Harley Medical Group - post liquidation

badger2016

My sister had breast augmentation in May 2019.
She was unhappy the result and opted to have a different type of implant which she was charged £500 for. 
The corrective surgery was postponed due to coronavirus. 
Due to time off required for recovery my sister planned to reschedule it to October. She was then informed that the company who has provided the initial op had gone into liquidation;

I should advise that the company who provided your surgery, THMG Ltd (t/a Harley Medical Group), was placed into administration on 29th November 2019 and ceased trading from that date.  Lasercare Clinics, via its company LCHMG Ltd, purchased the “Harley Medical Group” trade and assets but is not responsible for the liabilities of THMG Ltd. Given that your complaint relates to treatment provided by THMG Ltd, who are a separate legal entity from LCHMG Ltd, I am unfortunately unable to respond to your complaint. "

As such they're refusing to rebook the corrective surgery in until she pays £1400, apparently 35% of the initial cost to cover theatre fees... 
I'm not sure why it's 35%, surely theatre fees are X so why 35%? Also, if this was an agreement with the previous company that have been taken over, is this to be honoured, as any "lost costs" ie the theatre fees are part of the debt they inherited from the previous company?? 
Any advice please?? Where does she stand? 
Thank u 

davidmcn

Any rights she had were against the company which has gone bust. If she's not too late she might be able to put in a claim with the administrators for whatever she's owed, but I wouldn't expect to get much back. The new company doesn't owe her anything, so it's up to her whether she wants to use them or go elsewhere.

Aylesbury_Duck

davidmcn said:

Any rights she had were against the company which has gone bust. If she's not too late she might be able to put in a claim with the administrators for whatever she's owed, but I wouldn't expect to get much back. The new company doesn't owe her anything, so it's up to her whether she wants to use them or go elsewhere.

Nice pun there!

davidmcn

Aylesbury_Duck said:

davidmcn said:

Any rights she had were against the company which has gone bust. If she's not too late she might be able to put in a claim with the administrators for whatever she's owed, but I wouldn't expect to get much back. The new company doesn't owe her anything, so it's up to her whether she wants to use them or go elsewhere.

Nice pun there!

Or "tits up", if you'd rather.

Sandtree

badger2016 said:

 Lasercare Clinics, via its company LCHMG Ltd, purchased the “Harley Medical Group” trade and assets but is not responsible for the liabilities of THMG Ltd. Given that your complaint relates to treatment provided by THMG Ltd, who are a separate legal entity from LCHMG Ltd, I am unfortunately unable to respond to your complaint. "

As such they're refusing to rebook the corrective surgery in until she pays £1400, apparently 35% of the initial cost to cover theatre fees... 
I'm not sure why it's 35%, surely theatre fees are X so why 35%? Also, if this was an agreement with the previous company that have been taken over, is this to be honoured, as any "lost costs" ie the theatre fees are part of the debt they inherited from the previous company?? 
Any advice please?? Where does she stand? 
Thank u 

So what they are saying is that THMG Ltd is the company she had a contract with and so where the liability sits. That company as you can see https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/09278443 is still in administration.

If you look at the latest report from the administrators you can see that LCHMG paid THMG £2.4m to buy from the company things like equipment and stock but also their intellectual property like trademarks and copyright (eg the brand name) but they did not buy the company itself. That money will be used by the administrators to discharge the debts owed to creditors and if anything remains after that, it'll be distributed to the shareholders (note the amount paid was significantly higher than the administrators expected). However in this case the administrators have already indicated that there will be insufficient funds to pay all creditors and so what funds there are will be distributed according to insolvency law which sets the pecking order. 

Unfortunately she has almost certainly missed the boat in registering herself as someone owed money but even if she did, given the lack of funds she may only get 5% or some other proportion of the monies owed as unsecured creditors are at the very bottom of the list.

As to why 35%... from what you are saying its a deposit and probably is roughly the amount to cover up front costs... if its the full fee and its a GoGW then because its the money going to external parties

The_Rainmaker

https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/officers/1mgOv4ihlqE0fBsPwyR9LHIsLZA/appointments

Wow!!!

Just go and look at the list of appointments for the new CEO Darren paul Grassby.
(Haven't checked any of the others)

shaun_from_Africa

The_Rainmaker said:

https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/officers/1mgOv4ihlqE0fBsPwyR9LHIsLZA/appointments

Wow!!!

Just go and look at the list of appointments for the new CEO Darren paul Grassby.
(Haven't checked any of the others)

So when he folds one company, another one of the list is already up and running and ready to "buy" the assets and carry on operations whilst the debtors are simply brushed aside.

The_Rainmaker

shaun_from_Africa said:

The_Rainmaker said:

https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/officers/1mgOv4ihlqE0fBsPwyR9LHIsLZA/appointments

Wow!!!

Just go and look at the list of appointments for the new CEO Darren paul Grassby.
(Haven't checked any of the others)

So when he folds one company, another one of the list is already up and running and ready to "buy" the assets and carry on operations whilst the debtors are simply brushed aside.

The only problem with that is he wasn't a director of the OPs original company.  But a bit of digging may find cross links with other "directors", but with that number of companies it is potentially going to take some digging.