By Danielle Galvin
The abandoned warehouse in Bate Close, Pakenham, where the Kids Outdoors business failed. 75183
A PAKENHAM cubby house distributor has left scores of children without Christmas presents after closing its doors last week.
Kids Outdoors went into receivership sparking a torrent of abuse from customers who ordered and paid for the cubby houses.
Dozens of eBay users posted angry comments on the Kids Outdoors profile and Pakenham police were inundated with calls from devastated parents across Victoria.
The owners of the business were accepting orders as far back as August, telling customers that the cubbies would be ready by Christmas.
Kids Outdoors’ business licence expired in March.
Beaconsfield dad Todd Sawyer said he ordered a cubby house for $930 on 17 October for his two-year-old son. “We sourced them locally, we didn’t go through eBay.
“We were told that they were in production and the cubby would be ready last week,” he said.
But as the week drew to a close, Mr Sawyer thought something was suspicious and he called to make sure his son’s present would be ready before Christmas.
The owners told him to call on Monday 12 December.
“They said we could tee up a day to come down and get the cubby. But I called on Monday, there was no answer. I drove down there to see what the go was and the shop was empty,” he said.
Out-of-pocket and with the big day fast approaching, Mr Sawyer went to Pakenham police. “They didn’t take my name, they just said to go straight to Consumer Affairs. They didn’t take a full report,” he said.
Senior Sergeant Phil Jury from Pakenham CIU said there had been more than 50 complaints about Kids Outdoors.
This included complaints from customers across Victoria.
One of them was heavily pregnant mum Kayla Hall.
She lives in Orbost and ordered two cubby houses, one for her two children and for her friend.
All up, she paid $1276 and was told that the cubbies would be ready in November.
“They were fantastic to deal with initially. We were told that both cubbies were there and ready, then that the roof of the cubbies were the wrong sizes,” she said.
“When I rang the police, they said I was the 44th person to call them about Kids Outdoors.”
It would take Ms Hall hours to drive from Orbost to Pakenham.
Fearing that she couldn’t manage the drive, a friend went down to the warehouse for her to find it abandoned with doors locked.
Looking at the concrete building from the front of the warehouse, it’s hard to imagine that behind closed doors, this business has ruined dozens of Christmases for children in the south-east and across Victoria.
“A simple phone call to tell us they were bankrupt. We haven’t heard anything and I’m so far away. We are all just so upset,” Ms Hall said.
The story is the same for Pakenham dad Justin Seddon.
“I’m out of pocket $1000. We went direct to the factory, arranged for delivery last week. They said to us ‘everything is good guys’ on Wednesday 7 December. We thought it was fine,” he said.
A spokesperson for Consumer Affairs Victoria (CAV) said that the authority had contacted the business owners on Friday 16 December.
“The business appears to have failed.
“Consumers who have paid in full or paid a deposit for goods, have the option of approaching the trader for their money back,” she said.
The CAV spokeperson advised customers to contact their banks or eBay, depending on how they had purchased the cubbies.
“If consumers have paid by credit card, they should at the same time contact their bank or credit union as soon as possible to see whether they can obtain a chargeback.
“If consumers paid by Paypal they should also contact Ebay about the prospect of a chargeback,” the spokesperson said.
The owners of Kids Outdoors did not return the Gazette’s calls or emails.
