Client company folds

[Robbyrasta]

I am looking for some advise or experiences on how to deal with getting a payment from a company that has gone into administration before paying me.

I  have an outstanding invoice with them. I have no contract, just an email chain of them asking me to quote and me providing the quote, and then a few following up the job. I understand that the company was going to pay- just folded before it did pay.

I have got a contact for the administrators.

so any words of wisdom on how best to get the payment.

cheers 

 

 

[htb]

Fingers crossed for you, but outcome probably  not going to be favourable

[Steve Bullman]

The administrators should contact you at some point giving you the opportunity to make your claim.  You will get a percentage(probably a small one) of the bill if you're lucky.  I had a client go bust on me and had a similar letter.  I didn't bother claiming as my whole invoice was for about £300 and with the business he was in the other debtors were going to be huge.  I'd have been lucky to get 50p probably

[Matthew Storrs]

Stinky. Would have thought there should be some law covering this and protecting other buisnesses further down the line. Company assets should be sold with outstanding invoices being a priority.

sorry no help. But feel for you- this would really rile me.

[skyhuck]

VAT man and TAX man are highest up the pecking order, so IME theres generally nothing left for your average debtor.

 

I was taken for £900 a few years back, they actually owed over £250K!! What really got my goat was the fact they never really stopped trading. They simply slightly altered the name, bought all the gear off themselves for peanuts and their wives became the new directors 

[Steve Bullman]

20 minutes ago, Matthew Storrs said:

Stinky. Would have thought there should be some law covering this and protecting other buisnesses further down the line. Company assets should be sold with outstanding invoices being a priority.

sorry no help. But feel for you- this would really rile me.

There should be a law!

And as Skyhuck pointed out, they can just start up again the very next day with a slightly different business name

[eggsarascal]

Forget it. I and a local Plumber got knocked by a bastard property developer a few years ago for a fairly large (to me) sum of money. Neither of us got a penny.

 

[Robbyrasta]

I guess there’s no way to protect myself in the future- even with a written contract 

 

[Steve Bullman]

4 minutes ago, Robbyrasta said:

I guess there’s no way to protect myself in the future- even with a written contract 

 

Not really, no!  Only thing you can do to protect yourself is never let anyone owe you too much money, but thats easier said than done if you want to start going for the bigger contracts.

[benedmonds]

35 minutes ago, skyhuck said:

I was taken for £900 a few years back, they actually owed over £250K!! What really got my goat was the fact they never really stopped trading. They simply slightly altered the name, bought all the gear off themselves for peanuts and their wives became the new directors 

We took someone to court earlier in the year, who did similar refused to pay and started up another business straight away...  Unfortunately for him my colleague who did the quote had not put the business name on the quote so we pursued him  personally... The court sided with us.. not sure if we have seen any money yet.. It was not a huge amount £500 and must have been within his means to pay as he had the cheek to offer us a hot tub from his new business..

 

Moving forward in the future you can check companies house and see if directors regularly go bankrupt..

There are a number of free sites where you can get info.

https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/04905417