Hello all,
Came to this thread by accident. I've not read through it all but what I have read makes me very angry, so I'd just like to introduced you to a little known legal tool in the UK called a 'Statutory Demand' which is way of demanding payment of monies owed to you by a company, whether it's an individual or a limited company (US corporation), This is the government website link:
https://www.gov.uk/statutory-demands/overviewIt was really designed as a way of one company forcing a debtor to pay up, it's not used an awful lot and almost never by individuals, but that doesn't mean that individuals can't use it. It doesn't cost anything except the cost of registered or recorded delivery post to 'serve' it on the company in question.
Now here's the killer:
Even if your claim may rest on soemwhat shaky ground in terms of Alpha's T's & C's, you can still put in your claim and:
LEGALLY THEY MUST RESPOND TO YOUR CLAIM WITHIN 21 DAYS. IF THEY DON'T THEN YOU CAN ENTER A PETITION TO WIND UP (LIQUIDATE) THEIR COMPANY
Now one person doing it will just be a nuisance to them, but 100? or 1000? They don't have the option to ignore any one of you, because you might be the one that petitions for liquidation! This is not in any way similar to a small claims action, that takes place in a court before a judge (or sheriff in Scotland) and each claimant has to pay court fees to lodge their claim. 'Class action' cases' are difficult to bring before UK courts.
The key here is mass action, one individual demand won't cut it.
I'm pretty sure that there will be some of you that live in the UK to coordinate this if you go down this road. What might be advantageous to you
all is to write (NOT EMAIL) to Alpha and demand your money back (on the basis that you haven't got the product or refund you were promised) giving the 7 days to do so. It can be 'served' by recorded delivery post, about £1.80 in the UK. They will likely ignore you or send out a standard letter, it doesn't really matter what they say, your DEMAND is what they ultimately have to answer, the 7 day letter merely reinforces your Statutory Demand.
This is not driven by consumer law, that's why it's so sneaky!
If nothing else it will force them to do something. Everyone's claim will be different so they won't be able to get away with a standard letter, there is too much risk that a court will accept a petition for liquidation if they do this. If they get liquidated yes, you may lose your money bus as a creditor you have rights and that includes forcing the liquidator to bring the company directors to account, and perhaps even asking for criminal action to be taken against them if they have behaved fraudulently. It does happen regularly, believe it or not.
Hope you all get a result of some kind!
I'm not familiar with all that's gone before here but I think this is worth looking into.
If Alpha's people are reading this then they might want to consider telling you the truth about what they've done with your money and try to find a resolution. Directors have statutory duties in the UK to protect monies they are given either as investment or payment for goods, They can be jailed if it's found that they did not exercise due care in protecting those monies and spent them on their personal enrichment. Think on.