I Was Robbed

I have just got the last of my redundancy after being made redundant over a year and a half ago. Not that it was the full entitlement, oh no costs have to be accounted for. Anyone not aware of the process when your made redundant when a company is first bought out and then folded. All staff get via the Government any outstanding wages, holiday pay and a proportion of their redundancy capped at £400 a year. Any excess comes from the pot of money after the Government has had any money due to it. Other creditors only get a proportion of what is left AFTER we get our share so obviously we have a good chance of getting our dues right?

Not quite, in fact not at all. You see we are NOT directly behind the Government, the nice professional people who come in to administer the monies and asserts of the now deceased company get THEIR share before us and boy do they know how to get it.

Our Company still had over £40,000 in the pot when six months ago when they sent out letters to all the staff saying they had another £20,000 they felt they had a good chance of recovering and so was seeking to extend the usual twelve month action period. So in the letter I was given the option of agreeing to the extension or basically leaving it to them to decide if to do so (No I am NOT kidding!!!) Well given the number of staff we had that £40,000 would have paid all of us our dues. Now fast forward six months.

I got my cheque, but before that I received a letter stating if I wanted the break down I could go on line or ask for a copy in writing which they would supply at NO COST. My cheque was for a whopping £64 and change. Er rather less that I am owed, when I say less I am talking well over a thousand pounds short. The explanation partially comes from the two charges listed below.

Charge to send me a letter telling me they can supply information at no cost, £98 and some change

Charge to send me my cheque, yes you guessed it, £98 and some change.

Not that I was charged for this please understand that, no it was the fund. Now they did nothing wrong, nothing criminal, nothing that was morally right either. They have literally spent 18 months fleecing the fund at £98 plus change for every action they have taken. Be that a phone call, a letter or God forbid a visit. Even at such mind numbing charges they still could not spend the full fund so extended the period to guarantee they could take even more money. Understand this EVERY letter is just under £100 a pop, a phone call to check a store has opened was £100 bar peanuts. Of course that was about ten stores so in less than ten minutes we were charged around £1000. It was a small miracle that any money was left after the 12 month fleecing had passed. Oh just in case you have not guessed the £40,000 did not become £60,000 it ended at about £20,000 how ironic. Still you got to laugh, or so they would tell me if I paid them £100 to phone me up  ;-)