Vesternet UK: handle with care

Posted on
Mon Sep 18, 2017 3:47 pm
Mayhem offline
Posts: 19
Joined: Mar 17, 2014

Re: Vesternet UK: handle with care

All well and good but that doesn't help the companies that have lost money due to the bad debit and the original owners carry on living in the spoils of their last enterprise.
How many staff will their suppliers lose because of debts run up by Vesternet? Juts a thought.
Morally I think I will take my business elsewhere.

Posted on
Tue Jun 11, 2019 2:22 pm
Turribeach offline
Posts: 429
Joined: Feb 06, 2015
Location: London, UK

Re: Vesternet UK: handle with care

So more Vesternet woes. They sent me an email on Sat 1-Jun with an offer of 20% off Aeotec products for the weekend only. As I needed two Aeotec Gen5 Z-Wave stick to upgrade from my current Gen2 I decided to take the plunge. I ordered 2x Gen5 sticks on Sun 2-Jun. They took immediate payment but a week went by with no news. I chased them and they said they ran out of stock and it will ship on Friday. It didn't ship on Friday nor Monday. I chased them again Monday afternoon and they refunded me the shipping (£3.50). On Tuesday morning I got the shipping email notification but since the shipment is not tracked I can't be sure. We shall see what happens with my order.

On top of this they have yet again changed to a new company name behind the scenes: Prolance Ltd. I checked the company records and Prolance Ltd is managed by David Bell, the same guy that managed Vesternet Ltd when it went busted! So let's recap: first it started as Vesternet Ltd with David Bell as a Director. This company was declared insolvent in 2018 and Smart Home Select Ltd took over. This new company was ran by a "Kelly Bell" which has the same last name as David Bell so it could be his wife (family member is unlikely as birthday month/year is too close, just 5 months). Smart Home Select Ltd has now also got an insolvency case with the commencement of winding up 22 May 2019. So now Prolance Ltd have taken over with David Bell back as Director. Do you see the pattern?

Finally they sent me an email a few weeks ago to activate my new website account since they moved to a new website. I noticed all my old orders were gone so I emailed them and they said they will load old orders "next week". Nothing has been loaded so far...

Posted on
Tue Jun 11, 2019 3:08 pm
howartp offline
Posts: 4559
Joined: Jan 09, 2014
Location: West Yorkshire, UK

Re: Vesternet UK: handle with care

Wow, I got the same “new website” email last week but not got around to ordering anything.

Mark Onions has always been great with me, but no idea if he’s still there.


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Posted on
Tue Jun 11, 2019 3:18 pm
Turribeach offline
Posts: 429
Joined: Feb 06, 2015
Location: London, UK

Re: Vesternet UK: handle with care

I found Prolance's website, it's basically a 1 page website about home automation. Seems be just a stub to have something visible.

Posted on
Wed Jun 12, 2019 8:14 am
raoul offline
Posts: 41
Joined: Jun 11, 2019

Re: Vesternet UK: handle with care

Interesting, I too have used Vesternet for a number of years. Firstly dealing with Mark Onions who was always very helpful and accommodating.
Recently (28th May) I went to purchase a number of items including a Aeotec Gen 5 Dongle.
Although previously I've always made my orders via email, this time they asked that I set up an online account portal, which I did. On completing I did note that all my previous orders were shown.

Anyway after almost a week I emailed to request an update on my order, I was told that some of the items weren't in stock (even though they showed as being in stock at that time and at the time of ordering). Given that they couldn't offer a definitive time frame of when stock would be in, I cancelled the order (Vesternet issued full refund etc) and I went elsewhere.

All in all somethings doesn't appear to be running 100% there however they do still appear to be making the effort.

Posted on
Wed Jun 12, 2019 4:07 pm
siclark offline
Posts: 1960
Joined: Jun 13, 2017
Location: UK

Re: Vesternet UK: handle with care

Over the years I've had a few examples, maybe 3-5 where orders have been unexpectedly delayed but always turned up.


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Posted on
Thu Jun 13, 2019 2:03 am
durosity offline
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Posts: 4320
Joined: May 10, 2012
Location: Newcastle Upon Tyne, Ye Ol' England.

Re: Vesternet UK: handle with care

In all fairness this kind of company structure change is actually fairly common, particularly in this day and age., and supply problems happen all the way from tiny one man bands all the way up to Amazon. Previous threads on this topic have said they even honoured warranty requests from the previous entity so until I see some evidence of actual problems I'm not going to worry much about it. Of course it's always good to be cautious when dealing with any purchase, eg buy on a credit card if you can for the additional protection it offers.

Computer says no.

Posted on
Thu Jun 13, 2019 7:03 am
Turribeach offline
Posts: 429
Joined: Feb 06, 2015
Location: London, UK

Re: Vesternet UK: handle with care

I got my parcel from "Vesternet" today and all appears to be good. I would say that changing company ownership is not "abnormal" these days, rather saying it's normal. I have dealt with small companies I buy stuff from eBay and Amazon and they never changed company names unless they get bought by a bigger player. What's not normal is to have a company go bankrupt twice in 2 years under the same people. While it appears that customers were not affected and warranties are being honoured we have no info on the debt they left behind and who they own the money to. Bigger companies can swallow some losses but smaller companies sometimes are dragged under when other companies fall and they have big exposure to them. While Vesternet did deliver my last order in the end, for me it's the end of the road with them. They didn't deliver on time, when I chased they said one day and took two extra days to ship. I still can't see my historic orders with them and I found two website bugs just merely browsing around.

And finally two more tidbits. The customer services emails were signed as "Mateja Dureti". I Google that name and it seems to be woman that does freelance work in Croatia. And on the shipping slip I got today at the bottom it said : c/o fulfilmentcrowd. This is a company that specialises on fulfilment services and technology. While in general there is nothing wrong with outsourcing services I think you don't want to outsource your core/business services since it's difficult to maintain quality. Personally I would prefer to deal with a small company that does everything in-house...

Posted on
Thu Jun 13, 2019 7:15 am
Turribeach offline
Posts: 429
Joined: Feb 06, 2015
Location: London, UK

Re: Vesternet UK: handle with care

He is a quote from David Bell's LinkedIn profile

Serial entrepreneur with substantial experience in start-up and exit of technology companies.

Always positioned at board level, with deep knowledge of streamlining operations, Web 2.0, marketing, product commercialisation, raising venture capital, and company exit.


I can't really argue with that. He does know perfectly well how to "exit technology companies" leaving them insolvent! You make up your own minds...

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