Box closing down.

Soldato
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I didnt know box.co.uk, chillblast, horizon, GEO and CCL are owned by Tactus Group. Interesting!

That's interesting and it is probably just a coincidence but the worst retail experiences I've ever had are with Box and CCL.

Box didn't accept the return of some faulty speakers and eBay had to step in but then they repeatedly screwed up the return and couldn't get my address correct for collection. I called them 4 times to tell them the address was wrong and in spite of their assurance they had corrected it they never did. In the end I had to contact DPD directly. They then left me negative feedback which eBay removed.

In CCL's case I had to contact Trading Standards as I noticed they were actually breaking the law. Once the Trading Standards case was open they soon changed their policy and website but they then tried to scam me with a GPU return saying a plastic HDMI insert was missing so could only give me a partial refund. Luckily because I knew I was dealing with a corrupt company I videoed myself packing the GPU and posting it. Full refund and "apology" given.

So I'm glad to see the back of Box and wouldn't mind if CCL etc went the same way.
 
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Associate
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From the original linked article:

"Firstly, Box may be owned by Tactus, but are currently being sued by their new owner for £18 million because they had allegedly over-inflated their value before they were bought out. That's a big no-no in the business world, obviously, and while I cannot confirm if that is true or not, as that's a matter for the courts to decide,

A quick look finds this: https://caseboard.io/cases/5314cef0-e662-4f04-90e5-f1ff19e8ba93

Which says Tactus took the previous Box Directors / owners to court in March 2023 (Tactus can't sue Box, they own them and two of Tactus' Directors are Box's Directors since the takeover). So could well add up that story about an overvaluation. Which means either box budged their accounts to sell it at a higher value, or Tactus screwed up their due diligance.
 
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Soldato
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That's interesting and it is probably just a coincidence but the worst retail experiences I've ever had are with Box and CCL.

Box didn't accept the return of some faulty speakers and eBay had to step in but then they repeatedly screwed up the return and couldn't get my address correct for collection. I called them 4 times to tell them address was wrong and in spite of their assurance they had corrected it they never did. In the end I had to contact DPD directly. They then left me negative feedback which eBay removed.

In CCL's case I had to contact Trading Standards as I noticed they were actually breaking the law. Once the Trading Standards case was open they soon changed their policy and website but they then tried to scam me with a GPU return saying a plastic HDMI insert was missing so could only give me a partial refund. Luckily because I knew I was dealing with corrupt company I videoed myself packing the GPU and posting it. Full refund and "apology" given.

So I'm glad to the back of Box and wouldn't mind if CCL etc went the same way.
How long ago was this? Sellers haven’t been able to leave buyers negative feedback for a very long time!
 
Caporegime
Joined
29 Jan 2008
Posts
58,913
From the original linked article:



A quick look finds this: https://caseboard.io/cases/5314cef0-e662-4f04-90e5-f1ff19e8ba93

Which says Tactus took the previous Box Directors / owners to court in March 2023 (Tactus can't sue Box, they own them and two of Tactus' Directors are Box's Directors since the takeover). So could well add up that story about an overvaluation. Which means either box budged their accounts to sell it at a higher value, or Tactus screwed up their due diligance.

That doesn't mean they can't sue them, obvs this may well have been misreported and the journalist has bodged things up and it may well just be the case that the financial situation was no way near as good as had been represented so there's a legal case against the former owners and the company has failed/gone into bankruptcy....


... But these are different legal entities so they can sue each other AFAIK, as silly as it sounds there could be some reasons for it like establishing themselves as a creditor in the event of bankruptcy (which is now occurring) and indeed trying to separate themselves from the subsidiary and it's debts to suppliers etc. From some of the replies it seems like they own related companies and if the other related companies are not bankrupt and they have overlapping suppliers (who in turn are Box creditors) then you want some clear separation there + perhaps the general message that hey we got screwed here too, this was the previous management. Also the possibility of some sort of insurance policies kicking in if they have been deliberately misled.
 
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Associate
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Actually I think did buy something from. In 2011 looking at my emails. Can't remember what it was - and unbelievably the dispatch and confirmation emails from way back then don't say either. I'm no expert at what a sales confirmation email and dispatch note should all contain, but sure the item or items is pretty basic?!

From the original linked article:



A quick look finds this: https://caseboard.io/cases/5314cef0-e662-4f04-90e5-f1ff19e8ba93

Which says Tactus took the previous Box Directors / owners to court in March 2023 (Tactus can't sue Box, they own them and two of Tactus' Directors are Box's Directors since the takeover). So could well add up that story about an overvaluation. Which means either box budged their accounts to sell it at a higher value, or Tactus screwed up their due diligance.

Could have been a bit of both although if those Tactus people (never heard of them) are serial company buyers you'd think they would do their diligence as over-inflating a company's worth must be common enough.
 
Soldato
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Aberdeen
I was browsing the site the other week and noticed everything was out of stock, thought something was up then, And now its in Administration. Joining Aria PC and more to come I think.
 
Soldato
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In the Land of Grey and Pink
I was browsing the site the other week and noticed everything was out of stock, thought something was up then, And now its in Administration. Joining Aria PC and more to come I think.

Wow, didn't know Aria had bit the dust.

I never checked the site since I had a bad experience with them when buying a monitor, funnily enough, it was when Gibbo was working for them! :p

I see they were involved in tax fraud earlier, so perhaps no surprise they went under.
 
Soldato
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Wetherspoons
Wow, didn't know Aria had bit the dust.

I never checked the site since I had a bad experience with them when buying a monitor, funnily enough, it was when Gibbo was working for them! :p

I see they were involved in tax fraud earlier, so perhaps no surprise they went under.

Yup I was on their forums for years.

They did an "upgrade" which completely wrecked the forums, like taking 30 seconds to load a page, then often timing out etc. Then it went down completely for about 3 weeks which killed most of what was left of the community.

Also any mention of the fact whatever they did clearly broke the forum was met with strong resistance from the administrators and staff claiming it was fine their end, so must be you, they were having none of it, even though it was so obvious they broke it.

The forums are gone now, so is Aria, shame there was a good community on there, and whilst I never had an issue with any purchase, I also heard about the tax thing.
 
Soldato
Joined
27 Jan 2009
Posts
6,564
Wow, didn't know Aria had bit the dust.

I never checked the site since I had a bad experience with them when buying a monitor, funnily enough, it was when Gibbo was working for them! :p

I thought Gibbo went to the place that ends in tech and starts with the second part of 'super_ _ _ _' (what happens when a large star uses up all its fuel and 'explodes') or did he go to both?
 
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