Beware of the zombie wine company that has gone bankrupt THREE times! So can I get my money back? TONY HETHERINGTON goes to investigate

BR writes: We are victims of Wijnkopers. I met Ben Revell at a wine fair and fell for his plan. My company shipped a shipment of wine. We know wine buyers sold some of our wine, but it didn’t pay us. Numerous phone calls and emails went unanswered and Winebuyers even charged our credit card for months, despite canceling our contract.

Tony Hetherington replies: Most Phoenix businesses rise from the ashes only once, but there seems to be almost no limit to the number of times wine merchant Ben Revell can write off a business, start over, and then leave fresh wreckage behind. I warned last September: ‘Beware of the zombie’. At the time, Revell was running the same company for the third time under different company names – and now it has also gone bankrupt. When he first started as an online wine merchant, Revell founded Winebuyers Ltd. He commissioned wine producers and merchants to appear on his website winebuyers.com, and he promoted the sale of their wine to the public. Shoppers paid Revell’s company and most received their wine, but increasingly producers and merchants complained that they were going unpaid.

Winebuyers Ltd went bankrupt in 2021 with debts of around £1.5 million. Just as things were failing, a new company was registered called Winebuyers Group Ltd. It bought some of the bankrupt company’s assets, including its customer data and website. To much of the outside world, nothing had gone wrong, as the website was still there. On paper, the new company had a new boss, Kyle Fordham, but behind the scenes the strings were pulled by Revell, who described himself as Chief Executive.

Once the Winebuyers Group was up and running, Fordham folded and hasn’t been heard of in the wine trade since. Revell officially took over as director in March last year, and in June I reported that there were unpaid judgments, the company had failed to submit bills that were legally due, and consumer websites were full of complaints.

By July the company had fallen under the government, blaming Covid, Brexit, the cost of living, a shortage of glass due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and, of course, climate change. What happened next was a farce. The administrators of the collapsed Winebuyers Group sold some of its assets, including its customer database and website, to a new company called Elysian Ventures Ltd, which offered £100,000. Elysian was founded by Revell, who then transferred it to a strange offshore company called Ophidian Corp, based in the Seychelles, where its ownership is hidden.

Again, for outsiders looking at the Winebuyers website, it was business as usual – until a few weeks ago, that is. Last month, Revell resigned as director and the website ceased operations. Elysian Ventures is now in receivership. This latest collapse is the result of Elysian handing over only half of the £100,000 it was due to the administrators of the Winebuyers Group.

The administrators – of major insolvency firm Begbies Traynor – have released a damning report saying that when Elysian Ventures failed to pay, they demanded the return of the Winebuyers website and everything else covered by the purchase agreement. Elysian responded that she could not access the IT system that managed her own website. Begbies Traynor then hired external IT experts, but says Elysian provided ‘just enough information to give the appearance of collaboration without us being able to move things forward’.

A report into the conduct of the Winebuyers Group and its directors has been submitted to the Department for Business. Begbies Traynor cryptically adds that she is in contact with the department ‘to provide any further information they require to support their own continued investigation’.

The point of all this is that it shows how just one person can control three successive companies, all of which collapse with large debts, while at the same time using only one company name: Winebuyers. Any way you look at it, our corporate surveillance system simply isn’t working.

Ben Revell could not be reached for comment. If he gets in touch, I’ll be happy to let you know.

Turnover needs real people!

Ms SC writes: I am treasurer of a small cat rescue charity. We are VAT registered and file returns with HM Revenue & Customs. Since our last refund claim was made, we have not received the almost £5,000 that HMRC itself said was owed to us.

The treasurer of a small cat rescue charity says they have not received the almost £5,000 HMRC says they were owed

Tony Hetherington replies: The biggest problem one faces with the tax authorities today is reaching someone who will actually listen to your question, let alone provide an answer. Tax bosses behave as if the answer to every question is displayed on their website, which is clearly not true. You have tried many times to call the tax authorities. You were lucky to get through it, but when you did, you were simply asked automated questions and then sent an online link to a web page stating that your refund had not been paid – which was exactly why you called. You emailed several times and received a response that a response would be sent within 15 days. Of course that wasn’t the case. You posted paper letters. They were never recognized.

I have asked officials from the tax authorities’ headquarters to look into this. They discovered that your charity changed its bank details and informed the tax authorities at about the same time the refund was due. The refund went to your old account and flowed back to the tax authorities, and there it stayed. No one forwarded it to your new account. The Tax Authorities have apologized. Your €4,799 refund has now been sent to your new account, along with €36 interest due to the delay. Members of the HMRC board would like to note that no amount of website advice or recorded message could ever have solved this problem. Please provide trained people who can handle real problems.

If you believe you have been a victim of financial misconduct, please write to Tony Hetherington at Financial Mail, 9 Derry Street, London W8 5HY or email tony.hetherington@mailonsunday.co.uk. Due to the large number of questions, personal answers cannot be given. Only send copies of original documents. Unfortunately, these cannot be returned.