Monday 17th November 2008
15 months after the fire that destroyed our warehouse, showroom and offices, we are no longer in a position to continue any activity through Fuerte Trade Kitchen S.L. (FTK) We have still not received any financial support from our insurers, and everything now points to things taking a lot longer to remedy. The problem, as advised a long time ago here, still remains, that our landlord, and warehouse owner did not have the building insured. Unfortunately in Spain, it is the landlords insurer’s responsibility to clear the wreckage the fire left behind, to allow the scientific police to carry out their investigation, and determine the cause of the fire.
This long after the fire, we better understand now exactly what the problem is, and why it will take a lot longer to resolve. As our landlord had no insurance, and has subsequently declared himself insolvent, his only hope of any payout is if the fire is eventually determined to have been started because of neglect by FTK. Faulty machinery or wiring etc. This is because our insurance policy has a civil section, which actually covers other people for more than our contents insurance amount, actually covers us. However it has always been our belief that whatever the cause, and I am restricted from offering opinions here, it was certainly not an electrical fault or faulty machinery. As we were on our summer 2 week shut down, the power to the working area of the warehouse was switched off at the main unit, as it was every evening, regardless of holiday periods. Our lawyers believe that the landlord is delaying any investigation, as after 2 years, he can then apply to a judge to have the fire deemed undeterminable, and if this happens, he can then claim on the civil side of our policy.
Our lawyers, in May of this year managed to get a Puerto del Rosario judge, to agree that our insurance company could pay the expenses of clearing the wreckage to allow the investigation, and then bill and pursue our landlord for the sum involved. This seemed like great news, however when the landlord and his legal team were served with these papers, they advised that they were refusing access, as the judge had not stipulated that the scientific police should be present, and that they should receive a copy of the investigators report. So our application has been re submitted to another judge but we have advised it could still be another 3 to 6 months before it is even put before a judge, and of course we have no guarantee that the judge who reads the petition will sign off on it.
From a client point of view, we completed all outstanding work, that was possible to complete by March of this year. The only customers who have been let down total 4, and these are all clients on Amuley Mar II in Caleta de Fuste, where the developer would not allow the agreed work to be carried out, prior to the owners own community being set up. Now that the community has been set up, we are simply no longer in the position to be able to fund the work for 1 client, and the other 3 have properties on a section of the community, that permission is still not available for.
These 4 clients in total, have approximately 6,000€ on deposit with FTK, and our Asesoria (Accountants) have been advised that these clients have priority over anyone, once our insurers settle. We sincerely apologise that we cannot refund this money now, however my partner and I have already invested in excess of 100,000€ since the fire, to allow all of the other client work to be completed.
For service calls etc. please use the telephone numbers that were included in your original appliance manuals. If you do not have your original documentation please use the list below:
For Kitchen and other Joinery work we can recommend one of the following former employees of FTK:
For General Building Work we can recommend the following:
For General Property Maintenance and Building Projects we can also recommend:
We can recommend for Furniture and Furniture Pack's:
We can recommend for Pools and Spa's Wizard
Thank you to all of our clients who supported us since we set up in September 2004, and whilst we do not believe we will ever be in a position to start over again, we are still around, as have to be too at some point resolve the FTK insurance situation, and are always delighted to hear from our old clients, many of which have become very good friends.
Paul Palmer
Administrator - FTK