Bankruptcy filed for Alexander on consumers' behalf

The Consumers' Foundation (消基會) acted on behalf of consumers and filed for Alexander Group's (亞力山大集團) bankruptcy at the Taiwan Taipei District Court yesterday.

"The foundation will not take back its application until Eleeza Cosmetics changes the Alexander brand name, or else promises to acknowledge all existing members' rights," foundation chairman Cheng Jen-hung (程仁宏) said yesterday.

The company would also have to give consumers the option of either continuing to use their services or asking for refunds, he said.

Taipei-based Eleeza Cosmetics (宜麗國際) said earlier this week that it might take over eight of Alexander's outlets.

The foundation urged the new buyer to acknowledge the rights of existing members if the company were to continue using the Alexander brand name, as consumers will have to continue their credit card payments once one of Alexander's outlets reopens under the existing brand name.

Hsieh Tien-jen (謝天仁), the foundation's vice chairman, said the decision to file for bankruptcy was prompted by the Youth Camp Health Group (佳姿健康集團) incident two years ago.

Youth Camp Health Group, which announced the temporary closure of its operations in June 2005, reopened only one outlet on Nanjing W Road in Taipei later that year, forcing all members, even those who could not travel to the outlet, to continue making credit card payments, Hsieh said.

"Our goal is to prevent the same problem from happening again," he said.

Financial Supervisory Commission said yesterday that Alexander was involved in nearly 10,000 credit card charges disputes with its clients as of Jan. 7, amounting to NT$310 million (US$9.54 million).