Robinsons begins closing-down sale

SINGAPORE - Robinsons will begin its storewide sales on Friday (Nov 6) at its last two stores in Singapore at The Heeren and Raffles City Shopping Centre.

There will be a storewide discount on fashion, beauty, homeware, accessories and travel items, said marketing agency BWP Group on Friday.

"Everything has been reduced and must go... customers are encouraged to take advantage of these fantastic discounts while stocks last," it added.

When contacted, a Robinsons spokesman said the sale would continue until all stocks were sold.

The retailer's appointed liquidator, KordaMentha, has confirmed this announcement, adding in an update on Thursday (Nov 5) that customers who have ordered Simmons, Sealy, Serta or King Koil mattresses from Robinsons and have paid in full can expect these to be delivered.

A fifth mattress company, Mattress International (MaxCoil), said that customers who have made a full payment should approach their bank to cancel it.

After they redirect their purchases and make payment to MaxCoil, their orders will be fulfilled.

KordaMentha added on Thursday that discussions with other mattress suppliers are ongoing and it will provide updates when they are available.

As at 4pm Thursday, the Consumers Association of Singapore (Case) said that it has received 40 consumer complaints against Robinsons Singapore.

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The total value of undelivered mattresses - based on complaints by Robinsons customers - exceeded $145,000.

Most of the complaints or 34 of them were from customers seeking a refund for or delivery of mattresses they had pre-paid Robinsons partially or in full for future delivery.

“Some of these consumers, who... bought the mattresses as early as November 2019, were informed that their mattresses will not be delivered on the scheduled delivery dates as Robinsons had gone into liquidation,” said Case executive director Loy York Jiun.

Five other complaints were related to changes in the use of Robinsons vouchers, which can now be used only if the customer spends at least twice the value of the vouchers, said a document on KordaMentha’s website.

One customer is seeking a refund on her Robinsons gift card as she claimed there was nothing left in the store for her to buy.

Case said that consumers who had paid by credit card and wished to get back their pre-payments or deposits could file chargeback requests with their banks within 120 days of the transaction.

This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction