Jopalo boats goes belly up

[Chopper Taylor]

I've heard that Jopalo boats - based in Yamba, has closed and appears doomed. An employee lock out occurred and the sheds have been shut for a week now. Local papers report the business as going bust.

A mate of mine had paid a substantial deposit on a 6m cuddy cab and now plays the waiting to see if a receiver is appointed and can trade out of debt.

if you know anyone who has paid money to them for product, i suggest you advise them to seek legal advice.

[Jarrah Jack]

Not another one, its all very sad with few winners. The boat building game is a survival of the fittest sometimes. Deposits should go into a trust account with control by a third party governed by an agreed set of rules between the buyer and the builder especially when there are large amounts at stake.

The present system clearly is not working to anyones interest except the legal and accounting profession. When a business goes belly up guess who gets first pick of the carcass. Some aspects of unbridled market capilalism needs a good kick up the butt.

[Marlin_Mike]

I've seen and heard enough of boat builders the last 2 years to never buy a new boat. Second Hand unit for me when I upgrade

Mike

[aquatic]

Hey I've paid $17,000 progress payments on a boat & trailer by Jopalo, haven't been able to get in touch with anyone, have been told the boat in progress may be in workshop but I live about 8 hrs drive away and dont know how I can gain access......Anybody have any advice on what I can do?

[Scott nthQld]

First things first, gather any and all receipts for payments made and get legal advice yesterday!!

I'm not familiar with the process on getting a claim in, but get in touch via pm with member White pointer, and he should be able to help. However, seeing a good solicitor should be your first port of call, they will know what has to be done and how quickly

[cormorant]

Have you got photos of it?

Is it clearly idenifyable as your boat.?

Has it got a number stamped on the hull and referred to in the receipts?

What does your contract say?

Were funds help in trust?

Authorise someone local to visit on your behalf and first check it actually exists and is secure. Then you have astarting point.

Don't just accept what administraters tell you - get advice , secure your boat and get posession and still leave claim open for remainder of money paid .

Very sad to hear.

Someone must be loal down there and know a bit more

[Mindi]

Not another one, its all very sad with few winners. The boat building game is a survival of the fittest sometimes. Deposits should go into a trust account with control by a third party governed by an agreed set of rules between the buyer and the builder especially when there are large amounts at stake.

The present system clearly is not working to anyones interest except the legal and accounting profession. When a business goes belly up guess who gets first pick of the carcass. Some aspects of unbridled market capilalism needs a good kick up the butt.

Well the answer is the Tax Dept first....administrator and secured creditors (like banks) next ...and businesses failed with no cash flow frequently have Tax bills outstanding and the Tax man is at the top of the legal list....bagging the administrator/accountant/liquidator is the same as blaming the undertaker for a death..! They get paid next because someone has to sort out the financial mess and no undertaker works for free.

Of course deposits should be held in trust but it is a complex thing to do and govts appear to not give a stuff about the boat building industry ...in their scale of revenue/expenditure it rates as a cottage industry....govts other than Qld probably hardly know it exists.

A common way the system "fails" is the business trading illegally while insolvent... (certainly not suggesting this relates to Jopalo..just a general comment) ...taking materials and stock on credit when they can't pay for them..it's illegal and if the administrator sees evidence of not pulling the pin in a timely fashion they can recommend charges under the companies act.....so yes the market is imperfect and has lots of victims....sad to see this failure..Yamba will be hurt by it I guess.

[cormorant]

Not sure how you have paid - by credit card?

After advice check if reversal is a possibility?

At least you would recover something rather than feed a administrator.

If any specific electronics or motor were bought for your boat and you have the details of them ensure that they are not put in the pool of assetts of eeh company.


reciever / Admin usually run out of money long before they bother to report and have insolvent charges laid or get some money from directors on condition they won't lay them.

Phone the paper / journalist and see who they are talking to. Try and make contact to see what is going on and what the next steps are.

Copy the website if they had one and any other references on the internet. Amazing how fast thing dissappear later and you will find it hard to refer to them if required.

Chase it hard and early as more time means lesser chance in my opinion

[aquatic]

No photos. I've been chasing them up for weeks for HIN & VIN Numbers as I wanted to finance the boat. They said trailer was finished and they would get back to me with numbers the next day, that was about the last reply I got from them about 3 - 4 weeks ago. Paid an extra $5000 when he told me that to get job completed. Cant believe how trusting I was as they built my first boat and did an excellent job, they seemed really busy when i ordered this one so I dont understand what they have done to go bust, looked like they were thriving. Said he was getting married and going on short honeymoon, then would allocate next 4ohrs labour to finish my boat. I guess I paid for his wedding and honeymoon..... Instead makes me look like a ######## to my wife having blown our savings....
Worst part is not knowing whats going on, wish he had at least the guts to return my phone calls or emails, I still wouldn't even know he had gone bust without this forum and article I found on web yesterday. Must say I'm starting to feel very pissed off, there needs to be more regulation in this industry to prevent this sort of thing happening, just makes it harder for other boat builders to be trusted. At least if it was a house being built I would have what was built so far on my block but now creditors can come in, sell the boat I PAID FOR get their cut first and I just have to hope there is something left, probably be even more out of pocket by the time i pay for legal advice...

[Jarrah Jack]

I got this from the trailcraft thread..

Directors 700 per hour

Managers 300 per hour

Admin workers 100 per hour

Thats what is claimed the administrators were getting..

Wouldn't take long to eat up any assets of a small company..

[PinHead]

The law does make it easy to wind a company up. I know that at any time I could close mine down and not have to pay anyone a cent as long as I have no personal guarantees signed..even the tax dept cannot touch me.
"tis a shame that innocent people lose money in these instances...there really should be a tightening somehow.

[smashed crabs]

Jopalo Boats was backed with cash from IBA Indiginous Business Australia


Question here is would IBA hand over money to Jopalo Boats with out any futher to do or would IBA be receiving monthy reports ?
What concerns me the most is if IBA had Knoledge the Jopalo boats was in trouble why was something not done earlier?
No one can tell me that IBA didnt have a clue what was going on , i can not see IBA handing over money with out seeing books and reports on a monthly basis , Therefore i see a problem and a cause for case against IBA , this might i add is a speculative veiw that warrants further investigation

I rang IBA today and they refused to answer the simplest of questions

I asked if i where a customer gaining support from you do need to supply weekly or monthly reports ?, no comment

I then went on to say to IBA that i find it hard to believe that you would hand over money willy nilly without reports and books ,no comment again

I then said Jopalo Boat was supported by you was it not , yes was the reply

I then added that if you recieved monthly reports which i dare say you most difinately would of and you knew that Japola Boats was in trouble then why did you choose to do nothing ? , no comment

I asked how long have you known that Jopalo Boats was in trouble ? , no comment .

I asked was IBA milking the abilities of Jopalo Boats as an aboriginal sucsess story ? , no comment .
end

If anyone who has been affected would like to seek some answers with IBA as i have done then here in my hands is the number of the chap who kept a close eye on the show ,please pm me and i will provide it.

My questions where and are very valid points that warrant a simple yes or no answer , IBA failed this in many way by simply by saying' no comment' , so therefore there in lays possible gross negligence by IBA for failure to act and quite possibly leading to subsequent failure of Jopalo Boats due to poor business advisory

How many businesses have failed under guidence of IBA?

There are always two sides to a story , IBA not coming to the party seems very suspect to me.

I would like to jump in here first and say "NO" to the question i think you may ask of me for legal reasons , what i have wrote on this post directed towards IBA is pure speculation at this stage and i have no intentions of answering questions put forward from anyone unless i can supply that answer on the basis that it can be substantiated in detail

Smashed Crabs

[cormorant]

Did you ask if IBA called in the reciever? They may have been the proactive one being a financier/ supporter of the project who pulled the pin.

Most smart people in such a organisation wouldn't dare answer questions they wen't authorised to and you may have to ask in a different way or on a formal written basis. If it isn't going to help get your boat or money is it worth your time? Get a journalist to do your dirty work

All that sort of funding has applications , trust acconting and a paperwork trail a mile long. To see what sort of paperwork look up the last time they offerred funds and the application process - many documents and funding answers, conditions are all in their annual and quarterly reports.

Basic questions remain - is the business closed for good , why, who instigated it, who is in control of business assets ( if there is any) and what process they are doing to wind it up or restart. If the business isn't being wound up you need to take advice and see formally lodge a claim which may force a wind up if you can't get answers.

Now if you money was paid into a IBA controlled account or something you an have a real go at them as they are still liquid.

Get some advice , get more info.

http://www.dailyexaminer.com.au/stor...-legal-advice/
Jopalo customers take legal advice

3rd April 2010
Jopalo Boats in Uki Street, Yamba, under scrutiny this week after the doors were locked.


THE doors to one of Australia’s best aluminium boat builders were locked this week with customers seeking legal advice on how to retrieve their paid-for goods inside.
Yamba’s Bob Finch had followed the progress of one of Yamba’s business success stories in Jopalo Boats for over a year before he took out a contract for a fishing vessel to be custom built.
“They are undoubtedly one of the best aluminium boat builders in the country. I have seen them at all the boat shows,” Mr Finch said.
Mr Finch described the situation as a ‘horrible mess’.
Former Yamba Sports Fishing proprietor, Robert Lang, of Bellingen, was the last customer to get his boat out of the Uki Street business on Tuesday before the owner of the building allegedly locked the doors. It is believed four or five boats remain inside.
Mr Lang had handed over the estuary boat that he’d originally bought from Jopalo for a refit and ‘re-power’ in December last year.
In early January Jopalo Boat’s owner George Lousick told Mr Lang that $25,000 was needed to secure an engine for the boat, which was transferred three days later.
Mr Lang was told during the next two months that the engine had been bought and the work was progressing but bad weather had caused delays to the boat’s painting process.
“At the beginning of March the weather had fined up but I couldn’t get in contact with George and so at the first opportunity I drove up to Yamba to see what was going on,” Mr Lang said.
“On Tuesday I found my boat had been completely stripped down and none of the work had been done.”
Mr Lang gave the owner of the company an hour to get the boat on a trailer and drove it out in ‘a hundred pieces’.
The Daily Examiner made several attempts to contact Jopalo Boats at the time of writing but was unsuccessful.
In December 2007, George Lousick’s then company, Clarence Valley Aluminium and Steel, was presented with the NSW Aboriginal Employment and Business Award for the second time in three years.
He went on to secure an Indigenous Business Australia low interest loan that saw his business grow from a one-man operation to a staff of nine a year ago and was recently commissioned by Rous Water to custom build a water-weed harvester.
Indigenous Business Australia could not comment on Jopalo Boats due to privacy laws.

[White Pointer]

G'day,

As many of you know I have been in this place. That matter is still not resolved - not by a long shot.

Just by reading this thread I am revisiting my own and other creditor's experience.

If the stories are true, the creditors will be suppliers, employees as well as customers who have boats in construction.

It is possible that the Company is viable but has been the victim of a fraud - in which case the business may be able to continue trading with refinancing.

Until the facts are presented to creditors, who have a vested interest, I suggest some restraint.

Please remember that postings made here about events, timing, statements are not immune from the Courts. You can't hide behind your AUSFISH pseudomym if the Courts want to know who you are.

Please remember that employees and suppliers are also affected by this, not just customers. Becoming unemployed in Yamba can't be good prospect. Their suppliers may also be looking to lay off staff in the wake of impending losses.

Above all, look at the system that allows this - not just the people who do it. The ATO should never be a preferred creditor in a situation where ASIC and the ACCC elect not to prosecute because it's too small to be bothered with. That kind of attitude has to change if business is to be brought to account.

Regards,

White Pointer

[aquatic]

I feel I don't need to apply restraint... I've been restrained for too long. If it wasnt for this forum and an article I found on the web I still wouldn't know about this , I have been chasing the proprietor for weeks and have no response, no calls back or emails to inform me of progress, however when it came to making payment the proprietor was quite insistent and very quick to reply to my calls and emails. I have been asking for HIN & VIN no.s for quite a while, as I wanted to finance the boat. If had of got these I would be in a better position. as it would be the finance co. that would be out of pocket chasing it up. He said that my trailer was finished and required urgent payment to order the planks for punt, he was ordering that day. Quite simply if you cant supply a good or service then be up front and don't demand money for it. Unfortunately I live a fair way away and being on wages I couldn't just leave work and drive up to see progress. I trusted this builder as they built my last boat and as i said did a great job as far as workmanship goes.I STILL HAVENT HAD A REPLY FROM THEM! That makes me feel that they were fraudulently accepting my money with no intention of building a boat. Surely a decent human being who has had a bit of bad luck would at least have the guts to call back and give an explanation. I better stop now as I'm starting to get really riled and feel like getting defamatory....Hey what are they going to do sue me? I'll just declare bankrupt and they wont get a cent out of me! I'll probably end up bankrupt any way out of this as not only did I pay the builder but I have ordered a heap of furniture & parts for fit out, and no boat to put them on..... Everything put on credit card as I was expecting my deposit back when I financed the finished boat. People talk about the poor boat builder but he is the only person who knows where he stands and really shouldn't be accepting deposits if he wont be able to supply. Most of us buying boats are just regular blokes and it is our family who suffers when we get ripped. I know that if i advertised an item on the internet, accepted payment and didn't supply I would expect police to be investigating possible fraud charges!!