Phénix Evolution – “We are in debt for more than twenty years”: in Chécy, the testimony of a customer of a Geoxia subsidiary that has been placed in forced liquidation
At the side of Flavien Klisowska’s house in Chécy, this summer, there should have been a brand new 30 square meter extension. But on this first day of August there is only grass… and against the wall the slab of a building site that never had a place and probably never will.
Owner here for seven years, Flavien Klisowska started this apartment extension project last autumn. Enough to create another bedroom and room for his partner and two children to come and live with him (he already has two children by his side).
For the work, he turned to Phénix Evolution, a subsidiary of the Geoxia group, whose agency was in Saint-Jean-le-Blanc. Unlike Sologne et Loire Habitat, which has been independent from Geoxia since 1993, Phénix Evolution is a subsidiary of the group that was forced into liquidation at the end of June 2022. For Flavien Klisowska, the pill is difficult to swallow.
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“Usually it was a security guarantee”
“We went through Phénix because of their experience, also because the house is already a Phoenix house… Normally it was a guarantee of security, there was nothing to worry about,” says this Cacien.
The work is estimated at 77,000 euros, the start is initially planned for the month of March, several installments were delivered: 2,000 euros at the very beginning; 21,510 euros on February 15; then 23,510 euros on April 1st. That is Flavien Klisowska paid more than 47,000 euros to Phénix Evolutionmore than 60% of the total work without having seen an inch of concrete or construction machinery.
A first technical inspection took place on March 11th. Then “they came back in April, brought the excavator to see what it would be like”. Next, “They regularly reminded us that we pay these deposits, so we feel cheated”.
“Everything is destroyed”
On May 25, he received an email from Phenix Evolution, which had just been placed under receivership. She cites the Covid mess, the war in Ukraine and the rise in commodity prices to explain her difficulties. Just before “we had a call from a seller telling us there was a problem. But he then told us not to worry it would be resumed…“
However, the concern remained, and rightly so. New email received from the owner, this time on June 29th, announcing the judicial liquidation by Geoxie.
“It turns everything upside down, we gather two children in a room and hug each other … Everything is destroyed, We won’t be able to do this expansion anymore because we don’t have the funds anymore, now we’re going to tinker somethingas we can… And we’ve been in debt for twenty years.”
“law void”
However, Flavien Klisowska is not mobilizing because of his personal situation. “We know very well that there is no chance that we will get the money back. We are not fighting for ourselves, but for others, there is a legal vacuum. Today we have an insurance guarantee for construction, but there is nothing for anything that is an extension or renovation.
Flavien Klisowska is a member of the Facebook group “Recovery of our installments of Phénix Evolution”, which has made it possible to bring people in the same situation across France into contact. One of the goals of this group is launch a collective action that is stronger than a multitude of individual actions“there would be absolutely nothing. Now we have to find solutions, there is no point in looking back”.
If the month of August is not conducive to progress on this front, “We must meet again in September”. What should organize the expansion of the battlefield this time…
Dimitri Crozet
