British equestrian brands Derby House and Ride-away are facing an uncertain future after their parent company entered administration.
Internet Fusion Group (IFG), whose brands included the two household equestrian names, entered administration on 28 April. Online retailer BrandAlley has “acquired assets from the administration”, but what this means for the future of Derby House and Ride-away is unclear.
H&H understands that more than 100 people have been made redundant.
Posting publicly on his personal LinkedIn page, IFG founder and director Dom Scott said he is “gutted”, that it is “the end of an era” and it was a “very, very sad day at Internet Fusion Group”.
“I’m absolutely devastated for all of my colleagues and friends who have been made redundant,” he said, adding that he built the firm “from scratch” with Martin Brailsford, Jon Barnes and Ian Bristow, to a +£100m turnover e-commerce retailer employing more than 300 people.
“Unfortunately, circumstances outside of my control have resulted in the business being purchased in a pre-pack administration deal by BrandAlley, which has also meant over 100 redundancies, and thus many of my highly skilled colleagues will be looking for work.”
Mr Scott said he can “personally recommend every single one of my colleagues who have been made redundant”.
An email sent to the Derby House mailing list on 28 April said it was “pleased to share” that BrandAlley had bought certain assets of IFG and is “welcoming more than 125 IFG employees to the BrandAlley family”. It has also taken over control of customers’ personal data.
A BrandAlley spokesman confirmed to H&H that it is not processing existing orders.
When asked if Derby House and Ride-away would be sold on BrandAlley in due course, the spokesman said: “We are unsure as of yet, but please keep an eye on the website from time to time just in case.”
The Derby House and Ride-away websites now re-direct to BrandAlley. As of 11 May, there was no sign of equestrian products on these re-direct pages; instead a notice advised customers who placed orders before the takeover on how to seek refunds.
“For customers who have recently made orders that have not yet been delivered, we have been unable to fulfil these orders and those customers concerned should seek recovery of their monies through a Section 75 of the Credit Consumer Act claim or through a chargeback claim. Please contact your card provider in order to lodge such a claim,” it states.
“For customers wishing to process the return of goods previously purchased, we can accept those returns but are not in a position to refund the cost of those goods. Again, customers in this position should seek recovery of their monies through a Section 75 of the Credit Consumer Act claim or through a chargeback claim and contact their card provider in order to lodge such a claim.”
It adds that customers with queries relating to orders placed on or before 27 April should contact InternetFusionGroup@frpadvisory.com, and other queries should be directed to BrandAlley via its online form.
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