Hi

Bumped into some friends of mine who work in the Outdoor Gear Industry & they were ranting about www.gear-zone.co.uk

The company is no longer trading - according to its directors - but their web site is (it has just taken more of my money!), because it is now owned by Venturesport of Norwich. The people from OSC (ME & Sprayway) went down there last week to recover what stock of theirs was left (the bills had been unpaid for too long) & found that the whole place was bare: no company ever manages to sell everything it owns!

To make it worse the company has been 'closed' according to its founding director: Martin Culverhouse, rather than liquidated or declared insolvent. That means my mates can not get their hands on the thousands of £s that Gear Zone owes them. The bit that stinks is that Venturesport & Gear Zone share similar directors...

I remember a while ago there was a grumbling thread about Gear Zone, but it now seems even worse

Wow, just got my £80 order from them 2 days ago 

Venturesport and GearZone have always been pretty much the same business, ever since GearZone started the Venturesport branch in Norwich which used to be a nice shop has been cluttered with Gear Zone orders going in and out.

Companies House shows both as still active companies, so I doubt that there's anything to stop the suppliers taking them to court, if Gear Zone claims to have no assets then there's potential for investigation into where those assets went. I'm not up on the details but there must be chunk of law to prevent you starting two limited companies, running up a huge debt in one, transferring all the assets to the other and then shutting the first one down without paying up. If they claim it's 'closed' and there is no money then it's up to the creditors to have it liquidated at which point they'll be able to have administrators appointed who'll get all the accounts to carry out the necessary investigations.

In addition it looks like they've both breached The Companies (Registrar, Languages and Trading Disclosures) Regulations 2006 as they don't seem to show their registered address in Watford on the websites.

Don't be so sure!

There was an incident in Caernarfon where the owner of a local factory (Craig Sith, sorry Smith), who'd sacked striking workers illegally, went into liquidation but 'sold' the assets to another company he owned, just to avoid paying the workers the compensation they deserved.

Fricion Dynamex Friction???

Turns out that we, the taxpayer will have to foot some of the bill. Well out of order.

They're website is still up as of yesterday and seemingly able to take money of folk. Beware!

Is there not laws against this sort of thing?

Are we sure we have all the facts here?

If the website is up and running, then perhaps they are still taking and fulfilling orders?

Hi

 As I said before "but their web site is (it has just taken more of my money!), because it is now owned by Venturesport of Norwich"

What has happened is that the Gear Zone web site was apparently owned by Venturesport & licenced to Gear Zone (this is according to Martin Culverhouse - a director of Gear Zone). Now that Gear Zone no longer exist, Venturesport are running it

What disappoints me is that all the stock from Gear Zone has disappeared & no effort has been made, up to now, to credit any suppliers. The point of this thread in the first place is to warn other OM members as the companies I have had recent contact with have no intention of supplying Venturesport, hence anyone who places future orders with them might not be supplied with what they want

 regards

ps. Stuff which is on their web site currently is out of stock (according to Venturesport's staff in the shop), but they are still taking orders for it - and I know that the manufacturer is not going supply Venturesport further

Another reason that we should allways shop on line with a credit card not a debit card.

With a credit card you have protection.

It is not my position to state the names of the companies involved, it would be a breach of trust. Just think of the bigger companies in the Outdoors...

 I have posted this to warn other OM members; they do not have to take my advice

 regards

ps. You are making a connection that OSC will not supply them - I have not said this! (being very carefully not to implicate myself)

I quote:

"The people from OSC (ME & Sprayway) went down there last week to recover what stock of theirs was left (the bills had been unpaid for too long) & found that the whole place was bare:"

You state that OSC are attempting to recover goods thus you implicated that they would not supply them not me.

Acknowledged

Hello all!

Thought my experiences with Gear Zone might as well be included here too!

Basically I bought a ME Firewalker 3 and after about 7 months one of the seams started to split. Being under warranty I emailed Gear Zone (because they NEVER answer the phone) to talk about having it replaced. After an age they got back to me and told me to send it to them, which i did. So after two weeks I thought it was about time to chase it up, as i'd heard nothing (although someone was obviously there to recieve the package because I could see the proof of delivery online). I sent emails and tried calling, and got nothing.

Having read on here about VentureSport being affiliated with them, I thought i'd give them a call. They were altogether a little more helpful from the off - they answered the phone for a start! The chap there confirmed that it was their "sister company", and that they were going through "a change of ownership". He took my details and said that although they couldn't track the progress of my return, they'd get in contact with Gear Zone on Monday (as they don't trade on weekends, apparently) and chase it for me. He said he'd call me on Monday or Tuesday and let me know what the deal was. We'll see, i guess.

Make of this what you will!

Just got a Vango Spirit 200+ from Gear Zone delivered 3 days after ordering last week , so it seems they are still trading in mid Sep.  No problems and no connection to the company