My growing concern about garden goods
Mrs A.M. writes: On January 15, I sent a cheque for £55 to order goods from gardening company Bakker of Spalding. I have used them for years and they are usually prompt. The goods failed to arrive, but my cheque was cashed on January 29. I tried phoning and writing, but with no response. BAKKER was in trouble before you even placed your order. The real name of the company in Britain is Plantiflor Limited and according to records at Companies House all seems fine. The business is listed as ‘active’ and is up to date with its accounts.
But behind the scenes, Lincolnshire-based Plantiflor is controlled from the Netherlands by parent company Bakker. Last year, Bakker notched up losses of €14 million (about £12.5million) and in January a court in The Hague allowed it to suspend payments to creditors for two months. Efforts to find a buyer or to raise fresh capital failed and the company’s lawyers have said that unfilled orders dating from before January 30 will not be met.
It is hard not to suspect that Plantiflor banked as much as possible ahead of the news from the Netherlands. The Spalding business is headed by Adrian Nind, but he did not respond when I invited him to comment. Calls to Plantiflor now go straight to a taped message saying that because of ‘unforeseen circumstances’ nobody can answer the phone.
I warned two years ago that Bakker of Spalding was using misleading mailshots. It was giving customers the false impression they had won thousands of pounds, but had to place an order to collect their prize. The Advertising Standards Authority banned the mailshot.
Perhaps the British company can now come clean about whether customers’ own cheques are safe, or have they been syphoned off to pay Dutch debts? Meanwhile, nobody should dream of placing an order with it.