To Try and Get a Refund

[TheCatsBlanket]

Back in late spring my husband and I paid £600 for a service to be carried out (for complex tax/ accountancy type things)

The company is a small one and registered on companies house.

My husband sent off various documents as requested and then had zero response for a couple of weeks, despite emailing them for updates.

At the beginning of June, we received an email to say that the owner of the accountants firm had died suddenly, and that a different company would now take over.

Trying to keep this concise, the company we originally hired (due to us having dual citizenship UK & USA) are based in England, as are we, yet the company we were told will take over, are in Florida.

My husband had a very brief zoom call with them and we decided that we do not want to carry on with using them, not only due to time zone differences, but we didn’t feel particularly comfortable with them.

No work has been done by them and nor was any work done by the original company, and yet we are £600 down. When we send emails requesting a refund, it’s an automated response saying “In view of the unforeseen circumstances and to expedite matters of urgency, correspondence will go forward to ………”

I understand that someone has died and if I appear heartless asking for money back, then I apologise, but I believe we’re entitled to it back. The small company was just a husband and wife team, so the only contact email we have is that of the wife, hence we get the automated response.

My husband says that we should forget about it because we’re getting no response now, but it’s really irritating me so he’s told me to try and sort it out…..we paid £600 for a service we did not get and even though it’s been extenuating circumstances, I still think I’m right in wanting a refund.

I'm just not sure where to go from here, so any advice would be appreciated please.

Oh gosh, that’s awful and £600 is a lot to lose. I’m not sure what you can do, but hope someone can come along with good advice.

I suspect the new firm have bought the business from the widow. If so, I imagine it might be quite difficult to get a refund.

Can't you launch a small claims action against them?

Don't worry about the personal details here. You have paid for a service you have not received - this is business, you need to get that money back.

Take them to small claims court.

This. Regardless of the death, they are operating so need to pay up.

Not much of an update at all, other than to say I emailed the company again yesterday saying that if they had not refunded in full by close of business this Friday, then I would be taking the matter to small claims court. I have not had any response yet 🙁

Will that work if the company is Florida based ? i thought small claims only have jurisdiction for England & Wales , and the Scottish equivalent for Scotland.

Are they with any Uk association? You mentioned accountancy. Is there a UK address of any kind?

To practice in the Uk, the old company probably was registered with an accredited association but if the new company has no links to the Uk, I do not see how small claims court in the UK will have jurisdiction.

Unless you can go to small claims in the UK, it cannot be worth pursuing. £600 is not much. It might be worth getting some services from them or seeing what else they can do for you that is useful.

I agree with this, if you paid money up front shouldnt that be in a client account if they hadn't sent you a bill, like with a solicitor?

What professional bosy were they a member of?

To be honest, I have no idea ( I’m not clever enough to understand it all ) Our contract is/was with the English company, which is still showing as active on companies house. They insisted we paid in full before they would begin to help.

Nothing has been done by the Florida based company and we didn’t formally appoint them, all that occurred was a brief Zoom call where husband briefly told them our reason for initially needing assistance from the now deceased person.

We’ve paid £600 for a service which we have not received from anyone anywhere.

I find it odd, although again I don’t fully understand, but I wonder why were we not given the option of either a refund OR the suggestion to use the USA company that they recommended? I’m certain we could have sourced another company in UK of our own volition.

Someone somewhere has our money and we’re out of pocket having had bugger all to show for it.

There is a UK address yes and I have sent a hardcopy of the email by registered post today which requires a signature from them.

I think £600 is a lot for nothing!

Ok great!
What I meant was £600 is not much if you have to fight it in the USA.