Rogue garage - Recover a bank transfer?

Bach_Off

My sister's car engine blew up and after shopping around/reading reviews etc, settled on a £1600 for a reconditioned engine from a London based garage.

My Brother in Law paid £1000 deposit on the repairs by Instant Bank Transfer.

The vehicle was collected in March, has not been returned. Calls/emails are going unanswered. So it seems they've lost the car and they've lost the money. The reviews/webpage can no longer be found.

I dearly wish they'd paid by CC or Visa debit but here we are. Is there any chance of getting the money back by reversing the IBT? Has anyone had any success doing this?

They are absolutely skint and this money/car is desperately needed.

davidmcn

No, you can't reverse bank transfers (or at least, not where your only argument is that the recipient owes you money).

Other than them not answering the phone/emails, has anyone gone round to check whether the garage is still trading? (or if the car is there)

Bach_Off

They live in Northamptonshire and the vehicle was collected by the London garage. No, they haven't but have organised their own tow truck to collect the car but they're not replying to any calls/emails.

Will be paying a visit to the garage address if still no reply this week.

garth549

A BACS, CHAPS or FP transfer can almost never be reversed unilaterally unfortunately. It's effectively the same as handing over cash.

The only exception is where a receiving account turns out to be fraudulent and still holds the money.

steampowered

Your sister / BIL could raise a claim against the garage through the moneyclaimonline system.

However, this is only worth doing if you have an address where the garage has assets. If the garage is not trading from that address it will be very difficult to enforce a CCJ.

Manxman_in_exile

RFenton wrote: »

They live in Northamptonshire and the vehicle was collected by the London garage. No, they haven't but have organised their own tow truck to collect the car but they're not replying to any calls/emails.

Will be paying a visit to the garage address if still no reply this week.

What if the car's not there? What if it is there, but inaccessible (or the people there are not "nice" people)?

Bach_Off

Manxman_in_exile wrote: »

What if the car's not there? What if it is there, but inaccessible (or the people there are not "nice" people)?

Umm... might not surprise you to know that all of those scenarios have crossed my mind.

Bach_Off

steampowered wrote: »

Your sister / BIL could raise a claim against the garage through the moneyclaimonline system.

However, this is only worth doing if you have an address where the garage has assets. If the garage is not trading from that address it will be very difficult to enforce a CCJ.

I'll look into that - thank you. She has legal expenses cover on her household insurance and they've said they're willing to pursue a CCJ. Quick company check confirms they are trading at the registered address so there's a small possibility we can use enforcement proceedings.

hollydays

At some point you should post the company name

Bach_Off

Yes, I will do - still no joy so needing to contact the legal expenses cover they have and formally institute a claim.