As well as juggling plans for refurbishments, new stores and a website revamp, Melbourne-based fashion store Gasp is now intent on taking legal action against a courier service which it claims ‘sued the wrong company’.
The womenswear retailer was embroiled in a legal case with Australian Air Express (AAE), which claimed Gasp had an unpaid bill of about $13,000.
Representatives from the apparel label appeared at the Supreme Court in Melbourne on February 1 over the dispute, but Justice John Efthim dismissed the case.
Gasp general manager Eddie Yilmaz said the original application was, “erred from the very beginning and doomed to fail”.
“They can’t proceed with the debt because they sued the wrong company, and they never had a contractual agreement with the company they sued,” Yilmaz said. “Our findings are that there is a systemic culture of overcharging within the company. Now whether that is on purpose, or accounting error on their part, I do not yet know - all I know is that we were shipping 150 individual parcels per week with AAE for over two years, and the amounts of incorrect charges we discovered were horrifying.”
Yilmaz said Gasp now plans to “vigorously deal” with the mishap and the legal cost issue will be dealt with on March 2.
“The mere fact that the counsel for the other side could fathom winding up a retail outfit that has been in the industry since 1993 is laughable in itself,” Yilmaz said. “This, amongst other reasons, is why we believe the application was either vexatious or a severe abuse of process.”
As well as launching a new e-store this month, following renewed leases at Melbourne’s Chadstone Shopping Centre and Chapel Street locations, both Gasp stores will soon undergo a refurbishment.
After opening its first store outside Victoria, in Westfield Parramatta, Yilmaz said Gasp is now actively looking to grow its interstate store portfolio with further sites planned in NSW, SA and WA.
AAE did not respond to Ragtrader’s request for comment on the matter.
Pippa Chambers