Non payment of invoices

sinkat

I am still outstanding payment on invoices for work carried out in May/June 2010, have contacted a debt recovery agency who tell me that I will have to go to court to recover the monies, but I am at present unable to raise the funds to proceed. The company director has a tendancy to wind companies up and move on. I have been informed that if I contact Companies house and give them copies of the invoices this could delay him from winding up for upto 6 months
I feel that they have no intention of paying and have employed a string of delaying tactics in the hope of that I will drop the matter,
this is very frustrating as I owe money out to other people for the work.
where do I go from here

Mahmood_Reza

Is the bill for goods or sevices? If goods do you have what is called a 'retention title' ie goods remain yours until paid for. I would suggest (a) final letter requesting payment by ....; (b) look at Money Claim Onlime, procedures for issuing court procedues is not that costly or laborious these days (eg court fees = approx £100 for claims up to £5k). If the company is to be struck off voluntarily then any objections raised will delay it - contact Co. Hse when and if it happens. Finally, if your information is correct then there may be a strong case for reporting him to the police (obtaining goods and services by deception).
Don't despair and act fast

hippyadam

Oh dear... this certainly doesn't sound like a good situation

First things first, have you done a credit report on the company in question? You can buy PAYG reports from as little as £8ish so that should be your first stop.

Secondly have you tried any other debt collection agencies? If you do a search on the forum there are a few threads with some names. But whatever you do, never, ever, ever pay an agency up front! The good ones only charge when you get paid

Can i ask why the DCA are saying you have to go to court? Is the company valueless?

Thirdly if he wants to wind the company up, you need to write to companies house to object. Generally they wont need copy invoices to suspend a striking off. It's free to do but will only be of use if the company has assets you can secure your monies against.

Alas reporting him to the police is likely to be a waste of time as they will not be interested in my experience. The only people who would be interested would be the liquidator, but again you would have to pay to put in your own liquidator and they do not come cheap!

sinkat

The money owed is in the region of £27,500 for installation work, he has aknowledged that he owes the money to the DCA, but for various reasons has not decided to pay out. He also owes money to another company, who I am in contact with, in the hope of joining forces and both of us getting our monies. In respect of going to court, the person/company in question has a tendancy to open another company and moving all assets to it, so rendering the company valueless