WHEN a company closes down unexpectedly, thousands of customers often don't know if they will get the goods they have paid for or their money back.

In recent months, York has witnessed the demise of a large department store chain and two large retailers of electrical goods.

To help clarify the situation, City of York Council Trading Standards is offering advice to consumers who find themselves at risk of being out of pocket when retailers get into difficulties.

It says that when a company gets into financial trouble an administrator or receiver may be appointed.

The role of an administrator is to try to rescue the company as a going concern.

A receiver is concerned with trying to recover money owed to creditors such as the bank.

However, if it proves impossible to rescue the company, secured or preferential creditors such as the Inland Revenue and employees, will be paid first from any remaining assets. Unfortunately, customers are at the bottom of the list.

If you paid by credit card for goods that you have not received then you should be able to retrieve your money. However, this only applies if the value of the goods was between £100 and £30,000, and the credit is no more than £25,000. The rule applies even if you only paid a small deposit - it's the value of the goods that counts. Unfortun-ately, if you paid by debit card, cheque or cash you will have to make a claim to the receiver, but it may be that there are no assets left to meet your claim.

There are very few occasions when cancelling a cheque is justified, but this is one of them - customers who have written a cheque to a defunct company within days of its closure and haven't got their goods should phone their bank and if it has not been cashed they should cancel it. Anyone who has paid by debit card, cheque or cash should think about accepting other goods to the value of their original purchase, if the shop makes such an offer.

Customers having difficulties finding the name of a particular receiver should contact Trading Standards. Anyone contacting the receiver should make a written claim as soon as possible, backing this up with receipts/invoices.

For further advice about this, or any other consumer matter, phone Consumer Direct on 08454 04 05 06.

Updated: 08:45 Thursday, March 03, 2005