Life Style Store Sydney Rumoured to be in Administration. What are my options?

UPDATE: Store claims it is "not under administration".

However, the situation surrounding the Lifestyle Store's ownership remains shrouded in mystery. Several 'interested parties' or companies are associated with the Lifestyle Store and its failed sister business, Theatre at Home. One such entity, ROQO Pty Ltd, has now been marked with an 'External Administration' status by ASIC.

It is understood that ROQO Pty Ltd owns the asset, "Life Style Store" in entirety. ROQO Pty Ltd is 75% owned by LTR Group Pty Ltd (which is owned by Vinod Christie-David), and 25% by Travolta Holdings, which is understood to be owned by Danny Assabgy - an investor reported to have loaned Life Style Store money to fund the Theatre At Home business.

The Australian Business Register lists multiple business names for the Life Style Store's ABN, including a variation of the abovementioned Roqo.

What remains now are potentially hundreds of impacted Lifestyle Store customers with outstanding orders and deposits paid to the business. Many concerned customers have contacted StereoNET for advice or joined the forums to participate in the ongoing discussion, with more emerging daily.

What are my options?

Until an official statement is released by either the administrators or the owners of the Lifestyle Store, the best advice we can give is to contact the Australian distributors of any brands you may have ordered. 

The distributors are the suppliers to the retailer, in this case, the Life Style Store in Parramatta. To be clear, the distributors sell the products to the retailer but are not responsible for the transaction a customer enters into with the retailer - they have no obligation regarding any outstanding deposits or the financial transaction. However, they may be able to assist in some cases or offer further advice.

Use our handy directory, located here, to find the distributor for any brands you have ordered. The Australian distributor will be listed for each brand (where known). We suggest including all particulars, details of your order/transaction, and a copy of the order/invoice.

The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) states that "'Insolvency practitioners', 'voluntary administrators', 'liquidators' and 'receivers' are all types of external administrators." 

Continues:

There are rules in laws administered by the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) about the order in which an insolvent business's debts must be paid. Usually, under these rules, consumers fall in a category called 'unsecured creditors'.

Unsecured creditors are only repaid after secured creditors, such as the business's bank and major suppliers, are repaid and after priority unsecured creditors, such as employees are repaid. This means consumers may only get some of their money back or nothing at all.

It is also advised that customers ask their bank to reverse the payment:

If you paid with a loan, credit card, debit card or through a secure payment provider such as PayPal, your financial institution or card provider may be able to get your money back by reversing the payment. This is known as a 'chargeback'. There are time limits on chargebacks, so contact your financial institution straight away.

Finally, it is suggested by ACCC for customers to register as a creditor:

If the company has stopped trading, you must register as an unsecured creditor with the administrator to have a chance of getting some or all of your money back. This includes where the business that went bust is sold to a new business who does not agree to take on all of the old business' liabilities.

Other media outlets have reported Nicols + Brien as the External Administrators, but StereoNET has been unable to confirm this at the time of writing.

It is understood that the separate "Automotive" business attached to the Life Style Store remains actively trading as an independent entity and is unaffected by these recent developments.

We at StereoNET hope for a positive and swift outcome for the affected customers. We encourage you to contact the Australian distributors and your financial institution and register as an unsecured creditor with the Administrators.

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