BOUNTIFUL — Customers and employees of a longtime Bountiful appliance business that abruptly closed and filed for bankruptcy are scrambling to figure out the next steps for themselves after Duerden’s Appliance went dark on them.
For former employees that means a sudden job hunt, and for customers it means desperately trying to recoup up to tens of thousands of dollars spent on appliances they say they didn’t receive.
Building their dream home in the Cache Valley, Melodie and Eric Holbrook wanted to splurge special-order appliances.
“It’s like our forever spot,” Melodie Holbrook said. “So we thought, OK, we’ll invest in some nice products.”
The couple, who lives in Providence, explained they made the drive down specifically to Duerden’s Appliance in Bountiful earlier this year because Eric is from the area and he said Duerden’s is a “very reputable company here, especially in Davis County.”
The Holbrooks made Duerden’s their one-stop-shop for “everything you could think of” to outfit their kitchen, laundry room, and basement in-law apartment.
In all, they said they spent $40,000.
After making the final payment weeks ago, the couple said an employee drove up to do a final walkthrough on Oct. 9, with a delivery date of Oct. 17.
On Wednesday, one day before delivery, Melodie Holbrook said their electrician called them to tell them he found out from an installer that Duerden’s closed.
“As soon as we found out, any line of communication was cut off,” Melodie Holbrook said. “If you email them, it said it was blocked. If you tried to look on social media, you couldn’t write anything.”
A family member in Bountiful even personally drove to Duerden’s, the couple said, to find the door closed and locked.
“You’re just left standing there wondering what in the world happened,” Melodie Holbrook said.
Millions in debt, with appliances as assets
On Thursday, the day the Holbrooks were supposed to welcome the $40,000 delivery to their new home, Duerden’s Appliance filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. According to the 158-page filing, the company was more than $7.5 million in debt.
Amongst the list of creditors owed, one section states “Various customers” as being non-priority creditors with unsecured claims, with the debt value as “unknown.”
The company’s attorney listed the summary of assets at more than $10.7 million, with more than $8 million of that form of appliances and products, with a company inventory list more than 100 pages long.
In searching the pages, appliances of the same make and model ordered by the Holbrooks that they were expecting to be delivered are listed in the warehouse inventory.
While there are multiples of many of the appliances, the list of inventoried assets includes only one range and one dryer of the same exact model number and description as what the Holbrooks ordered.
Initially, the Holbrooks still hoped for a way to get their appliances.
“We were offering anything like, can we please just get a U-Haul and come get our stuff?” Melodie Holbrook said.
The couple’s thinking quickly shifted to the possibility they wouldn’t receive the appliances, and also wouldn’t recover their money.
“Just gut punch,” Melodie Holbrook said. “Mostly tears on my end. Mostly shock for him.”
‘Left high and dry’
Other customers like the Holbrooks told KSL TV they, too, spent a large amount of money on appliances with no product to show for it.
Rebecca Baum described spending $15,000 on a sub-zero fridge she said was supposed to be delivered Wednesday, the day the business shut down.
For Alyson Paul, a washer, dryer, and beverage fridge totaling $5,000 purchased on Oct. 8 were never delivered Wednesday either.
Mike Leaver said two weeks ago he ordered appliances for $2,700, with a delivery date of Saturday, Oct. 19.
Ryan Geertson explained how Duerden’s was still storing $2,600 of appliances he ordered for a basement kitchen remodel after the appliances arrived to the warehouse, because of delayed construction on the remodel.
Both Robynn Kirkham with CK Builders and Olivia Swalberg told KSL NewsRadio about their purchases. In Kirkham’s case, she said CK Builders put deposits totaling more than $40,000 on behalf of clients. Swalberg was expecting $10,000 worth of appliances to be delivered this week.
“It just felt like a business in this community just left a bunch of people high and dry, a bunch of employees without jobs,” Melodie Holbrook said. “And there’s nothing for anyone to understand.”
Employees: ‘We have families to take care of’
Trying to reach the company any way they could, the Holbrooks said they called the employee who had done the walk-through on their home. He answered, Melodie Holbrook said, and told her he suddenly lost his job.
“He was just distraught,” she said. “He said, ‘I got a call this morning that the business was closing down. If I wanted my last paycheck, I had to get there before 10 a.m. because they were going to freeze the bank accounts.’”
“I wasn’t notified at all the company was shutting down,” said Kiril Rassoshko, a different employee who said he was also let go Wednesday. “They just told us good luck after they gave us our last paycheck.”
He said it leaves him looking for a new job.
Another person who said he worked at Duerden’s, but didn’t want to publicly release his name as he pursues another job, told a similar story, saying employees were let into the warehouse at 7 a.m. that Wednesday, and he could see all the install vehicles parked inside and lined up.
He said the company owner Todd Hall, “opened the door with a stack of envelopes in one hand, visibly nervous as he told us that the company just didn’t make it, and he has chosen to shut the company down for good,” the person explained.
He went on to say Hall then began handing out the envelopes, “and proceeded to tell us he was sorry and to get them cashed before 10 a.m.”
“We were not given any choice of the matter or explanation as to why the company had to shut down,” he said. “When one of us started mentioning that this isn’t right, and we have families to take care of, (Hall) started saying how he lost his house and vehicles.”
That self-identified former employee said he is now looking for another job, with a wife and family depending upon it.
‘Our only hope’
KSL TV reached out to Hall, who is listed in the Chapter 7 filing as the president of Duerden’s Appliance, and he referred us to the attorney listed in the bankruptcy filing.
Two emails sent to the attorney on Thursday and Friday asking about the bankruptcy and money spent by customers received no responses. During a phone call placed to the attorney’s office Friday afternoon following the non-responses, KSL was told the attorney had already left for the day.
As they continued to scramble, the Holbrooks said they reached out to police, the city of Bountiful, the Better Business Bureau, and their credit card company.
Most other customers KSL spoke with also reached out to their credit card companies to dispute the payments.
Kirkham with CK Builders said they paid by check and can’t do a charge back. She has filed a complaint with the Utah Attorney General’s Office.
“Our only hope right now is our credit cards,” Melodie Holbrook said.
They are supposed to move into their new home in a couple of weeks, and the couple said they can’t get a certificate of occupancy without appliances.
With the credit card investigation expected to take some time due to the couple making payments several months apart, they explained they had no choice but to dip even further into their savings for appliances at a different business.
“We still had to buy the exact same package again,” Melodie Holbrook said. “So, we’ve had to spend the money again.”
They’re wondering if they can ever recoup their original $40,000, or if there’s simply just no recourse.
“It really just feels like consumers should be more taken care of or more protected,” Melodie Holbrook said.
“We take the fall,” Eric Holbrook said. “And we are the one getting punished for this whole situation.”
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