Recovering a county court judgement

rattyo

Hi all, sorry this probably isn't the right place but not sure where it should go. 

Last year I was scammed by a company, PAY RECLAIM SOLUTIONS LTD, when they claimed back over paid tax and then never paid the money. They owed me £1600 but never paid me the money and they guy I was dealing with has disappeared. The company is still active on companies house and I am trying to claim the money back. I have won a county court judgement but don't know where to go from here so hoping for a bit of advice. Are there legit companies out there that would take this on for me and chase the money or am I best doing it myself. I'm just stuck not knowing what to do. Any advice gratefully received. Thanks Dan

la531983

Well you could pay to enforce the judgement through the High Court but is it going to lead to a dead end if they have no assets, office etc?

MyRealNameToo

rattyo said:

Hi all, sorry this probably isn't the right place but not sure where it should go. 

Last year I was scammed by a company, PAY RECLAIM SOLUTIONS LTD, when they claimed back over paid tax and then never paid the money. They owed me £1600 but never paid me the money and the guy I was dealing with has disappeared. The company is still active on companies house and I am trying to claim the money back. I have won a county court judgement but don't know where to go from here so hoping for a bit of advice. Are there legit companies out there that would take this on for me and chase the money or am I best doing it myself. I'm just stuck not knowing what to do. Any advice gratefully received. 

did they defend and you won in court or was it a judgement by default?

The company is registered to a flat in Birmingham despite the owner of the company having a residential address in Warwick. In their last Companies House submission they show they are in negative equity (owe more than they have) and shows that the owner is the only employee of the firm. 

You can pursue the matter but suspect you are just going to increase your losses. 

https://www.gov.uk/make-court-claim-for-money/enforce-a-judgment gives some of your options of how to try and proceed but personally would do more digging to see if there is going to be anything you can recover before losing more money. 

rattyo

Thank you for your replies. They did not defend the case so i was awarded the judgement. I have contacted a company about chasing it but they want £170 upfront and I don't want to be chasing a dead end. Should I just write it off and and forget about it as a bad experience or is it worth chasing? Can they go after Christie Newman, as the company director, or am I right in saying she isn't liable as its a LTD business?

On-the-coast

Probably best to assume that money is gone, there's no point trying to enforce rulings on organisations that have nothing.
More importantly have you ensured that that company is not still acting for you as an agent for HMRC - because they could still "reclaim" yet more money in the future.
And... the other big problem with the less reputable of these parasites is that they may have reclaimed monies you were never entitled to reclaim, in which case HMRC might end up demanding it back.

rattyo

Thank you @On-the-coast. Yes have taken them off and hoping they haven't done the later!!

fatbelly

Any High Court Bailiff firm will take it on and do their own research.

You pay for the writ but the bailff gets his fees ( or doesn't) from the debtor. So I think your potential loss is the £80 court fee, which you may think worth a gamble

I am not recommending this firm but their webite explains the process

https://www.thesheriffsoffice.com/faqs/enforcing-a-judgment