I received the following letter from Escom UK dated 20th August 1996.

Dear Mr Airey

Escom UK Ltd - in receivership ("the company" or "Escom")

As you may know I was appointed joint receiver of the company on 12 July 1996.

I regret to advise you that any warranties issued by the company prior to my appointment are no longer effective as they were not covered by insurance.

You may submit a claim against the company for any costs that you might not have otherwise incurred if the Escom warranty issued to you was still effective. Please note that claims must apply to costs in relation to faults covered and arising during the period of your warranty. You may also claim for the cost in respect of the unexpired period of any extended warranty purchased from Escom.

If, however, you purchased your equipment within twelve months of the date of receivership i.e. in the period from 12th July 1995 to close of business on 12th July 1996 you may purchase an underwritten warranty for £50.00 provided there are no existing faults on your equipment. In the event that such a fault has developed you should arrange for the equipment to be repaired before taking out such a warranty. Details of this cover and a claim form may be obtained from Computacare International Limited, Greenview House, Manor Road, Wallington, Surrey, SM6 0BN, telephone 0181 286 6606, fax 0181 773 3420. You may be able to submit a claim for the cost or part of the cost of a new warranty, if it applies to a period that was previously covered by the Escom warranty.

Should you choose not to purchase a new warranty for equipment purchased in the twelve months prior to the date of receivership you will be entitled to submit a claim as referred to above. Please note that all claims arising from warranty issues against the company will be unsecured. As receiver I am not responsible for the agreement of claims although I will register and forward them to a liquidator if and when one is appointed. A liquidator is only likely to be appointed if a sale of the business and assets realises sufficient funds to repay the preferential and secured classes of creditors in full and there is a surplus fund for distribution to the unsecured creditors.

I am afraid that I cannot comment, at present, on the prospects of a distribution to unsecured creditors.

Yours faithfully

for and on behalf on Escom UK Limited

NJ Dargan

Joint Receiver

As I used to work for Escom as a technician and was trained by them, I was rather surprised by this. Escom encouraged it's sales staff to sell warranties with PC's, as the markup on warranties was much more than on the sale of PC's. Some stores were fairly hopeless at sellling warranties, which could go some of the way to explaining Escom's demise.

I was concerned that by continuing to sell warranties, that in time Escom would have more and more warranties to deal with, and in theory could collapse under the commitment to them. As their warranties were relatively cheap compared to the cost of replacing the components (ie less than the price of a monitor), this would easily happen. No problem, I was told. Escom takes half of the warranty payment, the other half goes to ICL, who will provide the warranty cover. Now that was a relief.

But hold on a minute! Doesn't this mean that Escom should have paid ICL, or has ICL taken the money, and then gone back on it's agreement? Either way, under the supply of Goods and Services Act 1982, customers should receive what they have paid for. I am already taking legal action against a computer shop under the same Act, and would have no hesitation in taking ICL or the directors of Escom to court, should that be necessary. I will be taking this matter up with my local trading standards office, my MP, and the DTi.

If you have an extended warranty with Escom, please e-mail me, with the text 'Escom Extended Warranties' in the subject so that my mailbox does not die an untimely death. Should I receive any news, I shall e-mail you back, and update this page accordingly.

In the meantime, please keep hold of all your receipts. This way you will have proof of payment if any legal action needs to be taken.

BBC Watchdog have been in touch with me, and they want to hear from anyone who has lost money through Escom's extended warranties. It turns out that ICL may have been paid on a per visit basis, (which means that extended warranties could in theory sink a company. It would only take a run of a few bad machines to cost the company more than it makes in profits.) and therefore Escom were not really providing an extended warranty with ICL Sorbus, as they would have to remain in existence to keep the warranties valid. See the letter 'lost in service' on page 807 of the November 1996 Computer Shopper for more details.

If you want to contact the BBC, then either ring 0500 500 567 and leave a message for Ruth Drewett, or email them at watchdog@bbc.co.uk

If you bought your computer on finance or by credit card then you need to contact First Finance on  0113 234 6311 and explain to them that Computacare International Limited have advised you to speak with them directly about the problem.

(I was not this fortunate. I paid by cheque.)

I received the following letter dated 9th January 1998

To All Known Creditors

Dear Sirs

Escom UK Limited
(In Receivership & In Liquidation)

I write to advise that I was appointed Interim Liquidator of the above company by Interlocutor of the Court of Session dated 19 December 1997.

I enclose a Notice calling a Meeting of Creditors of the company to be held in terms of Section 138 (4) of the Insolvency Act 1986 on 27 January 1998.

I also enclose Form 4.7 (Scot) which should be completed and returned to me. The provisions of Part 7 of the Insolvency (Scotland) Rules 1986 apply to this meeting and a creditor in order to be entitled to vote at any meeting of creditors in the Liquidation shall submit his claim to me at, or before, that meeting. When submitting your claim, accounts or vouchers constituting prima facie evidence of your debt should be attached.

For the purpose of the meeting, a creditor may authorise another person as "proxy holder" to attend, speak or vote as his representative. Forms of proxy, Form 4.29 (Scot), are enclosed for your use as required by Rule 7.15 (1) of the Insolvency (Scotland) Rules 1986. Proxy forms should be returned to me at, or before, the meeting

Yours faithfully

Blair C Nimmo
Interim Liquidator

enclosure

This was the notice calling meeting of creditors

ESCOM UK LIMITED
(IN RECEIVERSHIP & IN LIQUIDATION)

I, Blair C Nimmo, Chartered Accountant, 24 Blythswood Square, Glasgow, G2 4QS, hereby give notice, that by Interlocutor of the Court of Session dated 19 December 1997, I was appointed Interim Liquidator of Escom UK Limited, having its registered office at 39 St Vincent Place, Glasgow, and formerly trading from 3 Riverside Way, Riverside Business Park, Irvine, KA11 5DJ.

Pursuant to Section 138 (4) of the Insolvency Act 1986 and Rule 4.12 of the Insolvency (Scotland) Rules 1986, the first meeting of creditors will be held within The Institute of Chartered Accountants, 183 Bath Street, Glasgow, at 10.00am on 27 January 1998, for the purpose of choosing a Liquidator. The meeting may also consider other resolutions referred to in Rule 4.12 (3). All creditors are entitled to attend in person or by proxy and to vote, provided their claims and proxies, if any, have been submitted at or before the meeting.

Blair C Nimmo
Interim Liquidator
 

G2 4QS

5 January 1998

Obviously, if you have a claim you need to get in touch urgently. They should be able to send you Form 4.7 (Scot) and/or Form 4.29 (Scot).

Any news about the meeting will appear on this site.