but quit stalking the staff.
... over a couple of hundred quid, spent on shiny bike parts. When they have lost their jobs, 10 days before Xmas. Yes it sucks to be you, but have a sense of perspective.
How much Tom ?
It’s an awful lot more than a couple of hundred quid mate
The people who have lost money honestly I am sorry for but please do not take it out on the staff we lost money to and I know it may seem we are not human but honestly we are. We have morels I have kids, rent & bills to pay. I was screwed and so was the like of Richard and everyone other member of staff like I have said.
I completely understand everyone’s frustrations because I am frustrated to but please just contact you payment provider and try and claim your money back or the liquidation company like I am to try and claim my wages and holiday back.
I have put 4 years into this company and I get people are pissed and have every right to be but I and all the other staff are in the same situation aswell. So my apologies and I hope anyone who is in my boat can sort it out.
Nonk what’s your issue? Richard isn’t a director he didn’t take your money? He’s a guy that worked for UBYK who was also done over like I was! I worked with the guy for 4 years! He isn’t a scum bag! He doesn’t deserve to be labelled by UBYK’s wrong doing.
no axe to grind with you josh good luck
Hope it all works out
righto josh I’ll stop talking to your delicate mate on Twitter if it’ll keep you happy
How much Tom ?
It’s an awful lot more than a couple of hundred quid mate
Point simply being your wasting your time there. It was never going to get you any money back, or any goods. I know it sucks and it's a shit position to be in.
Nonk but Richard is not the one to grind with either honestly mate I’ve been stung and so has he. I understand your frustration mate but you at honestly taking it out on the wrong guy.
Nonk are you the guy that contacted him on Strava I guess?
Bet PC89’s wishing he’d paid by credit card...
yep that’s me
I assumed all the polite could you please call me messages I left him must have got lost somewhere
If you see him could you ask him to call me I can’t understand why he feels the need to hide
He is the sales manager after all
Nonk he’s a sales manager not the guy who took your money so harrassing the man will not make a difference.
As I said I understand your frustration but you taking it out on a single member of staff who has now been made redundant like myself is the wrong way to do it.
Pete has made it clear of what you need to do and so have I so please do that instead of harrassing an ex menmber of UBYK staff when we are all stressed because we lost our jobs a week befor Christmas. Because trust me it is very stressful not knowing how your gunna pay your rent when you have 2 kids just after making sure they have a good Christmas.
Richard is in that same boat Nonk you are taking it to far. I get you are pissed about your money but so am I. I lost a lot of money to the point I am gunna have to give up my house potentially but I don’t go stalking people Dow and harrassing them.
Please forward your frustratikn to the right people.
Excuse my spelling or punctuation
I don’t think Nonk grasps that Richard has been made redundant. It sounds like he WAS the sales manager.
Contact your payment provider and get your money back!
Your right josh I’m wasting my time trying to get an explanation out of him
I’ll leave it
dhrider i just want people to get there money back because I am doing the same and so is the guys who I worked with but Richard doesn’t deserve the crap because it wasn’t his doing. He was a member of staff like me and honestly reading this thread sucks because we put full effort for the last 4 years building a business that bit you guys and ourselves in the ass.
Nonk I completely get your frustration but we are are looking for answers too. And I am sorry if you have been burnt by the place honestly I am.
Don’t be mate it’s not your apology to make
Good luck
Ubyk eBay account seems to be back in operation. Few items on there, including a wheel very similar to the one I ordered.
Sympathies to the staff at ubyk. Share your pain just going through a consultation myself.
How much Tom ?
It’s an awful lot more than a couple of hundred quid mate
That you will get back from PayPal, by the looks of it. Or, speak to the disti and see if the order was placed, see if they will post it to you direct, rather than going all Liam Neeson
Ubyk eBay account seems to be back in operation. Few items on there, including a wheel very similar to the one I ordered.
"Trading while insolvent"
Josh,
Well done for coming on and giving a sense of perspective. Good luck for the coming weeks and months and finding a new job... Try not to take some things to heart.
Haven't posted on this site in years but I run my own bike shop not a million miles from a ubyk store and would like to make some points.
Nearly every bike shop is losing money these days and those that aren't are making less than 2% net as is the case in most retail these days. Price is all conquering due to how easy the internet and smartphones make it to shop around especially when the product is the same wherever you buy it from.
Some people think they can build a retail or product brand and sell it on for a tidy sum a la rapha but as consumer retail spending has declined in recent years retailers with big debts and high overheads have been desperate to generate turnover to service these items and they know the score. Ubyks accounts have been rubbish from day one and the staff day to day know it's not going well.
A lot of blame must sit with the suppliers who keep supplying retailers and dealers who continually discount, provide a sub par consumer experience and poor after sales as well as being naughty completing online transactions before shipping goods and probably doing the same with finance agreements most likely. Both illegal afaik.
I hope suppliers keep getting burnt by retailers going bust and learn to be more selective about who they supply and provide a good customer journey. Then good shops may be able to compete with every new startup undercutting them on price.
I know some ubyk staff have kept their jobs, sorry for those who lost wages but if new owner only bought the assets then there should be redundancy pay which is underwritten by the govt I believe.
I can see this scenario happening more and more. So many bike shops have closed in the last 18-24 months that for a failing shop or owner looking to retire the temptation to do this must be strong. You try and sell your business but as sales are declining and margins ever decreasing it isn't generating anything above a salary so has little to no value as a business.
The business may have as much debt as the stock and assets are worth so a sale is not possible. Now a month of major online sales of a very high profile brand such as say hope or santa Cruz or Shimano at less than trade so cheaper than everyone by miles, some Google AdWords and Google shopping spend and maybe some Facebook and Instagram adverts could drive in several hundred orders averaging £500 or so, pay yourself the money and then just liquidate the business. More money than selling and literally walk away leaving liquidators to tidy up.
If a shop owner feels shafted by suppliers doing way cheaper pricing, drop shipping and all sorts to their big spending accounts like wiggle and ubyk etc why would they feel guilty shafting the same suppliers with a liquidation?
Being a great shop is not enough for success these days, consumers can take the experience and knowledge and demo facilities of a good shop and then buy anywhere that is cheapest as the products are usually identical and they infrequently do exactly this.
Brands and suppliers need to take more responsibility for who they supply and how they treat customers.
@special
You seem to be suggesting tht you view price fixing to be a good idea?
drive in several hundred orders averaging £500 or so, pay yourself the money and then just liquidate the business. More money than selling and literally walk away leaving liquidators to tidy up.
Are you suggesting that's what the owners of Ubyk have done in this instance?
Everyone knows certain brands have done it & still do it & ironically they are the brands that people do well with.
It's not uncommon to be able to buy product cheaper than distributor cost, let alone retailer.
brant
Subscriber
@special
You seem to be suggesting tht you view price fixing to be a good idea?
*Opens a new packet of biscuits...*
*Opens a new packet of biscuits…*
Hope you didn't pay full price for them.
So, I'm going to try and claim through my credit card. I need to provide the following:
"...and, if applicable, liquidation documentation (documents detailing the insolvency of the supplier)."
Any idea where I get a copy of the liquidation documentation?
brant
Subscriber
@special
You seem to be suggesting tht you view price fixing to be a good idea?
Or suggesting that mass discounting, especially on stock you do not hold or have not paid for doesn't work, suppliers need a way to safeguard themselves, it could be to put different terms onto retailers who are not holding stock or those that are loss leading, not sure exactly where the law stands on that.
Was it Endura a few years back who said to stock their products you had to have a certain % of the range available?
I paid through PayPal using my credit card, I did the online claim thing with PayPal over the weekend and then got impatient and thought I'd call my cc company. They said they'll refund me in the next 24hrs on the grounds that I didn't received the goods within 15 days when I was led to believe they were in stock.
Might be worth trying your cc company if you used one.
For info, this is when they were trying to sell the business
The telling bit is at the top "Pending the Appointment of Joint Administrators", in other words they were already in significant trouble in the middle of November (first record I can find is from the 15th Nov).
it could be to put different terms onto retailers who are not holding stock or those that are loss leading, not sure exactly where the law stands on that.
You can do that legally - standard trade price and then an incentivised "premier stockist" price for those who carry and hold stock. And as part of that deal, probably supply some extra in-store POS for them too.
Personally I think that's where retail should be headed - in stock, convenience and experience led.
"@special
You seem to be suggesting tht you view price fixing to be a good idea?"
@brant - I'd suggest that the law related to price-fixing long predated online shopping, particularly with smartphones for mobile price checking, and that if we want the high street retail sector to survive there need to be some fundamental changes in how retail is done.
I'd be interested to know how the US retail sector, where 'price fixing' is allowed, is coping compared to the EU retail sector?
You seem to be suggesting tht you view price fixing to be a good idea?
If it stops the unscrupulous listing a load of products, that they don’t have in stock, way below normal price, taking a shit ton of orders and money they had no intention of fulfilling, I’m all for it. Hell, if they were forced to make a certain % on each sale, they mightn’t have gone pop...
Price fixing is surely a double edge sword? If you were to allow the fixing of prices again, would that not encourage more entrants to the market at different price points? I've never thought it really fixes anything to not allow it. Yes you create competition and value for certain products, but at the same time you hinder the development of others. For example do you think you would see more or less X Fusion forks on bikes (bought via shops) if RockShox forks were always sold at a fixed price? And if that was happening do you think that RockShox would still be fixed at their higher price or move towards the XF price?
Of course the bike market has some issues with OEM leakage that bypass all those issues which many other industries don't have. When was the last time you heard of KwikFit selling really cheap tyres for example? If other industries can keep OE under control I don't see why cycling cannot.
Of course the bike market has some issues with OEM leakage that bypass all those issues which many other industries don’t have. When was the last time you heard of KwikFit selling really cheap tyres for example? If other industries can keep OE under control I don’t see why cycling cannot.
Bang on. I heard about a UK subsidiary of a P&A brand struggling for sales due to OEM product flooding the market, sold by their own global HQ! Talk about a short termist strategy.
OEM control is probably one of the first ports of call in an attempt to sort the issues in the sector.
sounds like a shitty situation all round. sorry for the staff who got burned at this time. almost happened to me exactly 8 or so years ago - while I was off work moving into a house I'd just bought! so glad it didn't happen in the end.
re: trading while insolvent - depends who's got the keys to the ebay account? could be the insolvency people blowing out the stock.
re: not actually having stock. this is very standard including online motor parts and things like skateboard goods. the distributors will guarantee certain things are in stock. some will even ship direct to your customer for you. (not defending it, i dont like the practice either). some companies even exist where you basically brand a website and they own and hold the stock.
re: the blame game. when the the staff not in the know find out? the witchhunt, while entertaining is heading into the realms of defamation. obviously they knew when the shops were emptied.
did that stock go into storage because of refits, and not some underhand fire sale/ebay blowout?
new owner: although people here say the brand us burned it is, but in only here. most people don't check where they're ordering from, and with CC / paypal protection will take a punt for a bargain.
when you reopoen doors & put website back up put a clear statement explaning what has happened and help those people affected by 'ubyk limited' and rior owners to either contact their CC company, paypal or the insolvency people. this is damage control on your new (albeit fire damaged) brand.
I'd consider trading under another name or modified name and funnel all 'UKBYK' leads through into the new name (or peak which isn't a bad name at at all) - it wouldnt be too crazy to have a website do this - two frontends running off one database with slightly different branding). or "peak now incorporating ubyk wich directly confirms the aquistion). this retains the website tech, and name without giving the website admin a heart attack.
renaming this might also be the only way to dodgge/purge those bad trust advisor type reviews and this post as there is a stain against the name ubyk left over part of the internet by this debacle.
You might think that but I couldn't possibly comment!
I am sure everything is completely above board. Having a new owner lined up on the basis of going into liquidation and run a massive black Friday sale of stock I don't have at below cost sounds a good plan.
No and not legal under EU law, although I don't think it's always a bad idea in a market with lots of competing brands or products but that's a whole different matter.
A brand being careful who they supply and want to protect and promote their brand image and consumer experience and after sales etc could gain by only supplying dealers who can deliver all that which means they need to be able to make enough margin and turniver. If they are constantly undercut by a low staff, low margin retailer who earns the sale off the back of the work done by another hard working dealer purely because they are willing to well at a lower margin. They may think they can make enough money or even make none but build a brand they can sell to a venture capital outfit, all off the back of being the cheapest.
If a brand purely wants to sell as much as possible and to hell with the consequences then fine but if they care about their consumers and their brand image/value and future of the industry then they should care.
Seems to me that eventually there's going to be two ways to buy a bike. One is direct sales and the other is through big chain bike shops who can afford to sell their own brand bikes. That's what the place I used to work at did. They weren't huge (5 stores in total, each one with probably 100 to 150 bikes in stock at any one time) and they sold Fuji and their own brand who were re-branded Superior Bikes from the Czech Republic (if you remember them from a few years ago with their somewhat old-fashioned attitudes to mountain biking)
Bump - Does anyone know where I get a copy of the liquidation documentation (documents detailing the insolvency of the supplier)? So I can fill in my credit card claim?
I’d be interested to know how the US retail sector, where ‘price fixing’ is allowed, is coping compared to the EU retail sector?
If you head on over to the PBMA on facecook you will find people buying from the UK to price match as its cheaper than US wholesale and a whole lot of oother unhappy shit
If they are constantly undercut by a low staff, low margin retailer who earns the sale off the back of the work done by another hard working dealer purely because they are willing to well at a lower margin.
Thats almost as comical as the buy british mob who then complain its more expensive than that chinese trash except they buy the chinese trash.... Thats the punter not the shops fault punters need reeducating but like other things when i can write three off for the price of one....well its not rocket science
Best idea sell direct **** everyone else till the whole ship finally does sink
Edd if in administration or liquidation it will be registered at companies house. Do a search on there under the company name it’s a free service.
Nothing at companies house. Can you not just claim for non delivery? Liquidation documents might take a while to show up officially.
https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/07633141/filing-history
@special
You seem to be suggesting tht you view price fixing to be a good idea?
I could put a lot of my thoughts onto this thread but I’ll leave them I think.
But price fixing - that’s really the only way forward imo. My trade has been through the pain of this and on the other side, the brands that price fix do so much better all around. We can offer a better service, the arse doesn’t get ripped out of the product, a decent living is earned by all. It took some big brands with big balls to move in that direction though and actually police it. A couple of brands will reimburse us a price match and overall, it’s a better place to be for the suppliers, retailers and customers all round.
Surely you should have seen it coming..."a deeply unsettling existential horror story, a nightmare you'll never be sure you've woken up from" The protagonist, Joe Chip, is a debt-ridden technician...............
