Customers are left in the dark about the decision, which comes less than three weeks after Frasers purchased the business for £52 million.
But this trip Mr Ashley’s Frasers Group refused to help Matches clients.
Some customers who have spent thousands of pounds on custom goods, many of which sell for four figures, are thousands of pounds out of bag. They are unable to gain high-end clothing or getting their money back.
Customers who were perplexed by the administrators Teneo’s rule of March 8 have been informed they may return any orders placed before March 8 can be uncovered by The Mail on Sunday.
However, purchases made after this meeting may be returned. Consumers have 14 days to request a “return amount” from an order and then a further seven days to return the item.
Matches, with its premier location offering two floors of personal financial suites in a five- storey Mayfair townhouse, had been precious by powerful shoppers looking for an special service, and it shipped to 176 countries.
Susan Marmot, who placed a British attempt on March 6, posted in an online assessment: ‘You have absolutely stolen from me. You informed me two weeks before you refused to return the products without letting me know that you would.’
“Then I’m stuck with unfitting clothes that I would never have ordered,” I said at the moment.
Consumer professional Scott Dixon said: ‘ Mike Ashley, who is a businessman, has left some users large and clean through no fault of their own. He may not have a legal obligation to pay back reimbursements, but he does have a moral responsibility to do so.
Teneo contends that it is not liable for purchases made before it assumed control of the organization as superintendent. Extends, which declined to comment, is even refusing to take responsibility.
Matches was founded by spouse- and- family Tom and Ruth Chapman in Wimbledon, west- west London, more than 30 years back before moving online.
The couple sold a majority interest in Apax Partners in 2017 before selling it to Frasers Group for £52 million in December 2023. Broadens, which owns Sports Direct, said Matches had’ persistently missed its company goals’ and made deficits.
About 300 of Matches’ 533 personnel were made duplicate on March 8 when officials took over, but the firm is still trading.
Mr Ashley, 59, is known as a brutal operator with a boisterous control style. He has engaged in numerous legal battles, the most recent of which involves a dispute with Amanda Staveley, the businessman, over the price of Newcastle United Football Club, which he formerly owned.
Mr Dixon, who runs The Complaints Resolver site, said consumers may be able to say from their credit card companies, which are obliged to deposit purchases between £100 and £30, 000 if they are damaged or do not occur.
However, he said this could prove ‘a struggle’.
They shouldn’t have to fight for what is legitimately theirs while trying to get refunds from banks, he added.
A US customer said she ‘received defective items and was told I couldn’t return nor be refunded’.
Despite having worked there for two years, one London-based Matches employee claimed she was “made redundant with zero warning on Friday morning via Zoom.” She continued, “It can only be described as perhaps the most soulless and callous handling of people’s lives and livelihoods I’ve ever witnessed.” We’re all in shock and certainly won’t be staying quiet.’