Am I entitled to claim my money back?

Gezbo

Hello,

I'm sorry if this is the wrong place to post this but it seemed to be the best place, hopefully I can get some useful advice from the forum. Thanks for your replies in advance.

Here goes...In June 2009, my mum paid a £195 deposit to Football Showcase Ltd for my brother to go on a Pro Training Academy Course in August of the same year. Unfortunately, during the waiting, my brother became unwell and we had to cancel the reservation. This was done with enough notice and they were told that he would still be eligible for a place at the academy the following year. When that time came, my mum tried desperately to contact the people at Football Showcase Ltd and was repeatedly fobbed off, leaving messages on answerphones that remained unanswered.

She eventually gave up trying to contact the company because she was getting nowhere.

I've stepped into this rather late - if I'd known that this was happening at the time - I would have made more of an effort to reclaim the money.

I've looked online and it looks like Football Showcase is no longer operating but a company called Soccer Showcase is offering the same service, at the same sports academy, which led me to believe it's probably the same company with a new face. I rang Soccer Showcase and the person at the end of the line told me they were not related in any way. However, when I went to compose an email with the email address provided (info@soccershowcase.net), the Google+ profile associated with that email address was that of a David McLaughlin. The same David McLaughlin who was the "Director of Football" at Football Showcase Ltd.

Having found this out, I'm now determined to get a resolution to this situation. So...if you lovely forum members are willing and able to help I would like to know:

a) Can we reclaim for £195.00 deposit? (Nowhere on any paperwork does it mention that it is non-refundable).
b) Football Showcase Ltd is still registered as a company but it's status is "Active - Proposal to Strike off". If I do have a reclaim case but I can't get in touch with anyone at that company to reclaim the money - who do I go to?

Thanks again for any help you may be able to offer.

frugal_mike

Gezbo wrote: »

Hello,

I'm sorry if this is the wrong place to post this but it seemed to be the best place, hopefully I can get some useful advice from the forum. Thanks for your replies in advance.

Here goes...In June 2009, my mum paid a £195 deposit to Football Showcase Ltd for my brother to go on a Pro Training Academy Course in August of the same year. Unfortunately, during the waiting, my brother became unwell and we had to cancel the reservation. This was done with enough notice and they were told that he would still be eligible for a place at the academy the following year. When that time came, my mum tried desperately to contact the people at Football Showcase Ltd and was repeatedly fobbed off, leaving messages on answerphones that remained unanswered.

She eventually gave up trying to contact the company because she was getting nowhere.

I've stepped into this rather late - if I'd known that this was happening at the time - I would have made more of an effort to reclaim the money.

I've looked online and it looks like Football Showcase is no longer operating but a company called Soccer Showcase is offering the same service, at the same sports academy, which led me to believe it's probably the same company with a new face. I rang Soccer Showcase and the person at the end of the line told me they were not related in any way. However, when I went to compose an email with the email address provided (info@soccershowcase.net), the Google+ profile associated with that email address was that of a David McLaughlin. The same David McLaughlin who was the "Director of Football" at Football Showcase Ltd.

Having found this out, I'm now determined to get a resolution to this situation. So...if you lovely forum members are willing and able to help I would like to know:

a) Can we reclaim for £195.00 deposit? (Nowhere on any paperwork does it mention that it is non-refundable).
b) Football Showcase Ltd is still registered as a company but it's status is "Active - Proposal to Strike off". If I do have a reclaim case but I can't get in touch with anyone at that company to reclaim the money - who do I go to?

Thanks again for any help you may be able to offer.

I'm sure someone with more knowledge than me will be able to go into more detail regarding the ins and outs of companies, but just having the same director isn't enough to make the new company liable for the money.

However, how was the deposit paid? If it was on a credit card then you may be able to get the money back because the Credit Card provider will be jointly and severally liable. Basically that means that any claim you have against the original company can be made against the Credit Card provider.

Gezbo

Thanks for taking the time to read and for your reply Frugal_mike, I'm sorry I didn't reply sooner (I was expecting some email notifications).

just having the same director isn't enough to make the new company liable for the money

I thought that would be the case but I was thinking that since there seems to be no way of getting in touch with anyone from the old company, I could still chase him for the money, since he was the director at the time.

Unfortunately, the first payment was not made by credit card, it was by bank transfer. In that case, I don't think the same rules apply...?

Thanks again.

Gezbo

Does anyone else have any thoughts on this please? Thanks

unholyangel

Gezbo wrote: »

Does anyone else have any thoughts on this please? Thanks

You can't chase one company for the debt of another. You may be able to object to it being struck off though.

10. Can anyone object to dissolution?

Any interested party can object to the registrar.

11. How and why can they object?

Objections or complaints must be in writing and sent to the registrar with any supporting evidence, such as copies of invoices that may prove the company is trading. Reasons could include:

if the company has broken any of the conditions of its application for example, it has traded, changed its name or become subject to insolvency proceedings during the three-month period before the application, or afterwards
if the directors have not informed interested parties
if any of the declarations on the form are false
if some form of action is being taken, or is pending, to recover any money owed (such as a winding-up petition or action in a small claims court)
if other legal action is being taken against the company
if the directors have wrongfully traded or committed a tax fraud or some other offence

However this wont help you get your money back, it will just stop the company from being closed and they'll probably have to go through liquidation instead - and whether you'll get your money back will depend on what assets they have if any.