Barwon Heads company Nerida Hansen Fabrics’ statement amid customer angst

A Barwon Heads businesswoman whose previous company went into liquidation has been accused of not delivering products.

Nerida Hansen. Photo: Carli Wilson Photography.

A Barwon Heads businesswoman whose previous company went into liquidation owing $1.1m to creditors has been accused of not delivering products.

Nerida Hansen, owner of Nerida Hansen Fabrics, has taken responsibility for late deliveries and a lack of communication regarding her fabrics business.

She conceded she had been overwhelmed for months.

“I recognise the impact this has had on my organisational capacity, my ability to adhere to production schedules, and most importantly, my capacity to communicate clearly with you,” she said on her website on Monday.

The statement came after disgruntled customers flocked to Facebook to join a group called “Nerida Hansen needs to deliver product to her customers”, which quickly gathered more than 560 members.

Nerida Hansen

Scott Andersen of Worrells was appointed liquidator of her previous company in May 2022, according to Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) documents.

The company owed $550,000 to a secured creditor and $672,999 to 22 unsecured creditors, the documents state.

The company was deregistered on May 15, 2023.

One month later, Ms Hansen registered her current business, Nerida Hansen Fabrics.

And just this week, she registered a business called The Kind Merch Co, according to Ms Hansen’s Australian Business Number status.

One disgruntled customer questioned her own judgement after placing an order after previously waiting for more than a year for a product.

“I am still waiting on a simple reply and have had no response,” she said.

Nerida Hansen. Photo: Supplied

“It is easy to assume I won’t receive my fabric, especially after seeing all her strange posts on social media blaming everyone and not taking any responsibility.”

Another customer has waited more than a year for her order to be filled.

“Week after week, email after email, social media posts after another,” she said.

The same customer said she had ordered fabric from Ms Hansen without issue in the past, but her “excuses” had become increasingly hard to bear.

Sarah Patterson, a customer of Ms Hansen since 2020, said the date she was supposed to receive goods kept getting pushed back.

“It kept happening over and over again,” she said.

“It would just keep changing and constantly (I was) being told, ‘I’ve got your fabric, it’s coming’ and then you would sort of go ‘OK, I’ll give her another week’ and again it wouldn’t come.”

Ms Patterson said she did receive a full refund.

Another client said she did not buy into the recent “witch hunt” and would continue to purchase from Ms Hansen.

“I received my refund in roughly a week,” she said.

Nerida Hansen. Photo: Carli Wilson Photography

In her online statement, Ms Hansen admitted the “business” side of operations was not her “strong suit”.

She said all orders were in place and customers could request a refund if they wished.

Ms Hansen, whose business has about 103,000 Instagram followers, said efforts to improve communication and processes had been hampered in recent weeks due to rumours that Nerida Hansen Fabrics would be closing down.

“Please rest assured that I have no intention of closing the business that I have worked so hard on for many years,” she said in her statement.

“Any statements circulating on social media to that effect are ill founded, and have likely arisen from my poor communication.”

When contacted by the Geelong Advertiser this week, Ms Hansen said: “The information that you are citing upon and reflecting upon is misinformation, (it is) vastly lies that have done irrefutable damage to my business”.

Originally published as Barwon Heads company Nerida Hansen Fabrics’ statement amid customer angst