E-store's long-suffering customers are continuing to cry foul play, accusing the local e-tailer of not delivering goods and defaulting on refunds, at a time when the new company director admits he doesn't know how many suppliers are on board and side-stepped questions about lines of credit being cut.
One disgruntled E-store customer, who contacted ZDNet Australia on several occasions, claims to have placed an order for blank CDs and firewire cable costing about AU$50, on April 22. By May 9, the order had not been fulfilled, and the customer had it cancelled, and claims to have been told the refund cheque would be sent out the next day.
Nearly a month later, it has yet to arrive.
New-to-the helm E-store director Gerard Farley said he's still in the process of meeting with suppliers. However, when asked how many suppliers the company had Farley stated: "I've no idea actually".
Stabbing at the question a second time, Farley said E-store probably had the bulk of suppliers it always had, "probably 18", but he still skirted around questions as to whether key suppliers had cut lines of credit.
"We're renegotiating various terms of trade," he opted to say instead. "In some instances we have got better terms than we had."
It would seem the operator's troubles have sparked a wave of collective corporate amnesia, with the company's major supplier Ingram Micro, similarly "not knowing" of their mutual arrangements.
Ingram Micro managing director Steve Rust said the activity level between the two companies had been very quiet since the new director took control.
When asked if Ingram Micro was still trading with E-store he replied: "I don't know what is happening there at the moment".
"I haven't heard anything about them since [Steve] Spilly left a couple of weeks ago," Rust said.
When asked if the distributor continued to provide them with a line of credit, Rust responded: "I simply can't tell you...I don't know".
However, E-store's Farley didn't hesitate to point out that the previous company manager had taken the e-tailer into administration.
"I'm not into blame games or anything," Farley said. "We are moving this business along in the best way we know."
"We're happy to rely on merit as a new management team," Farley added.
But he was reluctant to discuss his past ban as a securities representative. The Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) banned Farley for four years back in 1998. He described the ban as a "battle". When asked if it was over Farley said: "I'm not exactly sure...it should be over but to be frank I'm not sure".
Likewise, Farley was vague about the details of his ban. "I don't think this is relevant to what we're talking about," he added.
E-store is now 99 percent owned by US-based World Callnet. Since Farley's involvement the company has bought interests in the Internet-based proprietary technology, MailTV, and once owned a UK free ISP.
According to documents lodged with the US Securities and Exchange Commission in March 2000, MailTV and World Callnet were involved in a joint venture designed to deliver communications technolgies via the Internet.
According to Farley, the UK free ISP bit the dust in 2000. It had attempted a joint a venture with a licensed Australian company to roll out MailTV here two years ago, but the project didn't get off the ground.
MailTV was registered as a company with ASIC. The company went into liquidation in January this year.
World Callnet acquired the rights back off that company July last year and is currently looking for commercial and technology partners to roll it out.
Farley said that World Callnet has been seeking a partner in the UK for the last couple of months, but added that this had been distracted by the various issues surrounding E-store.
"E-store is something that has taken precedence in that regard," he said.
According to Farley, "E-store goes hand-in-glove with our concept of online commerce" and although there was a -big turmoil" for the first week of term of the new management team, with lost telecommunications further delaying online orders, things have "stabilised".
E-store is looking to open the doors of its North Sydney-based bricks and mortar store in about two weeks.
"The suppliers we've met and have had a response from are very supportive," Farley said. -I can't have finished this week better."
E-store has stolen $111 of mine. They allowed me to place an order that a stock level of 48 on their website. After I had waited one week the stock level then showed 43 so I rang them and was told that the levels were wrong and that they had zero in stock and it would take a week more to deliver. I cancelled the order and have been waiting two weeks for a refund that keeps "coming soon".
Why are they allowed to LIE and keep trading?