Ethical business and sleeping at night?

I have been doing some freelance work (I am a trained QS) for a company where the site manager had been pushing for an increase in labour to complete his project, but at the same time was not paying for the work that had already been done, sending contractual letters saying get it done or else.

This week the company went into administration.

So they had been trying to get as much work done as possible without paying the people I have been freelancing for.

i doubt that the owner is having much trouble sleeping to be honest.

i was watching the news this morning before i left for work and a girl who flew out on Friday for a week to Turkey was saying that the hotel are trying to make them pay again for their stay. now they are apparently there until Friday this week, and had chosen to go all-inclusive so they didn't have to spend much extra money when there.

the girl also mentioned that they had been advised by the Goldtrail reps who came to the hotel on Saturday, that they should pay up which seems ridiculous to me.

strangely enough, we went to turkey last year with Goldtrail and were all set to use them again when we fly out next month but paid a little extra for 20kgs rather than 15kg they were offering.

Thats terrible, especially when cash flow can make or break a small business, knowingly using suppliers you have no intention of paying! Thing is, the Directors will no doubt start another company when the dust has settled.

sounds like you had a close escape!

i think you are right Steve. their terms & conditions were all over the place and well hidden. it also didn't give you any idea of the luggage allowances until you went and looked through the T&Cs.

just shows what can happen. I'd also recommended them a few weeks back to my father as he visits family in Crete every year. he actually said to me what's the chances of him arriving at the airport and there being no plane there for him lol? looks like he was right to be sceptical.

On a personal note, I couldn't in all honesty take someone's money if I knew that liquidation was imminent. I think that it is unethical as well as immoral, as it is tantamount to stealing.
Mike

I reckon part of it is degrees of separation.

In a larger company, the people who make the decisions don't have to deal directly with the customers, and the people who do have to deal with the customers probably didn't have much advance warning themselves of what was going to happen.

Though it may (and does) seem shocking to us I agree with mary. The big wigs in charge of running the business can't really turn around and say we think we may go bust so don't sell anything any more as they were probably trying to get investment or do something to save the company.

So your normal worker who is taking money from customers are none the wiser, as far as they are concerned there job is safe, the company is safe and the customer will be happy.

Hopefully the people who have had their holidays ruined can get some money back through holiday insurance so they aren't at a total loss .

Without wanting to give an excuse, perhaps it is purely a case of it being pretty impossible to stop in a sensible manner? A bit like a huge company being a huge train travelling at 100 mph while a small company in comparison is someone riding a bike...

Or perhaps I'm giving them more credit that they deserve and they should maybe look at winding things down gradually. Surely must have been clear a few months ago that it wouldn't make it through the summer.