Slow-mo Tintri train-crash continues: Firm shuts up shop across Europe

Tintri has shut down across EMEA according to claims from company insiders, customers have been left with no discernible support function, and some staff told us they were laid off without any pay for June or redundancy terms.

The slowly derailing flash storage company revealed a little more than a week ago that 200 staff were being axed, leaving between 40 to 50 heads on board, and told The Reg cash flow was set to dry up by the end of June.

The Register has spent the past week trying to ascertain the steps taken, since Olivier Metzger, a senior system engineer at Tintri, based in Switzerland, claimed the whole organisation across EMEA had closed on 29 June:

As yesterday the whole Europe section of #Tintri was closed, this was my last working day with great employees and a unique product.
I would like to thank this fantastic team very much.

I wish all my "Buddy's" all good and keep fighting!

— Olivier P. Metzger (@oliviermetzger) 30 June 2018

Insiders revealed that staff in the US operations were paid for June and that 40 heads were retained. Employees further told us that workers in Switzerland, Ireland and South Africa were also paid for June, but that those in the UK, Germany and the Netherlands were not. Another claimed Tintri Japan had been shuttered as well.

"They [Tintri management] refused to pay our payroll, or holiday time or redundancy," alleged one ex-worker who claimed he was told on Friday 29 June that the business was being shuttered.

El Reg further understands that since the closure, upwards of 20 UK staff appointed a lawyer to act on their collective behalf to take their case to court.

One told us that Tintri had ignored complaints over their treatment. Customer support was based in Ireland but the operation there was also closed a week ago. "Customers have been left without support," said our source. "Clients are basically fucked."

Ex-Tintri staff have consistently claimed that Smith & Williamson has been appointed to liquidate the UK business, but Smith & Williamson has repeatedly said this is not the case. As yet, no court order confirming the appointment has been published in the London Gazette.

Our calls to Tintri's UK, Ireland and US support numbers have gone straight to voicemail. A recorded message stated Tintri was undergoing structural changes, adding the firm is committed to providing support and asking the caller to leave their details.

That effectively means at present customers have no support and their installed Tintri kit may have been classified as end of life, posing a potential migration challenge.

Suppliers and distributors and other channel members will be eyeing up their invoices. Tintri's contract manufacturing partner, Flextronics, told the firm on June 16 it was in breach of the agreement between the two because Tintri hadn't been paying Flextronics. Consequently Flextronics stopped manufacturing kit for Tintri unless it was pre-paid. The gory details are in an SEC 8K filing.

A second independent ex-Tintri employee confirmed this in a personal message.

Meanwhile, plenty of people headed over to Glassdoor – where previously the popular flash firm had enjoyed glowing testimonials – to complain, several confirming the loss of pay as well.

Tintri's board is still looking at options such as selling the company's IP or bankruptcy. As of the time of publication, no relevant filings could be found. ®