Salon gone bust - £70 still with them...

[lauricha]

Hi there,

 

Not sure if this is in the right place, but I'm wondering if you lovely people can give me some advice yet again.

 

Eclipse Tanning in Brentwood I've just found out have gone bust. Shame, as there were a few awesome people that worked there, but I actually had a 100 minute course that I'd just bought for £70 with them. Is there any way of getting this back? I only went there 2 weeks ago and they'd just redecorated etc.

 

Any ideas on what to do?

 

Thanks so much

Edited July 16, 2009 by lauricha
Title

[Annoying Twit]

I'm surprised no-one has answered yet. I'm sure the legal eagles will be along to correct me, but.

 

Generally you become an unsecured creditor of the company. The company owes a lot of money to a lot of people, and they are paid out of the assets of the company in a defined order. Unfortunately frequently normal people are near the end of the queue, and the money may run out a long time before they get to you. You'd need to contact the administrators, after finding out who they are of course, and fill in the appropriate forms, and wait. Potentially a long time.

 

If you bought the course quite recently, and the company knew that it was insolvent at the time they sold you the course, then there might be something else that can be done. See this page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trading_while_insolvent_(UK) and particularly http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wrongful_trading

 

There might be other factors of this case that need to be considered, or other laws that apply.

[lauricha]

Thanks AT for your advice.

 

Any ideas on how to find out who the administrators are? I know it's not a lot of money, however the thing is I was a very loyal customer of theirs, despite them being expensive compared to other salons in the area. I would have felt a letter or something informing me about the decision to close would have been fair. Even a notice on the front door would have been helpful.

 

The only way I found out was by calling another salon who told me that the woman who owns it has up and left, and there's no chance of getting any money back if it was in a pre-paid course. I also saw a for sale sign above the salon today, which is why I decided to find out for sure.

 

Annoying really. You can really see how the credit crunch bites.

 

x

[Annoying Twit]

When you say that the salon has gone bust, it might not be in receivership if the owner has just up and left. I can't give you anything resembling help in that situation, as I don't know how the law works in this situation. If the company was still trading, then you could sue them if they didn't give you the service you paid for.

 

But if an individual has just informally wound up a company and scarpered, I dunno. You can try to contact you rlocal CAB for further advice, and some lawyers will give you a free first consultation.

 

For individuals, you can search here to see if they have declared bankrupt: I am owned money by a bankrupt

 

There's also an email address for enquiries. Might be worth a go.

 

Did you pay the money using a credit card? And was the total over £100? If so, you may be able to claim the money back from the card company. Even if the company has gone bust. Even if the amount is less than £100, or if you used a VISA debit card, you might still be able to ask the card company if they will refund you.

 

I'm getting concerned about posting too much in this thread. I'm out of my legal depth. Nothing here is guaranteed.

[lauricha]

No problems, I called Barclays and asked where I stand and they said they can issue a chargeback for the amount paid. So we'll see where that goes. Apparently they're sending out a form for me to sign then if all's well I should recieve the refund in a few days.

 

Thanks for your help AT!

 

xx

[Annoying Twit]

Ah, the advantage of making larger purchases with a credit card. This looks more promising. Here's hoping for a simple chargeback.

[lauricha]

Still waiting to hear from Barclays about this. Let's hope it works

x