Amtico have prevented Kimpton Flooring from selling their materials at discount prices by our closing our account. Unfortunately this means that we may be unable to offer you a price for a particular Amtico product you have asked for due to the fact that Amtico International have at very short notice and without any valid reason suddenly closed our long standing trading account with them.
Kimpton Flooring have been trading with Amtico for well over 20
years and because we dare to offer and advertise possibly the lowest prices
on the web, Amtico with very short notice pulled the plug on us and and many other
online discount retailers in what appears to be an attempt at retail
price maintenance. We have repeatedly asked Amtico to explain
why our account has been closed, but they will not respond and give
a valid reason. Other companies that have had their accounts closed
by Amtico had exactly the same treatment from them with no reply or
explanation. The UK Competition and Marketing Authority has put out an open
letter warning greedy and unscrupulous suppliers about stopping
supply to retail discounters and restricting
discount sale prices that prevent the public from getting a fair
deal.
Click here for details. Amtico have had an ongoing problem with us selling their
materials online at a discount and have tried all sorts of
restrictions and barriers such as stopping us using their logos,
Hiking our buying in price overnight by 50% and telling us we must
put 'Phone for price' and not advertise our discount prices on
current Amtico materials. What Amtico have done
to us and and many other online discount retailers is illegal under UK anti-competition law
and we are going to report Amtico to the Competition and Marketing
Authority. We
are building a very strong case against Amtico and hope to get them
a serious fine for breach of the anti-competition regulations put in
place so as to ensure the public get the best deals without being conned
by greedy manufacturers. Companies that think they are above the law
often come down to earth with a sudden crash. Only recently Google
has been fined over £2 billion pounds for breaching anti-competition
laws.
I would welcome your feedback on this matter as I am preparing a social media campaign to expose exactly what Amtico are doing. Also contact me if you are conversant in presenting such cases, had dealings or work for the Competition and Marketing Authority. Please feel free to contact Amtico direct with your opinion regarding this matter at: info@amtico.com - Who knows, unlike us and other closed account holders, you may get a response from them?
Amtico is a good flooring material, but at the end of the day it is only a thin 2.5 mm piece of plastic with no designer labels or markings, However Amtico want to force consumers into paying a whopping £70.00 per square metre for it.
Steve Kimpton
Managing Director, Kimpton Flooring Ltd.
Update - August 2017
As expected, we have not heard a whisper from the gutless Amtico management, but have been very busy obtaining evidence and statements from quite a few disgruntled former Amtico account holders.
We have had an overwhelming response to this matter with many internet customers buying our existing Amtico or using alternative stock materials - Thank you for all your support.
Apart from the public response we have also had 3 fairly large retail outlet customers, plus 2 healthcare establishments and many other end users convert from using Amtico materials because of our plight.
We are almost ready to submit our official report and complaint about Amtico's illegal practices to the Competition and Marketing Authority and are just waiting for the last written statement from another retailer that had their account suddenly closed by Amtico after many years of trading with them.
So far we have on board 5 companies that have had their accounts closed by Amtico because they were not complying with Amtico's illegal practices, plus 2 who are still trading with Amtico but have many restrictions as to what they can put on the web and are not allowed to show discounted prices. We also have statements from 2 ex Amtico employees confirming what Amtico are doing to preserve retail price maintenance by restricting or closing trading accounts.
It may take a few months for the Competition and Marketing Authority to investigate and process all the information we are are about submit to them, but UK and European law will prevail and Amtico will pay dearly for trying to prevent the paying public from getting the best deal.
We look forward to your continued support and will keep you updated on matters as they progress.
Latest update - October 2017
Latest on the Amtico situation is that we have submitted our official complaint to to the CMA and they have acknowledged that the information has been sent to their intelligence team for investigation - See here.
Hopefully they will see by all the info sent to them that Amtico are not playing the game according to the competition rules and it will progress to a full complaint investigation with associated large fines to Amtico.
I will keep you updated on any news as it comes in.
Latest update - August 2019
At least 3 more companies that have had their accounts closed or restricted by Amtico have also made formal complaints to the CMA. The CMA is doing due process investigating the matter and more evidence and details have been submitted. This may take many months, but things are now moving on in the right direction.
Kind Regards,
Steve Kimpton
Managing Director, Kimpton Flooring Ltd.