The $140 million collapse of the national Clive Peeters chain caught thousands of customers and suppliers off guard and maybe out of pocket.
The Commerce Department of WA answers some of their questions.
CRN: How many WA consumers were affected by the Rick Hart and Clive Peeters' collapse? And how much money hangs in the balance?
Commerce Dept WA: At 3pm Friday, Consumer Protection had received 480 calls from customers who had $1.1 million in deposits, full payments and gift vouchers outstanding for goods purchased.
CRN: Will you be adding capacity to your call centre to cope with the enquiries?
CDWA: We have had a team of 25 answering calls Friday (much expanded) and will keep our call centre open until 7.30pm (usually closes at 5pm) and it will be open tomorrow morning 9am-1pm (usually closed at weekends)
CRN: How successful has your Twitter channel been for alerting consumers to the problems?
CDWA: Our Facebook and Twitter services were only launched in January so have a small but growing band of followers and fans. Many of our consumer alerts have been retweeted and it's a quick and effective way of getting updates and messages across to our target audiences quickly.
CRN: Rick Hart continues to trade but would you advise people to deal with them?
CDWA: The receivers say it will be business as usual and have given guarantees this afternoon that all deposits will be honoured but there has been an issue with gift vouchers only being partially honoured. For example, those with a $100 voucher have to spend $400 in the store to redeem it. Consumer Protection is clarifying the legality of this move before making comment.
Related coverage:
- Clive Peeters appoints voluntary administrators
- Clive Peeters collapse sucks in Rick Hart
- WA Govt turns to Twitter to calm Rick Hart customers
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