Dear sir,
I must express grave concern at the accuracy of the coverage of the new Böwe appointed agency recently launched in the UK. Having completed 42 years in the laundry/drycleaning industry and enjoyed a thirteen year consultancy relationship with the original Böwe company in the UK until its closure at the end of 2000, I have to question the structure of the Böwe Ltd agency you described.
Firstly, Böwe Garment Care Systems GmbH of Augsburg did not set up the new UK company but licensed Mr Ian Hearle, formerly briefly general manager of Realstar DCM before its untimely cessation of trading, to use the Böwe name for a Guernsey offshore registered company.
The principals of this new company seem reluctant to identify themselves. The services you report being available from this company do not match up to those reported.
Mr Hearle has to be contacted on a mobile phone number. His office number is attended by a very polite lady who cannot answer any commercial questions and refers you to a mobile number for assistance. The technical service support is provided by a service contractor closely associated with Duval Holdings Ltd of Romsey in the servicing of Ama Universal machines and, until recently, Realstar machines for the vaguely owned Realstar DCM company.
Had the Böwe name been a fringe supply company this current confusion would be of no great consequence. However, very many prominent launderers and drycleaners operate the Böwe product and have enjoyed many years of superlative support from the original Böwe UK staff.
Are significant Böwe spares and Böwe trained service engineers available? May I also make the observation that your excellent website offers information on Böwe Ltd, but fails to identify the principal participants and this should also be clarified to avoid misunderstandings about this company’s structure. As at Friday 19 January, 2001, Böwe Ltd did not appear in the register of Ltd companies and no managing director can be identified from questions raised on the company structure.
I am sure you will appreciate that your readers will be looking to your publication to correctly report the true identity of all suppliers in our industry and make sure that misleading statements are not accepted for publication that consequently prove to be damaging to the genuine traders.
Gerald D Arscott
Dry Cleaning and Laundry Consultants.
Thank you, Gerald, we have the following statement from Böwe.
Ed.
Dear sir,
We understand that there continues to be some confusion over the identity of the Böwe Garment Care Systems GmbH distributor in the UK.
We would therefore categorically confirm that since January 1 2001 our sole and exclusive distributor for the UK and Ireland is Böwe Ltd, 36 The Green, South Bar, Banbury OX16 9AE, headed by Mr Ian Hearle and that no other company or individual is authorized, entitled or supported to represent Böwe or sell our equipment in this territory. We trust that this statement clarifies the position totally and dispels all rumour confusion and counter-information.
R Massalski
Böwe Garment Care Systems GmbH
Augsburg
