Intagr8 boss Murray Taylor at work in September, making a call on his break.

The boss of a controversial telco which has collapsed leaving more than 2000 customers in limbo has flown to his home country Australia and it is unclear if he will return.

Intagr8 Ltd was placed in voluntary liquidation on Thursday but owner Murray Taylor didn't tell staff - instead that was left to the liquidators who arrived at the company's offices on Auckland's North Shore that afternoon. Staff with work cars had them seized.

The liquidation came the same day Vodafone announced it was severing ties with Intagr8. Vodafone is believed to be chasing debts of about $1.7m.

Intagr8 sold bundled deals to about 2500 businesses around New Zealand and those customers now face uncertainty over their phone lines and equipment.

The situation mirrors what happened in Australia, where dozens of similar telcos signed up thousands of small businesses to bundled phone deals then went bust.

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Taylor could not be reached for comment and his mobile phone was disconnected. His daughter said the family was in Australia and her father and mother Helen, also an Intagr8 executive, were out buying new phones.

The family had rented a luxury home in Takapuna's most exclusive street, where the Intagr8 Christmas party was held last weekend. A staff member said nothing was mentioned about the pending liquidation.

"If I saw them [Helen and Murray Taylor] I'd be more likely to spit on them than shake their hand," he said.

Taylor began in the telecommunications industry in Australia and was closely linked with Tony Hakim, the originator of controversial bundled phone deals, before moving to New Zealand to set up Intagr8.

A Stuff investigation found widespread confusion about the true nature of the Intagr8 deals. Many customers were unaware they had signed two contracts, one with Intagr8 and another with a finance company for the equipment.

The Commerce Commission is investigating.

On Friday, Intagr8 was sold in a fire sale to a group represented by entrepreneur Dave Rouse.

Rouse, 35, who is the director of one of Intagr8's creditors, EasyForms Ltd, said the way Intagr8 had been run appeared to be "fairly disgusting".

He hoped to be able to retain some affected staff, but the telco's name would be changed.

"The intention is ... to make sure all the customers are looked after and there are no service interruptions."

Joe Duncan, boss of Advaro Ltd which did most of Intagr8's finance deals, said his firm immediately suspended financing of any new Intagr8 customers when the liquidation was announced.

Advaro was already in discussions with the new owner.

Duncan said it looked as though customers would be able to continue using Vodafone services until mid January and other providers may offer alternative terms after that.

"Those Intagr8 customers with hardware rental agreements with Advaro continue on the same terms and the rentals remain payable to Advaro."

Liquidator Damien Grant, of Waterstone Insolvency, said Intagr8 sold for a six figure sum, but would not elaborate.

It was too early to say how much creditors were owed, but it would be more than $2m, Grant said.

His first report was due out this week.

Voyager director Seeby Woodhouse said his company was owed hundreds of thousands of dollars by Intagr8.

Voyager blocked web access to some Intagr8 customers on Friday night, because their connections were no longer being paid.

Extra staff had been rostered on and affected customers were able to resign online, Woodhouse said.

Do you have information about Intagr8's collapse? Contact blair.ensor@fairfaxmedia.co.nz