in 2 weeks, fully assembled. If you decide to use them , tell them Tom recommended them. (I have no affiliation with this company only that I am very pleased with their service)
 
johnebhoy said:
First off JLF isn't a small retailer.
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The people who own centres like Liffey Valley own many shopping centres throughout Europe and generally prefer to deal with companies that can operate 30 - 40 stores within their portfolio. e.g. Zara Group, Benneton, etc They do not respond to small Irish retailers who have just a couple of stores. - As I said, I have first hand experience of dealing with them.

As for JL Liquidation - The way it works is a provisional liquidator is appointed by the company, approx. 2 weeks notice is then given of a creditors meeting which will be held in a hotel or silmilar place. At the creditors meeting a statement is read about circumstances relating to the closure and then a vote based on value of creditors is taken on who the actual liquidator will be.

In normal circumstances one of the larger accountancy firms is appointed and they then must do reports for the office of the director of corporate enforcement (odce) who decide if any action is taken against the directors.
 
so while mr langan and co are sitting in a fancy hotel discussing how they can save their milllions customers who have paid in full or paid deposits just have to wait for their furniture and get no response to emails no answer on the phones and no explanation from the company whatsoever!!
 
babsie00 said:
so while mr langan and co are sitting in a fancy hotel discussing how they can save their milllions customers who have paid in full or paid deposits just have to wait for their furniture and get no response to emails no answer on the phones and no explanation from the company whatsoever!!
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By law, that is how they must do it. And its open to all creditors including customers who have deposits. - and I'll tell you its no fancy discussion. Mr. langan will have maybe his solicitor & accountant there and everyone else in the room will be against him asking questions which he must answer and which answers will form part of a report to the ODCE & creditors. - hardly a comfortable situation especially with the baying tabloid media circus that will accompany it.

Legally the company can do / say very little whilst the process is being concluded, once a liquidator is appointed all queries go through the liquidator.
 
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