Business 'dissolved' - €1000 deposit owed to me

CrazyRabbit

I just found out that a company I paid a €1000 deposit to just before Christmas has been 'Dissolved' on Jan 20th.

Basically, they were importing a motorbike for me. It was shipped from the factory in Italy and reached an Aprilia dealership somewhere in London. It was meant to be then brought to Dublin via a van/ferry last week but it never happened. As far as I know, the bike is still in this London dealership.

There are no staff left, and the owner of the business is not answering his mobile phone.

Ideally, I'd like to still get the bike...it is exceptionally hard to find/import. But...worst case scenario, what are the legal chances of at least getting my deposit back?

ResearchWill

Have you contacted the London dealership or the Italian company.

leeroybrown

The first thing I'd do is contact the London based dealership (and possibly Aprilia) to see if they have been paid a deposit for the bike. If they have you may be able to persuade them (with the right paperwork, etc) that the deposit is yours and get them to complete the sale in good faith.

Failing that it gets a lot more complicated. You should find out if the dissolution was voluntary. If so you could apply to have it blocked/reversed if they've as they've been trading recently. This would likely involve an action in the UK courts though. If it's not voluntary then you're almost certainly out of luck as they'll probably have left a list of protected creditors (HMRC, employees, etc) who are higher up the food chain for the money than you.

CrazyRabbit

Thanks for replies. Just to clarify....it's an Irish company that's importing the bike for me (and was dissolved). And I don't know where exactly the bike is. I was told by one of the ex-employees that it was in a London dealership, but not given the name.

leeroybrown

Again find out if it was a voluntary or involuntary liquidation. In the unlikely event that it was voluntary you might have recourse against the directors for the missing €1000. In the far more likely event that it was involuntary you'll again be behind the Revenue, employees and other protected creditors when looking for money.

As regards finding out more about the bike your best bet would be to find out if a liquidator has been appointed to the business and if so talk to them.

It's an awkward one because I'm not sure if it's really worthwhile spending any money trying to recover the €1000 from them.

Procrastastudy

How did you pay the €1000... please say credit card.

CrazyRabbit

GCDLawstudent wrote: »

How did you pay the €1000... please say credit card.

Cash. Their credit card system was 'broken' that day, so I dropped into the bank and got the deposit in cash instead.

CrazyRabbit

leeroybrown wrote: »

Again find out if it was a voluntary or involuntary liquidation. In the unlikely event that it was voluntary you might have recourse against the directors for the missing €1000. In the far more likely event that it was involuntary you'll again be behind the Revenue, employees and other protected creditors when looking for money.

As regards finding out more about the bike your best bet would be to find out if a liquidator has been appointed to the business and if so talk to them.

It's an awkward one because I'm not sure if it's really worthwhile spending any money trying to recover the €1000 from them.

Can you advise how I would go about finding out if it was voluntary/involuntary and who the liquidator is? The owner refuses to answer his mobile or respond to voicemails.

Thanks for your advice so far. Appreciate it.

CIARAN_BOYLE

CrazyRabbit wrote: »

Cash. Their credit card system was 'broken' that day, so I dropped into the bank and got the deposit in cash instead.

pity your bank may have done a charge back if you paid by cc

When did the company disolve may they be on one of these lists
http://www.odce.ie/en/court_insolvencies_article.aspx?article=01fb4d29-8508-453b-b7bb-649613a18da2

CrazyRabbit

CIARAN_BOYLE wrote: »

pity your bank may have done a charge back if you paid by cc

When did the company disolve may they be on one of these lists
http://www.odce.ie/en/court_insolvencies_article.aspx?article=01fb4d29-8508-453b-b7bb-649613a18da2

Jan 20th 2012. No reports for that period on the linked website. Thanks though...I'll keep an eye on that site/page.

godtabh

Is there many Aprilia dealerships in London? Ring around and try do some donkey work to see if you can find it

CrazyRabbit

Thanks everyone for the replies and help.

Just found out that the company in question hasn't been dissolved. There was accountancy issues which led to auditors 'freezing' the company/accounts. All sorted now. I'll have the bike next wednesday.

leeroybrown

Nice one.