Director of collapsed company owing $8.7m sends customers marketing texts for new business

A former customer of a collapsed company is furious after receiving an unsolicited text message from the director.

A former customer of a collapsed electrical company in South Australia is furious after receiving an unsolicited text message from the new business that the director started up.

Adelaide-based electrical and energy company Sharpe Services went into liquidation on July 11, 2022, with 104 unsecured creditors owed $6.4 million, according to a liquidator’s report filed with ASIC in October.

About 92 employees are also owed $2.3 million from unpaid wages and superannuation.

News.com.au reported last year that the company’s director, the eponymous David Sharpe, started another business called O’Brien Electrical & Energy Solutions Thebarton, offering similar services immediately after the firm’s liquidation.

Mr Sharpe’s legal representative previously denied his client was running a phoenix operation, which is when a company goes under then restarts under a different name and avoids its debt.

They insisted the new and the old companies were entirely “separate and distinct entities”, but in the text message to former customers, sent in late March, O’Brien Electrical & Energy Solutions Thebarton claimed they were affiliated with the previous business, Sharpe Services.

Former customer of Sharpe Services, Andrew*, said he found the unsolicited marketing message was particularly galling because he bought a solar and battery system from Sharpe Services for $16,000 in 2020.

A component of the solar system hasn’t been working for the last four months but since the business has collapsed, he is no longer covered by warranty and is facing a $1200 loss as a result.

“It’s annoying getting text messages from anyone,” Andrew, 37, told news.com.au “But the fact it came from someone I bought my system from, that I can no longer claim warranty on … Get f**ked.”

The text message Andrew received in March.

“Hi Andrew,” the text message reads.

“Sharpe Services Has Exciting News.

“We are NOW affiliated with O’Brien.

“Call the same (number) … and Check our Updated Web … Your VCR accesses rewards (...) accesses Rewards, Online Offers & Services for Electrical, Plumbing, A/C Evaps and Solar. Plus Bonuses & 3+ Packs.

“Reply REMOVE to unsubscribe from marketing messages.”

The collapse of Sharpe Services “left a whole lot of people in the lurch,” Andrew said.

The dad added “it’s bullsh*t” that his customer data had been retained and passed on to the new business, and yet the warranties are not being honoured, leaving him to foot the $1200 bill to replace his faulty inverter. There is no suggestion that it was unlawful in any way to send the text message.

The appointed liquidator of Sharpe Services, Daniel Lopresti of insolvency firm Clifton Hall, said this text message was not entirely accurate.

“Whether or not that message is completely accurate is doubtful,” he said in conversation with news.com.au.

“Obviously that entity (Sharpe Services) is in liquidation and is not operating,” Mr Lopresti explained, making it hard for a company to be affiliated with it.

Its “trading name can be sold, but the trading name hasn’t been purchased,” he added.

Andrew received another marketing message as recently as earlier this month, but this time there was no mention of any affiliation with Sharpe Services.

O’Brien Electrical & Energy Solutions Thebarton and Mr Sharpe’s representatives did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

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When the company first collapsed, the new business initially drew media attention when it purported to be the same company.

In a previous statement to news.com.au, Mr Sharpe’s lawyer Luke Rowley rejected that his client had simply renamed the electrical company.

“David denies he is engaging in illegal activity including an illegal phoenix arrangement,” Mr Sharpe’s lawyer Luke Rowley said last year.

“David did not rename his collapsed business. Sharpe is in liquidation,” Mr Rowley said.

“He incorporated a separate company which was offered an opportunity to be part of the O’Brien franchise network. They are separate and distinct entities.”

In another turn of events, when the liquidator attended the site of the defunct Sharpe Services, he claimed most of the equipment, as well as the website domain name and phone number, had already been transferred to the new business.

ASIC documents show David Sharpe is the director of IEnergy Hub Pty Ltd, which he began operating under the trading name O’Brien Electrical & Energy Solutions Thebarton after the collapse of his previous company.

“On the day of my appointment, I attended the company’s leased premises to inspect and secure the company’s assets,” Mr Lopresti said in his statutory report.

“However, I observed that the majority of the company’s plant, equipment, motor vehicles and stock had been removed from the premises.”

It has “been relocated to a nearby premises which was controlled by an associated entity,” he wrote.

Mr Lopresti said the new business was very “similar” to the old one, offering near identical services.

David Sharpe now runs a new and very “similar” company.

“The Director advised me that IEH (IEnergy Hub) intended to acquire certain assets of the company to utilise in a new business it had established which provides similar services to the company,” Mr Lopresti said.

“Only a portion of the company’s assets were made available for inspection on this date.”

David Sharpe’s new business ended up buying most of the equipment.

The company director also snapped up some intellectual property, which could explain how O’Brien Electrical & Energy Solutions Thebarton got hold of the phone numbers of previous customers like Andrew.

Mr Lopresti criticised the fact most of the company’s equipment and other assets had already been taken, writing in the report: “I am acutely aware that the actions taken by the director and IEH to relocate the majority of the company’s physical assets from the possession of the company prior to my appointment and to utilise the Company’s intellectual property prevented … may constitute a creditor-defeating disposition.”

However, he ultimately concluded however that he sold the items at “fair market value” and that the prices were “reasonable”.

Another marketing message Andrew received, with no mention of Sharpe Services this time.

It’s not the first time David Sharpe has tried to use the brand of Sharpe Services to try to promote the O’Brien business he now operates.

The director found himself in the media spotlight over a since-deleted post on the O’Brien website announced that Mr Sharpe had established a new franchise called O’Brien Electrical & Energy Solutions Thebarton and that it had previously been named Sharpe Services.

The website stated that Mr Sharpe’s business had been “servicing South Australia for over 40 years under their former business name Sharpe Services”.

The liquidator is still investigating Sharpe Services, including “whether there was a phoenixing element” in its winding up. Mr Sharpe strenuously denies any wrongdoing.

Originally published as Director of collapsed company owing $8.7m sends customers marketing texts for new business