How do you check if a company is not in trouble, please?

londonsurrey

I didn't know of a more appropriate board, so apologies if this is in the wrong place.

I received a 3-for-2 offer from a company selling vet grade cleaning products. I've been buying from them for years, but have never had a special offer before. I've also always paid by credit card before.

So today I placed an order. It came to just over £280.
Then I was informed that there would be a 2% (or was it 2.5%?) surcharge for credit card orders. They said I could pay by cheque instead, and would only send out the item when the cheque was cleared.

So far, so good. But in this economic climate, with companies closing down left, right and centre, I feel a bit paranoid. What if they're pulling a scam like those sofa places that closed down, just getting in as much cash as they can, knowing that they won't deliver?


Could anyone advise me please, on how to check if a company is not on the verge of calling in the auditors? Or more pertinently, knowing that I'm not throwing my money away? Thank you.

Fruit_and_Nut_Case

If you have any doubts about the company it might be worth paying the CC surcharge for the peace of mind that Section 75 gives you.

lisyloo

I don't think you can check that.
You might be able to get latest accounts from companies house but that won't be bang up to date.

Pay the extra for the protection or find another company (but you have the same problem there).

Tixy

You could get a business credit report on your supplier from Dun & Bradstreet (there may be other similar services to D&B).

These tell you things like judgements against the company, the latestannual results (as filed at companies house), plus an assesment of the companies risk of failing.

Not sure what the cost is these days for a one-off report mind as I haven't used the service for years. Chances are the cost might well come to more than paying the surcharge on your credit card though.

londonsurrey

Thank you, everyone. That helps.

At least I know the options open to me and that I'm not missing any obvious solutions that everyone else knows about that I don't (which seems to happen to me a lot, y'know, the "Eeeeveryone knows that!" exclamation that people are so happy to say AFTER things have gone wrong.)

thenudeone

lisyloo wrote: »

I don't think you can check that.
You might be able to get latest accounts from companies house but that won't be bang up to date.

Certainly true. Private companies are allowed 9 months to file accounts, so right until September 2011 the latest accounts on file might be for the year ending December 2009. Almost useless for the sort of analysis being discussed here. And you'll have to pay for them anyway.

I would just pay the credit card surcharge. Even if you pay only part by credit card you will still get s75 protection.