wmartin@brl-tgr.ARPA (Will Martin ) (11/20/85)
In the light of recent postings about what an employee should do when a company decalres bankruptcy, I have a couple questions about the opposite condition -- what do do when you are a creditor (of sorts): The situation -- I ordered some items from a California company by mailorder. I am a Missouri resident. The order was prepaid, by money order, as the company required this. I received half of what I ordered; the rest was put on backorder. Some time later, I received a notice from a lawyer about the company going bankrupt. I wrote back to him, enclosing copies of my documents and showing the amount the company owed me from my prepayment (about $90). I also sent letters to the postal inspection service, the company itself, and, I believe, the FTC and the California State Attorney General's Consumer Protection department. I never received any refund, and never got any legal notice from a court or other formal information about this bankruptcy. This all happened several years ago. The small amount involved made hiring a lawyer uneconomic. The distance made personal investigation impossible. What should a person do in such circumstances? Is there anything that can be done at this late date to locate proof that the firm ever really decalred bankruptcy? I thought that, if they did so, I would receive formal notice as a creditor. Since I never did, I suspect they just disappeared and fled their debts. Over ten years ago or so, when something similar happened to me involving a mailorder from a New York firm for hifi equipment, a very nice lady from the Federal Trade Commission helped me get a full refund (for about $400). Now, though, there isn't much left of the FTC to help consumers, I believe. (That is sad -- I always felt the FTC would be much more useful as a mail-order-sales policeman than to spend its resources doing big general-purpose things like investigating the used-car and funeral industry, and then never really doing anything as a result!) Comments and advice and recommendations to help others who encounter such situations would be welcomed -- please post! Regards, Will Martin UUCP/USENET: seismo!brl-bmd!wmartin or ARPA/MILNET: wmartin@almsa-1.ARPA