Elara in liquidation!

halenger

I can't point you to a news story I'm afraid because it hasn't made it to any yet.

So... Breaking News: Elara in liquidation.

I heard this from a friend and was quite surprised - my company competes with Elara on stuff so I've always kept an eye on them. I couldn't quite believe this anyway. He told me a friend of his sent them a cheque for a laptop, they cashed it and then informed him that they were in liquidation (no laptop for him, at least not yet).

A small bit of investigation this morning proved it.

Goto: http://www.cro.ie -> company search -> elara -> *click* "Elara Computer Systems Limited" -> *read the status* (The date of liquidation is officially today by the way.)


If someone well up on business/liquidation can clarify this all because I'm not terribly certain on it.

Liquidation is basically the selling off of assets to pay creditors before a company shuts down/goes bankrupt. I'm guessing this is a no coming back thing? I've never really heard of elara's accounts/how they were doing financially but I didn't see this coming.

Perhaps they have just had enough and want to bail out? I really don't know.


They are having a clearance sale (which has been on for a little while) but I paid little heed to it personally - 5% discount on mostly items that didn't interest me. No harm in taking a look for yourself. Quite possible that the discount level will increase as time goes by.

Dr. Dre

That's a shame

monkeyfudge

I was just about to order 6 laptops from them...

phew...

Khannie

I'm sorry to hear that. Hot receptionist: If you're reading this; Please tell us where your next job is!!!

JimmySmith

A word of advice. If you're buing goods from a liquidating company in a sale make sure you get the goods in your hand when you hand over the money. Any delay between you paying for the goods and them giving them to you is risky. They could just keep your money and you get nothing.
Pay with your credit card and you have some come back.

halenger

As I said initially, one guy paid for a laptop and is under the impression he will not be getting it.

I'd be weary of ordering anything that isn't in their clearance sale (i.e. their stock).

I'm only going on what I've been told by the way. It is sad to see Elara go, even though they are a competitor (far larger than my company anyway).

Tech Overhaul

I just rang Elara because I ordered Switches from them this morning. The sales girl said that they put themselves into voluntary liquidation but I will still get my order. Can anybody explain to me why you would put your company into voluntary liquidation?

snappieT

Direct from Wikipedia...:

Liquidation, or winding up, refers to a business whose assets are converted to money in order to pay off debt.

Liquidation is one of the forms of "insolvency" in the English Courts and is used when the other methods of corporate recovery have failed. There are two forms of Liquidation - compulsory (or Court ordered winding-up) and voluntary (creditors or members winding-up). The purpose of a liquidation is to realise the assets of the company in order that the creditors of the company can be paid off.

Although the initial principle of liquidation was that the creditors would be paid off pari passu, i.e. all creditors would receive an equal share of the assets of the company in accordance with the debt they were owed, there are now a number of classes: debenture or fixed charge holders, preferential creditors, floating charge holders and unsecured creditors.

Informally, liquidation may be use to refer to any rapid conversion of an asset into cash.

Nice catch halenger!

lomb

Wizard Archer wrote:

I will still get my order.

lol, i wouldnt count on it, if u have paid by CC u will be ok.

Tech Overhaul

lomb wrote:

lol, i wouldnt count on it, if u have paid by CC u will be ok.

Yes, I paid with CC.

stevenmu

Wizard Archer wrote:

Can anybody explain to me why you would put your company into voluntary liquidation?

Don't know for sure but it probably allows the owners/directors to walk away with some amount of money/assets before the courts appoint someone to divide it up amongst the creditors. Also in some cases owners/directors of companies which go bankrupt can be prevented from being a director of another Ltd/PLC for a few years, voluntary liquidation may prevent this.

okidoki987

Yes, I paid with CC.

Credit Card will refund you if the company doesn't supply you with the item(s) bought. Phone/Write to the Credit Card compnay immediately and warn them (in writing) you may have a problem. They just stop the payment to the company if you don't get your goods.

CyberGhost

Khannie wrote:

I'm sorry to hear that. Hot receptionist: If you're reading this; Please tell us where your next job is!!!

hahah, was thinking the same, Donna, nice girl, sucks I won't see her anymore, it was usually because of her I was so happy to drive that far to pick up my stuff

Shame about elara, I liked them, wouldn't imagine think their business was that bad, I mean they always had customers...

WizZard

Khannie wrote:

I'm sorry to hear that. Hot receptionist: If you're reading this; Please tell us where your next job is!!!

Pics?

Khannie

CyberGhost wrote:

it was usually because of her I was so happy to drive that far to pick up my stuff

HAHAHAHAHA.

commited

Hopefully they'll have a sweet sale

Nukem

*phew* just got stuff from them last week - its a shame though!!!!!!
Does this mean a sale?

prospect

QUOTE:
"why you would put your company into voluntary liquidation?"


Usually it means the company is re-organising or re-structuring.
They may be absorbing themselves into another new company, or merging etc.

This probably means no auction of stock.

Endurance Man

So might we be looking at a sale ??

halenger

prospect wrote:

Usually it means the company is re-organising or re-structuring.
They may be absorbing themselves into another new company, or merging etc.

This probably means no auction of stock.

That doesn't seem to make sense though. That's the point of liquidation.

Anyway, the clearance sale is probably the items they have in stock. Anything else they have listed is the stock level of their supplier so don't expect any of that sold off at lower rates. I don't expect to see anything other than what's on the clearance list sold on at lower rates, but I could be wrong.

RangeR

That is a shame. I liked doing business with Elara.
And if they are letting all of their staff go, shame on you who are just thinking about a closing down auction and ultra cheap stuff.

For Shame...

prospect

halenger wrote:

That doesn't seem to make sense though. That's the point of liquidation.

I won't pretend to know/understand, but I asked our Financial Director and that was what he said, I think!

WizZard

I've called around and from what I hear it is business as usual with Elara, despite the fact that they are listed as being in liquidation.
In other words, orders made today and in future will be honoured and handled as usual.
In fact someone I know ordered stuff on Thursday last and got it today.

So it's bad luck on the ultra cheap stuff

unkel

That's such as shame. I liked doing business with them

maidhc

I have done business with Elara in the past and have been very happy with the service.

I would be slow to place an order at the moment though. A voluntary liquidation is a liquidation, just one initiated by the directors. In other words, it is the process you use to kill your company. There is no reason why you would place a company in liquidation if all you were doing is selling it on.

The main reason for a company going into liquidation is that its debts exceed its assets. Thus if you place an order and if it is not shipped you will just rank alongside any other unsecured creditors; this by default means you will get little or anything in return from the proceeds of the liquidation.

CyberGhost

IrishTLR wrote:

That is a shame. I liked doing business with Elara.
And if they are letting all of their staff go, shame on you who are just thinking about a closing down auction and ultra cheap stuff.
For Shame...

I can live with the shame.

maidhc wrote:

The main reason for a company going into liquidation is that its debts exceed its assets. Thus if you place an order and if it is not shipped you will just rank alongside any other unsecured creditors; this by default means you will get little or anything in return from the proceeds of the liquidation.

Dr. Dre

WizZard wrote:

Pics?

Quoted for truth!

BopNiblets

Whoa whoa whoa... slow down now...

Hot... receptionist...??

I've made a terrible mistake ordering over the internet all these years!
Maybe komplett.ie should show you hot girl pictures in the background as you're buying, that would be a good compromise!!

Khannie

BopNiblets wrote:

Whoa whoa whoa... slow down now...

Hot... receptionist...??

HAHAHAHAHAHA. Pissin' myself here in the office.

Cyberghosts post also has me in tears. Classic image.

Wiz and Dre: Soz lads, I have no pics. Only discovered the hot receptionist because they're near where I work so I picked up an order or two in person to save time and delivery costs.

Apart from being hot, she was very friendly too. If I were single, I'd have made her my geek queen.

Goldilocks1

I'll cherish that xmas card I got last year from them!.

And yes that girl was nice.!:).

Where she working now..?...

Stephen

So are they actually gone or what? The website is still up a month later.

Hal1

Goldilocks1 wrote:

I'll cherish that xmas card I got last year from them!.

And yes that girl was nice.!:).

Where she working now..?...

Stalking tbh , shes washing her hair from what I can see lol

Evd-Burner

Up a tree with a pair of binoculars are we?

Lol the length nerds go just to see a bitta u know what....

Lump

Good, they were ****ing ****e.... 3 months for a usb hub, Hum on my nuts Elara.

John

drdre

when is their sale starting.thats all im waiting for

Mountjoy Mugger

Lump wrote:

Good, they were ****ing ****e.... 3 months for a usb hub, Hum on my nuts Elara.

John

I have to disagree. I got a PC custom built by them with items that they hadn't in stock but which they got from the UK for me. It's still going great - never a problem. Got the whole package within 3 weeks of ordering (including the items they got from the UK).

DonkeyStyle \o/

Radeon 9600 XT 128MB AGP DDR +DVI+TV - €186.04
^ lmao, glad they're going out of business with prices like that... yet another reason why I do my shopping on komplett.
Can't say I've ever seen any decent deals on elara any of the times I was shopping for parts... and their clearance stock is no exception. :rolleyes:

Borderfox

I would have to agree with Mountjoy Mugger the service I received from Elara was always excellent even when a lot of other companies left a lot to be desired, I only found out about this while browsing today and had ordered something last friday and am collecting it today. I will be sad to see them go companies like this deserve to continue and the poxy robbing ones should go under but it seems that this rarely happens in Ireland....:(

Wolverine_1999

CyberGhost wrote:

hahah, was thinking the same, Donna, nice girl, sucks I won't see her anymore, it was usually because of her I was so happy to drive that far to pick up my stuff

Shame about elara, I liked them, wouldn't imagine think their business was that bad, I mean they always had customers...

Jeez, you guys need to go abroad more often!

Lump

People seem to be defending them a lot. Lets be honest, if they were a good company, they wouldn't be in Liquidation.

John

maidhc

I only bought a few fancy APC surge protectors from them.

They were delivered within a week of ordering. Also the DHL guy had a major attitude problem, and not only refused to deliver to my house, refused to come within 4 miles of it. I complained and they refunded the delivery to my credit card immediately.

It is a bit greedy to go on about massive sales in the context of a liquidation, especially when so many people are most likely going to end up out of pocket, not to mention out of jobs.

Wolverine_1999

maidhc wrote:

It is a bit greedy to go on about massive sales in the context of a liquidation, especially when so many people are most likely going to end up out of pocket, not to mention out of jobs.

Ireland is an extremely greedy country. Ever since the Celtic Tiger boom started, people have changed attitude to think they should be getting more for what they pay for. Now, I do believe that prices in Ireland are high, but wages are also considerably higher than most of our European counterparts.

Ireland definately is a Rip-Off country, and I think the greed has sprung primarily in the people who are taking the money; businesses and shops.

Greed only fuels greed.

Khannie

Lump wrote:

People seem to be defending them a lot. Lets be honest, if they were a good company, they wouldn't be in Liquidation.

Ouch! That's harsh. Harsh but logical.

I used them a few times. Had no issues at all with them. Suited me not to pay for / wait for delivery (they're about a five minute drive from where I work).

Hal1

Khannie wrote:

Ouch! That's harsh. Harsh but logical.

I used them a few times. Had no issues at all with them. Suited me not to pay for / wait for delivery (they're about a five minute drive from where I work).

There about a 5 minute drive from where I live and I would still use Komplett. elara are way overpriced. They remind me of that shower of robbing f*ckerz conpustore and look what happened to them. PC world would be my first option before even toucing elara lol (lies i wouldn't give them a look in either). wake up people! :v:

lomb

Wolverine_1999 wrote:

Ireland is an extremely greedy country. Ever since the Celtic Tiger boom started, people have changed attitude to think they should be getting more for what they pay for. Now, I do believe that prices in Ireland are high, but wages are also considerably higher than most of our European counterparts.

Ireland definately is a Rip-Off country, and I think the greed has sprung primarily in the people who are taking the money; businesses and shops.

Greed only fuels greed.

Agreed, this country is bonkers, having said that im sure the employees will get jobs elsewhere. elaras prices were steep though, but i know running a non internet business is always going to be dear anyway, unfortunately the game has moved on and components are being sourced online. if elaras management/owners had seen that, they could have set up a komplett type setup and b4 they knew it they could have been pan european and a force to be reakoned with...

Hal1

lomb wrote:

Agreed, this country is bonkers, having said that im sure the employees will get jobs elsewhere. elaras prices were steep though, but i know running a non internet business is always going to be dear anyway, unfortunately the game has moved on and components are being sourced online. if elaras management/owners had seen that, they could have set up a komplett type setup and b4 they knew it they could have been pan european and a force to be reakoned with...

Huh?, non-internet business haven't you noticed their webby at all? but even that didn't score them any points with meh. :mad:

lomb

Hal1 wrote:

Huh?, non-internet business haven't you noticed their webby at all?

u know what i mean, they were primarily a bricks and mortor business that changed into a clicks and mortor one except their prices were 20% higher than obline businesses, with postage and couriers as good as they are and peoples computer literacy improving it was a matter of time before they either turned themselves into a komplett or dabs or went to the wall, just my opinion.

Hal1

Ah right just didnt grasp what you where on about, yea they where never competitive with other 'E-businesses', they where in a league of their own with their dear pricing and all.

lomb

Hal1 wrote:

Ah right just didnt grasp what you where on about, yea they where never competitive with other 'E-businesses', they where in a league of their own with their dear pricing and all.

aye they sure were, still they are in receivership as i understand it, i suppose theres an oportunity there to turn it into a real e business, i reakon its that or a cemetary. the game has sure moved on, everyone nearly has a credit card, and a computer, and the post etc is almost as quick as getting from one side of dublin to the other in rush hour:D

gline

i was not too sorry when i heard about them going into liquidation, WAY too expensive, not competative enough.. reminded me of peats. I'd always rather order online and get the cheapest deal, even from the states or canada if i have too

Zentoad

I was told by an employee before Christmas (unsolicited) that they were going into voluntary liquadation in order to facilitate a management buyout that was going to take place in December.

I picked up an order before Christmas and the guy I dealt with (Choong) was most helpful. There was a problem with the order (I ordered an incompatible dell HD) and since Christmas have received an RMA.
... so don't write them off yet.

If the new owners can sort out the cost issue and maintain good relations with their curent customers, they have a chance and I wish them well.



BTW I might go back to return the faulty HD. If only to see that receptionist again. Only catch is... I think she's engaged.


//Joe