Clients out of pocket after bed shop closes

Tess Nichol

A Newmarket bed shop owner has left customers thousands of dollars out of pocket after failing to deliver paid-for orders before closing down at the end of last month.

No one has been able to contact Bedz Ltd director Richard Brazendale since he shut up shop nearly three weeks ago, frustrated customers say.

The Commerce Commission had received five complaints about the company, which trades under the name Beds to Go, since February, a spokeswoman said.

“Complaints included beds had been purchased then not delivered, the wrong beds were delivered, and problems with getting a refund.”

One woman spent $950 on a king single bed for her teenage son in January, but it never arrived.

Her son, 14, has been sleeping on the floor for weeks because she got rid of his old bed with the expectation the new one was due to arrive.

The woman, who asked we only use her last name, Cho, was told repeatedly delays were due to the supplier sending the wrong bed.

After a month of waiting Cho demanded a refund. “He said okay, but he didn’t do anything.”

Cho, a single mother, said she couldn’t afford to buy her son another bed. She tried to get her money back through the Disputes Tribunal but Brazendale didn’t show.

She then found out the shop, located in Newmarket’s Broadway shopping area, had closed down.

A Warehouse spokeswoman confirmed Bedz Ltd’s sub-lease of the shop ended on March 27.

Cho contacted police, who she said told her it was a civil matter.

Newmarket Business Association chief executive Mark Knoff-Thomas confirmed the organisation had received a number of complaints about non-delivery of Beds to Go orders and said the association had urged the owner to settle matters with his customers.

The Herald was unable to reach Brazendale for comment.