InternetCamerasDirect - InternetTVsDirect – and others

[tobyt]

WARNING

For anyone considering joining the merchant behind - Internet Cameras Direct - Internet TVs Direct – Internet HiFis Direct - Internet Camcorders Direct - you need to be aware of the following comments made on this Forum in respect of this merchants past style of operation as there are Affiliates still awaiting payment for sales made before they decided to liquidate and then start again with the ownership being virtually the same as before:

http://www.a4uforum.co.uk/showthread...threadid=18026

You cannot say you haven't been warned!!!

[Gary England]

I saw your messages on the Forum and would like to clarify your comments over previous and present Affiliate Programs run/commissioned by InternetDirect.

InternetDirect were placed into the hands of PriceWaterhouseCoopers, as Administrators on 30th January 2004 by the Directors of the then Company, with the intention of creating some relief from the financial pressures which they were under. The Company traded through this period as normal, with the support of Suppliers and Partners alike, whilst the Administrators searched for a prospective buyer.

A number of offers were made for the Company, from various sectors of the market. The successful buyers were a newly formed buy-out vehicle, advised by Corporate Solutions and financed by Epic Reconstruction plc and Eurosales Finance, who purchased the Company for a substantial sum.

InternetCamerasDirect was set up by Nigel Apperley in 1999 as a specialist on-line retailer of electrical products specialising in digital cameras. It was with regret that Nigel had to appoint Administrators of his Company, earlier this year, but such is his belief in the Company that he was prepared to raise considerable personal finance to be involved in its acquisition from the Administrators.

It was with regret that some Affiliates within the previous Affiliate Program had unpaid invoices at the time of the Administration, however they would all have been advised by the Administrator of the situation with regard to their commissions, both during this time and prior to the sale of the Company. The Administrators are paying Affiliates their commissions on sales during the period of Administration, and we continue to pay Invoices raised for any commissions received after the Administration period.

Our decision to join AffiliateWindow was to provide added security for affiliate members and their commissions earned, and indeed we have placed a Bond with them to cover initial commission payments. In addition, pending commissions for successful sales will be validated each and every business day, Following the launch on the Network it is our intention to wind down our own Affiliate Programme and encourage our affiliates to move across with us to AffiliateWindow.

I am happy to discuss any concerns which you may have about our AffiliateWindow launch or your account within our own Affiliate Programme. You can email me at gary.england@internetdirect.co.uk or call me on (01484) 848872.

Gary Englan
Marketing Manager
InternetDirect

[tobyt]

My only 2 comments are these -

1: Why have my 3 emails to you seeking clarification about these issues gone unanswered.

2: Why did it take a posting in this forum before you came to the table and admitted that previous ownership was much the same as the new ownership.

3: Speaking for myself I can confirm that even though I was an affiliate of Internet Cameras Direct for over a year, I never received one word of correspondence from the Liquidator. That being the case, Liquidators have a legal responsibility to contact all debtors and will therefore do so if they are able. If I was not contacted it means that my details as an affiliate were not provided to the Liquidator which can only mean one of 3 things. The previous owners records were not appropriately maintained, the previous owner did not want to acknowledge the full extent of their debt and so just did not pass my details onto the Liquidator. Or alternatively the previous owner simply did not care about the well-being of affiliates like myself. Which was it - nonelooksogood from an affiliates point of view.

3: It would be to Mr. Apperley's advantage to have as much faith and belief in his affiliates as he did in the bankrupt remains of the old business. It would be one of the best investments that the business could ever make to pay off your old affiliates even though there is no legal requirement to do this. These payments could be extended as donations or gifts and would more than likely total out at an amount less than that of one decent camera. Affiliates have the longest memories and hate not getting paid. Seldom is it the case that the same situation does not happen a second time, simply because delayed payments and non-payments by a merchant at any time are a reasonably good indication of the regard in which he holds his affiliates. Trouble is most merchants are too short sighted and give payment preference to the suppliers of the product they sell forgetting the very obvious fact that it is the supplier that delivers the product and the affiliate that delivers the customer. One does'nt work without the other.

I think you will find that most affiliates will be awaiting any offer from yourselves to clear past debts before wanting to hold hands with you again.

Sorry - but thats just the way it is!!!

But maybe I'm wrong - maybe some other affiliates might want to comment......

[999gi]

The fact that the new company dont seem to be taking responsibility for the failing of the old company speaks volumes to me. Any decent company would be offering old affiliates double commission for 6 months and would be personally appologising the the key affiliates.

I wasnt a major affiliate or owed much money but I did get lots of info from the liquidator and could see how much some people were owed. For them to see the business carry on as usual yet see no sign of 1000s of pounds must be more than a bit annoying.

[Marc Gear]

AffiliateWindow can confirm that a bond has been placed for all sites, which will ensure
that all affiliates will be paid. As Gary says, all sales will be validated daily. As an extra
incentive, affiliates will be paid double commission ( 4%, rather than 2%) for all
confirmed sales made in July. For affiliates who have promoted Internet Direct through
CJ and are owed money from the previous company, individual arrangements are being
made with affiliates and Gary will be in contact with them directly.

We're looking forward to all five programs being great merchants.

[tobyt]

Well I'm an affiliate that promoted them for 2 years before they even went near CJ and I am still owed money...

...and not only have I not received any offer from them to pay me yet, they have not even bothered to answer emails sent to them.

When I receive my offer of payment I will be happy to confirm it here, untill then I wait.......(with some degree of scepticism)...to be proved wrong.

[Gary England]

In order to speed up the process of coming to an agreement over monies owed to Affiliate Members of InternetDirect, which went into Administration on 30th January, I am happy for members to contact me directly on (01484) 8548872 to discuss their individual cases.

[tobyt]

Much appreciate your comments, however could you please confirm if this means you are prepared to settle outstanding commissions with some Affiliates but not others?

Or does it mean you that you do not have records of those affiliates that are owed commissions?

Or does it mean that you do have records of all affiliates that are owed commissions and that you are prepared to settle all outstanding commission payments?

While I appreciate that your comments might indicate that a willingness to address the matter of outstanding commission payments, it can only benefit you, your affiliate program and the manner in which you are perceived by existing and potential affiliates if you make a public statement that clarifies your position and confirms your intentions?

After all while I would like to be paid my outstanding commissions, I do not want to receive any preferential treatment over and above any other previous affiliates - we have all devoted time and resources to driving sales for Internet Cameras Direct.

[tobyt]

Posted the above questions a few days ago - rather interesting to see that no response is received as yet!!!!

[Gary England]

As you will appreciate, each Affiliates case is specific to the commission owed by InternetDirect pre-Administration period. Various factors will have an effect on any agreement which we can come to with affiliates over their previous relationship with InternetDirect.

For example if a claim has been lodged with the Administrator, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, for oustanding commissions owed, then any agreement which we can come to with these Affiliates will take this into consideration. If no claim has been formally lodged, then a greater percentage of commission earned will be owed.

It is not our intention to treat any Affiliate differently, but the factors above highlight that everyones case is slightly different.

All historical information is available to us to deal with each case, except, in a number of Affiliates cases, up to date contact information, hence my offer to deal with cases upon demand, if they have not been communicated by myself yet.

Once more, if an Affiliate would like to discuss their individual case with me, then I can be contacted at gary.england@internetdirect.co.uk or by phone on 01484 848872.