After operating for more than 40 years, Wollongong Window World has gone out of business, leaving suppliers and customers out of pocket.
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The long-running Swan Street business - operated by South Coast Project Solutions - closed its doors last Friday, along with 33-year-old Wollongong Aluminium Supplies.
The two home improvement companies are among a group of five with the same director which went into liquidation last week. The others are 360 Degrees Business Advisers, A2Z Group Services and Camden Computers NSW.
The Mercury contacted the director, Andrew Stark, to ask why his businesses were being wound up. Through his solicitor, Mr Stark said:
"It is a shame that Wollongong Window World and Wollongong Aluminium Supply, which [have] had a strong connection to the Illawarra region for decades, had to close [their] doors."
"I understand that the liquidator is preparing his report to creditors, which should set out what happened to the businesses. If any of the creditors wish to prove a claim, they should contact the liquidator."
A number of Wollongong Window World customers contacted the Mercury to say they had paid deposits and were waiting on windows to be delivered.
This included a Shellharbour woman, who paid a small deposit two weeks ago, only to find the company was unable to be contacted to deliver her windows.
A Dapto customer said she had been dealing with the company for about six weeks, and had paid a $400 deposit.
"We've been calling and chasing them for weeks, and we even had to go chasing them for our receipt for the deposit," she said.
"Finally last Friday we called them and it went straight to message, and then my husband went to the shop [on Tuesday] and there was a sign on the window with a number for the liquidators."
"I think there will be a lot of people a lot worse off than us - $400 I can wear, it's just frustrating because we've got boarded up bathroom windows and now we're going to have to go somewhere else and wait for longer for them to be done."
Sydney firm O'Brien Palmer has been appointed to deal with the liquidation of all five companies.
"Unfortunately all the customers who have placed deposits and are still waiting for their goods will have the be ranked as unsecured creditors," Nick Blackley, an accountant at the firm told the Mercury.
"It's quite hard to say how long this liquidation would last for, because it all depends on our investigations. We are now just trying to recover as many assets as possible."
He said a report to creditors would be sent out within 10 days of the liquidators being appointed.
Any out-of-pocket customers and suppliers will be required to fill out a form to prove the payments they have made.
The creditors report will set out reasons for the insolvency, as well as things like the companies' assets, debts and payments owed to staff and the Australian Taxation Office.
Kate McIlwain
For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit.
For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit.
