Luxury bag and box company breach of contract

[steampowered]

The first thing is to see if you can get a response from the company that issued the invoice. You can start this off by writing a formal 'letter before claim' explaining that the company is in breach of contract, setting out what happened and explaining what you want the company to do. If there is no response then you can issue a small claim against the person who sold the bags and/or the company through the county courts. This sounds scary but it is actually quite easy.

 

The problem is whether the company will pay up. If the company is just a shell, then it might not have any assets. If you get a CCJ you could send bailiffs round to their address but who knows if they actually have a business there.

 

The good news is that you have bank account details. If the company refused to pay you could get what is called a third party debt order, ordering the bank to pay the amount in the account to you. However this would only work if the account still has money in it.

[steampowered]

If a company is being used as a device to commit fraud - i.e. to receive payment for goods with the intention of moving the money out of the company and then letting it go insolvent - the responsible individuals can be sued personally.

[steampowered]

You have two options:

 

 

1) Do nothing.

2) Launch a county court claim against him.

[steampowered]

The same thing has happened to us. Matt Lynas and Paul Savage have taken over £3000 and we have seen nothing from an order placed over 9 months ago. Our order was taken after the business went into dissolution - is this not fraud in itself? He is a professional conman and has done this with a number of companies - he has now already moved onto a new company Fair Utilities Ltd so no doubt is about to do the same thing to more innocent people. For starters would suggest reporting him to Trading Standards. Is there not any limit to how many times one person can do this to a business they are director of? Would appreciate any feedback, thanks.

 

My answer to this is the same answer I gave to the other poster back in February.

 

You do have an option. Your option is to sue this man, personally (not his dissolved company), through the county courts. You can start a claim through the government's money claim online service.

 

The legal basis for your claim would be the 'tort of deceit', also known as civil fraud (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tort_of_deceit). You would need to prove that the person you dealt with caused you to part with your money by making a representation, which he knew to be false. If this person accepted an order from you and sent you an order confirmation, knowing full well that the bags would never be delivered and that the business was not operating legitimately, then this person will be personally liable for that fraud whether or not he took the money through a company.

 

It is worth making a complaint to Trading Standards, but this is very unlikely to result in you getting your money back. If you want to ever see that money again, I think you need to go through court. Issuing a claim is quite easy to do and you do not necessarily need to use a solicitor.

[steampowered]

I am wondering if your friend did retrieve any money back? Or if she is still trying to? I would love to join forces in getting our money back....

If you would like to get your money back by bringing a claim against this person through the county courts, we can help you do that. If you want to consider doing this please start a new thread in the "General Legal Issues" forum giving the full backstory.

 

A pressure group can be great for providing support, but our experience on CAG has been that you will struggle to get your money back that way. Ultimately, the best way of holding these people to account is for individuals to bring county court claims against this person to get their money back.

[steampowered]

Remember that may still have to consider making a civil claim if you want to get your money back. Although in reality the defendants may not have any money left.