Rescue plan to bring comfort
SCORES of vulnerable people who thought they had lost thousands of pounds after buying mobility furniture from a troubled trader who failed to deliver, look set to get justice after all. Another company is now intent on saving the day – for some at least – Crusader can reveal.
In autumn last year, scandal-hit supplier UK Mobility Direct Limited warned there was a delay in fulfilling orders, mainly for bespoke recliner chairs, claiming a successful sales campaign had led to its “resources being stretched rather thinly”.
Its many customers, the majority of whom are older, disabled and in profound discomfort, were left in the lurch as the delay dragged on.
Some had settled up front, while others had made a 50 per cent down payment, with sums ranging from £2,000 to £5,000 or more.
All of them were at a loss what to do after taking such a big hit: should they go to court, risking a long and expensive fight for compensation, or write off the money and see if they could buy something else?
Contact soon dried up between many of the outraged customers and the Felixstowe-based company, headed now by Oliver Waters, but which had previously been run by him and his father David.
In the course of their chequered business history they also managed Mobility UK Limited, the trading name of Westminster Recliners (WR) which is showing an active proposal to “strike off” on Companies House.
Suffolk Trading Standards, which prosecuted WR in 2013 and 2015 for misleading and aggressive practices, confirmed it was investigating.
But the prospects didn’t look good for those affected this time until an astonishing intervention.
Recently, one of UK Mobility Direct’s British manufacturers, Camelot Furniture, has stepped in with a rescue package, meaning it will complete the orders for those customers who agree.
This includes Roy and Christine Morris, who reported their plight to Crusader a couple of weeks ago. The couple, from Shropshire, were called by UK Mobility Direct in September offering an attractive deal to renew the two chairs they had purchased three years ago with Westminster Recliners.
Roy, 78, who barely survived a bout of serious illness recently, said: “The chairs had been good so we agreed to pay £4,000 with a £2,000 deposit. But nothing came of the promises they were on their way.”
We asked UK Mobility Direct if it could return their money or at the very least let them know the truth, however bad. We did not hear back from them but the couple did, via a call from Charlie Wall, Camelot’s managing director.
Roy said: “We were staggered when he told us UK Mobility had been in touch and Camelot were to take over. All we have to do when our furniture arrives shortly is pay the balance.
“In all the chaos we could so easily have been ignored but Crusader did not let it happen. We are overjoyed.”