Paid on line but company in Administration. Lessons!

You are right - always use the credit card for large payments.

If you are lucky and their is any money left after priority debtors (HMRC) are paid then you may get so much in the £of your debt back, but do not bet on it.

DGS's nursery went into administration at the end of the first week of term, waited until all the term's fees had been paid and were in the bank, then went bust. That was 4 years ago and DS and wife haven't had a penny back.

We were in a very similar situation when Courts went into administration BluebellGran We had saved very hard for over a year to buy a dining suite and made the fatal mistake of paying with our debit card. We had paid a deposit and then got a call (quicker than we expected) to say the items were ready for delivery and we should pay the balance, which we did, excited at the prospect of getting our furniture earlier than we thought. Needless to say within 2 days of paying the balance in full Courts went into administration. We went to the shop on the day and there were people with vans literally dragging furniture out of the showroom. There was little the staff could do and the police were called.
Despite our best efforts we got nothing. No money back and no furniture either. I later learned that they had called hundreds of people to say their furniture had arrived early and conned them into paying a final balance knowing they would never get the goods.

What was even more sickening is seeing the administrators reopen the shop to sell off the remaining furniture at rock bottom prices to cover their fees.

Angry doesn't cover it.

You have my absolute sympathy BluebellGran.

The lesson is always to pay with a CREDIT CARD !

God that's awful! I always try to use my credit card even if there is a charge for it. I think the law has recently changed about that though? DH's business always just 'sucked up' the charge that credit companies charged them.

I think you might be right about the change in law with regards to adding a fee for paying by credit card Jane10 .

My company don't take credit cards at all as we never deal with the public.

What sickened me the most was the fact that we were conned into paying earlier when they knew full well what they were up to. The administrators never lose out though. In fact they must rub their hands together when companies go down like this. A licence to print money as far as they are concerned.

BluebellGran I’m so sorry to read your post, that’s such a disappointment for you.

Yes the liquidators have a lot to answer for.

Firstly the audit the books, under a different guise, then who the company folds, they take, part fromHMRC the residue.

Sadly it has ever been thus.

gillybob I had a not-dissimilar experience when I rented out my house while overseas using an agent. One quarter the payment was late, rang to enquire and told 'cheque is in post'. Never arrived - lost not only a quarter's rent but also had to refund my tenants' deposit. Of course after all the creditors were paid there was nothing left, property owners were bottom of the pile..

Bluebelle Just found this, which may be helpful:

Debit card payment protection and chargeback

“Debit card payments and purchases are not covered by section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act. But you might be able to make a claim for a refund under a voluntary scheme called ‘chargeback’.

This might offer you cover on purchases of any value made on debit, credit or prepaid cards.

However, if your purchase was over £100 and was made on credit card, you’re better off claiming under section 75, as this offers greater legal protection.”

It’s from Money Advice Service website. I remembered hearing something about this recently on the radio, so just checked it out. Hope it helps

I do not think the company appointed as liquidators are allowed to worked previously for the company. ie they would not have been the auditors. In my business days there were one or two firms of independent city accountants who specialised in liquidation and company restructuring.

No company would do liquidations if they could not be sure they would be paid.

Exactly jollyg. The administrators always win and have you seen their fees? It's legalized robbery. No wonder there's never anything left for genuine creditors.

So sorry you had a similar experience humptydumpty so the tentant would have paid the agent and the agent went bust without passing money to the owners. if they did this to a few people they would have made a fair bit of money then planned their own demise, getting he timing just right.

Oak Furniture Solutions are still advertising. I was searching for dining room furniture only yesterday and they were top of search results.Thanks for the warning.

I googled 'Chargeback how to claim'. Useful article and I'd say it looks promising.
Go for it. It is relatively new and obviously not many of us have experience of it. Please let us know how it goes.
Good luck!

I have applied to ‘TSB ‘chargeback’ and they said it was unlikely they would help. I’m awaiting an email from them but the guy I spoke to on the phone at TSB wasn’t encouraging. AND Oak Furniture Solutions are still advertising!

Some banks can look on a plea for help with sympathy and someone a bit higher up in the bank may have more discretion to act BluebellGran. You may have spoken to someone who does not have the authority to make such decisions, keep trying.

Over 20 years ago, we were looking for a new gas cooker. We found just what we wanted at a store on the edge of town, they had a good reputation, and our son`s friend worked there. It wasn`t available in our colour for 3 more weeks, but we said we were decorating and wouldn`t need it till we were finished. We paid for it on the spot, by cheque, they said to call them when we were ready for delivery, which we did, a month later, but the administrators had just arrived at the store, and no cooker was in the offing. It cost £499.99, and over the following 10 years we received dribs and drabs of money back, it eventually totalled £260, just over half of what they`d had off us, plus we`d had to still buy another cooker.

Although, as most people know, you can get money back if you pay by credit card, I'm fairly sure I saw a TV programme where they said that sometimes you can get money back if you have paid by debit card. If I were you, I would look into it a bit more.

My understanding is that once a company is aware that it can no longer honour its financial liabilities, it must not continue to trade so if the company is still taking orders that appears to be illegal.

Oak Furnitureland advert was on TV last night, Wed 24th Jan

Oak Furniture land is not oak Furniture Solutions Auntieflo they are a completely different company.

Oak furniture solutions are still supposedly selling furniture through Amazon.