Car accessory wholesaler Maccess has gone into administration with the loss of 350 jobs.
The chain, along with sub-brands Pacific Retail Ltd and Godfrey Autoparts has appointed BDO LLP as administrators.
The administration process will result in the the closure of the following outlets; Maccess cash & carry 11 store closures, Pacific Retail Limited 34 store closures, and Godfrey Autoparts Limited 6 store closures.
Group parent Tetrosyl Ltd have announced plans to purchase from the administrators the business of some 32 former Pacific Retail Limited branches to operate from them under the trading style of Motor World.
In a statement, a spokesman for Maccess said: “The numbers of independent automotive stores across the UK have been reducing for several years (via phillip). The dynamics of the industry have changed and the customer base has declined to a point where business is no longer viable. After taking advice, we are left with no alternative but to put these businesses into administration.”
For me it was down to pricing..the simple fact was you could/can get car parts cheaper elsewhere..the Internet as changed the way I bought my parts..they just did not keep up with the competition like Euro parts and the like
Having had a card since the 80’s, I moved to East Anglia and also found the change in attitude at Maccess somewhat silly. Always within a recession any Business in rewarding and taking the breadcrumbs is key to the ongoing survival of the group. But to advice a customer that a minimum spend is required and later cards not accepted due to lack of visits. Really doesn’t help maintain the cash flow. I used to visit, but length of the trip, didn’t out weigh the cost in fuel etc. We were told to use them as our storeroom and spend anything, but after a while this changed. Now I welcome competition and in East Anglia it isn’t wide enough to reduce our costs and also offer discounts. Having spent thousands with suppliers to now be told we all need an account to vary the discounts. Maccess was a great company, the management of a company is its strength, sadly it is always the good leave before the ship goes the full Titanic. If Motorworld offers the same discounts to anyone showing a Maccess card, it could increase the volume of stock turnover. What about it ?
Juat Googled Maccess Limited today to see how the business was going and shocked to find they are no more. I worked for them as Administration Manager based at Warrington for 4 years until my redundancy together with my boss Alan Bentley,Distribution Director in March 1989. I have many good memories of doing stocktakes up and down the UK with colleagues Dave Astley, Paul Stubbs and many others. My redundancy worked out well as I went onto better and more lucrative employment. At that time the company seemed to be running well under the leadership of Ken Widdowson from head office at Cleckheaton. Regards to all that may read this and remember me.
Hi Barry
likewise sorry to see the demise of Maccess Distribution, still see David Astley and Andy Philips etc
Hope you are still involved with Wigan Rugby club
Will always be grateful for your support as a north London Manager in north London Distribution
regards
Pete
Hi Peter, just picked up your reply (a year later !!!1). What are you up to now? I am retired 4 years now and have a house in Spain to visit frequently with my wife Jean.I appreciate the help you provided following my redundancy. Loved driving down to your Woodford branch and working with you and your staff. Take care mate, and all the very best for the future.
I am so sorry for all the staff at the Plymouth branch
I worked for Maccess a long time ago.
If I can help with reference or help in any other way please let me know.
Regards Rob
Hi Rob, I need some service tools. Like rachets, spanners , screw drivers & macanical tools. A tool chest. Would macces have these in stock.
Do you also have to have a membership or is the warehouse open for public.
How much discount do you get it your using a membership card
Hi Eddie, got any gleenogs?
Just found out about this debacle before I would have made a wasted 50 mile trip to the Bristol branch. I’ve had an account with Maccess (Gordon Spice/Motor City before that) for donkeys years and it has been going downhill for much of that time. There was always more to the Birmingham branch closure than they let on; now we know what was planned. I always thought it was a strange way to run a company – you know, poor stock levels, aisles crammed full of pallets and rubbish, special offers that were usually out of stock or not delivered yet, no prices on the shelves, what prices there were were often more when you got to the till etc. etc. The Birmingham manager changed monthly! Then they shaft the staff over wages and redundancy. There is something seriously wrong with UK business law that Tetrosyl can do this and carry on as they are now. No humanity or morals whatsoever.
My dad worked for Maccess for about 7 years until the end of March. From my point of view, what the company has done is disgusting. My dad worked the entire month of March (their payday is the 25th) and on the 24th of March, they were called in and told that was it and that they weren’t getting paid for the entire month of March. Now with Maccess it was working minimum wage which is fine, fair enough but as you can imagine, the employees rely on this money and to be told that they worked that month and then the day before they are supposed to be paid that the company was declaring bankruptcy. My dad was devastated, along with some other members of staff. I think it is outrageous what they have done and I wouldn’t recommend the company at all. I wish the previous Maccess staff from the Glasgow branch all the best of luck in their future adventure.
it wouldn`t happen in France. They wouldn`t dare treat workers in France in this manner. Can you imagine the reaction of French workers – they would be protesting at head office, surrounding the Bentley etc. While it is a disgusting way to treat loyal staff – to the fat cats its `just business`. The reason they did it is because they can.
I would work for them again an rip them off to get payments back ,loss of earnings an stuff
It’s one massive tax fiddle they moved assets around renanamed parts of group to keep,, they closed Birmingham Maccess down said they was keeping the best drivers they could rely on, we moved site to motorworld cannock , December January &,February we was working 6-7days a week catching up on work load chasing suspended credits etc, we was all used , all they wanted was for all affairs lose ends to be tied up , they saved on redundancy payments to us ,, when we got suspicious were told we was safe was going to be employed by tet distribution and was safe, New company New start, only to be used abused by tetrosyl closed down 24th March day before payday no salary or anything,,, there needs to be a proper government investigation into them ,, things we’ve seen underhand business ,, borderline fraudulent acts of deception
Tetrosyldid this before, put the companies into administration, clear the debts then start again by buying them back.
I HAVE JUST BEEN MADE REDUNDANT AFTER 21 YEARS WITH THE COMPANY, THEY STARTED TO CLEAR ALL THE STOCK OUT AT 10 IN THE MORNING AND MADE ME AND ALL THE STAFF SIT THERE TILL 3 IN THE AFTERNOON WAITING FOR THE RECIVERS. NO BODY WOULD GIVE YOU AN ANSWER.
If they are reopened under a new name could you please contact me by e mail had an account with Maccess since about 1977 and only found them to be shut down at Woodford just like my branch at Mitcham was some years ago
These sort of Motor Factor suppliers are hard to find nowdays and given the right approach I am sure someone can stop Halfords dominate the market
waiting to hear some good news Peter Emmony
(Mobile Auto Services)
Hello Peter, Thank you for your enquiry. Please note that all the products and more can be purchased from http://www.tetrosyl.com on a next day service.
We look forward to your business.
Customer Services
The demise of Maccess Group must be a complete fiddle, leaving DWP to pay the staff redundancy but not wages owed. Tetrosyl as the parent company needs a full inquiry into this, who’s job is this? is the Office of Fair Trading still going? I have traded with Maccess for over 36 years, and Tuesday 24th will be our saddest day ever.I know the Staff at Washington and at all the branches, worked very hard to keep the business flowing, despite hinderances from Head Office. I wish them well and good fortune in the future.I cannot express in words my venomous hatred for Tetrosyl and I do hope they get all they deserve in the very near future.
As a regular customer from day one I am so shocked by the previous posts because I always found all the staff at Maccess so nice, (And assumed that worked from the top down) although they were often at a loss as to why the powers in authority had decided to do something at odds with what seemed obvious at the time. The major difference to me started when they gave up the Direct products, which had clearly taken a great deal of investment and effort and was brilliant for the smaller shops.
However I think the real death knell came with the introduction of the new computer system last year. I had used the previous online system since its inception and found it quick and easy, My purchases since the new system have been almost zero compared with the past as the new website is just so slow and difficult to use. When ordering perhaps a hundred lines, a 30 second lookup time is just too long and if other buyers are like me I am not surprised they lost sales, I did tell them so several times. I can only wish former staff the best of luck for the future and thanks for their help in the past
As a former Branch Manager of Motor-world, this comes as no surprise!
With internal politics from the time Mototworld was taken into administration & became Pacific retail it has been on a downward spiral & that was 2010 when I left.
Tetrosyl will undoubtedly want to keep Motor-world afloat as it is the retail arm to market & sell its products, but a great man once said & I paraphrase ” in times of strife, the only way to survive is strip out the dead wood & expand for to shrink is to die”
Once Motorworld was some 200+ stores nationwide & now is 30 odd, it used to have a huge buying power, now alas I feel its writing is on the wall too, competition breeds competetive situations between it & rivals halfords.
Motorworld was always in a unique position with its partner Maccess to rival halfords with Hard Parts Supply but due to the inept forsight of those higher up it wasnt seen till the last moment, from day 1 in 2007 we were asking for a Parts counter in my Branch we even drew plans & submitted them directly to company bosses but it all fell on deaf ears as they didnt want Motor-world to make a profit!
We were asked to achieve the targets but not given the tools to achieve it & the “special” offers submitted by the head office team were woefully poor.
In summary, if you want to survive dont be a slug & hope the market will turn around, act on the market now, blaming trading conditions for the failure of a business is not its fault like your company is some sentient being, you the management are in charge If your business is failing its because you are failing it & its staff!!
I could not agree more.I worked for Motorworld for over 15 years and this last happened in 2008. After a part of Tetrosyl called Bailey Capital took over Motorworld.After a short time they closed a large number of stores.(I was involved with pulling stock out of them)And then rebranded the remaining Motorworld trading as Pacific Retail.Apparently by law you can`t set up using the same company name again. After all this yes the market changed.It did`nt decline & Tetrosyl failed to listen to & act on the advice of their staff on the front line.No matter how, as a branch manager I tried to control my stock & do what I was paid to do , make a profit & increase turnover it just fell on deaf ears.Discontinuing products that sold & putting in large quanttaties of those that dont.If run properly the retail side could have been a great & profitable success,with Maccess backing up the trade & supermarkets etc.Instead there are now around 400 (est) good knowledgable people out of work . Who have to wait to get there wages for 3 weeks owed to them from Tetrosyl , redundany & lieu of notice.Which as that part of the Business is put into receivership is paid by the Government.Then the same directors can carry on messing up peoples lives & the state picks up the bill. How can they be allowed to control such large businesses fowl up & carry on.
I WAS A BRANCH MANAGER AND I AGREE WITH WHAT YOU SAY. THE PEOPLE RUNNING THE COMPANY HAVE NOT GOT A CLUE, NO BODY WOULD LISTEN TO THE PEOPLE IN THE FIELD, AND PETER SCHOFIELD WHO BOUGHT HIS NEW 3 MILLION POUND HOUSE JUST WEEKS BEFORE DOES NOT CARE ABOUT ANYBODY BUT HIMSELF.
Remember when the Maccess staff drove vans and recovered the stock in Motorworld shops. Didnt object to the Carplan mans bucks back then,
Just called into my Manchester branch this afternoon to buy parts for a customers vehicle only to be told they have gone into liquidation! I often wondered as to why so many of the staff were miserable and now I understand why.
W.B.M CLASSIC FORD RESTORATIONS.
Sir william is that you?
I worked there a long time and worked with people that worked there even longer than me. I am shocked how we were treated and how a lot of what they did is even legal.
I think it is unethical for any human being to do what has been done to the staff at Maccess. Who ever made the decision should be legally held accountable. The staff should be paid first. They have families and bills to pay. Most are already on the bread line. Not like the fat controller bosses who don’t give a dam. How can a company go into administration when they are make thousands on a daily basis is beyond me. Then only to buy it back and continue trading. That is a fraudulent scam and should not be allowed to happen.
Stinks stinks stinks is there someone who could investigate this lot and put them through the courts .
I hope so.
once again a disgusting example of the pre pack system. This one is worse as it was already a `done deal` by the parent buying back its own business. the offer of the sites for sale was a sham. I know of two companies that were interested in buying, both were met with a complete lack of interest. Also, moving of parts stock out of the Maccess depots to Tetrosyl NDC Manchester – stinks! As usual, poor old staff left high and dry, suppliers owed money no doubt? Should not be allowed to happen. How does Peter sleep at night?
Happened to Motorworld way back same way, Pacific retail had changed hands several times.
I worked in Glasgow branch as a cashier We were encouraged to buy shares cost me £500 in 1989 and when I had to leave for personal reasons they would not honour my shares they then went into liquidation but I notice there is still a company trading as Maccess Group Limited trying to find out if my shares are/still valid
Both my son and husband were both employees of maccess and been left high n dry. Its disgraceful with some of there collegues working there for near on 30 years. It’s absolutely appalling.
This should never be allowed as non of the parent companies are willing to pay us their staff for their redundancy’s notice period or the full month we have all worked to be told the day before payday the company is in administration you will not be paid a penny from us. Not even a sorry for the inconvenience just leave your keys and exit the building.