The story continues

[Mustang]

Status update

Invoices paid in full, no further contact from the company in question. Interest still not paid. Claim made in the small claims court. Awaiting decision. Lawyer been used but time kept to a minimum - filing claim myself.

Will let you know the outcome!

[Not So Wise]

* They paid their permie staff 3 weeks late for 2 months running

Thats a clear indicator for everyone to get out and others not to deal with them.
You can screw around contractors, you can screw around clients but the instant you see a company screwing around the payments of it's permanent staff you know that is a company in serious financial difficulty (or if it's not yet will be soon once all it's experienced staff jump ship)

[Rebecca Loos]

can you name the client then? Come on, you're anonymous on this board...name and shame buddy....

[mcquiggd]

The beauty of the small claims court is that, even if a company owes you a fiver, you can apply to have the company wound up. For 60 quid - far less than a solicitor will charge you, thats a great way of throwing a bucket of cold water in the faces of directors trying to screw you over.


My old schoolchum at Slaughter and May is my usual fallback though, we go out for dinnner and he sends a letter and hey presto, I end up getting paid.

I might take legal action action Atos Origin actually, as they signed a contract for 6 months on 350 a day through Alexander Mann, then said they had budget problems, then asked me to take 2 months off and a pay cut, offered me a lower rate with a promise that 'by christmas I would be back on the same rate - depending on whether or not the other contractors took a holiday', then next day told me in a corridor I was 'leaving on Friday at 5.30' - I received an email for Alexander Mann saying my contract was being terminated at 4pm on the last day of my original contract, exactly two weeks after they had signed me up for 6 months, then advertised the same contract, on the same day, on Jobserve for 3 months.

Atos Origin, Alexander Mann = bunch of Kunts. Avoid.

[tim123]

The beauty of the small claims court is that, even if a company owes you a fiver, you can apply to have the company wound up.

No you can't. A minimum debt of 750 pounds is required.

Tim

[Mustang]

Minimum?

I am not sure there is a minimum..........! Will name the client once the outcome of the claim is known! :-)

[tim123]

I am

http://www.insolvency.gov.uk/guidanc...upacompany.htm

tim

[ASB]

The advice I received was that in practice it is best to submit a Statutory Demand wait 3 weeks and then then go for the winding up order.

The problem being that any of the other routes tend not to prove that the creditro cannot pay. Trouble is it#s not particularly cheap to do it properly - the petition itself costs 500 quid I think.

I've written off the 1k interest that was owed and they didn't pay. If it had got to the court steps then I propbably wouldn't have.

[mcquiggd]

I am

http://www.insolvency.gov.uk/guidanc...upacompany.htm

tim

To be fair, no minimum - depends on how they respond to legal action... ive been involved in such action, and came close to having the company wound up..

"The court will regard a company as being unable to pay its debts if any of the following occurs:

A creditor who is owed more than £750 serves a 'statutory demand' (Form 4.1) for the money due and it is not paid or secured, or a settlement is not agreed, within 21 days. You can get the form for a statutory demand from your local court.

The completed form must be served on the company at its registered office. The creditor must have proof of service, so it is usual to employ a process server (these are listed in Yellow Pages under 'detective agencies'). The court is not involved in issuing statutory demands, so no court fee is payable. However, the company can dispute the statutory demand and apply to court for an order restraining the creditor from presenting a winding up petition.

A creditor obtains judgment against the company and execution is unsatisfied; in other words the sheriff or bailiff is unable to seize enough assets to clear the debt. You can get the forms to issue a claim for judgment from your local court or from the court service website at www.courtservice.gov.uk

It is proved to the court that the company cannot pay its debts when they fall due; for example, no payment is made in response to a letter of demand.
It is proved to the court that the company's total debts exceed its total assets.
"

[tim123]

To be fair, no minimum"

It's unclear what it is you don't understand about the part of the process that says:
"A creditor who is owed more than £750 serves a 'statutory demand' ".

If the debt is for less than 750, you do not satisfy this criterium and thus cannot go to step 2.

tim