John Peters in Liquidation

CarolShackleton

We ordered a suite from the John Peters Store in Hull last Sunday. We found out yesterday, however, that they have gone into liquidation! Unfortunately, we paid a £500 deposit on our debit card.......!?! We really wish we'd used our credit card now, but hindsight is a wonderful thing, sadly . We're going to try the chargeback option, but am not holding out a lot of hope.

I have no experience whatsoever of what happens when a company goes into liquidation. Is it the same as going "into administration"? Do the liquidators get in touch? I'd be really interested to know what the process entails and what our chances are of either getting the suite at all or our deposit back? The rest of the payment was going to be funded by their 0% finance. I'm assuming I will have to cancel this although payments were not due to start until a month after delivery of the suite?

Any help or advice anyone can offer would be much appreciated.

Lip_Stick

Hi, if it's a Visa debit card then you should be able to do a chargeback on that.

CarolShackleton

Lip_Stick wrote: »

Hi, if it's a Visa debit card then you should be able to do a chargeback on that.

It's a Mastercard debit card.....

pinkshoes

It basically means that they'll sell off all their assets (stock etc...) to pay the debts.

You will be on the list of creditors, but will be somewhere near the end, as suppliers and outstanding loans will be paid first.

Chances of getting the suite? I'd say zero! Chances of getting any money? If you're lucky, you might get 10% back if there's anything left over after paying the other creditors.

I'd really push the chargeback from your debit card company, and don't take no for an answer.

paddyrg

Talk to the administrators - their job is to maximise the cash they can get into the company, they may complete the transaction for you as they want the rest of your cash as opposed to selling stuff off in bulk.

As mentioned above, chances of getting cash back are low - as above the other named creditors will be HMRC and wages too.

CarolShackleton

I thought as much.....!! So it is basically the same as "in administration"....

I shall certainly push the chargeback as much as I can! We have telephoned the bank, but was basically told "tough" so I'm going to put it in writing and go from there. I'm so annoyed with myself for not using the credit card this time, but equally annoyed with John Peters who were probably aware of their predicament and were still taking orders until last Friday......:mad:

meer53

Ask your card issuer to action a chargeback for non receipt of goods. That normally works. You'll have to allow 15 days from the debit date before they can do it.

texranger

CarolShackleton wrote: »

I thought as much.....!! So it is basically the same as "in administration"....

Not really

'In liquidation' means the company has gone bust and all assets will be sold off to pay its debts.

'In Administration' means an administrator is appointed to find a way to save the company from closure either by selling the business as a going concern or selling the business off in sections

CarolShackleton

texranger wrote: »

Not really

'In liquidation' means the company has gone bust and all assets will be sold off to pay its debts.

'In Administration' means an administrator is appointed to find a way to save the company from closure either by selling the business as a going concern or selling the business off in sections

Thanks for explaining that. You must think I'm a bit dim, but to be honest, I was under the impression that they were simply just two different terms, but meaning the same thing.....:embarasse It would have been better if they had gone into administration, then at least someone may have bought the company and I might have stood a slightly higher chance of getting my suite......

wealdroam

Don't cancel the finance agreement just yet!

It will be worth looking into whether you can use Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 to recover your money using that finance agreement.

Have a read of MSE's Section 75 Refunds article.

If that's not possible, then as mentioned earlier the Debit Card chargeback scheme should work.
This is also described towards the bottom of that article I linked to above.

There are also two sample letters, one for section 75 and one for chargeback, in that linked to document that you might like to use.

whatmichaelsays

CarolShackleton wrote: »

but equally annoyed with John Peters who were probably aware of their predicament and were still taking orders until last Friday......:mad:

Not necessarily. Administration can come "out of the blue" in some circumstances (a creditor calling in a loan for example).

It's highly unlikely that store staff would have known about any problems. In most situations, the staff don't find out until the administrators have already been appointed and their jobs are pretty much finished. Even if they did, they still have a duty to try and support the business in getting out of the situation.