"Never trust "Bank Transfers""

1) Donna below : leaving a 5* review when you claim to have placed an order that hasn't been fulfilled and the Company has gone out of business is beyond suspicious, so much so that is counter-productive, and bordering on immoral ... (is that better for you?)

2) Colin gave us a line of BS that was extreme, going as far as to say he would be considering premises in Horsham town in the future and taking out bigger advertising at Horsham Football Club. I do the accounts for my wife's business. There's no way he wasn't fully aware that he was in dire trouble when he stood in my daughter's bedroom selling us the product. A DECENT HUMAN BEING would not take money as Bank Transfers in that position, instead using Credit Card transactions so people could at least claim money back. For that reason alone, he is not to be trusted, and I will be keeping a careful out out for his name starting any further Companies !!!!

"I wasn't going to post a comment here…"

I wasn't going to post a comment here as it didn't feel like it would do any good (as the company is now in liquidation) and it highlights our stupidity in our selection of company to install shutters in our new home. However, this feels like the only place to highlight how many people have been affected.

We placed our order for shutters back in mid November and paid the deposit of over £2k by BACS transfer as this was the only way for payment to be made. Even at my mature age there are lessons learnt and in hindsight we should have insisted on paying the deposit by credit card - I know there are additional charges for the supplier but I don't understand why this would not be the standard practice as it appears that if this had been how all the customers had paid then our financial issues would have been sorted.

The second frustration is deciding to support a smaller business rather than one of the big companies that also quoted for the work. Universal Shutters were not the cheapest but we felt we would get the best quality of service and installation by going with them. It's very sad that this desire to help out a smaller business was misplaced and has left us significantly financially impacted.

The final frustration at this stage is that there is no clear answer on what the current situation is or next steps, so we have no idea how to proceed from here. As recently as mid January we were assured everything was on track with the shutters which were due to be installed in late February. This implies that the order for our shutters had been placed with the manufacturer in China, that they had been made and potentially already shipped. In which case where are the shutters, who has legal ownership to them - they were obviously made bespoke for our windows so have little value to anyone else. Or has our deposit been taken but no order placed with the manufacturers with the money lost and little or no hope of recovering any of it. We are surely owed clear updates as quickly as possible without having to constantly chase for answers.

"SCAM!! FRAUD!!"

DO NOT BE FOOLED BY THEM!!! they know what they are doing. THIS IS NOT A BIG COMPNAY, It is run by 2 professional scammers. Colin and Peter maybe it is the same person who knows. They are scammers and fraudsters! they took £2,150 from me and days later they decided to run off with hard working people's money. DO NOT LET THEM GET AWAY WITH IT. They are still active on Companies house, their website is still active to scam new customers! No info about them not trading! Criminals! so REPORT THEM TO YOUR LOCAL POLICE, REPORT THEM TO ACTION FRAUD, REPORT THEM TO COMPANIES HOUSE, ASK YOUR BANK TO GET THE MONEY BACK FROM THEIR Lloyds Bank, GO AFTER WILLAIM COLIN MARTIN, 20-22 WENLOCK ROAD, LONDON, N1 7GU. That is the address on Companies house. GET YOUR MONEY BACK BY ALL MEANS. I AM DOING THAT!!! They will keep doing this to innocent people like they have been doing for a long time. THEY MUST BE AND WIL BE STOPPED!!!

"£2k stolen. Shame on you."

Colin & Universal Shutters have held onto nearly £2,000 of our savings through multiple delays and missed installation dates. There is absolutely no way they didn't see this coming until today and yet instead of being open and honest with people, they decided to take their customers down with them - from what I'm reading here even continuing to add more people into their mess until the very last minute.

Shame on you for what you've done here.

"I was originally not going to write a review"

I was originally not going to write a review, but with fake 5* reviews flooding in, it's imperative that I speak up. It's unbelievable that people who have lost money are leaving 5* reviews. If you're still planning on writing fake reviews, I suggest lowering them to 3*, as that would be more credible.
I spoke with an advisor and we should all reach out to the liquidator company to request to be added to the creditors list. You can find more information on this on gov.uk website and citizensadvice.org.uk search liquidation guidance for creditors (I cannot leave links here).
If you were lucky enough to pay by credit card, you may be able to get your money back from your credit card provider. However, if you paid by bank transfer, your chances of getting the money back are slim. The liquidator company will distribute any funds among the creditors, starting with the secured creditors who have assets tied to their credit, followed by the unsecured creditors, which is essentially us. Good luck

"Stop with the defensive, unempathetic replies to the reviews"

We placed the order back in August and paid a £1800 deposit, we have been patience and chasing the order and were led to believe they were going to be installed in late February, surely the order must be on it's way over?! Even if you can't install it, at least let us have what we have bought. I wasn't going to write a review but I empathise with everyone in losing their money & understand their emotional response, especially the women who took out a loan & the mother protecting her daughter. I feel the response from universal have been very defensive & sometimes a bit rude. You may have lost your job, you will get another job, I work in recruitment there are more jobs than people at the moment especially in sales... we have all saved & taken out loans & may not get our money back & don't have anything to show for it. Of course this is personal, people are saying how they feel. apologise unconditionally, do not make excuses & do not make people feel bad when they have lost a huge amount of money. Take ownership of what has happened, stop with the defensive rude replies. We don't care about your frustration & it being brutal... you will probably go set up another blinds company smh

"Like other people who have written…"

Like other people who have written their recent experience I too am devastated with the loss of money. We only placed our order 4 weeks ago. We handed over £2000. I feel absolutely sick. I do feel really sorry for the people who have lost their jobs, that must be horrendous, but I can’t stop feeling that I have been scammed. Things do not happen overnight and just 4 weeks ago the company must of known things were bad. I just can’t stop crying.

"We paid a deposit of £1,097.71 back in…"

We paid a deposit of £1,097.71 back in August 2022, we then took out a loan which you recommended to us and have been paying monthly instalments. We chased and chased and nothing until recently. This is unfair. We all work very hard for our money. we went with you because we trusted you. Now the lenders are saying we have to pay back the loan even though we have nothing to show for it. How is this fair and legit. We have a baby on the way and have gone down to one wage. This is not possible.
Is there anyone that is in a similar situation with the loan? and what are you doing about it?

"After a long drawn out weight of six…"

After a long drawn out weight of six months yes six months I’ve been conned he took half of my money???? I could’ve been told there was a problem 3 months ago,six weeks ago I asked for a colour palette of my order ,you then had the audacity to supplied me with this, at what point were you going to feel guilt, empathy, even.? Beware, foreclosed company

"Whilst I feel terrible for the owners…"

Whilst I feel terrible for the owners and the employees who have lost their business and their jobs, I think it is frankly insensitive to say, like other reviews have, that this is merely a 'setback' for customers that scrimped and saved and now are out of pocket thousands of pounds. Many people may not be able to find a reasonable alternative - I personally don't have thousands of pounds I can simply write off. Unlike the owners, who can, after this liquidation, go on and set up another company. People are well within their rights to rate negatively and be public about it - frankly I do hope the owners do not set up another business. I do not believe that they were fine just at the start of this week and did not know what was coming. It may not be illegal, but it is certainly immoral. If they do set up a company, I think it is fair for others to be warned.