Company gone into Administration after Purchase

shaun_from_Africa

molerat wrote: »

Getting money back is not what the op wants, they already have (most of) the goods / service.

One thing that might be worth looking into is a warranty.
There might well be an insurance back warranty provided and if so, contacting the insurer concerned to make sure that it's been registered would be a wise move.

If there is no warranty, it might be possible to pay for an independent company to provide one, a company such as this:
http://www.iwa.biz/customers/
If this can be done, the OP might be able to do a chargeback of the £500 deposit by claiming that not all of the contracted goods have been supplied (no warranty).

One other point is that the deposit may also have been protected with a company such as the one above.

bod1467

In post #3 the OP mentions HIES. Does this mean there's already a warranty in place? Or is/was that subject to payment to HIES - something which probably hasn't happened?

shaun_from_Africa

bod1467 wrote: »

In post #3 the OP mentions HIES. Does this mean there's already a warranty in place? Or is/was that subject to payment to HIES - something which probably hasn't happened?

I must admit, I missed that!

In that case, the OP should contact HIES to confirm that their warranty is in place. Hopefully it will be but if not, now is the time to find out.

timbstoke

alxx_b wrote: »

I've emailed the solar company a few times and chased by phone, but no response.

Unless you can afford to pay in full, I'd stop doing this, and focus on putting the repayments (with a little extra if you can afford it) in the best interest bearing savings account you can find that still gives you reasonably quick access to the money.

Going into administration isn't a quick or simple business. The administrators have to reconcile everything that's owed to the company, along with everything the company owes, and then figure out how to distribute the money they can get to the people they owe. It could easily be a year or more before they actually get round to you.

Check your warranty is in place and that everything needed to activate it has been done, then stop poking the bear and just save the money. When they come knocking, you'll have a good chunk of the balance available to pay immediately, and you can probably negotiate for the rest to be paid in installments - which also saves you the interest the finance company would have charged for doing the same thing. Once the balance is sitting in your savings account, just relax.

If nobody asks for the money for the next six years, congratulate yourself on your fortunate timing, and consider investing the money elsewhere.

alxx_b

UPDATE:

Just had a letter through from the bank the credit agreement was with to say the loan is now live!

I spoke to them on the phone to question why they have suddenly agreed to honour the loan considering they wouldn't touch it 6 months ago.

They were a bit sketchy on the phone, and said the liquidators were pushing for payment so they've paid the full amount (around £9k) and now want us to pay them back.

What I'm concerned about is that the loan is for more than the value of the items we received, and we have no updated contract which were were going to read and agree (considering we signed up on the idea that we had 16 solar panels and would get X return on this, and we were given less than this, so have technically ended up with an inferior product/service).

I don't know whether to just pay up, or to stand my ground and say "I'm not happy, I want a new contract and loan agreement for the correct amount, or take the panels away" (which I'm guessing they aren't going to want to do as they'll make a huge loss).

Suggestions?

steampowered

Why do you think the amount on the loan agreement is wrong - what is wrong with the panels? Are you saying that you contracted for 16 solar panels but got less than this?

Wouldn't the loan have needed to be in place before the solar company fitted the panels?

The finance company will have already paid the £9k to the solar company.

Ectophile

Make it the loan company's problem. Point out that what you have doesn't correspond with the contract. Under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act, they are jointly liable for any failure to deliver.

wealdroam

steampowered wrote: »

Why do you think the amount on the loan agreement is wrong - what is wrong with the panels? Are you saying that you contracted for 16 solar panels but got less than this?

Post #3 may help:

alxx_b wrote: »

They fitted less panels than agreed in contract, and said instead of changing the loan agreement, they would just give us a rebate, along with a new contract, neither of which arrived.