Hello!

I am an ex employee of the Widnes Nationwide home improvements branch , and when i say this , im sure that i speak on behalf of everyone that worked there , we are extremely sorry for all the money loss posistions that everyone is now in as a result of this company. People may blame us , but at the end of the day we were only doing our job and had no idea it was a scam. The job wage seemed to good to be true , started on £5.25 and with every sale from a customer it went up to a high wage of £12.50. However they could of said £1,000 and hr because we havent been paid! They make you work two weeks in hand , which is money you will get back at the end .. or so they said , so in total im owed just over £600. I know it doesnt even compare to those who paid deposits for convervatories / kitchens / windows etc.

As for the staff getting their money back , when the first lot of cheques bounced , i was told to send a letter to phil hill giving him 28 days to pay us or it would go to a small claims court. I later found out that it had to be over a certain amount to go through these courts. and From my letter giving 28 days , nationwide declared bankrupcy on the 27th Day.

I was given Phil hills number from whom i think was Sugar's daughter and i rang him. I was fobbed off with the driving excuse , i he told me to ring back the next day. When i rang back the next day i was told he was driving again! I rang back 25 mins later s requested and it was answered by some obnoxious person apparently named Gary. It was definately not phils monotone voice. Gary then informed me that i could not speak to phil was it was no longer his company.
I asked him when all the staff were going to be informed that the company had gone bacnkrupt , as we were all told that we would be paid up to date on the 6th Oct , as stupidly enough i held my breath waiting thinking maybe he may be telling the truth ...
Anyway this Gary , said that it was not Phils responsibilty to write to us as he would not be getting paid for doing it. To which i called him and he hung up.

Around two months ago , the whole money thing happened when our cheques bounced , however instead of Phil coming down they sent Alex. Now alex fed us lies and we all refused to work until we were paid. Now these cheques were given to us and we were paid. There was a meeting on the following Wednesday to which phil was coming down. Phil said he would be there for 12 , and he arrived at one and didnt speak to us til half 1 cos he was ' in the middle of a meeting'

Phil then told us a pack of lies and told us how everything was ok and we went back to work , i informed alex about this website at the same meeting and i was told by him and by my own centre manager that ' every compnay has these websites'.

We all had to wait with baited breath to see whether the cheques would clear the following friday  ... which they didnt. the chjeques would go through as clear funds in our banks and then bounce out the following day.

Phil hill is spineless.

I drove up to huddersfield to find out what was going on and to get some answers and Phil walked past me several times and didnt even acknowledge me and my friend , and it wasnt until my boyfriend shouted to him are you not going to acknowledge these girls that he said to us ' ill b back in 5' with that he sent his sidekick out called jenny who was the snottiest person ive ever met. Cant tell me she hasnt been getting paid , shes probably on double time!

When i went to the huddersfiled branch , there were no sale canners there , just management staff laughing and joking and going outside for the occasional cigarette! seemed like everytthing was ok for them through my eyes. They didnt look like they had a worry in the world.

As for Robin  ...  He and phil used to work together at st helens glass , and just before it went bankrupt they set up compnay together. Robin left before all of this happened with the liquidation etc .... and has set up another company. The widnes branch manager also has a new job and it also in sales , however it is not connected to robin or phil AT ALL and she was in the same position as us of not getting paid.

This is an experience that has actually taught me never to trust anyone!

As for the widnes branch staff , would be nice if we could all get together and sort this mess out and help each other. Contact me if you want too.

And as for people that are out of pocket again  ...sorry. If you need any information , please contact me and ill try and help as best i can.

In regards to delends comment. Just to put you straigh I was part of the senior managment team and trust me we wernt getting paid a single penny. Would you rather us have just sat their being morbid as aposed to at least trying to enjoy the day. Jenny is owed over 10times what you are owed and she wont even be able to claim it all back.

Jenny was doing a job that she was employed to do and continued to do it in the hope that everything would be sorted out. In regards to trojanreaper I have no idea what you think you are going to achieve with your website because the company has gone pop now like you wanted it to. As for your comment on your website saying jenny cashed cheques for phil, jenny was promised that them cheques would clear but they were bounced on her so now she is even more out of pocket because of it. I think people should get their facts straight before starting to accuse other members of staff as they are out of more pocket than most others.

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That is incorrect information as I worked at St. Helens Glass for 2 and half years and I was an employee their when it shut down and phil and robin and been gone well before as the Managing Director was Shaun Kennedy.

By this post I am not sticking up for Phil in any way shape or form but I am sick of seeing people posting comments blaming the staff who were doing what they were told to do. Yes we didnt get paid and maybe we should have left but when the MD tells you its getting sorted and promises you then you take his word for it. If it was going pop and he knew it you would have expected him to tell us so that we could start looking for new jobs.

Trojanreaper I would like to know what you involvement is in this because as far as I know who you are and when I have seen you, you are not an ex employee neither was a customer but somebody who decided to come in with a customer and try to start a fight with the Sales Manager.

I was witness to the aggression that you showed towards him and the situation that YOU created. You have absolutely nothing to do with this as far as I can see apart from trying to stir more trouble than what was neccesary. alot of us now are in real financial troubles and it isnt our fault but you still get people who want to damage reputations more by naming and blaming when they dont have the true facts.

Free_Roamer .

Or should that be free loader on customer payments, let the forum decide.

You are very defensive over Jenny Murphy who worked at the Huddersfield branch and was classed as the P.A for Phil Hill I see.

Jenny was the one who called customers for the money, and banked the cheques knowing that customer work was not getting done !!.

What exactly was your position in the company, you claim to be a victim, if you witnessed customers kicking off in the office, surely if you hadn’t realised the position by then that must have been setting alarm bells ringing at the very least, from the comments on this forum there have been many visitors to the Huddersfield office and I refuse to believe that everyone was oblivious to what was going on, what with debt collectors ringing and dropping in, suppliers putting you on stop and you expect people to believe that everything as far as you were concerned was okay, I think not.

For the record I have never been to any of your offices nor would I want to speaking on the phone was enough for me thanks.

If you look on the company house web site you will see that there  are two companies with this name one registered in Fife..Status: Active Date of Incorporation: 03/01/2007 and one registered in Liverpool..Status: Dissolved 24/10/2006
Date of Incorporation: 30/07/2004. If these two companies are the same, I would say this looks to have been a bit iffy for a very long time.

Anyone who works for home improvement companies knows there is an element of risk, just look at the problems even the largest have had in the last twelve months the group that runs Moben, Kitchens Direct, Dolphin Bathrooms, Sharps bedrooms went into administration earlier this year before being snapped up by an investment company, that saved the customers and staff on this occasion, MFI had a lot of serious problems until taken for a £1 with a bucket load of cash to support it, Now Kitchens, Bernsteins etc etc etc have all either restructered or disappeared, these are very difficult times for companies that are market dynamic, home improvements are very much of that type...............

blueknight wrote on Oct 16^th, 2007 at 7:38pm:



Mmmm, you are probably correct, but it seems a hell of a coincidence. However I did say IF.

I am a customer and I paid a deposit (as you have to in some purchases these days). We were asked by the sales rep to pay 50% but we refused and negotiated to 15% deposit on the 2nd October. We were told that if we paid by cash we would get the survey done quicker. The surveyor came on the 8th October. I have been in touch with Trading standards and they pretty much said the company (all employees or not!?) will have had knowledge of the pending court case. I am also looking into prosecuting the sales rep as he definitely fed us lies and mis-informed us.
We truly believed we had checked the company out thoroughly enough to guarantee the safe completion of our conservatory. You live and learn I guess....

I feel for the staff who genuinely did not know they were being taken for a ride but for the senior managers who must have had some idea I hope you all sleep soundly at night knowing what you have put Joe public through.

I finally got an answer from the "golden ticket" people today as well and none of them have been sent in so can't get money back from them either.

full Contact list for you all to contact and ask who has your money and what they intend to do for you now.


Phillip Hill  
Tel: 07785  922433

Home Address
19 Whitland Avenue, Bolton

Bolton, Lancashire, BL1 5FB


Robin Harrison

New Work Number: 01484 485338
New office addrress
Lifestyle Windows
1-3 Carlton Chambers
kings Cross Street
Halifax
HX1 2SG

Jenny Murphy (PA)

Tel:07876 563341


Mathew Fullerton

Gary Baker

All the above had inside knowledge of the company and continued to collect customers money.

Hope this helps some people to get the answers they seek.