The Australian Companies and Securities Commission is set to be asked to investigate whether Australian appliance Company Kleenmaid had been trading while insolvent weeks prior to being placed into administration with debts of more than $67M.
From Victoria to Queensland State Government fair trading departments are starting to take inquiries from some of the 6,000 customers who have paid up to $27M in deposits for Kleenmaid appliances which have not been delivered. Other inquiries relate to warranties and the sale of extended warranty packages.
The complaints to Government departments are expected to grow once Easter is over said a Victorian Government official.
Victorian Consumer Affairs Minister Tony Robinson told the Melbourne Sun Herald the company’s failure came about “very, very quickly”.”This is a collapse that leaves hundreds, if not thousands, of Victorians in the lurch,” Mr Robinson told reporters on Monday.
“People, who had ordered whitegoods, some had paid deposits, some had paid the entire prices, some do not know where their whitegoods are. Others paid and received them some time ago but do not know what will happen with warranties.” The Minister said.
According to several trade creditors the Company had been struggling for some time. According to one NSW based supplier the Company had asked for and got extended trading terms. “We like a lot of the trade creditors are set to be left out of pocket and I feel that this has left us and several other Companies who are owed money exposed to the extent that we also could be facing bankruptcy. Even if the Company is rescued there is no guarantee that trade creditors who are owed millions will be paid out” they said.
John Greig from accountancy firm Deloitte which was appointed as voluntary administrators to Kleenmaid last Thursday, said they would investigate if the company was trading insolvent.
“We have inherited a position where the company is without funds at all,” Mr Greig said. Although he did not rule out the possibility Kleenmaid could continue to trade, he said if it did it would look “substantially different”.
If Greig finds that the Company was trading while insolvent he will “have to inform ASIC” said an offical at Deloitte.
Writing on the Courier Mail web site in Queensland where Kleenmaid were based Vanessa McPhee, from Yeerongpilly in Brisbane’s south, said she had bought two electrical appliances from Kleenmaid but was still waiting for them to be delivered despite paying in advance.
“Kleenmaid hounded me for payment of the goods I had ordered, I paid for the items six months prior to delivery,” she wrote.
“I am still waiting for a rangehood, a full refund for a fridge that Kleenmaid said they could no longer provide . . . I feel cheated, lied to.”
About 150 Kleenmaid staff will lose their jobs effective from Tuesday said administrator at Deloitte.
Kleenmaid which was founded in 1985 and was headquartered at Maroochydore on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast had a turnover of $90 million in the year to June 2008.
