Liquidated company's phones still getting answered. Legal?

The Dagda

A company (Company 1) we were doing business with has gone into liquidation.
The directors, and at least one of the staff, have gone working with another existing company (Company 2) in the exact same type of business.
The phone of Company 1 is diverted to Company 2, and now being answered by one of the old staff, who is now taking orders etc. for Company 2.
The employee is answering the old phone in a very neutral manner, "hello, Mary here, how can I help you?" (Mary's not her real name)

Is this legal? It seems to me that Company 1 is trying to have it's cake and eat it.

The liquidated company has left a sizable amount outstanding with our company, so I'm sure you'll understand my interest.

Thanks in advance.

benway

Hard to say for definite, but I'd say probably. The only recourse wrt outstanding debts would be against the company in liquidation, from where I see it.

It could be a thing that Company 2 has purchased rights to Company 1's client base and phone line, in which case any money paid over will be available in the liquidation. That may not even have been necessary if the staff you mentioned didn't have non-compete clauses.

The issue of the phone redirect is interesting - if it were me, I'd find out who the liquidator is and run it by him/her.

MagicSean

I can't imagine the liquidator would allow this unless he has received some payment (on behalf of Company 1) from Comapny 2 in relation to it

FreudianSlippers

Liquidator will have a duty to the members as well, so they need to ensure that there is a good chunk of money coming in. I, personally, think it'd be odd for a liquidator to allow ex-directors of a company in liquidation to manage the assets of Company A through Company B.

Without information (thus breaking the charter) it'd be impossible to say.

rolo1976

Hi, we're thinking about the options of liquidating our small limited company and I want to keep my mobile number for personal use. Is this possible?

Depends on the circumstances of how it occurred but on the assumption that the liquidator didn't sell the business to the new entity it is likely that there has been some fraudulent trading and the directors could be made personally liable for the debts of Company A.

VERY VERY situation dependent however.

FreudianSlippers

rolo1976 wrote: »

Hi, we're thinking about the options of liquidating our small limited company and I want to keep my mobile number for personal use. Is this possible?

If you haven't begun liquidation yet, surely you could open a new account in your personal capacity and transfer the number and get a new number for your corporate account?

rolo1976

I have been told that once a liquidator comes on board they control everything.
If I change my number now afterwards I could be accused of trading when I knew that we were insolvent.
We are still trying to collect money from debtors and pay as many creditors as possible to minimise losses to any creditors.

Victor

If you know now that you are insolvent, you are already breaking the law.

Are you insolvent?

If you aren't, change the phone number.