Huge Aussie company T&R International collapses owing millions
One of Australia’s biggest online retailers has been plunged into liquidation after a string of complaints from customers and an embarrassing investigation.
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A huge Australian online retailer has collapsed owing millions of dollars to customers.
T&R International, which sells sports and exercise equipment from abroad at discount prices, has called in liquidators.
According to A Current Affair, the company owes around $7 million to creditors and $4.5 million to customers who are yet to receive their products.
The online business also ran Sports Leisure and Bike Scooter Hub.
Liquidators said there was only $18,000 left in the bank but other assets could be sold to reimburse customers.
When ACA went to the company's warehouse there was no sign of staff and websites have been shut down.
The dramatic closure comes after NSW Fair Trading received 397 complaints about all three retailers under T&R International’s control and the watchdog had launched an investigation into possible breaches in consumer law.
The programme highlighted the company’s motto was “too good to be true” has been misspelled in some of the marketing merchandise.
A number of customers had appeared on the show last month saying they had been refused refunds while others claimed to have been sold defective products.
The company’s three factories in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane stand abandoned.
“They pulled up with trucks and took what they could,” one Sydney local said.
One customer who drove to the factory after chasing his order for months said: “I don’t have much money to lose, $3000.”
The company blamed “cash flow challenges” for the collapse and said the business had been damaged by ACA’s initial report last month.
“We have lost almost everything we built over the past 14 years, and the emotional and financial burden has been overwhelming,” a company spokesperson said.
The internet is awash with hundreds of negative reviews of the website over the past 12 months.
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Originally published as Huge Aussie company T&R International collapses owing millions
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