Is it just me...?
Following indications that system builder Evesham Technology had finally gone into liquidation at the end of last week, I attempted to find out for myself what its status is. As you read on you will see the results of my inquiries. They reveal not only confusing messages from Evesham itself, but also disappointing performances from the very institutions we rely on to protect us.
I initially called Evesham Technology’s technical support line on the afternoon of Monday 11th February to ask if I would, hypothetically, be able to get a PC bought from Evesham within the past year repaired. I spoke to an advisor and was told that and PCs bought from the old Evesham Technology before it went into administration on 3rd August 2007 could be repaired by Total Care and Support, although this may come at a cost.
Total Care and Support is a consumer electronics technical support and warranty cover operation. It gives its registered address as Unit 28, Time Technology Park – the same address as Digital World Group Ltd, the company that owns timeuk.com and Time UK Factory.
The advisor added that Geemore Technology Ltd, her current employer and the company that had bought Evesham Technology out of administration, had been in liquidation since the administrators – DTE Leonard Curtis – pulled out on 4th January 2008. She said that they “had been trying to keep the company going” since then but had officially stopped selling PCs on Friday 8th February. She added that former Evesham managing director Richard Austin was no longer working at the company.
So is Evesham still in business or not?
Geemore Technology Ltd is still listed as ‘active’ at Companies House. It was incorporated on 20/7/07 and lists Vale Park, Evesham as it’s registered address – the same one still listed on the Evesham website. It has only two registered appointments: Richard Robinson Austin as director and Elite Logo Company Limited as secretary. Elite Logo Company has a total of 24 company appointments and lists Unit 28, Time Technology Park as its address. Geemore changed its name to Evesham Micros Ltd 20/8/07, despite there being another, still active company registered under that name. It changed its name back to Geemore on 14/1/08, despite having announced that “Evesham Micros trading as Evesham Technology is still in business” a few days beforehand
I announced that I was a journalist and told her I would understand if she didn’t want to answer any more questions, she said “it’s fine”. I asked why the website was still live and apparently accepting orders, she speculated that maybe they hadn’t got round to closing it down yet. I asked her if she could tell me anything else she said not really, but that she would take my number and give it to Brad Heeks, who may be able to speak to me.
I invited the advisor to call me on that number herself if she had
anything else to say or thought I could help at all. She thanked me and joked “can
you give me a job?” She revealed that she worked for Evesham Technology and,
having lost her job when it went into administration, was taken on by Geemore
on a contract basis. She now expected to lose her job again.
To find out what happened on 4th January I rang up DTE Leonard Curtis. I was eventually directed to Andrew Pitts in the Bury office who told me that the only way he could accept questions from journalists was over fax. My fax was successfully sent at 17:18 on Monday 11th.
I hadn’t heard from Brad Heeks by the end of that day so I looked him up on Facebook and sent him a message saying I was a journalist and asking him if he could speak to me. After getting further clarification from me, in response to his initial query of: “Who the Fok are you?” he told me he couldn’t help but had passed my details to his general manager and asked him to contact me. To date he has yet to.