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.