Deathwatch: CDiscount call in the liquidators
By Andy Dawson
CDiscount, the online retailer that is huge in France and Germany, has had its wings clipped in its attempt to capture the UK and Ireland market – liquidators have been appointed as the company has been declared insolvent.
In spite of their rampant success on the continent, the UK and Ireland version was set up as a stand-alone company, so the trouble it has got itself into since launching in December 2008 is all its own doing and has excess liabilities to the tune of €8.2 million.
Ironically, the petition for the liquidation order is… CDiscount SA, based in Bordeaux, France, who claim they are owed €4.6 million. You’d think they’d be able to sort it out like family should but there’s clearly no room for sentiment in business these days.
Eyebrows were raised at the beginning of October when the company scrapped their ‘3 Pay’ scheme, which allowed customers to pay for goods in three monthly, interest-free payments. Seemingly, the CDiscount bean-counters could see which way the wind was blowing.
At this point in time, the cdiscount.co.uk site seems to be operating as normal, although you’d have to have nerves of steel to order something from them over the next few days.
(Thanks to HUKD member Stigma for the tip off)
Posted in News, deathwatch, retail November 8th, 2009 | 33 Comments
feral trolley of the week
I had always resisted ordering from here and now I definitely wont
Gutted…. they have had some very good deals which I have taken them up on including some Caterpillar boots for £35, should of been £80+ and a laptop bag which Apple were selling for £50 and i got it for less than £15.
Shame.
Good, after that easter egg hunt fiasco. Cock Knockers
How can a company get itself into such a mess so quickly?
Err the websites still online
wow, I just received 48 bottles of wine from them, using 3 different vouchers I got them for 1.20£ each with free P&P, sad to see them go.
Always looked a bit pikey to me. Lot’s of non-offers but there were some hidden gems. RRP meant you would never ever buy from here unless there was an offer on and that massively devalued the brand.
@ Hmmmmm
Yeah
“At this point in time, the cdiscount.co.uk site seems to be operating as normal, although you’d have to have nerves of steel to order something from them over the next few days.”
Shame really.. though a lot have struggled with customer service issues which can’t have helped.
http://www.hotukdeals.com/search.php?action=search&keywords=cdiscount&category=&type=7&date_range=
Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t the liquidators being called in more akin to a bullet in the head than a wing-clipping?
I never liked the cashback later angle.My sympathies to customers owed in this respect. There’s no f cking cahnce you will see a penny.
FYI: Liquidation in Ireland is like Administration in the UK…. it COULD be salvaged.
Hi, my name is Brian. Is this really true about “Cdiscount”, or some made up crap? I thought they were owned by some frogs who had zillions of €’s
Hi Brian.i guessed your name from your ID.My name is Yarm
As the article suggest the company has been cut loose by the owners.
Cheese eating surrender monkeys – the french that is.
# Posted by andy of yarm | November 8th, 2009 at 8:25 pm
“Hi Brian.i guessed your name from your ID.My name is Yarm
As the article suggest the company has been cut loose by the owners.”
Hi, Brian here again. I’m watching Die Hard 4.0 on C4. So, i don’t have time to read the “article”.
Thanks, and may God bless you.
I’ve had a TV order awaiting stock for 3 weeks now……
I was going to cancel the order, now do i cancel and wait 3 weeks for a *possible* refund or….
wait and see what happens to the order ?
Think I’ll be ringing my credit card company up !
Hi my name is Brian, I have better things to do than read the artical or the comments, but I’m so self important that I just have to comment regardless. Personally I think the idea of liquidating frogs is dispicible and in very poor taste. you should be ashamed of yourselves.
They deserve all they get i’m afraid, their customer service was woeful. They may be big in France, but us Brits expect better.
(BW-you can stop moderating my comments now, the entire “luke” incident was regrettable, I promise I will behave myself
)
Was waiting for a refund from them… I take it I won’t receive anymore?
Hi Brian,
You’re an illiterate twat. If you’re going to be a smart-arse, at least learn how to spell.
LOL,
Thank feck that my name is not Brian.
Hi My name isn’t Brian,
I dont know why your picking on me when all i’ve done in my life is got a rubbish education and i cant write or read.
What is a feck?
Hi, my name isn’t Brian, but Brian, are you Dave Gorman?
[...] grim news for customers of CDiscount.co.uk. As we revealed yesterday, the online store has gone into administration with debts of €8.2 million. The company was launched as a separate concern to European parent [...]
Shame that. I bought a TomTom GO 940 for £320, got to pay over 3 months, got £64 store credit which I used on some lovely Shure SE210’s. Great deal at the time! Hope they work it out but not the best time for new company launches.
Brian here.
Just thought i’d let you know.
Hi, The company owes me about £250 for a refund which i was waiting for. Is there anything i can do?
They owe me a refund of £275 used a debit card … fecked!
im owed £220
ive called around and been told to find out who the liquidators are
If you paid Cdiscount using Visa Debit or Credit card you can use the “Chargeback” scheme…
http://whatconsumer.co.uk/visa-debit-chargeback/
http://www.bitterwallet.com/how-to-get-your-money-back-with-the-visa-debit-chargeback-scheme/2859
Oh no not again. History repeats itself. Ciaran O’Donoghue ran Dundalk firm iQon and guess who was the administrator then? Michael McAteer, who was not with Grant Thornton but a partner with accountants Foster McAtee. Ciaran’s brother Nial is another director and Ciaran himself said he had between 500 and 1000 staff, what a liar! They used to make computers for Tesco but too many were returned. This company had danger written on it from the very outset – was never a long term viability..
We got a Court Order against them for £700 + last November. It appears to be the last straw as they went bust that month.