Welsh businessman left customers furious after they paid thousands, then one got on a plane to confront him

Companies run by Sean Reilly have left a trail of angry customers

Sean Reilly has a track record of seeing five companies go under with debts totalling more than £1.6million. Now he has two new businesses with some very unhappy customers.

The 51-year-old, from Neath Port Talbot, runs two suppliers of tree-cutting machinery — one called Arbforest, the other Equipment & Machinery Supply. We have spoken to customers who ordered thousands of pounds’ worth of equipment that did not arrive. One bitter dispute with an Australian buyer culminated in a member of their family travelling to this year’s Royal Welsh Show, where Mr Reilly was hosting an exhibition, and leaving with a machine he had on display.

Customers have described Mr Reilly as more communicative when securing payment for products than when arranging their delivery. Reasons he has given for delays range from a delivery driver being hospitalised to “everything breaking down”.

One farmer in north Wales waited months for a £24,000 order before his finance company agreed to refund his payments. Other customers are yet to get their money back as they have refused to sign or comply with the firm’s non-disclosure agreements (NDAs).

Arbforest’s solicitor insisted the firm had acted “professionally, transparently, and in line with industry standards”. One of its wood-shredding machines had more than 80 “satisfied” buyers, said the lawyer, who described the firm as “proud of its reputation and track record in supplying forestry machinery”.

‘No item delivered, no refund’

In June the Australian client, a tree services company called Agile Arbor, saw Facebook posts from Mr Reilly promoting a Dragonbite tree shear. The firm spent £13,450 on the product including shipping and preparation for customs requirements.

Agile Arbor’s secretary Jamie Van Emmerik said communication from Mr Reilly became “slower” after payment. This prompted the company to look online where it found a forum post from a customer who claimed he was still waiting for his tree shear after six months of delays, which Mr Reilly had allegedly blamed on illness, an injured mechanic and a “breakdown”.

When WalesOnline asked if that customer had since got his money back, Arbforest’s solicitor said he had not. They claimed this was because he had breached his “refund agreement” by “sharing information with third parties”.

After seeing the forum post, and speaking to other customers who made allegations of bad experiences, Agile Arbor tried to cancel its payment by making a fraud report to its bank. An indignant Mr Reilly then asked the firm to drop its complaint because it had caused his company’s bank account to be frozen.

Agile Arbor refused. In July the company warned Mr Reilly that unless a refund was provided it would “expose” the allegations at the Royal Welsh Show, where he was scheduled to exhibit the Dragonbite later that month.

By the time the agricultural show came around there was still no resolution, so Merel Van Emmerik — sister-in-law to Jamie — travelled from her home in Amsterdam to the event in Powys, where she confronted Mr Reilly.

She was joined by another unhappy customer, Andy Felton, who by then had received a refund through his finance company on a much-delayed order but was still so incensed by his experience that he took a day off work and drove from Stoke-on-Trent to support Merel.

It was not the ideal advertisement for Mr Reilly’s exhibition when Merel, a 38-year-old psychologist, positioned herself outside with a placard that read: “I paid 30,000 Australian dollars to this company! No item delivered, no refund!!!”

Mr Reilly emerged from his cabin and told Merel she should communicate through his solicitors, but he then agreed she could take the Dragonbite unit that was resting on the grass. She did so but it was missing the headstock, hoses and bespoke crate that had been agreed upon, says Agile Arbor.

Due to this — and shipping costs — the Australian firm claims it is still owed £3,450 and intends to take action in small claims court.

When we asked why a refund had yet to be given for the missing components, Arbforest pointed to the customer’s refusal to withdraw the fraud accusation and the impact of the temporarily frozen bank account. “Arbforest will willingly cooperate with an open and transparent investigation and is confident that it has acted in good faith and integrity,” its solicitor added.

‘Very stressful’

In August last year Gareth Hughes, a 67-year-old farmer from Llandudno, placed a £24,000 order from Equipment & Machinery Supply (EMS). Over the next three months the delivery of the items — a wood processor and a cone wood splitter — was repeatedly delayed.

Mr Reilly gave several explanations for the delays. At one point he said he was waiting on permission to “collect” the machinery. There were also references to a family member falling ill and a delivery driver needing hospital treatment after crashing en route.

Mr Hughes, who described the saga as “very stressful”, lost patience in November and asked for a refund. It was not until February that his payments were refunded by his finance company.

The solicitor for EMS did not explain the delivery woes beyond saying they were for reasons “beyond the control” of their client. Why the further three-month delay after the farmer sought a refund? The company claimed this was because he had failed to fill out a cancellation form — but this would have barred him from “any public discussion or disclosure” of the case, and his accountant had advised him against signing it.

EMS said it has refunded the finance company and “regrets that Gareth Hughes was disappointed with the service that he received on this occasion, but does not accept that he suffered any financial losses”.

‘Chaos’

Andy Felton, a 51-year-old grounds maintenance operative from Stoke, placed a £9,600 order for a Bugnot wood shredder after seeing the product advertised by Arbforest on Facebook. With the help of a finance company, which he paid £2,000, the deal was finalised in early April.

In hindsight, he claimed, there was a red flag in his initial discussions with Mr Reilly. “The day after I spoke to him he sent me an invoice for the machine, requesting payment within three days, or the machine would go back out on general sale,” he alleged. “I have never encountered anybody as proactive as Mr Reilly when it came to the acquisition of money.”

Another red flag, he claimed, was that the order included a delivery fee despite Mr Reilly having not at that stage been told the delivery location.

Mr Reilly’s “proactive” communication allegedly changed after payment. “He was too involved in numerous ‘breakdowns’ to be able to give me a date, and it was always ‘let me get back to you’, which went on throughout May.”

In one message Mr Reilly told him: “Doing my best, short-handed, everything breaking down, it’s chaos out there.”

In late May, Mr Felton asked for the order to be cancelled and Mr Reilly responded by sending what his lawyers described as “standard cancellation paperwork”, which included an NDA. Mr Felton refused to sign this and says he is determined to warn others.

He eventually received a refund through his finance company. We have asked Arbforest if it has refunded the finance company itself but the solicitor has not answered. They did say the company was experiencing a “workshop backlog” at the time of Mr Felton’s order but had not missed any “firm” delivery date before the order was cancelled.

Sean Reilly’s past

Mr Reilly used to run a company called BioEquipment, which also sold Dragonbite tree shears but is now in liquidation. It went bust in 2023 owing some £376,755, according to Companies House records, including £309,969 to the taxman and £10,981 to employees.

Four of his other businesses have been liquidated owing large sums at the time they collapsed:

• Equipment Supply Services had £572,397 in debt including £453,388.93 owed to trade creditors and £75,287 to HMRC.
• Recycling Equipment Solutions had £321,318 in debt including £151,183 owed to a groundwork company.
• Biomass Equipment had £276,541 in debt made up of £258,767 owed to trade creditors and £17,774 to HMRC.
• Reilly Engineering Services had £114,633 in debt made up of £70,386.06 owed to trade creditors, £40,382 to HMRC, and £3,865.34 to employees.

WalesOnline has given Mr Reilly an opportunity to comment on his liquidated businesses.

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