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Honeywell HDTV Licensee “Soyo” Files For Bankruptcy

honeywell-mlx-42-inch-415.jpg

In an SEC filing this past Monday, Soyo Group Inc., the maker of  Soyo and Honeywell branded HDTVs (Link) announced that it has sought Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection. The company has ceased all operations and its CFO has resigned according to the notice.

Attempts to contact Soyo by phone were unsuccessful. Honeywell Corp. has yet to respond to an inquiry as to its future HDTV plans or its willingness to cover the Soyo/Honeywell 5 year warranty.  Soyo sold most of its Honeywell HDTVs through Home Shopping Network.  Below is a copy of the SEC 8-K filing.

On April 30, 2009,  Vasquez & Company LLP (”Vasquez”)  resigned as the Company’s auditors.  Vasquez did not issue an audit report for the year ended 2008. During the audit for the year ended 2008,  Vasquez had a disagreement  or difference of opinion  with  employees  and senior  management  of the  Company  because  they significantly  expanded the scope of their audit for further investigation going as far back as the year ended 2007 and interim quarterly periods ended in 2007.

In  addition,  Vasquez  advised the Company  that “our audit report for the year ended 2007 and our  pre-issuance  review  procedures  for the interim  quarterly periods  ended in 2007 and  interim  quarterly  periods  ended in 2008 should no longer be relied upon.”

On May 5, 2008, the Company  discontinued all operations and filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy  protection.  The petition was filed in the United States  Bankruptcy Court,  Central  District  of  California,   Riverside  Division,   Case  number 09-19355-RN.  A Chapter 7 trustee has been appointed by the Bankruptcy  Court to administer the Company’s assets and liabilities.

The Company has defaulted on all loans owed to creditors, including loans in the approximate  outstanding  balances of $24,000,000  and $1,500,000 owed to United Commercial  Bank,  the  Company’s  primary  creditor.  The  Company has not paid interest  or  principal  on the  loans  since  March  of 2009.  Pursuant  to the Company’s  stipulation  to the  application  of UCB in the Superior  Court,  San Bernardino  County,  Case number KC055623,  Kenneth Krasne has been appointed as receiver for those assets of the Company that constitute collateral for its loan from  UCB,  which  collateral  includes  almost  all of the  Company’s  accounts receivables and inventory, and equipment.

On May 10,  2009,  the  Company  accepted  the  resignation  of Nancy Chu as the Company’s Chief Financial Officer and a member of the Board of Directors.

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Comments

Concerned
Posted on 20th May, 2009

How is it that the company was able to file for bankruptcy protection in May of 2008 (according to the originating forms of this document), yet continue to market its stock and avoid making any notification to shareholders until over a year later, without legal repercussions to its owners?

This sounds profoundly illegal.

Hank B
Posted on 22nd May, 2009

I have never seen a Honeywell-branded TV for sale; perhaps that has something to do with this venture’s failure. (It may have never gotten off the ground.)

MD
Posted on 2nd June, 2009

yes i really would like toknow how it was able to file bankruptcy without notifying shareholder?

nate V
Posted on 6th June, 2009

rob l
Posted on 8th June, 2009

I purchased the Honeywell TV that was warrantied by SOYO. I spoke to Honeywell today and they said the warranty would not be replaced or covered by another company. I am very upset with this news, as the warranty was a HUGE selling point for us.

Dave Kunes
Posted on 16th June, 2009

I bought a monitor from Soyo and it stopped working after 6 months. I followed procesdures and returned the monitor at my cost and then never heard anything. I guess that will teach me to buy from a little known brand.

wtf
Posted on 16th June, 2009

I bought a 32 inch soyo a couple years ago and these TVs are plagued with problems, highly sub standard and don’t last very long, ghosting, black bars, persistent screen burn in. running anything in 4:3 for even short periods of time literally ruins the TV for good by leaving bleeding black lines that never go away. I contacted the HSN it was bought from, and they are sending me a box to ship it in for a fix/replacement (no cost to me). however after reading this and the comments I am weary of sending it in; it wouldn’t be fun to send it to them only to wait forever to get it back with no fix/replacement, and even worse, if it comes back even more broken or doesn’t come back at all. The TV is still under warranty. There was also extra money paid for the warranty, so that’s an even lower blow as I paid probably 150% of what this TV costed. I’m gonna have to do some calling around to see if HSN will honor the warranty properly or not, because it didn’t seem like a problem over the phone talking to them. Even the cheapest HDTV’s of today are better than any SOYO, so I’d be happy with any replacement of the same size. If they do honor it and send me another soyo, I’m just going to try and sell it ASAP. If not, I’m gonna be pretty pissed.

Chris
Posted on 25th June, 2009

I’m pretty sure it was May 5, 2009 when they declared bankruptcy.

I purchased a monitor from Buy.com that was Dead On Arrival. I followed the instructions in the box, and contacted the manufacturer, Soyo. At first they tried to claim the warranty wasn’t valid. Then they claimed that I had to ship it to them at my expense. Finally, they gave me an RMA# and sent me a shipping label. I shipped it to them. The tracking information shows they received it on May 4. Buy.com is refusing to refund my money too. Now, I’m out the $180, and I don’t even have the DOA monitor anymore.

Patrick Kramer
Posted on 28th June, 2009

For those who end up having issues with SOYO not returning your goods should contact the entities mentioned in the second to last paragraph. It is often the case that your assets get mixed into theirs and they cannot claim items you have purchased. This doesn’t mean they have accrued any of soyo’s liabilities though, meaning that they do not have to honor the warranty… yet they may not have anyway to track their assets (not common in this case as well) and may send you a perfectly good tv to settle the problem :D

Another thing to look at is who buys out SOYO as a company, as they will most likely accrue the liabilities (your warranty) as well.

Ja Blackson
Posted on 10th September, 2009

Hello Folks, I am sure, like myself, you must be dissapointed in your purchase of Soyo groups product(s). Lesson learned -> These new and cheap brands are not the best; should stick with Pioneer, Sanyo, Hitachi or Sony!
Anyways, here is a contact number for you. Patricia Zimmerman is the acting trustee for Soyo Group and can be reached @ 951-244-8544. The case number you can reference is 09-193-55-RN.
All the best.

Ken
Posted on 14th September, 2009

Soyo used to make some pretty good motherboards back in the day, before getting out of the market. They switched over to monitors and TVs around 2004. It’s such a shame that a company that once made halfway decent motherboards went out with a fizzle (literally), leaving consumers high and dry with junk HDTVs.

This is much like the story of ABIT, who made some of the greatest motherboards back around the turn of the century. I think they went out of business while making photo picture frames or something stupid like that. Lesson learned, keep making motherboards, don’t switch over to LCDs when times get tough.

Nice Guy
Posted on 10th October, 2009

I worked for SOYO back in the mid 00s and resigned after a short time working there. I knew about SOYO because of their good PC Motherboards back in the days. I was quite disappointed to learn about their new low quality products and their lack of human touch that I felt I was working in a concentration camp.

I guess they were already under heavy economic pressure.

The most important thing is to make your products and services grow in quality, innovation, durability, reliability, value, etc. instead of growing in size.

We all should learn to make a better use of the earths resources by not making junk. If the world could only learn from Japan.

James
Posted on 24th October, 2009

I bought a 42″ Honeywell (soyo licensed the name) LCD tv off HSN in Feb ‘09. I have never had a problem with it, for the most part its a good tv.
I use it to play all my videos games as well as watching tv and HD movies. I would buy another one, but I guess not anymore unless some place is going to clearance the remaining inventory.

Carolyn
Posted on 26th October, 2009

I have a soyo tv and for the most part it is ok but the remote quit and I cannot get the code given to work it with a universal remote. I was going to contact the company but from the sounds of this I will not likely have any luck? Any suggestions?

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