Paid for a counselling course, now administrator has gone into liquidation...

[namtip]

Hello all, I recently paid for my girlfriend to go on a counselling course starting this September with Karen Grant Assosiates Ltd of Brighton. After paying the money a month or so ago and recieving a receipt, my girlfriend recently decided the course wasn't for her and decided to cancel and asked for her money back. Her email went unanswered for a week or so, and so she phoned. She spoke to Karen Grant herself and Karen brushed her off by saying she had read the email and merely forgot and that she would refund the money. So we waited another week and still no refund. My girlfriend then phoned again and was told by an apologetic Karen that her business had gone into liquidation and that we would have to wait 2 or 3 months before getting our money back. Now their website has gone offline... 1. Can we believe her? 2. What guarantees/assurances can/should we seek? 3. What are our rights to legal recourse? Many thanks for your time and help, Colin and Izzy

[BazzaS]

Hello all, I recently paid for my girlfriend to go on a counselling course starting this September with Karen Grant Assosiates Ltd of Brighton. After paying the money a month or so ago and recieving a receipt, my girlfriend recently decided the course wasn't for her and decided to cancel and asked for her money back. Her email went unanswered for a week or so, and so she phoned. She spoke to Karen Grant herself and Karen brushed her off by saying she had read the email and merely forgot and that she would refund the money. So we waited another week and still no refund. My girlfriend then phoned again and was told by an apologetic Karen that her business had gone into liquidation and that we would have to wait 2 or 3 months before getting our money back. Now their website has gone offline... 1. Can we believe her? 2. What guarantees/assurances can/should we seek? 3. What are our rights to legal recourse? Many thanks for your time and help, Colin and Izzy

 

How did you pay, and if by credit card was it for between £100 and & &30,000?

[Conniff]

I can find no information about the company being liquidated at Companies House nor in the London Gazette.

 

Ask her who the liquidators are.

 

You will, of course, be down the bottom of the list for receiving anything back.

 

She is here if you want a look at her - http://www.karengrant.bacp.co.uk/about.html

[namtip]

Hi Bazza, thanks for your quick reply. I paid about £500 by bank transfer. Was that a wise move or not? Probably not methinks :-/ Conniff - that's good info to ask her who the liquidators are, thanks. My girlfriend did say that she has gone into liquidation because a company she was associated with has gone into liquidation (I don't know what the other company is yet...). I will phone her and ask... I have seen that website you've shown. I just hope that this isn't an elaborate [problem]... Thanks again guys.

[ericsbrother]

no, not a wise move as there is no mechanism to recover the money other than as an unsecured creditor in a liquidators long list of similar creditors.

If you reckon she has any assets not hidden away you can try using the small claims procedure but people who want to avoid paying their debts will wilfully ignore judgements made against them and £500 isnt enough to go for bankruptcy

[Robert Sansom]

Karen Grant has not gone into liquidation yet. My wife paid a full year's fee (£3600) in 2012 and after attending three months subsequently became very ill and then passed away. I sought a rebate from Karen Grant with the intention of donating the funds received to a charity my wife supported. Karen Grant refused citing that the fee was non-refundable as my wife was well aware. The fact that she had died didn't seem to matter to her. I then complained to the BACP but my complaint was not upheld as they supported her argument that the fee was non refundable.

 

I have to say that since my wife passed away I have dealt with many organisations including government depts, commercial organisation and they have all shown immense compassion and provided refunds without even being asked and yet an individual who's a member of a caring profession and even the professional body that represents her behaves in this way.

 

I know it's awhile ago since you raised this. Possibly you could try complaining to the BACP. Perhaps if they receive more complaints they might take her behaviour more seriously. Good luck.