Reply to: Albany - Having Problems??

[Sceptictone]

What has possibly happened

If the administrators are also advisors to RBS then to understand what has happened I suggest looking at Private Eye, issue 1254, where they have details of companies going into administration that were doing ok, but the advisors/administrators pocket millions from the work they do with the rest going to the bank and nothing for anyone else. It is a rotten business.

[pzz76077]

List of administrators that have been appointed for Albany.

http://www.recruiter.co.uk/hope-for-...004292.article

PZZ

[Tapasboy]

Thanks PZZ !! That is very good information.

[pzz76077]

Latest news for those who have not seen it: http://www.recruiter.co.uk/administr...004276.article

PZZ

[pzz76077]

Despite promises I haven´t had =any= communication from Albany myself.
I need to know who the administrators are and who´s sitting on my money.

If the reason Albany went into administration was merely because RBS pulled their funding, then perhaps there´s something left.

However, if some cowboy took the money and did something deeply silly with it then we are all stuffed. Our money ended up in somebody elses pockets without any way for us to get it back, ever. I´d still be interested t know who the cowboy was though.

You need to start here: http://www.insolvency.gov.uk/compuls...neycompany.htm



AFAIK, a company in liquidation are under no obligation to contact you, though may do if they wish.

Also AFAIK, the Albany companies that are no longer around were just trading companies and had no actual assets that could be disposed of etc.
Even the fee earning contractors were handed over to VEC for free it seems.
Though I did hear that one of the directors left Albany last week and moved to VEC. Suspicious or what??

PZZ

[Tapasboy]

Has anyone heard who the creditors are yet? I've still not heard anything from them.

Despite promises I haven´t had =any= communication from Albany myself.
I need to know who the administrators are and who´s sitting on my money.

If the reason Albany went into administration was merely because RBS pulled their funding, then perhaps there´s something left.

However, if some cowboy took the money and did something deeply silly with it then we are all stuffed. Our money ended up in somebody elses pockets without any way for us to get it back, ever. I´d still be interested to know who the cowboy was though.

[paul2e]

Has anyone heard who the creditors are yet? I've still not heard anything from them.

[DS23]

Looks lik we are all stuffed. The problem is that if the contract is not terminated can Albany still invoice the client although I have not submitted timesheets?
The only thing to do is to bite the bullet, say bye bye to the money, terminate the Albany contract, and not take up the Von Essen offer but get a contract with the client direct.
any opinons on this?

if you have unsubmitted timesheets... you could get the administrators to terminate your contract (pre date accordingly) which would free you up to negotiate a new contract either direct or through another agency and process the timesheets. of course this would come with a fee - get in contact with the administrators and start negotiating!

what is the von essen offer?

[chef]

Again, I am not a lawyer and if you are owed a large amount of money then I would certainly get legal advice NOW..

However, if I were in your situation then I would take it that (assuming they are over the 30 days payment terms as stated in the contract, or whatever the payment terms are) then you can take it as a breach of contract between you and the agency and therefore start to negotiate terms direct with the end client, unless of course the end client has a Preferred Supplier List and then you better start negotiating to one of them your very strong position in that you have the contract all lined up and you already have your foot in the door and so want xxx rate. Dont set the rate too high or else they'll try to undercut you and get one of their own in that doesnt have such a low profit margin.

If you want to know who to contact if Agency Co. aren't answering phone's etc. as previously stated the Agency has gone into Administration, therefore, you should contact the Administrators and make sure you're registered on the list of creditors. These things generally take a long time to happen (to ensure the Administrators do a good job/take as much money for themselves as possible) and so assuming you have an unpaid invoice lodged with bust Agency then at some point (it took them 4 weeks to get in touch with me when an agency went bust on me) they will contact you as a list of creditors and ask you to list exactly what is due to (inc. Late Payment fee's and interest due set at the rate that should be stated on your invoice). Then they spend a little (well a lot) more time sorting out the companies assets etc etc and eventually (this took circa 4 months if I remember correctly) they come back and tell you that Agency Co. has not enough money in total to pay all creditors and HMRC come first, then what little is left after Administrators fees is divided up into a repayment scheme, in my case which was based on a 2 year buyout deal from another Agency Co. In short resign yourself to the fact that yes they can "just not pay me what im due" and that Administrators are on the same level as Lawyers, Plumbers and Agents when it comes to extortionate fees and so you are very unlikely to get your money back.

However, the 1 shining light at the end of the tunnel if your sweating a lot at this point is GO SEE A LAWYER .. TODAY and they may advise you better given it's their chosen profession and I am merely stating what occurred in my own case. Yes I did see a lawyer and I managed to get 28k of the 36k due because I acted very fast and didn't submit a key document to end client until I received at least part payment of what was due which occured approx 1 week before Agnecy went into Admin.

As I said Im still due what with interest etc. now adds up to 8.5/9k and that date is from Oct 2008.

All the best of luck

Chef

GO SEE A LAWYER

[Sceptictone]

Albany probs

Looks lik we are all stuffed. The problem is that if the contract is not terminated can Albany still invoice the client although I have not submitted timesheets?
The only thing to do is to bite the bullet, say bye bye to the money, terminate the Albany contract, and not take up the Von Essen offer but get a contract with the client direct.
any opinons on this?

[JSC01]

what to do next?

I am owed pay for the whole of January 2010. Now that Albany have said they are going into administration, does anyone actually know who I can contact to get paid my wages? (phone lines at AMUK are dead, and no replies to emails - I`m guessing the staff have been sacked).
What moves can I make to try to get the money that I am owed by AMUK, if any? Reading through the threads people seem to be resigned to the fact that their hard earned cash is lost...surely there must be a way of getting paid what we are owed.

[Fred Bloggs]

Yep. So better still go direct if you can. Another parasite out of the loop.

I agree, current gig is via "in house agency", so effectively is direct. There are a few agencies that I know that are pretty sound though.

[PAH]

I guess a lot of agencies are really struggling just now too?

Yep. So better still go direct if you can. Another parasite out of the loop.

[Fred Bloggs]

Well they owe me whole month
Not sure what to do.

Not sure there is much you can do?

[Fred Bloggs]

Sympathies to the guys who've lost money, of course. But this just adds fuel to my long held suspicions that these man co type things are just parasites to be avoided at all costs? At least invoicing from my own Ltd to the agency and getting paid weekly, it limits my losses to no more than 1 week. I'd likely walk away if the agency missed a payment in this climate and I'd try to get the client to switch to another agency if possible. I guess a lot of agencies are really struggling just now too?