Customers of Bolton kitchen company In The Box paid a total of £47,000 in deposits for kitchens that never appeared. As a result, and following investigation by the Companies Investigation Branch (CIB) of the Insolvency Service, the company has been wound up in the High Court.

Robert Burns, the head of Investigations & Enforcement at the Insolvency Service, said: “The company did not offer customers any cooling off period or cancellation rights, which is in contravention of consumer protection law. 

“The director had previously been required to give Enterprise Act undertakings to West Yorkshire Trading Standards in respect of similar misconduct to that uncovered by the CIB investigation.

“The Insolvency Service will investigate reports of behaviour such as this and will seek to wind up companies and take further action when necessary.”

The Director of the company was Nigel Hill, an accountant. The investigation was the result of 33 complaints about In The Box and its Director to the local Trading Standards office in the seven months to March this year.

The CIB investigation found that the company took large deposits from customers but, in many cases, failed to supply the kitchens or to return the deposit.

One family paid £2,400 in February this year. Numerous delivery dates were arranged, but all were cancelled. This family was eventually told the contract could not be honoured and that the deposit would be returned, but it was not.

A grandmother paid a £2,000 deposit in March but never received her kitchen. Another customer had still not received their kitchen 11 months after placing the order.

The investigation discovered that customers wanting to complain directly to the company or recover their deposits were unable to do so as phone calls went unanswered and letters were returned due to incorrect address information appearing on the company’s documentation.

The investigation also found that In The Box appeared to be trading while insolvent, although record-keeping was so poor it was impossible to account properly for company receipts and expenditure.