Staff member speaks out after Tango Caravan collapses

An employee at a collapsed retailer has lifted the lid on the “toxic” work environment in the lead up to the company’s demise.

An employee at a collapsed retailer has lifted the lid on the “toxic” work environment in the lead up to the company’s demise.

Last month, news.com.au revealed that Victorian-based Tango Caravans had plunged into liquidation and receivership with at least 85 creditors owed an unknown amount of money.

The collapse has left dozens of customers up in arms, with some having paid the full amount for their caravans – around $70,000 – with no van to show for it and little hope of recovering their lost cash.

Chris Ferreira, 37, worked as a sales consultant at Tango for just four months before he was driven to quit as he watched on in horror at the dysfunctional company.

He also discovered he wasn’t paid superannuation for the entirety of the time he worked at the business and is owed around $5000.

We were “sold the fake dream,” he told news.com.au, adding that: “I didn’t realise it was to the extent that it was” until the business finally went bust.

A Tango Caravans employee has lifted the lid on the business in the months leading up to its collapse.

Tango Caravans had been in business since 2016.

Tango manufactured customised caravans and was headquartered in Somerton, Melbourne.

A spokesperson for Tango Caravans has been contacted for comment.

Mr Ferreira said that he could see the wheels falling off the business when angry customers would call or visit the office demanding their caravan or a refund.

He said “They noticed I can handle conflict” and he was soon made to deal with these situations.

Every day he rocked up to work, he said: “I didn’t know whether I was going to be a sales consultant or a conflict consultant”.

Before fielding these calls, he tried to seek clarity from the business about what the plan of action was in how to handle their complaints, and said there was none.

“I feel for all the customers of Tango Caravans,” he said.

He added that he felt staff had copped unfair criticism from customers.

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The Winter family have been left tens of thousands out of pocket and temporarily homeless from Tango’s collapse.

The Logan family have lost $90,000 and have no caravan to show for it.

Mr Ferreira joined Tango in December last year and had quit by March.

Despite being relatively new there, he said of the eight staff employed, only three had been there longer than him, indicating the high turnover.

On one occasion, Mr Ferreira and several other people from the office went to a caravan sales show in Traralgon, two hours outside of Melbourne, for a weekend as part of work.

He had a medical emergency and had to rush to hospital.

According to Mr Ferreira, he was told he had to make his own way home. As a result, he had to call his dad to drive hours to pick him up and take him home.

Later, he said he heard baseless rumours spreading around the company, and among customers and suppliers, that he had faked the medical emergency to get out of work.

At this point, he was determined to leave and began job hunting, finding two opportunities quite quickly.

He finally tendered his resignation and offered to work out his notice period.

The business said that wasn’t necessary and asked him to leave that day. But his final wage did not include payment for the notice period and he had to fight for it, eventually receiving payment for one week.

“It was too toxic,” he said. Mr Ferreira has said he now works in an entirely different industry.

The Edmunds family say they feel “ripped off”.

News.com.au previously reported that Tango’s collapse is particularly devastating for Ali Winter and her family-of-five who have been left temporarily homeless in the wake of the company’s failure, as well as losing just shy of $80,000.

Ms Winter, 41, her husband and her three sons, originally from Queensland, sold their home in 2022 to travel around the country in a trip of a lifetime. But wanting an upgrade to their home on wheels, they sold their van to afford a new vehicle from Tango Caravans – and have been waiting ever since. “We ended up in a short term rental for seven weeks. We’ve been living with all our stuff in the back of a car. We’ll probably apply for a rental,” Ms Winter told news.com.au.

Then there’s Sylwia Logan, 43, who’s also in a dire financial position with total losses of $90,000.

The mum-of-two paid $76,000 and on top of that, she took out a loan to be able to afford her dream caravan.

Ms Logan is now paying $14,000 in interest for the five-year loan she took out for a product she will likely never receive.

“I cannot believe I’m going to pay off a loan for something I will never own,” she said.

Tyler Edmunds, a father-of-two, made the full payment to Tango – $73,000 – for his caravan, and he is now facing the prospect of losing it all. Mr Edmunds told news.com.au that everyone feels “ripped off”.

The appointed liquidator, Andrew Yeo from insolvency firm Pitcher Partners, said there were “significant debts”, with the large majority of those from customers who had paid deposits.

In a devastating blow to customers, Mr Yeo said he is not in a position to refund customers.

The liquidator also said that Tango doesn’t have any stock on its property and doesn’t control any caravans.

“It may be possible that some caravans are presently being manufactured by external suppliers, and a partial resolution may be achievable,” he added.

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Originally published as Staff member speaks out after Tango Caravan collapses