BizLawCentral: In The Box Limited, out of business

Out of the Box Limited was based in Bolton, Lancashire. It was run by Philip Nigel Hills, an accountant.

The company has now has been placed into liquidation by the High Court in Manchester following the investigation by Companies Investigation Branch (CIB), part of the Insolvency Service. The local Trading Standards office had received 33 complaints about In the Box and its director, Philip Nigel Hill, in seven months up to March this year. However, the investigation found that customers wanting to complain directly to the company, or recover their deposits, were unable to do so, with phone calls going unanswered and letters returned due to incorrect address information appearing on the company’s documentation.The investigation also found that the company appeared to be trading while insolvent, and was using customer deposits to finance its ongoing business operations. The director was a qualified accountant, but his record-keeping was extremely poor , and his own personal money was commingled with company revenues to such an extent that it was impossible to account properly for company receipts and expenditure.A family paid a deposit of GBP2,400 in February 2009 and, although numerous delivery dates were arranged, all were cancelled, including one which was cancelled by text message late on the evening before the expected delivery. This family were eventually told that the company could not complete the contract and that the deposit would be returned. That never happened.Due Diligence Information: In The Box Ltd was incorporated on 30 October 2002 and has its current Registered Office at 37-38 Market Street, Ferry Hill, County Durham. The company traded from Coe House, Albion Mill, Coe Street, Bolton, which is also a former Registered Office. The petition was presented on 26th August 2009 under s124A of the Insolvency Act 1986. The company was compulsorily wound up by the Court on 15th October 2009. The Official Receiver was previously appointed as provisional liquidator of In The Box Ltd on 1st September 2009 in order to bring about an immediate cessation of its business pending the hearing of the petition.