Tag Archives: uk

How Do I Find Out If a Company Has Gone into Administration?

So I recently had this problem where a company I was dealing with (and who had taken my money) stopped providing me with the service and seemed to disappear. They were not answering any of their phones and no-one could get hold of them. Chances are that they had gone belly up but how do I find out if they had gone bust?

My first search led me to check the UK Companies House register. They were indeed listed on here as a limited company (you can check here) but they were still registered as an active company. My next search advised me to phone Trading Standards so I googled for a phone number for the local branch of where the company was based. It came up with a general number for Citizens advice but apparently Trading Standards farm out their calls to them. They said that I would have to phone Companies House. So I called them and they said they had not been notified of the company going into administration and that they would only be notified or take action if the company failed to file any returns or else had lodged with the Insolvency service.

So next stop was to phone the Insolvency Service. I asked them again, what would happen if a company has gone bust but hasn’t notified anyone? They didn’t really have an answer. All anyone kept saying was that they would take action once the company notified them. Somehow I don’t think the first thing on the director’s list was to call the Insolvency Service… Anyway, they mentioned the Official Receiver as being the person who would investigate, so I googled them. They are pretty much part of the Insolvency service but what I did find there was a form to report people who are acting incorrectly. This answered my question really about companies who do not notify anyone that they have stopped trading. Other people can report them and hopefully the Official Receiver will investigate. You just need to fill out a form with all the details. You will need to get the Company Registration number from the Companies House website as well as the address, phone etc.

So if you think that a company has gone bust and you can’t find out any information about whether or not they have gone into administration then you can report them yourself. The place to report them is here and you can do it online or by post.

And don’t forget that if you paid by credit card then you may be entitled to get your money back from your credit card provider under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act.

Buying Fritos in the UK

So I spend a fair bit of time abroad and as a crisp-o-holic I like to try the various crisps (or chips if you are American) in other countries that are different to the ones you can find in the UK.

One of my favourite crips varieties is Fritos. I always have to buy a big bag of fritos when I am overseas and was always a bit disappointed that I couldn’t find Fritos in the UK.

Ok so there are plenty of other great crisps that you can get but sometimes you just have a craving for something particular!

So I was amazed and happy to find that you can actually buy Fritos in the UK! It has taken me some time to discover this so I am excited to be sharing this info with anyone who is as obsessed about crisps as I am.

Not only that, but you can buy loads of different American chips in the UK. OK so you have to buy them online and you have to search about a bit as some of them can be a bit expensive but if you buy multi-packs you usually get better value.

Here are a couple of my favourites – the Fritos of course and Bugles too 🙂 The link for the Fritos below takes you to a large pack which costs almost as much for delivery 🙁 – however, it will also show you some other packs starting from 69p (plus delivery) so you should be able to get some that work out at hopefully a not too extortionate price. Obviously the more you buy the more economical it works out with postage!

If you order some of the packs that are 69p then the delivery costs only increase by a few pence if you order 20 packs for example.

  

The good thing that I only realised about Fritos recently – well a couple of good things really – is that firstly they have no trans fat in them and secondly they are gluten free. In addition they are Kosher and MSG free so they seem to have a lot going for them. Am I trying to convince myself that crisps are good for me really? Hmm, maybe!

So as well as being able to buy the Fritos originals you can also get a few different flavours of Fritos ribbons, for example barbeque flavour and tomato flavour, so I will share these links below as well. These are sold by a South African company so likely they are branded as ‘ribbons’ there.

Another of my favourites in the Fritos range is the scoops – these must make the best snacks for dipping that I can think of as they have a ready made hole for all the dip! However at nearly £20 for one packet I think these are going to stay on my shopping list for a while longer or else I need to pick up some extra packets next time I see them abroad…