I paid for a van in March 2020 and paid £6,650 for it. In April it became apparent that the van wasn't coming and the company refunded me £3,000 with the rest to follow, which after months of excuses never turned up. I have now gone down the route of sending letters to the company with the threat of court action if no money was received and I have today been sent an e-mail from them telling me that they have applied for the company to be dissolved. Now the twist in this is that the guy I dealt with (a director) says that he is looking to close the business, find other employement and pay me as and when he can. He says he has no assets and cannot pay any other way, however I don't know if this is true. I could ask him to take on the debt personally, however if he's correct in saying he has no assets then chances are I end up in the same position in a few months, taking him to court. My other option is to continue to take the company to court, however I don't know if this would stop his company disolving. Basically I don't know where to go from here. Any advice?
Replies (8)
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You will need to object at Companies House. And you might need to keep renewing your objection. Be aware that Companies House have no interest in keeping the company going on your account.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/company-strike-off-dissolutio...
If the directors will put his offer in writing that may be as good as it gets. I suspect you may be flogging a dead horse and I think you know this too.
You got £3,000 so the guy is probably not a crook.
It is the company that owes and as a result you will probably not see the balance no matter what is promised.
Just to point out the obvious - this is an accountancy forum. You have a legal problem. The advice you receive here will probably be better than you'd get from the Man Down the Pub, but we're not lawyers. Or, at least, most of us aren't.
The Company owes you money and if dissolved that will be the end of the debt, you cannot legally pursue it unless you pay to reinstate the Company and start Court proceedings which will not be cost effective based on the amount you are owed.
The Director is not personally liable unless he gave you a personal guarantee, although it sounds as if he may have now done that.
Your best bet is to keep your finders crossed he pays you personally based on his morals.
The Company should not have any assets (or insufficient to cover the cost of Liquidation) if it's going down the dissolution route so it's unlikely that it does.
The 4 month delay is probably down to him playing lockdown by ear to decide whether or not to continue or call it a day. A lot of businesses were suspended.