Your rights

Losing your deposit

Under insolvency law, customers who paid a deposit for a product or service are unsecured creditors. If a company is in voluntary administration wait to see if it decides to trade its way out of difficulty. If it does reopen its doors then either try to get your deposit back or pay whatever amount is owing and take possession of the goods as soon as possible.

If a company is in receivership or liquidation there's usually not enough money to go around, so you are likely to get only a fraction back, or even nothing at all. But you still should make a claim straight away with the liquidator, or you may not get into the queue at all. You'll need to fill in a creditor's claim form - available from the liquidator.

Finding the receiver or liquidator

To find out who is the receiver or liquidator, check in the public notices of a major newspaper in your area. You could also visit the company's business premises. Often there is a sign on the door telling you who to contact. If the company is in receivership and still trading, ask a staff member for the receiver's contact details. If they are court appointed receivers or liquidators the court can tell you how to contact them.

Mail order

If a mail order company cashed your cheque but you never got the goods, contact them promptly. If you can't trace them, check with the Companies Office whether they have gone into receivership or liquidation.

If the company took your money and hasn't gone into receivership report the matter to the Police and the Commerce Commission.

Goods for repair

If the company has possession of a product you'd sent in for repair, you are entitled to get it back. But you will have to identify it - preferably with the serial number or some other positive method - and pay for any repairs done, assuming you were liable for the cost in the first place.

If you can't positively identify the goods you own, you will have to lodge a claim and hope for the best.

If you get your product back, but it's not fixed, you could try the manufacturer or distributor. If it's quite new, it may be covered by a manufacturer's guarantee. Even if it's not, you may have the right to claim against the manufacturer/distributor under the Consumer Guarantees Act.

If this doesn't apply, ask the manufacturer to direct you to another repair company.

Faulty work

If the company has botched a repair job on something you own, you should put in a claim for the cost of the repair with the liquidator - you'll be treated as an unsecured creditor.

Layby

If you're paying something off on layby when the company stops trading, you have the right to pay for and collect your goods, as long as you're up to date with the payments. But do it as soon as you can.

The Layby Sales Act 1971, which covers all this, only applies to goods worth $7,500 or less. It doesn't apply to a layby of a motor vehicle.