A mother has described her disappointment after making an hour-long round-trip to collect her daughter's birthday cake, only to find the store closed. Samantha Stevens, from Mountain Ash, had ordered an ice cream cake for her daughter Josey's 13th birthday from Subzero's store in Williamstown, near Penygraig, in the Rhondda.
Stevens, 41, said she had been buying cakes from the company for two years "with no issues at all". She placed the order for a £31.99 cake on Friday, September 11, and received an email on Tuesday, September 22, saying it was ready for collection a day early, but there was no rush as it was safe in the freezer.
Shutters down on arrival
Stevens missed a call from the parlour on Wednesday, September 23, but when she phoned back there was no answer. Later that evening, she and her husband drove to the store, but found the shutters down.
"All the shutters were down, there were no signs outside, there was nothing," she said. "It took us an hour there and back, because we live in Mountain Ash, and we ordered it in the Tonypandy store because that's the closest one to us."
She tried phoning and emailing immediately, but received no response. On Thursday, she continued calling without success.
Refund without explanation
Stevens then phoned all of the company's stores in an attempt to reach someone before her daughter's birthday on Thursday, September 24, but still got no answer. That afternoon, she received an email from the company that she said had "no explanation, no reason, no apology". It stated that her order had been refunded and that the refund might take up to 10 days to appear in her account.
She then checked the company's social media pages, only to find that all of its platforms had been shut down.
"We were really disappointed – well, for my daughter's sake more than anything," she said. "I was thinking, not just for my daughter, but for other families this could have happened to where they've saved all year for that cake. You would think that this big company, could have kept that shop open to make sure everybody had the cakes that were ordered."
Brand appears to close all parlours
Stevens added: "I just wanted some answers. I was annoyed. I was angry for my daughter, and not able to get hold of anybody."
Her experience came as the family-run brand, which is sold in major supermarkets, appeared to have closed all of its ice cream parlours. Subzero, based in the Rhondda, also appears to have deleted its social media accounts and its website is not displaying.
Its three parlours are listed as temporarily closed on Google, and on Thursday evening the shutters were down at its Williamstown site, which is usually open until 10pm. Subzero ice cream was originally sold under the name Mr Creemy before it was forced to rebrand in 2009 after a food giant trademarked the name. It has been run by the Jenkins family since the Mr Creemy ice cream shop opened in Penygraig in 1959.
The brand makes more than 60 flavours of ice cream at its factory in the Rhondda, which is next to its Williamstown parlour. As well as serving dozens of flavours of its popular and award-winning ice cream, Subzero also serves waffles, crepes, and its famous ice cream cakes.
WalesOnline understands that a small business which stocks the brand's ice cream had been unable to contact the supplier about its recurring order and was still awaiting a delivery on Friday morning. WalesOnline has attempted to contact Subzero about what is happening but has yet to receive a response.
