BEWARE...DK Windows and Doors (Dublin based) has closed down!

What is DKs full name?

Same situation here, deposit paid by family member, no show, then come across this thread here.

Specifically joined to keep track of information here.

It's some awful time of year for such a thing to occur.

I see some people have received emails from a liquidator. I'm not sure where to begin here, the first question is how anyone has received an email from anyone?

Thanks.

If your door was made by apeer or paladio they are quiet good for warranty repairs.

I’m sure there’s a bit more to it but a business (not unlike many) that regularly was quite tight in terms of its capital (based on prior accounts). Seems like they were there for 20 years and muddled through the crash so that probably gave undue optimism.

Looks like they doubled employees in the space of a couple of years, I’m assuming really expanding the order book. Probably the Covid boom of home work, running straight into Ukraine and inflation.

Goes to show, don’t expand too much without having the capital buffer to weather shocks.

Something to be concious of for anyone buying windows, floors etc. We’ve probably all got a bit too optimistic after being cynical for so long post crash. Sorry to all of you who lost out, the information given to customers is just not good enough.

I'd guess that the commercial side of the business with poorer payment terms were holding up revenue across the whole business, that's why many businesses refuse to operate in the commercial space and stick to residential as you have better payment terms such as payment on installation there. Commercial customers will often only pay after 90 days or even longer, all depends on the funding model for the construction. That really messes up business, especially if costs have increased over that duration.

This will be one of the topics on Liveline today...that is if Joe sticks to the topics he announced on Louise Duffy's show 😉.

We moved into our house last year and used DK for the retrofit. We're one of the lucky ones as our windows are installed but they were a nightmare to deal with. Order delay after delay, then the wrong doors arrived, our salesperson was impossible to get a hold of then left the company and then his replacement also left. We were given the total runaround. Feel very sorry for anyone who's been shafted by this crowd. Hope you get some compensation.

Is there a particular reason why windows seems to be impacted here?

How do you pay via debit or credit card though? My understanding is that companies like this normally give an IBAN to transfer money to? Do the sales reps have card machines with them when they come to the house?

Sorry to hear about dk windows and people losing their deposits. I used dk windows 2 years ago instead of signature windows. Was very lucky as signature went bust around them and I likely would have lost everything. Signature were very pushy and slightly more expensive.

I had a terrible install experience with dk windows, similar to other people. The aluminium windows were very well made and were a good product, Reynaers profiles. All work was contracted out and there was zero coordination. Took weeks of coordination to get basics like plastering and window sills. Really difficult to get alignment issues fixed, which made things shody.

The staff were actually decent, just poorly managed.

Paying was different then though. I only had to pay when product was ready for delivery. They wouldn’t deliver till I did. They appeared to be demanding full payment well in advance in recent times, which is alarming and suggests reckless trading.

Worst time of year as well.

It's bizarre when you think about it. I get the legalities of it all, and the economics of banking, but when you step back from it all, we're saying that people first save and then deposit 10s of thousands of euros and lose all of that because banks, that made billions of euros profit last year, need to get their money back first.

Doesn't really sound right...

It takes a special skill to go bust in a boom.

Thanks for that, what to do if large deposit i.e. 10k, I recently did transfer, thankfully the job got done!

I think what he refers to is the bank get their money first from the liquidators.. then the customer.. despite banks earning billions in profits..