I see no problem at all with applying a shit ton of discomfort and pressure on people who've ripped off consumers, suppliers and payment providers. Just because PayPal or card companies are refunding doesn't make it a victimless crime. That impacts on profits and risk profiles for business sectors, ultimately costing us all more in future.
As for "he was just sales manager, he didn't know" - I struggle to believe that. I've been sales manager at a business that was in trouble. By definition of observing wierd secret meetings, hushed conversations between directors, late supply etc, I deduced something was up and briefed my sales team unofficially to start looking for jobs so they were ahead of the curve. No way a sales and despatch manager didn't see warning signs.
Well UBYK (the company not the trading style) is still showing as trading on Companies house and there is no application on the Gazette or the PIU database for administration or insolvency.
If it wasn't insolvent before the assets were sold (and therefore pushed into insolvency by doing so) then the directors (and/or owners depending on how it was organised) will have some difficult questions to answer, it also raises a question over exactly what Peak have and have not bought (wittingly or otherwise) and whether they will end with liabilities they perhaps didn't think they were acquiring.
I don't think we are at the end of the beginning of this tale, let alone the beginning of the end.
If some of you are going to harass people, maybe read up on the likely risks and don't post about it on public forums? The CPS have a helpful guide:
https://www.cps.gov.uk/legal-guidance/stalking-and-harassment
It sucks that some of you have lost money, and the people responsible should face consequences for that, but the hunger in here to chase down someone, anyone and make them pay: that sucks too.
You don't know how aware, unaware, naive, lied to or cunning any given person was at any level below the directors of that company. Those are things you won't find out by chasing them down on social media. Stalking people is a bad time for everyone, including you, and it's not going to get you any closure.
TLDR: What Nach said.
I see no problem at all with applying a shit ton of discomfort and pressure on people who’ve ripped off consumers, suppliers and payment providers. Just because PayPal or card companies are refunding doesn’t make it a victimless crime. That impacts on profits and risk profiles for business sectors, ultimately costing us all more in future.
As for “he was just sales manager, he didn’t know” – I struggle to believe that. I’ve been sales manager at a business that was in trouble. By definition of observing wierd secret meetings, hushed conversations between directors, late supply etc, I deduced something was up and briefed my sales team unofficially to start looking for jobs so they were ahead of the curve. No way a sales and despatch manager didn’t see warning signs.
If a company has knowingly ripped off a consumer then that's a criminal act but trying to keep a company afloat by continuing to trade doesn't constitute a crime. From personal experience, making excuses to clients who are chasing orders/payment/whatever is crap service, but only done while trying to remedy the situation no matter how futile it may seem.
I've no doubt that you're right in saying that the sales and dispatch manager would have known that things weren't good. However I can easily believe that he'll not have know exactly how bad they were. You said that you told your sales team to look for new jobs. Won't that have contributed to the downfall of the place when they should have been keeping money coming in? That said it's an understandable reaction, and I've jumped ship myself in the past, but many employees have a sense of loyalty (and indeed are contracted) to a company and aren't going to stop working in a manner their bosses expect. For what it's worth I stopped trusting any employer years ago having been shafted once too often.
Anyway, dropping "a shit ton of discomfort on people" who were only employees is bang out of order. And when these people are now ex-employees why the hell should they respond at all, it's not like they're being paid to do so anymore is it? Kudos to joshfinney for posting to these forums at all. I hope him and the others made redundant find something else soon.
Continuing to trade while insolvent is a criminal offence, from all we know it looks very much like, during at least the last week, they were insolvent.
Finally got my refund from Paypal.
Hope everyone else has the same outcome.
Singlespeedstu did they just refund you when the ten days elapsed or did you have to escalate the dispute to a claim ?
I escalated to a claim as soon as I could.
That was ten days ago.
So 20 days in total? I’ve raised a dispute can’t see an option to escalate to a claim i’m Assuming it’s cause the 10 day dispute window hasn’t elapsed ??
I escalated mine to a claim the next day.
Original payment was way before that though.
In the hope that it offers some reassurance to others, I escalated my claim on the 16th, expecting it to take 10 days.
However, I've just had my refund. I guess PayPal have now worked out they did a runner.
Am I the only one slightly happy they've gone under? I have every sympathy for anyone who has lost money, and really hope you all get every penny back. UByk seemed to be the kind of shop who appeared in the last few years who were desperate to tap into the bankers and stockbrokers who stopped playing golf and who coffee stop at the Soho Rapha store. Every ad was loaded with the highest of high end bikes and custom builds that the majority of us on an average or even an above average wage could never dream of spending...never mind £8000, they seemed to be advertising at the £10-12k kind of market. It always seemed that if you wanted to spend 'only' £2-3k, they really weren't a shop for 'those sort of people'...in other words, the kind of market I shop in. This is the sort of store that has really encouraged the enormous price inflation seen in the last few years.....and yet have still gone bust. Go figure.
Just got my PP Credit refund confirmation through.. pleasantly surprised at it was below the usual £100 threshold. Interesting wording as they claim to have been able to 'recover' the amount, so I guess some accounts must still be active?
smogmonster.
To me not at all.
I had them in the " being able to sell me some stuff that other places didn't have at a cheap price if i didn't mind waiting" kind of a place.
And for the record I ain't got a pot to piss in compared to some of the merchant bankers on here...
In my experience of investigating companies pretty much every one which has folded and had been trading up to the fold day has been in it for themselves, taking money off as many people as possible while they can. I’ve had company directors/owners say to me directly that it was so they could transfer their busiensss to a relative so they could stop a soon to be ex wife getting hold of it. They didn’t care that people would go without wages or that suppliers wouldn’t be paid, they saw that as a bonus to make a clean start. Most times they started again the next day at a slightly different address to repeat the cycle, and st the same time the new company mysteriously bought the assets of the old company.
Very common in building and small scale manufacturing IME.
I’m not saying this is the case here but IME they’re all crooks with no morals at all.
I've just filled in the application for my credit card refund. Fingers crossed - it's for £234.99.
@smugmonster
My only dealing with them was as advertising out of stock kit as in stock, they kept popping up on google shopping results but I just assumed they would never have it.
Mate of a mate has set up a top end shop aiming at the riders you are talking about, working really well from what I can see, wish them all the best as at this point making money in bikes is hard work - made harder by the discount stock we don't have lot.
Been informed from paypal my 500 original outlay being refunded to myself ... woohoo 👍
@therookie
Trading a company whilst insolvent is not a criminal offence and in certain circumstances is ok if there is an expectation of recovery. It is all to do with intention and circumstances at the time without the benefit of hindsight.
Got my £3k back via PayPal... Hope everyone else gets sorted ASAP.
As someone who quit a career to accept a manager job at Oxford ubyk in the spring, only for the offer to fall through and for me to step back into my old role I feel like I ultimately dodged a bullet.
Curious where this is: ubyk are still not recorded on Companies House as insolvent, so wouldn't that mean a new buyer - Peak Bikes - take on their debts as well as their assets? Also curious about Peak, Companies House shows them as dormant
https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/09460272
and before Xmas their web page was just a single page offering bike servicing but has now been updated to suggest they own 4 stores including in Oxford and Brighton (ie. Ubyk) - the front screen pic is the interior of the Oxford ubyk store and even has the logo on the wall (and was taken a while ago as I recognize the road bike in front of the till) and the online shopping link takes you to the suspended ubyk page.
Not suggesting they're dodgy just interested in how it all works.
Dont forget that you only have to file once a year, and for example if your YE is Dec, you can file as late as Sept. So Companies House will be way out of date.
But that was well dodged 🙂
Very dodgy website! Google his name Peter Currey & worked for Je James back in 04 otherwise all other business he has had dealings with gone into Liquidation. Great track record lol
@ Trimix, you are meant to file within 14 days of liquidation or administration, you can't leave it to your next annual filing.
I do hope peak did their due diligence properly and that they haven't ended up with unexpected liabilities beyond the assets they thought they were buying.
@Crashtestmonkey, CH shows peak as active, they were dormant, but not now it seems. Peter Currey has been with 4 companies, all shown as active?
https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/officers/W9zVy6geKhMSVlb9TAGEyeugJcM/appointments
A few pages back Peak cycles were trying to help people out with replacement orders. Has anyone got anywhere with them and had a order replaced for the same price?
I ordered through UBYK but managed to get my money back through paypal. I did email Peak and got an initial response but nothing since. Not sure to leave well alone or see if they can get the item i wanted with 20% off.
Peter replied to an email of mine a few days ago saying he would honour the price on my Hope order.
He also said they're not up and running yet.
Peter replied to me and put me in touch with jungle products who are supplying me with a bike tomorrow 😁 massive thanks to both parties 👍🏻
I’d also like to thank the forum and the members for the help. If it wasn’t for this forum I wouldn’t of known anything was up and only now trying to claim my money back.
Anyone heard from ubyk or Peak post-christmas? Certainly not seen any sign of life in the Oxford store which is an unshuttered shell now- I suspect it hasn't been bought by anyone.
Still nothing from my credit card company - I sent off the claim forms on 27th December 2018. I guess I'll chase in a week or so...
I responded to the Peak Bike email and filled out the form but have heard nothing for some time.
FYI, we're hoping to have some new on Monday with regards to both the stores and web. It's been a drawn out process with Christmas in the way but it looks like we're moving forward.
Those who need any info or help, please get in touch - sales@peakbikes.co.uk
In the meantime, the Peak Bikes web store can be found here - peakbikes.store
Peter.
Your link to the site isn't working.
That's the noisiest site I've visited for a while. Scared the life out of me. Nice apart from that.
ha, sorry!
You think the videos need to stay or go? We were having this debate today in the office...
Loud shouty video on the website? That would be a no.
Nah, I don't much like sites which play sound without asking first, and more importantly, with no apparent way to turn it off.
I take it you're not retaining the highly-regarded UBYK brand then? 🙂
pc89, It might be worth someone checking the site over as I've immediately noticed a few errors just browsing.
At the bottom of the main page under 'recent posts' the shop / business is described as Peal Bikes.
At the top of the 'full suspension bikes' page of the online shop the brands available are listed as Mondraker/ Yeti/ Commencal/ Nukeproof. When you scroll down the brands available are Mondraker/ Yeti/ Commencal/ Santa Cruz.
We are now in a position where we can shed some light on what has been happening. As you may be aware, Ubyk Limited ceased trading and entered into liquidation towards the end of 2018 following difficulties with trading.
After long and hard negations with the liquidation company Peak Bikes is to occupy the stores that Ubyk Limited previously occupied as the new tenants. This isn’t just a rebrand or a change of company name. Peak Bikes has been around since 2009 and has no current or previous relationship with Ubyk Limited and there is no common directorship.
We are planning on expanding and fine-tuning the bits that made Ubyk great and we are excited to see how we can drive this venture forward under the Peak Bikes Limited umbrella with our team.
Additionally, Peak Bikes has purchased the Ubyk website and we are working to put our own stamp on that as we rebrand it; we hope to have that live very soon.
If you would like to get in touch then we’ll be glad to hear from you with any questions or enquiries – sales@peakbikes.co.uk
Well now the dust has settled i take back my much earlier cynical comment.
I can imagine this has not been easy for peak bikes and i wish them all the best with their new adventure/ expansion.
Peter at Peakbikes has told me how he is going to honour the price that Ubyk charged me for the order they didn't deliver.
He's asked Hope what happened to my order but hasn't had a reply yet.
I wonder why?
I'm sure he will come through in the end though.
After all he has told me he will honour the price tried to pay.
Singlespeedstu, We are doing everything we can to get issues like this one sorted as quickly as possible but we only gained access to the Ubyk system late yesterday. I will try and get some more information for you on Monday when Hope reopen. This process may take a little while to all get sorted but we will do our very best to keep everyone as up to date as we can.
Andy4d, Thank you for your support
john.
I'm sure you are and I look forwards to your help.
