Winding up petition from adminstrators

[mel]

One of my suppliers went into administration several months ago, we used them intermitantly for a specific job for which they held a stock of free issue high value material for us. The first I knew of the administration was when I tried to place a call off order using our material and couldn't get hold of anybody.

Anyway the Administrators have been chasing me for nearly £4K which we apparently owed, this is shown on a statement as seperate invoices but the worrying bit is over £2k of which is not ours, they're not our order numbers, and we have no record of any deliveries that tally with them. My suspicion is that in the dieing days someone has been getting desperate to raise cash from a factoring compnay and banging through duff invoices.

The administrators have been getting more and more agressive in their demands and I have happily emailed and spoken to them explaining the situation, I have emailed them a full brake down of which invoices we agree with, which are spurious, along with the free issue materials we are now missing which I am claiming for, this all contras out that they should infact owe me around £300 but I'm realistic enough to realise that there's virtually no chance of ever seeing anything so have in my own mind written this off already. I haven't lost any sleep over this and just thought sod em either they prove we owe it (which I know they can't) or they'll raise a county court claim, I'm fine with either of those as we can show what we did receive, what we are contra claiming for, and there's no way they can prove the disputed element. However they haven't raised a claim they've simply informed me that they are intending to issue a winding up petition unless we pay in full by return,

These are new to me, I've been threatened with court before and infact have been to court before (and won) over a supplier dispute but this I'm a little concerned about. The wording reads like no burden of proof is needed, that they will simply petition for winding up, this will be published, our credit rating destroyed, our bank informed and life generally get poo with no means to dispute it? Can it happen this way? What really is the procedure? and are these vultures really just trying it on ? But most importantly is what do I do now?

[Plotloss]

http://www.brewerconsulting.co.uk/cases/CJ0642RR.h...

First sentence of the implication paragraph...

[Man-At-Arms]

mel said:

and we have no record of any deliveries that tally with them.

ask them to provide a Proof Of Delivery

another danger would be that they'll hold onto your Free Issue material, until all outstanding invoices are paid for

[mel]

I have asked for proof of delivery for the disputed items but got nothing (and will get nothing as it was never ordered or delivered)

So am I right that if they petition for winding up in reality it's no different to a county court claim in that I will have to show the court a valid defence? If so I'm ahppy with that and will simply say ok go ahead.

I most worried that at the petition stage something gets published that does the companies standing harm, I know they can't (or shouldn't) win in court as my defence is valid.

Oh and they've already said that they haven't got any of the free issue material, it's expensive and attractive so I have not doubt that it went straight away, which didn't help that they'd been in adminstration a few weeks before we found out, their former premises are now stripped bare.

Edited by mel on Wednesday 7th April 11:25

[3200gt]

I have just gone through exactly the same thing. It is too long a story to sit he here and type in, so if you want to chat through give me an email with your number and I will call you and go through it with you.

It can be a lot more complicated than you might at first imagine.

[blindswelledrat]

THreatening a winding up petition is ridiculous and unprofessional under the circumstances.
We issue them against several companies and a court will not entertainment them if there is the most spurious dispute. FUrther, the courts actually get angry if they are used as a credit control method as opposed to thier true purpose which is to wind a company up if it is trading insolvently.
YOu have absolutely nothing to worry about.
1)There is no way on earth they will issue it and
2)THere is no way on earth a court would entertain it even if they did.

Its just a silly scare tactic.

[3200gt]

You still need to apply to have it put aside before it even goes to court though. Otherwise your company will be listed in the London gazette with an impending hearing against it. Hardly confidence inspiring for your customers should they see it.