– There will always be a risk of the company going bankrupt before you get what you ordered, says Thomas Iversen, a lawyer at the Consumer Council. The tax authorities have filed for Garderobe-Mannen bankruptcy, because they have failed to pay more than NOK 5 million in taxes and duties. If the company is unable to scrape together the million sum in two weeks, it will be declared bankrupt for the third time in four years. – We will pay that claim within a couple of days, says chairman of Garderobe-Mannen Fredrik Solhaug Bøckmann. – Do not pay in advance The company has previously gone bankrupt in both 2020 and 2022. After both bankruptcies, the owners bought up their own stock and started up with new company names. The bankruptcies meant that thousands of customers never received the goods they had paid for. In total, customers lost several tens of millions of kroner. – With this background, we believe that consumers should not pay anything in advance, and at most a small deposit, says consumer lawyer Iversen. Consumer lawyer at the Consumer Council Thomas Iversen. Photo: Even Bjøringsøy Johnsen / news Paid NOK 24,000 In February last year, Janne Elin Alexandersen ordered four sliding doors from Garderobe-Mannen. When news spoke to her last summer, she had not seen anything about the doors, which cost her NOK 24,000. More than a year after she ordered and paid for the doors, she still has not received them. – It is absolutely incredible that they are allowed to continue with this. It is pure fraud they are doing, says Alexandersen. Janne Elin Alexandersen still hasn’t seen anything about the sliding doors she bought over a year ago. Photo: Janne Elin Alexandersen – Couldn’t operate with fraud Garderobe-Mannen denies that their business is founded on fraud. Such claims are frivolous, believes chairman Fredrik Bøckmann. At the same time, he admits that the delivery time for several customers has been far too long. – We could not run such a large company with pure fraud. Then of course all the authorities would have intervened, says the chairman. Garderobe-Mannen’s owner Erik Bøckmann is being investigated by Økokrim for breach of the obligation to tender. He stepped down as chairman and general manager after the bankruptcy last summer. Then his son, Fredrik Bøckmann, took over the management of the company. On Tuesday this week, the Søndre Østfold district court decided that Garderobemannen will have two extra weeks to pay the tax claim. Photo: Benjamin Vorland Andersrød / news NOK 600,000 missing Originally, the deadline for payment of the million claim was Tuesday this week. But both the Tax Agency and the district court believed that the company should have the deadline postponed by two weeks. According to Garderobe-Mannen’s lawyer Trond Karlsen, the company lacks less than NOK 600,000 to be able to pay for itself. Said amount must have been transferred from a Polish bank before Easter. However, the transfer is said to have been delayed due to the holiday season. – You need part of the amount expected from Poland to be able to cover today’s demands, Karlsen said in court on Tuesday.
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– Do not pay in advance – news Oslo and Viken – Local news, TV and radio
