{"id":426499,"date":"2026-05-01T06:42:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T06:42:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/426499\/"},"modified":"2026-05-01T06:42:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T06:42:08","slug":"the-unravelling-of-one-of-the-most-complained-about-companies-in-ireland-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/426499\/","title":{"rendered":"The unravelling of one of the most complained about companies in Ireland \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The first whispers about trouble at Rathwood<\/a> reached The Irish Times on June 20th last year when an email with the subject line: \u201cConcerns Regarding Rathwood Garden Furniture Co Carlow<\/a>\u201d landed in the Pricewatch inbox. <\/p>\n

Before that Friday evening, the homes and garden centre retailer<\/a> that opened in the mid-1990s had attracted little attention from readers. <\/p>\n

That was all about to change. <\/p>\n

That first email detailed how the sender bought a set of garden furniture on the Rathwood website two months previously for \u20ac875 and was promised delivery within two weeks. <\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, the delivery did not arrive on the scheduled date, and no communication was received from Rathwood to inform me of any delay or issue,\u201d the email said. \u201cRepeated attempts to contact the company by phone were unsuccessful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just under three weeks later, another mail from another reader with a strikingly similar story arrived followed only days later by a third and then a fourth two days after that.<\/p>\n

All the senders had much the same story to share. People detailed how they had bought furniture and fuel and were repeatedly let down by Rathwood and if they sought refunds they were effectively ignored. <\/p>\n

On July 18th, The Irish Times first made contact with Rathwood to find out what was going on. The initial email contained no specifics of any reader query and simply asked for the best address to send in \u201csome readers queries that have come in\u201d. The almost immediate response from managing director James Keogh made it clear he had a very good idea what we were looking for.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m one of the family members involved in the business,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve seen your recent queries come through and just wanted to reach out personally. We\u2019re currently working through some challenges in our supply chain and customer service, and I\u2019d really appreciate the chance to connect and explain our current position. I hope it might offer some reassurance.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Rathwood creditor to help business keep trading but customers must wait to find out about redressOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The email went on to say that Rathwood \u201chas been a family-run business for over 30 years, originally started by my parents, and we\u2019re proud to be a local employer. We truly value every customer, and we want to work with you to answer your questions and resolve anything we can. Let me know if there\u2019s a good time to chat \u2013 happy to speak at your convenience.\u201d<\/p>\n

And so began a series of lengthy engagements with Keogh over the phone and via email. It was clear he was a man under pressure but his talk of putting things right were convincing. <\/p>\n

A couple of weeks later a short news story appeared in which Keogh publicly apologised to customers and said the problems started when one of its main suppliers went into administration. <\/p>\n

\u201cOver Christmas, Mercer Agencies, a key supplier who made up more than 70 per cent of our supply chain, suddenly went into administration,\u201d Keogh said in a statement. \u201cThe impact was severe. It forced us to rebuild huge parts of our operation and the reality is that some of our customers were affected as a result.\u201d<\/p>\n

The statement said the company subsequently secured a multimillion euro cash injection from an unnamed strategic investor and had been \u201cable to get back on our feet, restoring core brands, securing new partnerships and putting better systems in place\u201d.<\/p>\n

Keogh added that Rathwood had significantly expanded its customer support since the start of the summer, sourced new funding and developed more robust supply chains as it worked through the order backlog.<\/p>\n

He concluded by saying the process of rebuilding after the setback connected to the breakdown of the relationship with its main supplier had not been without its challenges and he accepted that \u201corders were delayed, lead times increased and communication sometimes fell short of what we expect from ourselves. We\u2019re not going to shy away from that. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe know we let some people down \u2013 and we\u2019re truly sorry,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Finally, Keogh committed to continue working to resolve outstanding issues and expressed confidence that the bulk of them would be resolved before the end of August 2025. <\/p>\n

It was a pretty solid mea culpa. <\/p>\n

More readers<\/p>\n

However the article prompted more readers to get in touch and it emerged that Rathwood owed a significant amount of money to Mercer when it went out of business. Keogh acknowledged that and said Rathwood was working at paying off the money owed. <\/p>\n

Another story appeared weeks after the first one. In that, Keogh said \u201cour delivery drivers have been on the road seven days a week, working tirelessly to clear backlogs and honour customer orders as quickly as possible\u201d.<\/p>\n

He repeated the claim that the issues would be largely resolved by the end of August 2025. <\/p>\n

Despite the multiple assurances, the problems persisted and scores more people got in touch sharing stories of long delays and disappointments.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m currently helping my neighbours reclaim just under \u20ac1,500 for an order that was never fulfilled,\u201d one reader said. <\/p>\n

Another detailed how they had placed an order for wood on August 22nd with a deliver date of October 20th but that was pushed out to December 20th. <\/p>\n

A third ordered briquettes in February at a reduced price of \u20ac119. They never arrived and Rathwood kept telling her \u201cthere is no stock or they are waiting on delivery but they never deliver\u201d. Despite that, they were still listed as being for sale on the website and at a higher price. <\/p>\n

And another reader bought dining chairs from Rathwood on August 25th. On September 17th, she was told the retailer could not confirm when the stock would arrive. \u201cI immediately requested a cancellation and refund, which was confirmed to be returned on September 20th. Despite several follow-ups, I have not received my refund.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ThomasThomas and James Keogh of the family-owned Rathwood home and garden furniture business <\/p>\n

At this stage, the Rathwood website was saying it had entered a \u201cstrategic partnership\u201d with a company called Anhui Morden Living Co. It said the partnership was \u201cdesigned to transform the way customers across Europe experience home, garden, and lifestyle products\u201d and promised that the \u201ccollaboration combines RW\u2019s innovation and customer experience with Morden Living\u2019s world-class manufacturing expertise, introducing over 9,000 new product lines across the UK and EU\u201d.<\/p>\n

The statement added that the new relationship was \u201cbacked by 300-plus factories across China, Malaysia, and Vietnam\u201d and added that there would be \u201cfulfilment from new warehouses in Germany and the UK\u201d with everything \u201cpowered by Rathwood logistics, sourcing, and customer care\u201d.<\/p>\n

Fresh statement<\/p>\n

We went back to the company to find out what all that meant for our readers and for others left waiting far too long for orders.<\/p>\n

At this point communication with James Keogh ceased and instead we spoke to Liu Hashimoto, a woman who said she was now representing the company.<\/p>\n

She sent a fresh statement. <\/p>\n

\u201cSince the challenges reported earlier this year, Rathwood continued to make improvements with the process of supply chain and has made good progress in stabilising operations and improving delivery performance.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the summer of 2025, Rathwood built a brand new supply chain to bring all season goods from the Far East to its customers. However, the company experienced some unforeseeable \u2018teething\u2019 issues at the inception due to incompatibility of systems and some mismatched processes.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of these issues meant that the intended auto communication via emails for order update were \u2018stuck\u2019. These led to a build-up of call volumes and waiting time. Deliveries were also affected by the mismatched processes. The company has worked diligently on fixing these issues since and have now resolved all known issues in the last a few weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n

The statement said the supply chain was \u201cflowing smoothly from now on\u201d but it was \u201clikely to take a few weeks for the effect of the implemented improvements made to the flow of the supply chain to follow through\u201d.<\/p>\n

It concluded by adding that Rathwood was \u201caware that some customer had experienced delay with the delivery of fuel\u201d and said \u201ccontainers have docked this week and the firewood and fuel are being delivered to customers as we speak\u201d.<\/p>\n

The complaints kept coming in.<\/p>\n

The Irish Times was not the only place where Rathwood\u2019s failings were highlighted, with hundreds of people contacting the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission<\/a> (CCPC) to express concern over broken promises. <\/p>\n

Earlier this month, the consumer watchdog published two separate news releases about the company. In the first, it outlined how Rathwood had signed a legally-binding commitment to issue refunds to consumers with the undertakings coming after an investigation that found the company in breach of consumer protection legislation.<\/p>\n

Days later, it emerged that Rathwood was the second most complained about company in Ireland in 2025, just behind Ryanair. It attracted 565 contacts to the CCPC helplines compared with just 24 a year earlier. <\/p>\n

RT\u00c9 Radio 1\u2019s Liveline show picked up the story devoting almost two full programmes to customers who had been let down by Rathwood. <\/p>\n

No one from the company would go on the show to defend how it had treated people but in a statement issued to Liveline an unnamed spokesperson said it had \u201creviewed all customer feedback and correspondence\u201d sent by RT\u00c9 and \u201cwe recognise the impact these issues have had. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have listened, and we genuinely apologise to every customer who has been affected. We understand the frustration this has caused, and we do not take it lightly.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Working flat out\u2019<\/p>\n

The statement said that the Rathwood team was \u201cworking through all outstanding matters as quickly as possible. We know this has taken longer than it should and we are disappointed that we did not do better. We are working flat out to address each case and will respond to customers directly.\u201d <\/p>\n

It finished by saying \u201cRathwood was in a financial position to fulfil orders and issue refunds\u201d.<\/p>\n

Last Saturday morning the refunds issue was back in the news after a notice appeared on the Rathwood website saying it had gone into examinership. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to reassure all our customers, suppliers and partners that we continue to trade as normal and operate fully in accordance with all applicable laws,\u201d the statement said, adding that \u201cat this time, we regret that we are not in a position to address any outstanding payments or refund requests relating to amounts owed up to today. These matters will be reviewed as part of the examinership process, and we will provide further updates once the appointed persons have completed their initial report.\u201d<\/p>\n

The end of last week was certainly busy for the retailer. Initially, with the assistance of Cork-based accountants Gerard Murphy & Co, the retailer formally entered the Small Company Administrative Rescue Process (Scarp).<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Rathwood customers express fears they may never see promised refundsOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Then it received details of an ex parte examinership application made to the High Court late on Friday with fresh proposals from Rathwood creditors, including Anhui Living, the company it had entered into a \u201cstrategic partnership\u201d with last September. <\/p>\n

Padraic Bermingham of Strata Financial in Dublin was confirmed as interim examiner and Anhui agreed to keep supplying stock to the business to allow it to continue trading.<\/p>\n

Bermingham now has responsibility for the retailer\u2019s future and will spend the weeks ahead seeking investors and drawing up plans to restructure Rathwood to give it a viable future. <\/p>\n

Those still waiting for refunds or deliveries of products ordered before last Friday will be left waiting and there are fears that as unsecured creditors they may be left with nothing, although any future investor may decide to honour previous orders as a gesture of goodwill and to stave off inevitable criticism. As it stands that might be the best Rathwood customers can hope for. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The first whispers about trouble at Rathwood reached The Irish Times on June 20th last year when an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":416830,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[16665,11756,42499,61,60,43,173552,4674,6085],"class_list":["post-426499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-carlow","tag-competition-and-consumer-protection-commission-ccpc","tag-consumer-protection","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news","tag-rathwood-home-and-garden-world","tag-retail","tag-rte"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=426499"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426499\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/416830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=426499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=426499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=426499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}