People still get rather offended at the suggestion of payment in advance too
Don't it just p**s you off. You do work in all good faith. Told by the architect a job well done, invoiced end of May. Just about to send the
boys round after "sorry mate lost the invoice, send us a copy" only to be informed today the company PPI international learning centre has
gone bust.
So money earmarked for hols/ engine/entry fees takes a big knock
Sorry just my rant!! I'm too old for all this hassle
Sorry to hear your woes - we've had similar problems recently.
People still get rather offended at the suggestion of payment in advance too
Firstly, a couple of links to help you out with some useful info;
Linky 1
Linky 2
There is the possibility of you getting some of the monies owed back, but dependant on how much you're owed compared to any other debtors. The
Government (taxman) will take his cut first, then it will go down the list typically in order of amount owed.
Good luck to you, fingers crossed. Just shows how bad people can actually be with money in current times!
What sort of work did you do for them?
Is it the sort of thing that can be stripped out? AC equipment etc.
Presumably other trades have been dropped in it too?
Bastards.
Mike
It always annoys me that when a company has problems, any money that remains is given out to creditors in a strict order: It's fair enough that the people brought in to manage the winding up of a company should be guaranteed first payment or no-one would do it, but then customers and creditor companies come right down at the bottom of the list, the highest other on the list being HMRC (IIRC) - for god sake if a company fails it's far more damaging to individual and small company creditors than it would be as a loss to the government.
It was a refurbishment of the fire alarm system, 7 floors. It's a bit complicated at the moment because we were installing at the managing agents request, on behalf of the tenant. I'm trying to get keys to the building tommorow to see if any equipment is left. 2x 48" LCD tv's and 15 overhead projectors might find thier way onto my van. watch this space for sale day!!
Almost as annoying as the announcement that the government is going to split Northern Rock into two halves. All the bad dept they'll keep hold
off on our behalf (great!) whilst selling off the rest of the company. Then they'll be able to claim they've rescued the bank when in fact
they've just accepted a whole load of bad debt and sold the company back to the shareholders. And they'll be so keen to get rid of the
problem they'll no doubt flog it to anyone who shows an interest. Great. More money being wasted. What a load of f'wits. It's no
surprising the countries up shite creek, it's set up to help big buisness and shareholders at the expense of everyone else (ie the majority of
tax payers).
It's exactly the same as what happened with National Express running the trains. The government privatises it, gives NE the contract who skim a
nice wedge of it, screw it up, the government takes it back (but doesn't bother asking for the money back) then keeps it as a nationalised
company for a while until they can (which they intend to) off-load it (ie re-privatise it again).
Seems a bizarre buisness model our government has. Private companies come in and suck resources dry and when there's no profit any more the
government nationalises them for a while, re-fills them with money from our pockets and then flogs them on the cheap to another load of greedy gits
who start the process all over again. WTF.....
quote:
Originally posted by ernie
It was a refurbishment of the fire alarm system, 7 floors. It's a bit complicated at the moment because we were installing at the managing agents request, on behalf of the tenant. I'm trying to get keys to the building tommorow to see if any equipment is left. 2x 48" LCD tv's and 15 overhead projectors might find thier way onto my van. watch this space for sale day!!
check the insurance is paid up and your liability will cover you for the fire alarm system not working 
quote:
Originally posted by ernie
It was a refurbishment of the fire alarm system, 7 floors. It's a bit complicated at the moment because we were installing at the managing agents request, on behalf of the tenant. I'm trying to get keys to the building tommorow to see if any equipment is left. 2x 48" LCD tv's and 15 overhead projectors might find thier way onto my van. watch this space for sale day!!
Sounds like your contract is with the managing agent, not the end user.
Who issued you the instruction / PO to undertake the works?
Do you have a clause in your terms where the goods remain your property until paid for? If you do, I'd point that out to the agent, and explain
to him that he's going to find it difficult to insure the building once the alarm system is stripped out.
Mike
Thanks for all your replies and help links. Called in to the building, but receivers are camped out in reception and have changed locks etc. Paperwork has changed hands and we await outcome!!