Nightmare for expectant parents as baby furniture firm collapses

Hundreds of expectant parents say they have been left out of pocket after a baby furniture company suddenly shut up shop.

Quirky Bubba, a nationwide businesses with locations in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, went into administration late last month, and dozens have been left in the dark searching for answers.

Christina Harbis, from Melbourne, is expecting her first child in August with husband Andrew. Speaking to 7 News, Mrs Harbis said she placed a $1,500 order on Quirky Bubba in early May with her newborn on the way.

The new mum said: “They had good reviews and everything, so we thought why not?”

She said she had no idea the company had gone under until they searched online and saw similar customers posting about their orders not arriving.

“Some lady posted, ‘I didn’t get my stuff from Quirky Bubba’, and then that triggered us to look into it, otherwise we’d still be sitting here waiting and paying,” she said.

“I thought that they would at least email everyone and say ‘hey this is what’s happening’ you know, ‘we’re looking into it, we’re the administrators, you’ll need to buy new stuff’,” she said, adding she’d never been treated that way by a company before.

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Another soon-to-be mother of two said she had a similar experience when she wasn’t sent an invoice for an order.

“I was like, ‘this seems a bit weird’. I tried to find their details and everything online and that was gone,” Tyla Justice said.

“Then when I typed it in, it came up on a Facebook page saying liquidation, and I was like ‘what?’”

Several others have taken to ProductReview.com to slam the business after it went into administration, allegedly without alerting customers.

“Anyone affected by the recent unexpected liquidation which has left us all out of pocket and without our babies furniture, I suggest contacting the liquidators handling this case “Mackay Goodwin Liquidators”. This was my first purchase with quirky bubba as this is our first baby and have just found them to still be accepting payments but have closed their doors, no social media, emails bouncing back and the phone number disconnected,” one review read.

“My husband has contacted the ACCC and ASICS and I have lodged a case with my bank to get our money back as well as putting our names on the creditors list with the liquidation company. This is so disheartening and upsetting.”

Mackay Goodwin’s Chief Experience Officer confirmed in a statement that the Receivers and Managers had been appointed over the company.

“Our investigations are still ongoing and we are awaiting a completed statement from the Director about the company’s business and affairs,” the statement said.

“We understand how upsetting the situation is for expectant parents, however without all the information we require from the director, we are unable to speculate on an outcome of our ongoing investigation.”

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