More than 30 people claim they are owed money from a Norwich trader who is now being pursued by Trading Standards, an investigation by this newspaper has found.
One of the victims Stefan Harris, 16, “keeps his room like an IKEA showroom” according to his mother Jo, and all he asked her for this Christmas was a new set of blinds to replace the ageing curtains on his window.
Jo Harris got a quote from Norwich businesswoman Carrie Young, who runs Carrie’s Blinds And Shutters, and paid in full in September when Ms Young came to her home to measure up - but now four months on she has received no blinds, no refund, and no apology. Dozens of Ms Young’s customers say they have had a similar experience.
Ms Harris said: “She measured up, came down and said 'I can do them for £165.' She gave me an invoice, and asked me to transfer her the money there and then. I’ve always paid other companies up front, so I didn’t worry.”
Carrie’s Blinds and Shutters, of which Ms Young is the sole director, promises delivery within 30 days, but after six weeks passed with no word, Ms Harris reached out again.
“She replied saying they’re in production, but after another couple of weeks my son was bugging me so I asked again, and got a rude response to say ‘I told you Jo they’re in production you don’t have to keep messaging me’.
“But I worried something wasn’t right, so I went to cancel my order by message, and discovered I’d been blocked by everything - texts didn’t deliver, calls didn’t go through. After I posted about it on Facebook she rang me and she said ‘my company’s going bust, there’s nothing you can do about it’.
Ms Harris, who lives in Stowmarket, demanded her money back, but has not received a refund.
She told the EDP: “They were my son’s Christmas present, not once in 16 years has he gone without a Christmas present.
“She still owes me £165 - and that’s the least, other people are owed a lot more - and I’ve had to pay £360 to Hillary’s Blinds to get it done.
“She’s taken my son’s Christmas money, I’ve had to borrow off my dad, which I can’t really afford to do.”
Ms Harris explained that after posting on Facebook, “people started bombarding my inbox saying the same had happened to them.”
“There are 33 people now on my list, I think the total comes to almost £10,000.”
Beth Clarke told the EDP she paid Carrie Young £540 in October, after she measured up the windows in her Long Stratton home.
“She said she’d be back in four weeks,” Ms Clark said.
“A week later I tried to contact her and I noticed that her facebook presence had gone - whether she’s taken it off or I was blocked, I don’t know. I haven’t been able to get intouch with her since.
“She emailed me after two weeks to say she was really busy but it was all still in production - and then she was gone.”
“I’ve contacted my bank, and Action Fraud. The police do nothing.”
Kelly-Anne Hall, 44, from Caister, has been owed more than £300 since September.
She said: “I wanted to get the blinds updated and I’d just saved up the money to do it - they were here from the previous owners and were getting tatty.
“You save up because you want something to look nice, and then someone just takes it.
“I went on Companies House to check she was a legitimate business. I paid her £323, through bank transfer. Her account was linked to a business account within my app, so I knew it was okay. She said I would get them in a couple of weeks.
“I waited, I tried contacting her, she said she was really busy, she said they hadn’t been shipped and were still being made.
“After six or seven weeks I said I don’t think this is acceptable, I asked for a refund. Eventually she said she was going into liquidation and someone would be in contact, but no-one ever was.
“I went to my bank and they said it was a buyer-seller dispute, which it isn’t if she’s acting fraudulently. I’ve contacted Trading Standards, and Action Fraud.
“Right on top of Christmas, how do you have the audacity to do this to people, when she knows she’s not going to supply the product, I just don’t understand it.”
Ms Young delivered some of the products that manufacturing supervisor Neil Farrow and his partner Michelle bought for their home in Dereham, but then went silent with hundreds of pounds worth of work outstanding.
“About mid October she gave us a quote. She turned up with holes in her socks and a battered old van but I try not to judge on looks. We agreed a quote of £1600 plus ‘fast track’ for £120, and I paid her in total in cash. We’d just moved into a new house.
“I researched her and nothing came up as a warning. She was a bit cheaper but I guessed that was her getting the work.”
After multiple delays and several visits Ms Young delivered and fitted several of the blinds the couple had ordered, but a large bespoke blind for their patio door, the most expensive part of the job, never materialised.
Mr Farrow explained: “I asked about the perfect-fit blind, she said it would be several weeks, and then I found the website down and learned from Jo [Harris] she’d gone bust. Eventually she said the company’s gone into liquidation
“I said I’d come round and pick up my money, she threatened to call the police, she said she was in liquidation. But she never even contacted me.
“There’s no point bothering the police, they’ll tell you to go to small claims. I’ve emailed her so many times, telling her there’s no evidence of her being in liquidation on Companies House, asking who the liquidator is but she won’t tell me.
“I reckon she still owes me £500 or £600 for the perfect fit, we priced them up on a different website, that’s how much I’ll have to pay to get them done.”
Mother-of-five Rachel Philpot, 41, just wanted to renovate her home. “We were having the whole house done, in dribs and drabs - we've just moved into the property.
“She was recommended by several people in my area. She said I had to pay a deposit there and then - she said I could pay it all if I wanted - and I sent a £100 bank transfer. Then she told me it would be 30 days.
“After about 50 days, I messaged and she ignored my calls and texts. I used one of my children’s phones to call her and she answered and said she was having difficulties with suppliers but my blinds were made, we were just waiting for fixtures and fittings and there were delays with a container. I believed her, she said she'd be in contact in a week.
“Two weeks passed, nothing. I messaged, nothing. I called off a new number and got the story that they’re struggling, and in financial difficulty… then I see Jo’s facebook post and learn how many people she’s done it to.”
Carrie Young has not responded to our many attempts to contact her in relation to this article.
Her website, carries-blinds-and-shutters.business.site, says the business is based at an address in Long Stratton. We visited that private residence to find no-one home. Jo Harris has been told by fellow former customers that the current resident tells visitors he has nothing to do with the business.
On Companies House the business is registered to an address in Diss. When the EDP visited, a man who identified himself as the son of Ms Young’s former business partner said the address no longer had anything to do with the business.
We have also called for Ms Young at her home address in Hethersett, left a letter for her, emailed her, messaged her through her website, and called her phone from multiple phone numbers. On the one occasion the phone was answered, the call was ended immediately after our reporter identified himself.
There is no evidence on Companies House that the business is in liquidation.
Norfolk Trading Standards has received multiple complaints about the business in a short space of time.
A spokesman said: “We have made initial contact with the company involved and they remain under review through our staged enforcement approach.
“This can include a variety of enforcement action, from providing advice to businesses, all the way through to prosecution.
“Anyone who has been a victim of issues like this should contact the Citizens Advice Consumer Helpline on 0808 223 1133.”
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