A national door and window-fitting firm with a branch in Swindon has entered administration, leaving hundreds of workers redundant and customers left in the lurch.
News of the company's impending collapse broke last week and this was confirmed when 680 workers from the Bradford headquarters, and 42 branches and depots across the country, including one at Edison Park in Dorcan, were told they had lost their jobs on Monday morning.
Administrators Interpath Advisory said around 70 of the door and window maker’s 750 employees would be kept on in the short term to help wind down the business.
It is believed that the company failed after facing a series of pressures, including runaway inflation and poor consumer confidence, administrators said.
Rick Harrison, the Interpath Advisory's managing director, said: “These are really challenging times for companies across the home improvement market.
“After seeing strong sales during the Covid lockdown periods, many companies are seeing trading being impacted by the cost-of-living crisis and soaring costs.”
He added: “Unfortunately for Safestyle, and despite the tireless efforts of the management team over recent months, these challenges have proven too difficult to overcome.
“This will be particularly devastating for the company’s employees, as well as the many self-employed contractors who worked on behalf of the company.
“Our immediate priority will be to provide support to those impacted by redundancy, including supporting them in making claims to the Redundancy Payments Service where relevant.”
They went on to explain that customer orders that have not been delivered will not now be fulfilled and provided some information on what to do next.
READ MORE: What you need to know as Safestyle goes into administration
They are still searching for buyers for some parts of the business, and customers may be entitled to have their orders completed by any potential new owner.
Even if the company was part-way through an installation it will not complete these orders and customers will need to find an alternative installer, they said.
Customers will not be charged for any remaining balance on their orders.
If customers have paid a deposit ahead of an installation, they should try to get that money back through their credit or debit card provider.
If they paid in cash they will not get the money back and will have to register as a creditor of Safestyle.
Anyone wanting to get hold of the administrators can do so on the dedicated email - safestylecustomers@interpathadvisory.com
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