Hi My brother has paid a kitchen company to make a couple of cabinets. They emailed him to say they were shutting the business down but that they would refund the money. Well they haven't and I want to try and get the money back for him. I have the ABN and just trying to find out where I can get some info on the owners of the company so I can go find them and get the money back.
Any ideas of how to get this info? THanks
Ta I managed to get the ABN and it through ABR it says it now is deregistered. So am trying to locate the home address of the owner of the business
If a company is shutting down, then they have to file for liquidity and most probably involve a Creditor. Find out who the creditors are and sort out how to get your deposit back through them.
ta for that
Huh? Isn't the OP's brother the creditor? Maybe you mean administrator.
Hmm lesson learned. Check beforehand next time.
Doubt you'll get the money back. Search the owner's name in whitepages.com.au
Your brother will be an unsecured creditor and unlikely to get his money back. Administrator takes a large chunk of any cash from assets sold.
Apparently you can get the address for free on ASIC. Could just be a PO Box though, no guarantees you will get a reply. IMO if you get stuck it may be worth a complaint to the fair trading authority/office in your state.
What information will I see for free?
Information we will provide for free includes:
•current organisation name details;
•role/s held;
•current business name details;
•former state and territory registration details;
•current address for service of documents;
•current principal place of business; and
•holder type.
https://connectonline.asic.gov.au/HLP/SearchRegisters/sch-us…
Company's registered business address cannot be a PO Box.
http://asic.gov.au/for-business/changes-to-your-company/comp…
Actually at second glance the free address may only be for currently registered entities.
Here they have examples of paid products and the fees:
https://connectonline.asic.gov.au/HLP/SearchRegisters/sch-pa…
The historical extract is $19, if that's what it takes then it may be best to go to fair trading and let them investigate and perhaps mediate.
The registered office will generally only get you an accountant so pointless.
If you do a proper ASIC search you will find the office holders/shareholders. IIRC this will also provide names, addresses and dates of birth.
Then you can go from there, however, the company is the entity that owes the debt - the office bearers/shareholders have no personal liability.
Report to Fair Trading just in case they can do anything. If he paid by credit card, contact the credit card company and ask for a chargeback immediately. There is a process to follow and its involved but you need to start immediately. This is why I always use credit for these purchases as you are protected by consumer credit legislation.
and exactly how many days have passed? If they are closing down might need to wait up to 30 days.
If the trader had any business names registered, there should be an address listed for these freely available at https://connectonline.asic.gov.au/RegistrySearch/faces/landi… On that page, select "Business Names Index" and then type the ABN into the search box that says "Number"
Beyond that the next steps depend on the nature of the entity operating the business. Was it a sole trader (Joe Bloggs), a partnership of individuals (Joe Bloggs and John Smith) or a company (J Bloggs Cabinets Pty Ltd)? This should be apparent when you look up the ABN on the ABR.
If you're having difficulty with getting the address, send me the details you do have and I'll see what I can do.
If they have a domain name setup for their business, do a whois search for it online. Check social media … most companies nowadays have a Facebook page setup.
If they don't list one on the bottom of the page, then you have to ask why?
whois.com/whois/
whois.com/whois/yahoo.com
that will have the name and or ABN.
Then http://abr.business.gov.au/ with the ABN or company name.