How do you stop company from scamming

Shezz

Hi, I have lost 4,000 paid as a deposit for solar being installed, took all roads to try to get this money back, including taking the company to court and winning by default because they ignored all communication, Bank will not refund due to it being a bank transfer. they did check out if it was a scam, but the conclusion from the bank was that it is a genuine business and that I should approach the seller, which is totally ignoring everything.

Now this is where the problem is apart from them taking my money, they have also taken money from quite a few others and it is in the thousands not hundreds,

The company is active on companies house, but apparently they are no longer at the business address given on companies house and on the invoice, I contacted the telephone number of the the premises  they were based at who put me through to someone who told me they were not there (not sure if i believe them or not) they also said they did not have a forwarding address. 2 days later I received my letter before court returned to me by special delivery which I had sent them back in December opened, stamped all over the envelope, Return to sender Person not known at this address please amend your records, (this was addressed to the director).

However this company has 1 Director, the Director has now another 3 companies which is at the same address, he has another 5 companies at I believe was initially registered at his In-laws address (where he resides with his wife) although it shows on companies house that they have a default address allocated by companies house (i think that's right).

As he has opened each solar company (3)  he is managing to get people to pay deposits for solar to be installed then not doing the work and keeping the deposits (as seen in trustpilot reviews).

These are Ltd companies and are all active on Companies house, but who is there out there to stop him, I have already complained to Trading standards, I already complained to my bank (the company uses the same bank as me) but the bank does not want to know, I spoke to Action fraud who just sent a link for me to demand payment. but as I now have no address I'm not sure what I can do or how to stop him doing this to others

Keep_pedalling

Name of the company?

Olinda99

if you mean (and can prove) that somebody is deliberately taking money with the knowing intention of not a supplying the goods they promised then that is of course a criminal offence and can be reported to the police

note that that is not the same as a genuine business who finds themselves in difficulties and who did originally intend to supply a product but because of business failure were unable to

Arunmor

Why have you not given this over to bailiffs yet and give them all the information you have collected?

Shezz

Keep_pedalling said:

Name of the company?

I would love to name them, but not sure if I can do it publicly, if anyone wants to check them out, I will deff pm them the name, they can check them out, 

Shezz

Olinda99 said:

if you mean (and can prove) that somebody is deliberately taking money with the knowing intention of not a supplying the goods they promised then that is of course a criminal offence and can be reported to the police

note that that is not the same as a genuine business who finds themselves in difficulties and who did originally intend to supply a product but because of business failure were unable to

The company (director) has taken deposits from several people and has not returned the deposits to the customers, this has devastated some as can be seen in the comments trust pilot, I believe some have already taken the company to court and won by default but that does not guarantee you get any money back, soon after the director opens up a second company doing  Solar Panels (as seen on companies house),  now it  seems he has taken deposits from customers of this newer company and not doing the work or paying back deposits, once again proof can be seen from reviews on Trust pilot (The company i paid into is still active). having looked into it, there now seems to be a 3rd company which I have manged to link back to the same address the others but now had an address change, same directors name etc, Solar panels, and now the comments are coming in where the company have taken the money and not done the work and not paid the deposits back.

It seems they get away with being a genuine company  take the money from customers then open another company, take more money, and so it goes on, I reported to my bank  which so happens to be same bank I paid my deposit into, they told me that it is a buyer and seller dispute ( genuine company and not a scam) although they did notice that his positive reviews were faked, i tried to get them to look at it more closely but they wont.

Shezz

Arunmor said:

Why have you not given this over to bailiffs yet and give them all the information you have collected?

TBH that is what I would like to do, my court case was against one company, not any other, i'm told that they are no longer at the premises where they are suppose to be, apparently no forwarding address to give the bailiffs, they have not updated companies house with a new address, I am not sure I actually believe the person who said they are no longer there,  I do think however it could be a police matter, but feel i need someone to look into it and say yes I agree, to give me the confidence i need as i am not that good at explaining thing,   sending in the bailiffs surely they would only deal with the company named on my case, 

born_again

Sounds like something a local paper might be interested in. If they are constantly doing this. See if you can find a group of you to take it forward.
As local elections coming up try badgering local sitting councilor to push local trading standards to act.

But banks are not there to investigate these issues. It is not in their remit.

EnPointe

Sounds like the kind ofthing that the  High Court Sheriff / HCEO  firms love to get their teeth into ... 

powerful_Rogue

Shezz said:

Keep_pedalling said:

Name of the company?

I would love to name them, but not sure if I can do it publicly, if anyone wants to check them out, I will deff pm them the name, they can check them out, 

Yes you can, as long as what you have posted it honest and truthful.

TripleH

Search on google maps for the address to see what is there. It could be a registered office and the 'companies' can be based elsewhere.

For example many use an accountant's office ascthwir registered office.