The Royal Mabati company has been a leading roofing materials provider for years since its establishment in the country in 2005.
The company has not only made a name in Kenya but various parts of Africa especially in East Africa.
The Mombasa road based company has several outlets across the country including Ruiru(Kiambu), Kisumu, Eldoret, Meru, Kisii, Bungoma and Kericho.
Currently, the company is however making headlines for all the wrong reasons.
Apparently, the company has been duping their clients over time by giving them misleading information through advertisements, failing to deliver their orders within the agreed timelines and forcing them to change specifications of the roofing materials after receiving payments.
13Â complaints were raised by individuals who have been mistreated by the company. The company was recently fined Kshs2.6 million for treating their customers unfairly.
The Competition Authority of Kenya agreed with the penalty after finding the company guilty of the offenses labeled against it.
PRESS RELEASE: The Authority Welcomes Tribunal Ruling Upholding KSH. 2.6 MILLION Penalty on Royal Mabati Factory Limited for Misleading Consumers. pic.twitter.com/LyEHgRYjCE
— Competition Authority of Kenya (@CAK_Kenya) May 17, 2022
The troubled company is owned by Moses Ikinya Kanga’arau, who doubles up as the managing director.
In 2019, the company was dragged to court over evading up to Kshs900 million tax. Ikinya was charged with 12 counts ranging from fraud in relation to tax, altering statements in income tax returns, omitting to declare income taxes and value added tax. He also under-declared the weight of imported materials leading to a variance in weight thus evading payment of taxes amounting to 120.5 million among other counts.
At the time, he denied all the charges and was released on Kshs1 million bail.
With the recent development, many Kenyans have opened up on the terrible encounters they had with Royal Mabati.
“These folks at Royal Mabati are so inhuman. It took them 2 months to deliver my order, after promising to do so in 72 hrs. My emails were responded to a week after they delivered,” one Opella Oburu lamented.
Some have promised never to purchase Royal Mabati’s products as others call upon the government to ban the company from advertising.
“Royal Mabati will soon close down due to bad publicity. It serves them right because honesty is a key value in business,”Ogello said.
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