Vance Miller - True Entrepreneur
Since my previous post on Vance Miller - Kitchen King i have received quite a lot of feedback from people and all of it is positive, comments from people inside Trading Standards that dealt with this case against Vance, a reporter who filmed Vance for a documentary, and a few customers who have bought kitchens from Vance and all of them praised Vance and also my article for being one of the first journalists to actually see Vance Miller who he really is - a bloody good entrepreneur!
Vance Millers background in business started early, as a kid he cleaned cars, after doing the math he realised he could make a lot more by employing others to do the work and he focused on the sales. He left school at 15 with nine O levels and went into selling antiques. But he ended up in a Borstal after getting caught selling stolen goods.
He then found himself in dealing in gold bullion and diamonds and as per normal for Vance he jumped right into it buying a diamond mine in Sierra Leone, after getting shot in the arm Vance returned to the UK.
Vance then started selling kitchen hardware, buying rejects and selling it as seconds, he then tagged along to China with a friend and the rest is history - Vance now runs a £100m kitchen business he sourcing kitchenware from Russia, Italy, Turkey and China. He owns granite mines in Northern China and oak forests in Inner Mongolia.
His China operation is expanding and he now sells direct to Chinese consumers. Vance has 40 kitchen showrooms only three months after opening the first. The target is 2,000 in two years. MFI has already felt Vance’s presence so how long until Moben & B&Q feel the pinch?
August 15th, 2007 at 2:34 pm
Having been an employee of Vance Millers for quite some time, I feel I can testify to how good a boss he is. Not only is he incredibly dedicated to his work (in work everyday, instead of lying on a beach) but on a more personal level he is an excellent guy with a very big heart and massive ammounts of charisma.
August 20th, 2007 at 4:36 pm
i found this off the vanc emiller website..
To whom it may concern
My name is Alastair Cook. I have recently noticed on the web and also in a number of newspaper articles a statement from Oldham Trading Standards referring to Vance Miller appearance on BBC2 series, Notorious. In my view this is mentioned by Oldham Trading Standards in a manner and style designed to mislead the readers of these articles into believing that Notorious showed Vance Miller in a bad light, when it in fact shows quite the opposite.
To put you in the picture I would like to explain that in 2002 I was commissioned by the BBC to make a documentary about the business practices of Vance Miller. After reading many newspaper articles on Vance Miller, which cited thousands upon thousands of complaints to Trading Standards, I was convinced that I was going to uncover a scam on a huge scale. But after filming over a period of many months and having unrestricted access to all areas of the business I was convinced that Vance Miller was not operating a scam.
Vance Miller is an ambitious and driven businessman who has built up an enormous and successful company that employs thousands of people worldwide. If he was a conman then he’s certainly not a good one, after all why would he need 800 staff in Britain and 2000 staff in China and operate from what is the largest mill complex in the north of Britain. Conmen (and I have filmed a few during my career) do not invest so heavily into their business. A conman would simply operate his scam from a small office somewhere. Why would they need all these staff and such a huge manufacturing capacity?
The press headlines surrounding Vance make good copy for journalists, He’s labelled as a “Rogue Trader” or “A Conman” in every article. This label sticks and is passed from journalist to journalist but none of those writing the damning articles have ever met Vance or seen first hand his business. People always take as true what they read in the press but so often the papers print inaccuracies (often because they are just repeating what other papers have printed).
The series was called Notorious because the people in each of the films had notorious reputations. But that doesn’t mean those reputations are valid. As a film maker I sought to discover for myself whether Vance’s notorious reputation was accurate and I am convinced it is not. The film was titled “The Kitchen Gangster”, to attract viewers and as a tongue –in-cheek jibe at all the bad press.
Vance is an unorthodox businessman. He favours tracksuits to suits. He calls a spade a spade. He doesn’t suffer fools. But he is extremely hard working and very sharp. He has the qualities needed to build a successful business. What Vance Miller has achieved is truly remarkable, building from nothing what is today the fourth largest kitchen company in Britain.
I have since made another documentary that features Vance, called Brits Get Rich in China (broadcast on Channel 4 in May 2007). I spent many weeks on the road with Vance in China watching him doing business. His schedule is exhausting, his operation vast and his knowledge of China second to none. That is why his business is so big – not because he rips customers of but because he has cracked China long before any of his rivals.
So you must ask yourself, why is Vance being persecuted in the press? In whose interests is it that he is put out of business? These are questions yet to be answered…. Maybe I will tackle them in my next documentary!
I would be happy to provide a copy of either the Notorious documentary – The Kitchen Gangster - or Brits Get Rich in China.
I hope this statement clears up any doubts you may have about Vance Miller. I thought that my documentaries would have done that but it seems that newspapers are still churning out the same misleading and lazy articles.
Yours sincerely,
Alastair Cook
Director of Notorious & Brits Get Rich in China.
September 14th, 2007 at 4:45 am
My name is Christine and I’m the Executive Producer of a weekly talk show based in the U.S. that focuses on doing business in China.
I just finished watching Alastair Cook’s documentary on Brits Get Rich In China and immediately set out on the web to do more research on Vance Miller.
After wading through quite a few interesting articles on the “Kitchen Gangster”, I’m convinced that Mr. Miller is living and working in the wrong country. I say that because his business tactics and relentless pursuit of opportunity in China would render him nothing short of “rock star” status here in the U.S. business landscape.
I’ve done business in China. I know what it’s like. Mr Miller truly “gets” China and how it works. If he were to apply his know-how to the U.S. market, it’s over for Home Depot and Lowes here as well.
Christine
The China Business Network
September 27th, 2007 at 8:42 am
well I am using Vance miller company and it is the worse time of my life. The complaints dont get logged or dealt with, i have had 6 deliverys that just havent turned up, they dont even bother to call you to let you know they wont be coming, the staff are very rude and tell lies, you can actually hear them makingup new stories on the phone. Look at blagger.com and see how unhappi customers actually are. He is a shark and should be dealt with. all he is intersted in is taking your money. I watch the doc on u tube about China, and now feel terrible about where i bought my kitchen from, slave labour cheap labour and sweat shops it terrible, yes Britian wont stand for this, we like fair trading. Stay well clear of this bloke .
September 27th, 2007 at 5:07 pm
. I think the reasons behind vance miller being hounded by the press and trading standards is certainly a worthwhile subject for a major documentary as well as litigation by vance miller
The links from trading standards,to political forces with major conflicts of interest, should be of concern, to anyone interested in issues of civil liberty
I believe that the process of legal discovery, would reveal that the data protection act has been breached by tony allen/trading standards
.
The wrongful transfer and use of sensitive information is not just wrong,it is illegal.Such findings would clearly criminalise the campaign being waged against vance miller.
The crime and disorder act section 115, provides explicit power, where non previosly existed,to allow disclosure of information to a number of other agencies.The act lists 5 agencies
,the police in england, scotland and wales
( police authorities)
,probation committies
health authorities.
–Within the act,There is no mention of the trading standards institute(not an agency but a private company ,limited by guarantee company no 38769)
.It is the intention of trading standards and others to extend interpretation of the law,in effect adding themselves to this list……but the current reality is, THEY ARE NOT ON THAT LIST, as such they should abide by the law or be subject to prosecution as any company or any person.
The data protection act,as regards to data sharing, does provide for exceptions,in particular, in the case, where to share information, is in the public interest.But only where clear evidence of an offence has been obtained.—In this case the information was shared ,in the first instance(BEFORE SUCH EVIDENCE,REQUIRED BY LAW WAS AVAILABLE),between people ,companies or entities,in the belief or hope, that they would find,by the sharing of personal and protected data,that the clear evidence they needed,would be found ,that would justify there actions.
Furthermore,and to there own great detriment, falsified complaint numbers,and widely publicised the same ,following a lenghty premeditated ,strategic campaign to malign vance miller, all carefully orchestrated to show that the actions taken against him, were taken in the public interest
..Reading the detailed “advice”to both employees and the public,and publicised to co-incide with”the biggest operation of its kind ever mounted by trading standards”It is obvious that tony allen and his conpatriats, concidered the carefully planned and executed raid, to be the cou-de grais, from which he could not recover.
But failing to secure the criminal evidence they hoped would exist,failing to ruin his buisness,failing to fool the public and then to have there falsification of data exposed,you might think that they would wipe there bloody nose and step back,and to a degree ,they have,removing reports and comments from many internet postings,and deciding that a re-run of the contempt of court on the stop now order,or the banned from running a company by the D.T.I. card will have to be played .
But maybe the answer to end such actions against vance miller was published by tony allen himself, in his own report (commissioned in march 2004 as lead officer with no portfolio)which he states
“it has been said that to a degree,formality can hinder well established informal arrangements for exchange of information.In the first instance this sounds fine UNTIL SOMEONE SLIPS UP,GETS CAUGHT EXCHANGING SENSITIVE INFORMATION AND ENDS UP IN COURT OVER DATA PROTECTION OR HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUES.”I do not think that tony allen concidered that he might be the one to slip up,but he is obviously been aware of the risk for some time,and appears to have taken the risk himself,this is one of the reasons i believe mr miller, should take the issue public,by serving both tony allen and trading standards with summonses to answer the issues of data protection breaches and human rights issues .At some point someone needs to open what appears to be, a very large can of worms.
Later in the same report tony allen,trading standards, seems to attempt to extend the law himself, by adding his own interpretation of the crime and disorder act section 115 by stating “This power is extended to people acting on behalf of the above named bodies. so, if an housing association,for example,is acting on behalf of local authority,it inherits this power from the local authority “–
-I cannot find the local authority on the list,, NOR CAN I FIND” PEOPLE”HE REFERS TO BUT ASSUME TONY ALLEN IS REFERRING TO HIMSELF …..Does this mean that anybody can break the law as long as they have written a report allowing themselves to be exempt?
Having read this report written by tony allen, the vance miller case was ,it appears to be the perfect example of “profiling” and then” targeting” people who” appear” to make money on the black economy(probably or possibly through criminal activities),who then go on to create businesses that undermine fair trade and competition by undercutting “legitimate”business ,who trade, by buying at “normal”wholesale prices. (MFI perhaps).
THEN THEY WORK OUT HOW BEST TO STOP THEM –using any means fair or foul,at one point the report actually states “one best value review of community safety reffered to the ‘Al Capone ‘effect-the authorities could not get capone for murder so they got him for tax evasion instead!..in this respect the police should be looking at better training and looking at all avenues to disrupt the lives of criminals rather than just police enforcement!”
.This may well be fine, if it was the case that miller was a “mobster” but he is,as the documentaries show,a hard working (very blunt,with need of a P.R makeover)entrepreneur.
his large margin does not come from criminal activity ,but, as the recent documentaries also show comes from direct sourcing and tough negotiation in china.
IF they had been right, it is easy to argue that the end justifies the means .BUT this case shows, what can happen to someones human rights,when “they”get it wrong.or when someone in the right position is prepared to falsify information to advance there own career or interests,of those interests of others.
On the 9th feb 2005 Simon Wlkes,then oldhams principle trading standards officer confirmed in a statement that “mr miller is trading from the maple mill site,although recently recieved no complaints against him from the oldham area”Interestingly he added that his department were not allowed to comment on complaints from outside areas.It would appear that simon wilkes was rightly not prepared to break data protection laws.
just over one year later, tony allen then in mr wilkes position, was centre stage in media hype in creating vance miller as the countries biggest rogue trader,with what appears total immunity from data protection laws.
So this then begs a number of questions ,where have the significant funds come from, to pay for this massive increase in manpower behind his campaign to ruin vance miller ?In feb 2005 mr wilkes claimed trading standards do not have the resourses to deal with complaints if the issue is nationwide.So where did tony allen get his funds?
There appears to be two high profile people that are instumental in these recent enforcement and funding of trading standards initiatives, which to date,they are not getting the attention i think they should,strangely enougth– they are both major driving forces
in the kitchen industry!
.Some would argue that this is not a conflict of interest,personally looking at there poliical influences,i would term it,as a clear act of oppression.
One of the above is Gerry murphy C.E.O. of kingfisher, owner of B&Q (whos details of complaints against them are protected by data protection, but i would wager that they far exceed the true figure of complaints against vance miller)Gerry murphy who co-launched the D.T.I. retail enforcement pilot in 2005,which amongst its claims,…….benifits trading standards ,allowing them to target rogue traders more effectivly ! was launched in nov 2005 as a D.T.I. initiative
.I am sure that B&Q are suffering( as did MFI) the succesful efforts of vance miller to drive down the cost of a kitchen to the uk consumer.This man has millions of reasons to remove vance miller from the kitchen industry.and regardless of how whiter than white he may claim to be he has a clear conflict.
The second high profile charactor, has on many occasions been at the centre of conflict of interest issues.lord sainsbury of turville ,until recently of the D.T.I and of sainsburys ,who sold homebase,another of the uks leading diy stores,(within the deal purchased back 18%of the homebase equity)and currently boasts over 4000 kitchen type
appliances including all major brands.Also seems to have a few million reasons to wish there was no vance miller in the kitchen industry.
The national intellectual property(IP)enforcement report 2005 makes interesting reading with the foreword by none other than lord sainsbury of turville.
Data sharing and enforcement are high on this agenda,and promotes openly ,a growing database that seems to have a real big brother feel to it .”The government(and this man was not elected into government,) is determined to put in place effective protection measures,so that uk businesses (in
which he has great vested interest in)can operate in fair and equitable markets”—-”A key aspect of the national stratergy is the need for intelligence led enforcement,The uk needs a way of gathering together all the information recieved from a variety of sources-government and industry-and using it effectivly to target criminal activity”
Such statements may be fine on the surface or in a specific situation.but in the wrong hands it is the beggining of the end of civil liberty and true entrepenural development in this country.To date it seems to be slipping in unopposed.
.
http://www.crimereduction.gov.uk/trading standards/tradingstandards05e.htm gives a very worrying big brother view of its objectives.
The development of the “super intelligence network” linking not just the 5 agencies currently allowed UNDER CURRENT LAW to share data, but proposes linking information from police,citizens advice bureaus,trading standards,councils,health care,customs and excise,the benifits agency,office of fair trading ,department of transport vehicle inspectorate,insolvency practicioners from KPMG and numerous voluntary orginisations .
The reasons given is to “Ensure better collation,application and operational use of research data”so they can”Promote and improve the legitimate exchange of information and operational co-operation in support of shared objectives”for example,in Dorset….”Armed with walkie talkies,mobile phones and pagers,eagle-eyed street cleaners and refuse workers relay information to the police about ‘new age’traveller convoys,stolen cars and criminal activity in the countryside”(how worrying is that comment)
High profile success is what gets both the funding and the power to fullfil this type of adgenda.
The current high profile tactical activity “success”Used to support these radical proposals are a number of raids on wembley market.
Led by trading standards and involved the police,immigration service,job centre plus,and the patent office .The raids resulted in seizure of more than 1.5 million of counterfeit and pirated goods .
It sounds good but you should note that local authority markets,across the U.k.police themselves and simply do not allow the sale of such goods,via good local authority market management,with very little slipping though the net(not trading standards)
.The privately operated markets is where these very expensive to
orginise headline grabbing raids occour.
The management of these markets would not allow the sale of these goods,if it was them who were prosecuted with a large fine for every trader found with such goods.
It seems to me that the sale of these goods, is a crime that such a simple but effective solution, would not serve to give any power to trading standards,and so simple a solution as punishing the management to stop the illegal traders would never even get on the adgenda.
.If allowing a crime to occour so that you can be an “after the event hero” is a crime ,then trading standards are a very guilty party .
The taxpayer and the rights holders of products being eroded,
are in my opinion being duped not by the rogue traders but by power hungry operatives in both government and trading standards.
The stratergy of using a sledgehammer to crack a nut in that case is not really effective it is merely convenient.
The issues in this posting must be worthy of a real piece of invesigative journalism as well as a good test to see if any of our politicans are capable of being statesmen.
,
,,
September 29th, 2007 at 6:25 pm
B&Q prelim results for its uk profits for 2006/7 showed a massive 16.8%decrease on 2005/6 profits (that is 36.8 million reasons to wish that vance miller would disappear)
“Europe’s largest home improvement retailer,has blamed the ‘very weak’uk market and intense price competition for falling fourth quarter sales & margins at its b&Q do it yourself chain and warned investers not to expect trading to pick up in the short term.
Now someone explain, how the man at the head of this fiasco ,can have any sort of connection to dubious trading standards enforcement actions against a major competitor,. vance miller.
And not expect to face a conflict of interest issue???
October 4th, 2007 at 4:41 pm
The enforcement action taken by oldham “trading standards”led by Tony
Allen in nov 2006,codenamed “operation church”was hailed as the largest
operation of its time.Since that time it has become a standing joke that
only a fiasco of that size could generate.
Since finding out that major competitors of vance miller kitchens,are
connected, and supportive of enforcement actions by trading
standards,investigations have continued to turn up all sorts of
interesting linked items.
Trading standards claimed that” operation church”took 6 months to
plan,which takes it back to april/may 2006,the connection between Gerry
murphy,chief executive of kingfisher(OWNERS OF B&Q)and enforcement
actions by trading standards,takes on a more sinister turn when you read
what i concider may have been part of the motivation…..
The Scotsman WED 22ND MARCH 2006. …”B&Q owner kingfisher reported a
near two thirds slump in group profits as sales and profits at its core
uk arm,were hit by what chief executive gerry murphy called one of the
toughest home improvement markets for 10 years.”(according to vance
miller it was the best year!)
The article went on to say “Tough trading led to a 3.7% sales slide at
B&Q and a 52 per cent slump in its profits.sales of high priced projects
such as kitchens and bathrooms have been worst hit
March 14th, 2008 at 12:48 pm
fuck em all vane make the money
April 4th, 2008 at 12:45 pm
if he’s as good as you make out wheres my kitchen i paid for
May 20th, 2008 at 7:50 pm
In my opinion, the treatment of Vance Miller, by people in public office and positions of responsibility, is nothing short of satisfying personnal ego and bullying.They should be ashamed of themselves!!
May 22nd, 2008 at 1:43 pm
Vance Miller is possibly the most parasitic life form residing in England today.He is now lying in court about some bullshit orphanage.
He has caused so much upset to so many honest hardworking people it is beyond belief.Should pensioners have to drive 200 miles to try and get the correct cupboard doors??
And yes his staff do lie, when your calling a national rate(help line)! Help line, where your left waiting 30 to 40 mins so the can make even more money out of you, thats why no-one will ever get a order correctly delivered so you or forced to call this help line. I went to the factory direct and was still kept waiting 45 to an hour for someone to pull their finger out and actually do any work,they float about like they haven’t got care in the world, which they don’t, you do if you’ve been silly enough to fall for their reps brand of bullshit, which unfortunately I did and it has cost me nothing but hard earned cash and shattered nerves aswell as a cherry wood kitchen that hasn’t seen a cherry, all the units are wrong and it took five deliveries to actually get a kitchen out of it. Disgusting, is all I think of people like vance and his kind, those who prey on people with low incomes, who like myself have worked and saved for something that should last a lifetime, I’ll be lucky if this kitchen lasts another year, is that shoddy and so is he and anyone who endorses his practice as good or him as decent are soarly deluded and I hope that they aren’t on the receiving end of this conman.
May 26th, 2008 at 1:47 pm
that has to be one of the most sycophantic and unobjective pieces of journalism ive ever read. the reason your hero vance gets such bad reviews is because ordinary customers, like me, get such a useless service. if your definition of ‘a bloody good entrepeneur’ is someone who is prepared to get rich at any cost then vance is your man. andy orton has summed it all up. id say vance could do with a pr man but it would appear youve elected to do the job yourself. are you sure youre unbiased?
August 5th, 2008 at 5:55 pm
the kitchens this rocksolid company sells arnt worth the money at all the hassle i have had with this company is DONT EVEN TOUCH THEM once the conman vance miller gets your hard earned cash he doesnt want to know anything of the problems for the good comments how long you worked for them the contract is not worth the paper its written on and his reps are as bad as vance miller selling shoddy kitchens.the kitchen i had in was better to what i have got now.i dont know how he dare advertise still in newspapers when he cant even sort the problems of other clients.the place needs shutting down rocksolid couldnt say they solid maybe his fancy websites bring customers in but the kitchens are no where near that quality pay the bit extra and buy a decent kitchen from a replical company certainly not vance millers. Beware!!
September 3rd, 2008 at 9:22 am
The articles supposed to be about vance miller, yet it seems this article has descended into a public slagging match between vance and his competitors, masquerading as unhappy customers. its quite clear anyone able to write an article such strongly worded as “andy ortans” piece of blatant tripe obviously has a vendetta against the man far far FAR beyond merely receiving a door thats just the wrong shade of red for his liking. Methinks someone lost a job because of this man?
Take it from someone who has met the man, not some mfi exec who feels like proliferating a web of deceit and lies, Vance miller is every bit the man described by the article, a driven eunterpenuer who merely gets the wrong end of the stick by the media masses, who just love to jump on the bandwagon of branding any company and business man who makes a mistake a conman, something which then transposes itself onto those who think newspapers are gospel truth.
This man writes an article which shows the man in a slightly different light and gets accused of being a sycophant, which I’m pretty sure mr “Burleston” does not even know the meaning of. oh, and by the way, not to be pedantic, but unobjective, in the context you used it, means the article in question is unbiased and does not have a hidden agenda, something which I’m sure you were not trying to insinuate given the content of your comment. My advise to you is to actually learn the meanings of the words you use before you use them in an attempt to deceive people into thinking your intellectual.
finally, “paula”.. just what exactly is a ‘replical’ company? one who aims to copy vance and his business objectives? as in ‘replicate’?
October 28th, 2008 at 8:10 pm
my kitchen arrived quickly and was less than half price compared to homebase,ive never met vance but he seems a great laugh,i think he should be on the next series of Dragons Den…Fred harvey..
October 28th, 2008 at 8:10 pm
my kitchen arrived quickly and was less than half price compared to homebase,ive never met vance but he seems a great laugh,i think he should be on the next series of Dragons Den as a proper entrepreneur ..Fred harvey..
November 2nd, 2008 at 5:02 am
I have been an acquaintance of vance millers for nearly 20 years. I have bought the odd kitchen, any missing parts were replaced without problem. I trained at his gyms, he is extremely physically fit, an example to anyone over 40 - lets get that in perspective. He got his fitness from hard work too !! I believe from other acquaintances that he is a very honest business man and always pays his creditors on time. He is a big mouth, so what, we live in a free country. I suspect like so many other successful people in the UK he has fallen foul of the green eyed monsters that lurk in every government department. Jealous of anyone who is perceived to be successful. Good luck to you Vance and all like you. Living well is the best revenge.