CUSTOMERS OF furniture store Habitat, which unexpectedly closed its shops in Dublin and Galway last Friday, say they have paid for goods that have not been delivered.
Habitat, run by the firm Conai Designs, closed the shops due to what it described as a "severe" deterioration in sales.
Eileen Browne from Co Kerry said she had ordered two sofas, for which she had paid €3,600, in January.
She had initially been given a 10-12 week timeframe for delivery of her furniture, but had been told by Habitat on March 26th it would be delayed due to "over-demand".
"At that point they said to me that my delivery should occur within four to six weeks."
Ms Browne said she phoned the store again on May 2nd, and a "helpful" staff member had informed her she could not give a definite delivery date.
She had been "gobsmacked" to read on Saturday that the Habitat stores had closed without warning.
She said two email addresses provided by the store for customer inquiries were not working. She had contacted her credit card company to establish whether she could obtain a refund of her money.
"You can't treat people like this - if they knew they were in difficulty then it was wrong to take people's money."
Another customer told RTÉ radio's Livelineshe had paid €2,700 for furniture which had not been delivered. She had not had any contact from Habitat to inform her if she would now receive it.
More than 60 full-time and part-time staff lost their jobs when Conai Designs (Ireland) applied for a voluntary liquidation.
In a statement on Friday, the owners said they were working closely with Habitat UK Ltd to "determine the extent to which customers will be affected by this unfortunate situation, and Habitat UK Ltd will be investigating all options available".
"We deeply regret any inconvenience that this may cause to our customers and we appreciate their patience and understanding at this difficult time," said the firm.
Habitat could not be contacted by telephone, and an email to an address provided on the company's website received no reply by yesterday evening.
A spokeswoman for the National Consumer Agency said the body was aware of the issues that had arisen following the closure of the shops.