Company in administration- not asked for laptop back.

SarahJay25

Hi all, I tried to find this answer online but haven’t managed to as yet. The company I worked for went into administration very suddenly in May. Luckily I managed to find a new job pretty quickly so that aspect is ok. However I’m not sure what to do about the equipment I have here. Since the pandemic I worked mostly remotely and on the day I was made redundant I was at home, found out on a Teams call with a few hundred others. Not pleasant. Nobody has since been in touch to ask for my work laptop, mobile or anything else back (I still have a car park fob and office keys etc). I don’t have access to any company info on the laptop obviously as all the systems access was removed, but I can still log in and use it for web browsing etc. 

morally it feels a bit weird to still have it, but on the other hand, I did lose my job instantly and completely out of the blue. I’d assumed the administrators would be in touch to get it back, but I’ve heard nothing and it’s been over 2 months…. Any ideas? 

The administrators recently sent us a document listing assets and debts of the company but it didn’t list out things individually so I don’t know if they were counting individual laptops, although you’d assume they would. I should probably just contact them myself… 

Andy_L

SarahJay25 said:

Hi all, I tried to find this answer online but haven’t managed to as yet. The company I worked for went into administration very suddenly in May. Luckily I managed to find a new job pretty quickly so that aspect is ok. However I’m not sure what to do about the equipment I have here. Since the pandemic I worked mostly remotely and on the day I was made redundant I was at home, found out on a Teams call with a few hundred others. Not pleasant. Nobody has since been in touch to ask for my work laptop, mobile or anything else back (I still have a car park fob and office keys etc). I don’t have access to any company info on the laptop obviously as all the systems access was removed, but I can still log in and use it for web browsing etc. 

morally it feels a bit weird to still have it, but on the other hand, I did lose my job instantly and completely out of the blue. I’d assumed the administrators would be in touch to get it back, but I’ve heard nothing and it’s been over 2 months…. Any ideas? 

The administrators recently sent us a document listing assets and debts of the company but it didn’t list out things individually so I don’t know if they were counting individual laptops, although you’d assume they would. I should probably just contact them myself… 

You've answered your own question. Or do you want us to say it's ok for you to keep it?

ETA: depending on the value they may well just say keep it or ask for a nominal amount. Otherwise they've got to pay to collect it from you & then try & sell it

TripleH

Send an email and list all items you hold for the company and ask what you should do with them (keep the email as evidence of their response).

If they want them returned, I'd do so but don't pay to return them yourself. If you are going in near where the items can be returned then drop them off by all means but don't use your time and money to return them.

Get a receipt if you drop them off / hand them over to a courier listing what items you returned.

My response sounds blunt but I'd fully cooperate with reasonable requests but likewise you are not a courier nor should you pay to send another company's equipment to another location.

rincha

Firstly, sorry to hear about being made redundant, awful experience. hopefully onwards and upwards as they say.

Secondly a few questions you should as yourself:

1. Did the company say you can keep the laptop for ever no matter what?
2. Have you contacted the company to inform them that you have their IT equipment?
3. Do you believe that the world is going to end in 2028 and unicorns will save it?

If YES to any of the above questions then you are entitled to keep all the equipment, if the answer is NO then i would follow the advice of someone called SarahJay25...... I should probably just contact them myself… 

SarahJay25

So just as an update - contacted the IT /HR dept (my company was part of a wider group of companies, most of which are still in operation and had centralised IT and HR) and they’ve said I can keep it, and are even wiping it for me so I won’t be tied to their company profile and can download software. 

SarahJay25

And to answer the above, they knew I had the IT equipment and when the administrators first spoke to us they said they’d be in touch about it but then never contacted us. 

rincha

That’s so cool that they allowed you to keep it. Nice one! 

molerat

Giving it away is often cheaper than disposing of it.  My son used to deal with replacing all the laptops etc for a company and said that even the equipment recycling / reselling companies charged to take the old units off their hands.  His best get was brand new sealed box ipads for all the family !!

Own_Worst_Enermy

What a nice outcome. Yay.

I’ve yet to return a somewhat localish company IT equipment who I left back in April time but who haven’t been pressurising me to return, I will do it one day. Once I’ve enough in fuel for once to go to their new office address - I don’t use it now but aware access rights to systems had already been suspended as soon as I received my last payslip and P60 which is why I had to keep hold of it following official last day.

Brie

Lucky you!!  The company that made me redundant insisted on all iphones and laptops being returned on our last day in the office.  Not sure what they did with people who weren't in the office on their last day but working from home instead!!  Likely sent a courier to collect.

They did not however want any of the other kit so I've got keyboards, mice, a huge monitor and massive ergonomic office chair.  I know this is likely due to no longer having any way to recycle those bits (having made my previous team redundant a few years earlier) 

Ath_Wat

I have a stack of old work laptops; they are pretty much valueless.  Unless it was a six month old top spec gaming machine it probably would not be worth the postage to send back.  You might as well ask if they want a used mousemat.

Brie said:

Lucky you!!  The company that made me redundant insisted on all iphones and laptops being returned on our last day in the office.  Not sure what they did with people who weren't in the office on their last day but working from home instead!!  Likely sent a courier to collect.

They did not however want any of the other kit so I've got keyboards, mice, a huge monitor and massive ergonomic office chair.  I know this is likely due to no longer having any way to recycle those bits (having made my previous team redundant a few years earlier) 

That would be for security reasons rather than any monetary value, I would have thought.