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FOUR MONTHS AFTER they did not receive some of the items they ordered through online company Christmas Direct, a number of its customers are still waiting for refunds.
A number of customers have been in contact with TheJournal.ie to say they still have not received the money due to be refunded to them.
To find out what is happening with the company, and whether the refunds will be paid back, TheJournal.ie spoke to Mary Ronan, who runs Christmas Direct with her husband Damien Daniels.
Customers due refunds
Ronan said that out of around 4,000 customers who ordered items last year, 80 were affected by supply issues.
Seventy per cent of these people have been refunded, with a remaining 30 per cent who they hope will be refunded in between three to four weeks.
Ronan said the issues arose in December of last year.
“We had some supplier issues from the UK [with] some of our suppliers that honour stock,” she said. Christmas Direct was run as an online ‘layaway’ programme where the items were not required from the supplier until near Christmas.
Daniels said that with some customer accounts, they may have had a certain number of items ordered, but issues with just a few of the products.
“We have tried to work with suppliers from the UK to try and get our money back so we can reimburse customers,” said Ronan. “Seventy per cent have been fulfilled and 30 we are working with.” She said they have been in contact with the affected customers by email.
Apology
Ronan said she can “understand people’s frustration”.
“We apologise,” said Ronan. “We’ve apologised to our customers at the time. It was a very unfortunate situation. It was certainly not the intention [of the company].”
She said that they had thousands of extremely happy customers, and get “emails from them all the time asking when are we going [to be back]“.
Ronan said she and her husband are working as hard as they can to rectify the situation.
“It is a very unfortunate system,” she said. “I didn’t want to find myself, or find my customers in it. We are a genuine company that has run aground and have run into issues.”
Asked if Christmas Direct is out of pocket, Ronan said they are. She said that on one occasion they had to buy games consoles from a local store because they couldn’t be fulfilled by a local supplier. She said they paid “thousands above the price we had” to “ensure no one was left without a gaming console”.
She also said that the company “tried to make sure there was no one left at Christmas with a substantial gift affected”.
The items were ordered from a wholesale supplier who in turn had a number of suppliers for different lines. Some of the main lines that were affected were the fragrance lines and toy lines.
Christmas Direct is working with suppliers from the UK to try and get reimbursed for stock and in turn refund the remaining customers.
Has it affected business?
The company are “assessing the whole model” of the company and are not sure if they will continue. They are also liquidating some stock.
“Of course it has affected the business and I would be very passionate about this. I think it did offer really good value,” said Ronan. “It’s just so unfortunate that in this format an issue has arisen.”
Is she worried about the reputation of the business? “You would be worried about the reputation of the business,” said Ronan. “That is something we’ll have to look at when we resolve it.”
She said that no accounts would be deactivated or deleted on their website, but the website is not working as it was before the issue arose.
Customers should have copies of invoices that were mailed to them when they ordered items.
National Consumer Agency investigation
The company has spoken to the National Consumer Agency, which is carrying out an investigation.
The National Consumer Agency has received a number of contacts from consumers in relation to Christmas Direct.
As the Agency has an investigation ongoing, we are not in a position to comment further at this time. The Agency encourages consumers, who have had difficulties with Christmas Direct orders, or in getting refunds, to contact our consumer helpline on 1890 432 432
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In keeping with Dunnes’ general attitude towards their staff, they couldn’t give two shits about them
They are taking after Walmart in this respect, who recently closed several stores suddenly for vague reasons.
It’s not like the management made a snap decision, they had plenty of time to tell staff, horrible way to treat any staff in my opinion
They were waiting for enda and Richard to arrive for the announcement but they didn’t turn up…..apparently they go to all the job announcements
They were they when the store opened back in the day.
Nope, Dunnes Gorey opened when Bertie was Taoiseach, but don’t let facts get in the way.
Supposedly they closed the store due to a dispute with the shopping centre management.
If thats the case it will soon reopen, a shopping centre cant really trade if the main operator closes…
For the the staffs sake I hope so.. I wouldn’t be surprised if Dunnes are calling the centres bluff. Not sure what exactly the disputes about but still bad form either way.
Most likely rent I expect.
Workers being used as pawns in Dunnes! Would that happen?
Dunnes own the unit so no rent issue
Isn’t the shopping centre itself up for sale?
Nice but sure what else would you expect in a working environment where the government creates something like scambridge.
Dunnes’ behaviour is attributable to government policies? So when a company treats its employees well, is that attributable to government policies as well, or just the bad stuff,?
Kerrie is an idiot with no comprehension of life
The government treats its employees at lot better than Dunnes does.
I don’t think ever heard of Dunnes stores doing something like this before . worrying time for the staff .
Are they this vindictive to shut down a store to scare staff into submission so they won’t strike again and be good little slaves. It’ll be interesting to see if they’ll comment.
Or, if you like to put it another way, the business had to shut because it was completely unsustainable.
It’ll be nothing to do with the strike , if it’s a dispute with centre management then most likely then it’s most likely to do with security , the store can’t open if the shopping centre doesn’t provide mail security .something to do with insurance I think
New shock tactics by Dunnes management to scare workers from voicing dissent?
If you don’t like how Dunnes treats is workers (and many here don’t ) stop shopping there. I dont. Cash is king. Floundering sales would bring Dunnes to heel pretty quickly I would wager.
That would just result in job losses .
Well not really cos if you spend elsewhere then that place will expand thus needing more staff, thus creating jobs.
If Dunnes sakes drop because people refuse to shop there , then Dunnes stores staff will be let go and that would only make the situation worse .
*sales*
Typical of Dunnes, no respect for workers, lack of communication always
a factor within this company.
Awful, awful, awful.
Some clown be on this news story to say VOTE YES and yet look at what this government has done… Nothing for the poor and if you have money they have a referendum for you…
What
Dod Michael just try to tell us to vote against gay people because the government isn’t nice?
Out with the old in with the aldi/lidl
Smoke that Mr Union man.. Play hard ball with them and they’ll throw it back at you just as hard.
Ould Ben(not Coke, sorry, Gym Ben) would be very proud of his daughter, Peggy. A true chip offa the block in her dealings with and utter destain for the unions. Just such a pity(as always) that the innocent workers will be the ones to suffer. The Dunne/Heffernans will still be multiple-millionaires and the union hacks will still be employed with pensions etc after this store owner doles out a ‘lesson’ to the plebs!
His daughter Peggy ?
What Union are your referring to, Hank? Dunnes staff don’t have union representation.
Margaret…was being facetious ..:-)
Neal..Mandate represents in Dunnes…
Awful for the workers and for our little town in general.
Thats horrible poor workers
Is this a lockout in disguise.
This closure could have something to do with the tesco effect. A new super duper monster mega tesco opened up last year a stones throw from dunnes in gorey.
Yes they do.
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