A Birmingham-based kitchen retailer says he has been left living in fear after being threatened and assaulted by a prospective client.
Onx Sandhu, a designer at Siros Kitchens, says he had known the man who attacked him for some time before the incident, as the two shared business contacts.
Sandhu says that the man contacted him about getting a quote for a new kitchen. However, the retailer chose to turn down the request, saying he had doubts about the potential client’s character. He claims the man has earned a reputation in several networking groups for being unreasonably aggressive, and as a result, thought it would be wise not to take him on as a client.
According to the retailer, the rebuffed potential client then began sending him a series of aggressive texts over a period that lasted around six months. In some of these text messages – which have been seen by kbbreview – the man threatened Sandhu with violence and warned that he planned to go to the showroom to harass him.
Sandhu recalls: “He texted me at one point to say ‘I’ve just spent the money on a new kitchen somewhere else – what do you think about that?’. To which I replied ‘so long as you’re happy with it, I’m not bothered’, and I think that really wound him up.”
Events came to a head in May this year, when Sandhu was assaulted in a local restaurant by the man, who was out with a group of others. On CCTV footage of the attack also seen by kbbreview, the assailant approaches Sandhu while he is stood at a bar, and the two have a discussion for several minutes before the attacker grabs him and headbutts him.
“I was shocked,” Sandhu told kbbreview. “I just thought when he was sending me text messages, that it was all for show. It got to the point where I just began ignoring the last few messages from him. When he attacked me, I really wasn’t expecting that.”
Sandhu also told kbbreview that the incident has left him incredibly shaken up, to the point that he has had to implement welfare checks to ensure his safety. “I’m always on my guard now. I have a system in place now where either a colleague or my daughter will give me a ring after a few minutes whenever I go out on site, just so they can confirm I’m safe and okay. Honestly, it’s really frightened me.”
kbbreview understands that the police have been in touch with Sandhu about the incident.
When asked if he thinks other kitchen retailers have likely also experienced threatening behaviour or intimidation, Sandhu said: “I think so. I don’t think it’s unusual for other retailers to have been threatened by clients like this, although I still can’t believe what actually happened to me.”