Hi, I work in an Ethel Austins, and yes, we are actually not allowed to give refunds at this time. As we've gone into administration anything that goes on has to be confirmed by the administrators, who have said that we are not allowed to give cash or credit refunds at this time.
Typical, it's us, the shop staff, however that have to tell the customers that we cannot give them they're money back and it's causing a lot of problems to be honest.
If you do want your money back however then you can get contact details for the administrators in any Ethel Austins shop, but at this time I think they will probably be a little more strict on the rules.
As for shop closures, the shops in Upton, Prenton, Liscard and Neston are all confirmed to be closing. Not too sure on the Liverpool Central shop, but I think the smaller one is closing as well. The company still has no buyer as of yet though so they might still all close.
Hope this clears things up! Don't hate the staff, we're just the over-worked under-payed skivvies carrying out some poorly judged orders