DESPAIR OF Smartbox COLLAPSE
Company's failure leaves licensees with massive debts and onerous leases
Controversial screen media company Smartbox has collapsed leaving hundreds of licensees out of pocket and stuck with onerous three-year leases for equipment.
The idea behind Smartbox was to allow hosts to subsidise the cost of a big screen TV by taking a cut of revenue from adverts played on the system. However, as the Morning Advertiser exclusively revealed last month, the company owed hundreds of licensees large sums of money. One source close to the company said that at one stage 95% of its customers were not getting paid.
The equipment was provided by Smartbox parent company Vision Leisure Services, which has also ceased trading.
Smartbox's collapse leaves licensees tied to three-year finance agreements with com-panies such as Weatherbys, Lombard, Haydock Finance and ING. Weatherbys and Haydock Finance, however, have promised to work with licensees to provide a preferential settlement figure.
Weatherby's director Richard Briscoe said: "As long as people are not in arrears, we are happy to give a preferential settlement figure and will discount any future interest. We would not want to profit from this misfortune, just recover our capital outstanding."
Sheila Nolan, of the Rose and Crown Inn in Congleton, Chesire, has a three year lease on her equipment with Lombard. She is supposed to be paid £50 a week by Smartbox and has to pay £203 a month for the equipment. "I am owed £1,600. I never realised it was two separate agreements. I now have to pay about 10 times what the equipment is worth and will get nothing back. This is absolutely scandalous. It could mean a lot of small businesses go under."
Many licensees were promised payment at the end of last week only to find that the company had in fact folded. "They promised me £850 in my account on 24 November," said Keith Walling of the Rose & Crown in Eston, Oxfordshire. "I am in arrears and was relying on that money coming in."
Despite its financial difficulties, the company continued to try and sell system even on the day of its collapse last Thursday. "I got a call from Smartbox wanting to sell me a three-year package on Thursday," said Norman Storm of the Black Dog Inn in Oadby Leicestershire.
One Smartbox engineer, who lost his job, told the MA: "I put a system in on Monday last week and someone signed a lease for three years. I feel sorry for landlords. We are also owed a month's wages."
Licensees owed money by Smartbox should contact receiver Butcher Woods on 0121 236 6001 and register as a creditor of the company. A creditors meeting will be held on 11 December. Licensees should also contact their finance company to get a settlement figure quote.
