Freelancer: Client closing down and not paying me.

redefinr

I'm a freelance creative and this summer I got approached by a client (I won't go into details but it's a known brand) for promotional video for socials.

After a few back and forth discussing the ideas and budget we agreed on style and cost - so I was ready to get to work. I follow their requirements and execute the video which I sent to them before the deadline: they were all happy and told me to invoice - which I did.

I would usually give 30 days to clear my invoices... but it happens that clients sometimes may need some extra time. After 30 days I heard nothing from them...I didn't gave too much thoughts on it as I was quite busy with other projects.
Days goin by and I email them just to see what's happening. No answers. Long story short I found out the company closed their doors so this immediately sent another email to let them know I would go the legal route if they didn't pay within the next few days: still no answer.

I filed the money claim through the gov website and I patiently wait. I think they give a month to reply but the company failed to reply or settle this. The only option I was left with was to request County Court Judgment - which I did few days ago.

I'm not very familiar with those practices and during my career I only had to rely on those methods to get paid just once - and it worked quite quickly. This time, I got the feeling this company is running away with it. I'm just a bit surprised as the CEO of the company is quite a notorious investor in London...can they really get away with it?

Did I lose my money? Is there any extra steps I could take?

Any advice would be really appreciated.

lincroft1710

What exactly do you mean by "closed their doors"?

Voluntary liquidation? Forced liquidation? Ceased trading but solvent? If the company was no longer in existence when you applied to MCOL this may prove problematic.

redefinr

I'm not entirely sure what happened to the company but they posted on socials that they closed down. I wasn't informed at all...they don't reply to emails, a proper pain!

What annoys me the most is the fact they are active on socials, with all the customer praising and wondering how such a "brilliant" service would close.

Sandtree

You should check Companies House and the London Gazette to see whats happening to the company.

If they are insolvent then unfortunately you will just be another unsecured creditor and may get £1 for every £10 they owe depending on what assets they had and how much was owed to the priority creditors (employees, HMRC, secured lenders etc)

redefinr

On the Companies House it results as still Active....

lincroft1710

If they are solvent but not trading, your problem will be where to send the bailiffs. Do they have any premises which contain assets which could be seized?

Grumpy_chap

redefinr said:

On the Companies House it results as still Active....

You said in the OP that the company is a well known brand, so do they have other branches or a head office where you can serve papers?

redefinr

Well, this is the thing, when I filed my case to the small claim court I obviously entered the address the company was registered at. The question is, are they still there? who knows.... I doubt it.
I'm trying to phone the Gov Money Claim but it's almost impossible to speak to somebody...

redefinr

Grumpy_chap said:

redefinr said:

On the Companies House it results as still Active....

You said in the OP that the company is a well known brand, so do they have other branches or a head office where you can serve papers?

Yeah it was one of those startup I believe which had a good run then closed. I was booked by a marketing person (which now is doing marketing in a new company). All these people are easy to be fund and probably to be dealt with I'm just a bit concerned how deep the Money Claim wants to go to solve this issue?

Sandtree

redefinr said:

On the Companies House it results as still Active....

And anything in the Gazette? Companies House isnt the quickest to be updated

macman

redefinr said:

Well, this is the thing, when I filed my case to the small claim court I obviously entered the address the company was registered at. The question is, are they still there? who knows.... I doubt it.
I'm trying to phone the Gov Money Claim but it's almost impossible to speak to somebody...

It doesn't matter. With a ltd company, service is assumed by you using the registered address on file at CH, which you have done.