Inview Visual Communications – Trade supplier going into administration?

[Hugh Potter]

Can you not escalate to send the bailiffs in? It’s what I’ve had to do and if they aren’t paying a CCJ then you can move it forward.

I don’t know how administration works but if they’re still very solvent and making good money I don’t think they can go into admin’, I assumed admin’n was when the company has no money, too many debtors but may have assets?

Hugh.

PS, welcome to the forum. This is a slightly unconventional first post.. You may well get better response if you introduce yourself a in the say hello forum and pop a photo up!
H

[Dirk Van Smit]

Thanks,

I tried to get a debt collection company to chase this one up where they get commision, but they said if they’ve got CCJ’s against them then it’s not worth their time. I have the option to pay to take them to court, but they kind of suggested that you may well not get the money as they haven’t filed their accounts on time and still not filed, and the number of CCJ’s suggest they may not have money anyway. I could be throwing money away they said.

I was hoping to hear if others have dealt with James.

[Iain Pearson]

Welcome Dirk
I have to agree with Hugh, maybe by introducing yourself and your business, and possibly a photo would provoke a better response to your questions.
I can only assume that you are owed money/materials by said company ?

[David Hammond]

Speaking from experience, you’re pi$$ing in the wind.

They’ve a rack of CCJ’s against them, I would assume most would have tried enforcement, with bailiffs or HCEO’s, of which non show as settled.

This would indicate to me that they’ve no assets to recover, so it’s pointless going down that route.

Taking them to court will only add yet another CCJ to their growing list.

You could issue a statutory demand on the company, however, unless you follow through with it, and pay the £1000’s in fee’s again it’s pointless.

It may sound blunt, and I don’t mean to cause offence, I’ve been where you are now.

It’s pointless checking a customer after you’ve give them credit. We’ve reduced the number of credit accounts we provide to almost zero. Unless they spend regularly with us, and a considerable amount, pass a credit check they’re on pro-forma, or at least a minimum 50% deposit.

The courts are useless, enforcement is weak at best despite what they show on the TV, if they can’t or don’t want to pay, you’re buggered after spending even more money going to court. :shake:

[Vince Francis]

What is interesting is that they have not submitted any accounts for 2 years, in fact they have never submitted anything! He also has a company called ONEFINEPLAY LTD, and again, no accounts have been filed. This is a much newer company. Clearly they are up to something & how they have got away with it for so long is shocking. Hope no one on here has been caught by them

[Unknown Member]

James Bishop was a client of ours at Group101 and I must admit we didn’t have any problems getting paid from him

Granted his account spend was low but he did always pay.

Tons and tons of quotes done as well.

[M Hinchliffe]

I have just checked this myself and I can see that they now have another 2 CCJ’s so a total of 12.

I started investigating this as I’ve had 3 companies call me talking about them being stung by James. One thing in common with all these calls, were the very creative stories as to why the products haven’t turned up despite paying for them. The continuous promises that things will then be delivered for definite by a certain date has led for installation crews to be booked on site that then end up being unable to do the work. This has been a bigger problem than the amount of money lost, as this also costs money and damages customer relationships. James will just keep on going with the creative stories until you realise that you’re not going to get anywhere.

By the way, they also owe us £432.

Debt collection companies won’t touch this as they’ve already got 12 CCJ’s and using my credit checking software I can see that they haven’t filed accounts for the year ending 30th September 2017 yet, which were due by 30 June 2018. They are also a dormant company in the year to 30th Sept 2016 according to my credit checking company. I don’t know how dormant is defined as they were very much active.

The address that the company uses is 20-22 Wenlock Road, London which is also where a company called Made Simple Group Ltd are registered, and they offer a ‘Registered Office Service’ for many companies for just £50 + vat per year. This means that the company has no assets at that address, so sending in the bailiffs would be pointless. They will then process all your mail and forward if necessary.

All this means that James has been able to keep on going and no-one is prepared to do anything and just accept the loss, as this is the advice given by debt collection companies.

[Graham Scanlan]

I’m kind of new to the boards so hi everyone,
I did some research of my own and found an alternative address,

Unit 1
White Hall Farm
Shalford Green
Essex
CM7 5AZ

Not sure if this will help, or are there any local members that can take a peek.

[Jayd Kent]

IVC took an order from us in January 2019 and a hefty deposit. We were then spun a line of excuses for many months. Our eventual losses included installed steel works, labour, scaffolding and materials and loss of a good customer. If there was never any intention to supply the goods you have to wonder why IVC would keep offering false deadlines and basically stringing us along. Once we asked for our money back all communication stopped.

The following week we "anonymously" emailed IVC about a quote for a new job. We received an immediate reply.

[Paul Hodges]

They owe £39,000 in CCJ’s alone! Listed as non trading now.

Bailiffs can’t legally force anyone to hand over money, the court bailiff can remove goods etc but it all comes down to what this company has left to take, which takes time to investigate before you spend more money chasing it.

Unless the debt was huge, it will be more efficient to write it off. Don’t fall for the old phone call from debt collectors either.. have you got any unpaid debts in the last 6 years, we can get the money etc. They can’t get money from people who don’t want to pay. The only people who pay debts are the ones who have to, to continue trading. As soon as they know they can’t save their own business, they won’t care about yours!

[M Hinchliffe]

They may be listed as non-trading, but I emailed him a few days ago anonomously, and he responded with suggestions on which products may be used. He’s been listed as non-trading, but has been for a few years, despite continuing to trade and racking up 12 CCJs.

[Paul Hodges]

Someone should put in a winding up order on him. That actually may be the only way you can recover a debt from a place like that

[M Hinchliffe]

No one wants to go through the expense of doing this and potentially getting nothing back from it.
That’s the advice I’ve had from debt collection companies.

[John Hulin]

Hi

I have just received a request for a trade signage quotation from this company, so they are defiantly still trading.

John

[David Hammond]

quote John Hulin:

Hi

I have just received a request for a trade signage quotation from this company, so they are defiantly still trading.

John

It costs money to issue a winding up petition and gives you no more chance of recovering what you’re owed.

I’m not saying we’re perfect, we’ve had our fingers burnt in the past.

We are a businesses before signmakers, dishing out credit has inherent risk, simple things can reduce that.

How much money are you comfortable loosing? How much can your business afford to loose and remain operational?

How comfortable giving large amounts of credit to customers?

If someone cannot, or simply will not pay up, you’re not going to see a penny.

In my opinion you’re best spending your time tightening up credit control, than chasing debts.

[Paul Hodges]

quote David Hammond:

quote John Hulin:

Hi

I have just received a request for a trade signage quotation from this company, so they are defiantly still trading.

John

It costs money to issue a winding up petition and gives you no more chance of recovering what you’re owed.

I’m not saying we’re perfect, we’ve had our fingers burnt in the past.

We are a businesses before signmakers, dishing out credit has inherent risk, simple things can reduce that.

How much money are you comfortable loosing? How much can your business afford to loose and remain operational?

How comfortable giving large amounts of credit to customers?

If someone cannot, or simply will not pay up, you’re not going to see a penny.

In my opinion you’re best spending your time tightening up credit control, than chasing debts.

Indeed, reducing credit accounts is the way to go, where possible. I will disagree slightly when you say someone unwilling to pay up means you won’t get paid, from experience I will say first hand that if a business intends to keep trading, they won’t want CCJ’s and bailiffs on the door. Plenty of people I’ve chased through the courts have been unwilling to pay, but because they wanted to stay in business, they had to pay in the end. Anyone running a sensible type of business, needs credit. When these companies are red flagged, the only way they can get credit is if other people don’t credit check them, maybe that’s the case with this one I don’t know.

You’re quite right of course in that if the defendant can’t pay, it’s all rather pointless but again, credit checking will tell you all that.

My point about the winding up order is that yes, it costs money – but if the guy can pay and wants to keep running, he will probably pay up at that point as there’s no other option other than go bust. Yes I know they can come back under another name or another director etc, it just makes life a bit more difficult. In some cases where it’s been a large debt, I have known firms pay for the winding up order out of principal, I’ve done it myself not expecting to get paid, just wanting some justice (I actually did get paid that time). It’s not an option for everyone though I know.

It is a minefield though. We operate similarly to David’s philosophy now, and we don’t really suffer any bad debts now.

[David Hammond]

If they don’t want to pay, they won’t. Its that simple. What you see on TV about the HCEO’s is only the stuff they want you to see.

Not where they’ve made their 4 visits and send the claimant the bill for £75+VAT.

Sure some will pay, to continue trading, and not have the CCJ. Some will drag it out to the death, knowing even if you win a CCJ of paid within a set time thr CCJ isn’t recorded on the credit file.

Others will rack up CCJ’s knowing the laws pretty crap, and there’s very little you can do get what you’re owed.

Court action takes time & money, and no guarantee of payment.

Whilst checking out a customer before hand, having a handle of your credit control, may cost some money, and a bit of time initially, but will see a greater return, and is much less hassle and stress than taking people to court.

If you knew all this information about this particular company before hand would you have given them credit?

[Vince Francis]

According to Companies House they are a dormant company

They have racked up: 14 unsatisfied CCJ(s) at a cost of £43,390 according to the system I use

The Sole Director has another company: reg no:11547360 ONEFINEPLAY LTD set up 1st Sept 2018

[M Hinchliffe]

I think this may be a different James Bishop as he has a different date of birth:
Inview Visual Communications – August 1977 – James Peter Bishop
OneFinePlay – July 1983 – James Bishop

The registered address is the same, but I can see there are hundreds on commpanies at that virtual address.

OneFinePlay seems to be doing something completely different to Inview VC.

[Jayd Kent]

http://www.inviewltd.co.uk

[Graham Scanlan]

Nice touch, hopefully it will help spread the word

[Martin James]

They’ve just got another CCJ against him:

02/09/2019 THE COUNTY COURT ONLINE £2,671 Judgment

I guess that going to cost someone and they’ll probably get no-where.

[Phil Davies]

People like this get away with it for so long it makes them cocky. Then they cross the wrong person….

[Martin James]

One more, which takes him up to 16CCJs I believe:
18/10/2019 THE COUNTY COURT ONLINE £395 Judgment

Also:
23/10/2019 Mr J.P. Bishop has left the board

Hopefully, that means he’s finished, but he’s still a 100% shareholder, so not quite sure what this means, as it says there are currently no directors.