A Donegal-based furniture maker which specialises in making bespoke children’s beds shaped like castles and monster trucks has gone out of business, blaming uncertainty surrounding Brexit for its sudden closure.
Anderson’s Themes and Dreams began emailing customers who has placed orders with it on Thursday morning, announcing it was ceasing trading immediately.
The closure is likely to leave hundreds of families across Ireland and the UK substantially out of pocket with some of the beds it has sold costing well in excess of €1,000.
“We make things you can’t buy just anywhere, think princess castles and monster trucks. Is there anything you are dreaming of and haven’t seen in any shops? That’s where we come in,” was how the company described itself.
However the dream appears to have died.
“It is with deep regret and sadness that we have to inform you that as of Thursday, June 13th [we] will cease trading,” the email to customers said.
“This is due to overwhelming financial difficulties and uncertainty with Brexit making funding extremely difficult,” it continued.
The owners said they were not taking take “this course lightly or intentionally but have been left with no choice and ordered to cease trading”.
The mail said that “over the years we have made so many children’s dreams come true and the thought of letting any child down breaks our hearts. We have exhausted every avenue we could.and tried everything but just can’t continue. We are truly sorry for any upset and stress that this has caused and please believe that this is a last resort.”
It concluded by says it is “a small family business that grew too big to handle with staff with families who depended on us too which makes this all the harder for everyone who has lost their jobs and livelihood as a result.”
It then encourages impacted customer to contact their card provider or PayPal for details on reclaiming money spent on orders which will never be delivered.
The only option for people who have been let down by the company is to instigate a chargeback.
A chargeback sees an impacted customer notify their credit or debut card provider to refund money paid directly to a company which has ceased trading so it can be paid directly back onto their card.
Time limits do apply, and consumers typically have 120 days from the time they become aware of the problem to apply for a refund.
It depends on the bank, the credit card provider and the reason for the chargeback but the process can take up to two months to be concluded.
One woman who contacted The Irish Times detailed how she ordered a bed at Christmas for which she paid over €1,200. She was told it would take 12 weeks but it was never delivered.
She tried multiple times to make contact with the company but either her emails were ignored or she was given incomplete answers.
In March, she was told it would be at least 14 more weeks before the bed arrived. All further calls and emails to the company were either not responded to or handled in the most cursory manner before she finally got a mail today saying the company had ceased trading.
