Nursery scamming me please help!!!

sn09

Hi Thank You for all your comments

The Details asked for are as follows....

I signed terms & Conds 1n 2008 and have always paid up front at the beginning of the month.

Old nursery apparently went into liquidation sept this year and did not inform anyone even nursery letterhead only showed t/as name (which is still the same by the way)

I became suspicious when asked to repay fees nursery could not claim from a frozen bank account this was 2 weeks after liquidation date

i asked nursery if they were in liquidation and they told me they were solvent and at no time told me they had liquidated on the friday and opened as new business on the monday

i found creditors meeting notice in london gazz

Removed my son the same day as trust had gone from nursery and when confronted over the phone nursery owner upset me with her manner

I paid full months fees at beginning of month 1 day before liquidation

Nursery want me to pay again as its new co that have looked after child and money was paid before liquidation date

Also wants 4 weeks notice to be paid as stated in terms of liquidated company

Not issued new terms with new company but i believe few days after removing my child new terms were issued to parents but not to myself

now being taken to court in 2 week for 4 weeks notice of £ 520 and money paid to liquidated company £ 700

All letters did not show registered name of nursery only trading name
Nursery never closed
No notices were put up about liquidation
No notices were issued in local papers
Nursery constantly denied liquidation
Nursery are using same trading as name

All the above i believe are to stop people finding out about the liquidation

I was also told my an ex member of the nursery staff that nursery owner has a credit card machine that bypases the business and goes into her nephews bank account who now apparently is director???

Surely i cant be made to pay again by a court who already have copies of receipts

g_attrill

It all sounds bizarre, I can't see how you are liable for the £520 let alone the £700 you already paid. Have you spoken to the accountant that (I think) should have been mentioned in the gazette entry? They probably won't officially be able to tell you much do, but if you ask them about the £700 it might confirm a few things.

My guess is that they will pull out of the court proceedings, not turn up, and even if they do then as long as you have everything with you then you should be ok. (take several copies of everything to hand to the magistrate and the claimant).

ford_prefect_3

sn09 wrote: »

Hi Thank You for all your comments

The Details asked for are as follows....

I signed terms & Conds 1n 2008 and have always paid up front at the beginning of the month.

Old nursery apparently went into liquidation sept this year and did not inform anyone even nursery letterhead only showed t/as name (which is still the same by the way)

I became suspicious when asked to repay fees nursery could not claim from a frozen bank account this was 2 weeks after liquidation date

i asked nursery if they were in liquidation and they told me they were solvent and at no time told me they had liquidated on the friday and opened as new business on the monday

i found creditors meeting notice in london gazz

Removed my son the same day as trust had gone from nursery and when confronted over the phone nursery owner upset me with her manner

I paid full months fees at beginning of month 1 day before liquidation

Nursery want me to pay again as its new co that have looked after child and money was paid before liquidation date

Also wants 4 weeks notice to be paid as stated in terms of liquidated company

Not issued new terms with new company but i believe few days after removing my child new terms were issued to parents but not to myself

now being taken to court in 2 week for 4 weeks notice of £ 520 and money paid to liquidated company £ 700

All letters did not show registered name of nursery only trading name
Nursery never closed
No notices were put up about liquidation
No notices were issued in local papers
Nursery constantly denied liquidation
Nursery are using same trading as name

All the above i believe are to stop people finding out about the liquidation

I was also told my an ex member of the nursery staff that nursery owner has a credit card machine that bypases the business and goes into her nephews bank account who now apparently is director???

Surely i cant be made to pay again by a court who already have copies of receipts

I will start by saying I am not a lawyer but have had some experience of this.

1: Your contract with the notice period was with the previous liquidated company so your opening defence is to ask the claimant to provide a copy of the contract you have signed with them (they wont have one, they are a new company)

2: If they are claiming they have purchased the client base and the contracts from the liquidated company in a pre packaged administration in the form of the "goodwill" then they also have to honour what you paid to the previous company as part of that "goodwill", you have after all adhered to the terms of the contract they are quoting and paid in advance.

3: In terms of the credit card machine, if you have a reciept from it there will be an item on it called a MID and also the name of the business. If the comp liquidated then that machine should have been shut down, if they are still using the same CC machine then its likely its a third party machine and also likely that the Merchant Acquirer does not know what the company are doing. Simply contact the providing bank, quote the MID and advise the company has been liquidated, that will get it shut down in no time.

4: Contact the administrators and register as a creditor of the company ASAP

kingfisherblue

I would agree with ford prefect. Also, check Companies House for any further details.

A nursery has to be registered with Ofsted. This can take up to 26 weeks, so I find it highly unlikely that a nursery can close down on Friday and re-open on Monday. Even a change in name, address, or provision can take time and a nursery is not allowed to open without Ofsted approval. So it may well be worth checking the Ofsted website as well. The liquidated nursery should have a different registration number to the new nursery. If, of course, they are still operating under the old nursery details, or operating without being registered, they are breaking the law. Your defence could include the fact that it is not properly registered.

If it has registered as a new nursery since the old one went into liquidation, check the date of registration. If it is the Monday that it opened, I would be very suspicious indeed - as I have already said, it can take up to 26 weeks to register or to change details (although it is usually less - never the same morning, though, as Ofsted visit the premises, there is paperwork to be filled in, etc).

Any directors should be listed with Companies House and with Ofsted, even if they have no direct contact with the children.

I have no legal training and I'm certainly not an expert, but I am a director of a community centre that has a nursery, which is why I have a little knowledge. there are probably others on this site who can advise you further.

property.advert

If you have paid by credit card, not debit card, are you not covered under the credit card guarantee where you could claim back what you have paid on the basis that they have not delivered what you paid for ?

The bank will then claw it back from them or end up a creditor. It would work if you bought an airline ticket and the company went bust so perhaps here. I don't know for sure.