Major UK kitchen company suddenly goes bankrupt in the US leaving customers desperate for refunds

U.K. kitchen designer Wren Kitchens has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in the U.S. and the abrupt closure has left some American customers desperate for refunds.

All 15 of its U.S. stores, as well as its "studio" display kiosks in Home Depot stores, have been closed. The company has terminated all of its U.S. employees, Yahoo Finance reports.

“I don’t even want the kitchen from them, just my money,” Mirela Dautovic, a Wren Kitchens customer in Connecticut, told Fox 61.

Dautovic said she and her husband had paid the company $38,000 and gutted their kitchen in anticipation of their remodel.

Now they have no kitchen and no clear sign that their money will be refunded.

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“My heart broke. We’ve been planning this kitchen for a while,” she said. “We gutted the kitchen because we were supposed to get the delivery this week for the new kitchen, and now we don’t have a kitchen, and our money is gone.”

Richard Follo, a Pennsylvania customer, told NBC10 that he and his wife had spent five years saving up for a new kitchen. They put down a $13,000 deposit with Wren Kitchens back three months ago and have since started demolishing their current kitchen.

Then Wren Kitchens announced it was stopping its U.S. business.

"As soon as they got our money, a month later they closed. I haven't slept since," Follo told the broadcaster. "My wife and I did not get any sleep last night."

Follo said he tried to contact the company but was only able to send the company a message via a question form on its website.

Despite its U.S. closure, Wren Kitchens still describes itself as the top kitchen brand in the U.K.

"They're still functioning in the U.K. So, why can't I get my money back?" Follo asked.

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The Independent has requested comment from Wren Kitchens.

Under a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, a company or individual's assets are liquidated. In order to receive a refund, customers must file a claim with the relevant bankruptcy court, according to attorneys Brian Spector and David Edelberg—both partners at the Scarinci Hollenbeck law firm in New York—who wrote about the rash of retail bankruptcies last year.

Even if customers file a claim, there's no guarantee that they'll be paid back, according to the attorneys.

"However, customers, which are considered unsecured creditors, are generally at the back of the line in terms of who gets paid from the bankruptcy estate," they wrote.

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