TV farmer threatens to name and shame customers who owe him money

Star of The Yorkshire Vet and Celebs on the Farm threatens to name and shame 100 ‘selfish’ customers who owe him £40,000 as he grieves wife who died from cancer

• TV farmer Chris Jeffery threatens to name customers who owe him £40,000
• 65-year-old sold Green’s Country Store in Thirsk, Yorkshire earlier this year 

A widowed reality TV farmer is threatening to name and shame 100 ‘selfish’ customers who owe his small business £40,000 – after they ignored an ’emotional’ letter including a picture of his late wife.

Yorkshire farmer and business director Chris Jeffery, known for popular reality TV series The Yorkshire Vet and Celebs on the Farm, decided to sell Green’s Country Store, in Thirsk, North Yorkshire, on May 31 this year.

The 65-year-old, who had managed the farm supply store for almost 20 years, made the decision after he lost his wife and business partner Kate Jeffery, 65, to metastatic breast cancer in January this year.

Mr Jeffery claims that the farm supply store, which stocks medication, equipment and feed for a range of animals, allows farmers to open an account with the shop and pay for products a month after purchase.

After selling the shop, he invoiced 400 farming business owners who still had outstanding costs on their store account and requested payment within a month.

TV farmer Chris Jeffrey, 65 is threatening to name and shame the customers who owe his business £40,000

Mr Jeffery shared a post saying that a lot of the debt owed to him was paid following his threats to disclose names

The dad-of-two claims that he included a photograph of himself and Kate alongside the invoice, as well as an ’emotional’ letter thanking farmers for their custom and explaining his wife’s recent passing.

However, more than two months later, he claims that he is still waiting on an eye-watering sum of almost £40,000 from 100 businesses who have ignored his communications.

The Celebs on the Farm judge says that he has been phoning and writing letters to the unpaying customers ever since – but is yet to receive a response.

Mr Jeffery, who was featured in the media in January this year after flogging a £2,000 cow at auction to raise money for the hospice where Kate spent her final weeks, claims he has been left feeling ‘angry and upset’ by the payment nightmare.

The widower says that he is now also ‘suffering mentally’ due to the ordeal of having to chase customers for such a staggering sum of money whilst still grieving his wife.

Furious and at his wits’ end, Mr Jeffery eventually took to Facebook on 30th July vowing to ‘name and shame’ the businesses that still have outstanding payments on products if they don’t cough up.

The widower, from Thornton-on-the-Hill, Hambleton, North Yorkshire, said: ‘My wife died in January and I’ve been through an awful time.

‘We’ve been in business 20 years – they all know us and they all know Kate passed away.

‘On the 31st May, I put a letter in with every invoice explaining that I’d sold the business and Kate had passed away.

‘I said that due to Kate passing away, please could you pay me by the 30th June as I want to wind the business up because it’s very difficult for me dealing with all this.

‘I think I’ve had two people call me. About 300 have paid properly, but this was about a hundred – a quarter of them – not paying.

‘I won’t say that they won’t pay – they probably will pay eventually. But I’ve written quite an emotional letter to them, with a picture of me and Kate with a big thank you note on it.

‘That letter went out with every invoice, and I think in that case it’s really poor of them that they can’t respond.

‘At least telephone me. If they have trouble and they can’t pay, fine, just let me know. It’s really, really bad form.

‘It’s a hassle, and it really is something at this time when I’m on my own and I’m still grieving for my wife. I feel very angry and upset with them for not paying me on time.

‘It’s not that I’m personally suffering [financially]. I’m suffering mentally because I’m having to chase this and it’s really upsetting me.

‘I haven’t been sleeping very well at all because I’m worrying about chasing this money.

‘I just felt so cross on Sunday night, and posted on Facebook saying that if they don’t pay me, I’ll name and shame them all next week.

‘I’ve had one or two friends private message me saying, ‘Chris, for goodness’ sake, don’t do this, you’ll get into trouble’.

‘I said, well why shouldn’t I? Why should I not let everybody else know what these people are doing to me?

‘Because if they’re doing it to me, I guarantee they’ll be doing it to other businesses as well and other people need to know and these people need to be taught a lesson.’

Mr Jeffery lost his wife Kate, 65, to metastatic cancer earlier this year

The frustrated farmer claims that the confrontational status forced ‘ten to a dozen’ business owners to jump into action – but says he is still waiting on the majority of the five-digit sum.

He claims that selling the shop has highlighted how many unpaying customers have slipped through the woodwork each month.

Mr Jeffery says that the financial hit hasn’t been detrimental as Green’s Country Store had already built up solid economical foundations – but fears for start-up businesses who could be left ‘bankrupt’ by such a huge loss.

Upon passing Green’s Country Store onto new owners, Chris shared a statement on the company website assuring customers that they will still be in good hands moving forward.

He said: ‘A few people have actually paid [since the Facebook post], maybe ten or a dozen. It’s not a big amount.

‘The farm side [of our business] had traditionally been booking onto an account.

‘A farmer would come in and buy a product and we would send him a bill at the end of the month, and he would usually pay by the end of the following month.

‘They generally do pay to be fair. But then you have about 100 a month who withhold payment for at least one more month if not two.

‘This puts massive pressure on cash flow because obviously we as a business have to pay our suppliers on time.

‘It’s highlighting, now I’ve sold the business, how many people have been doing this each month and how we’ve been letting them get away with it.

‘Kate and I worked seven days a week and put as much effort into this as we possibly could to give them a good service, and now they’re doing this to us. It’s really, really unfair.’

The TV farmer decided to sell his business Green’s Country Store in May

He added: ‘It’s very selfish and very poor. These farmers will have you believe that they don’t have any money, you go onto the farm and see brand-new vehicles and they’re all at the local shows.

‘There may be a small percentage that do really struggle, but I’ve told them that if they’re really struggling, they can ring me and let me know.

‘We’re a long way into our business so we’re lucky in that respect. I worry for these people who are just starting their business.

‘If they’ve been in business a year or two and you’re in a position like this, it could bankrupt them.

‘It should be brought to the forefront who [the people not paying] are, and they should be blacklisted from businesses, from obtaining any credit.

‘They should be made to come into the shop and pay.’

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