In a recent article we looked at a suspicious company called Sonata Administration Services we discovered that there is a UK registered company listed at Companies House called Sonata Trading Ltd. According to the record the company was formed on 3rd September 2009 so without doubt this would add credibility, a company with a solid 13 years of trading, except this isn’t the case.
According to Companies House there have been 13 Directors over the life of the company with 12 resignations, the latest incumbent, Sarah Louise Southgate was appointed on 30 May 2022. Previous Directors came from far and wide including various addresses in London, Woodbridge Suffolk, Bolton, Manchester and even as far away as Holland. An interesting point is that before the appointment of Sarah Southgate the previous Director resigned on 10th February 2021 so the company drifted on for 13 months without a Director, odd don’t you think?
Another unusual thing about this company is that for all required legal accounting periods it has been classified as a “Dormant Company”, so what is one of those, Gov.uk gives the following description:
“Your company or association may be ‘dormant’ if it’s not doing business (‘trading’) and doesn’t have any other income, for example investments. Your company is called dormant by Companies House if it’s had no ‘significant’ transactions in the financial year.
Significant transactions don’t include:
- filing fees paid to Companies House
- penalties for late filing of accounts
- money paid for shares when the company was incorporated
You do not need to tell Companies House if you restart trading. The next set of non-dormant accounts that you file will show that your company is no longer dormant.”
So a Dormant company is non trading entity meaning it doesn’t create any income as it isn’t trading. In the case of Sonata we spotted an interesting document held by Companies House, here is an extract:
Note
Note the highlighted area “non-traded company” this would indicate that Sonata Trading, despite the name, has never been a trading entity. Given the history, our conclusion is that this is an “off the shelf” company, so what is that?
Off the shelf company
This is the description of a company that is formed legally and generally has never traded. Technically it’s easier to get into business with an established company rather than start a fresh application at Companies House. There are many “brokers” throughout the UK who facilitate the purchase of readymade companies, one such example is CFS International Formations Limited. According to their website Prices start at £95.95 for a 2022 registered company and go up with age with two 2015 companies showing a price of £1,445. According to their website, it also looks like a fairly quick and simple process to complete:
“The Ready Made Companies we have available are ready to trade as soon as they are changed in to the new owner’s name. Once ordered, you will be required to complete an online application form with the new company details:- director, shareholder etc. As we have a fully automated system, the transfer of the company is usually the same day as the new details being entered. Once completed, an up-to-date company register and Certificate of Incorporation are emailed to you.”
For legitimate businesses this is a quick and easy way to get trading, all done in less than a day. From there it’s a fairly simple process to change the name or simply use a “trading as” denomination or the rather crass “powered by”. For the scammer it’s manna from heaven.
Scam company benefits
As we have established Sonata Administration Services is using the “trading as” route as may be evidenced by the web address showing as sonatatrading.com and also the following from the corporate website:
Although the website boasts more than 25 years experience, this is explained by the staff employed having more than 25 years experience, that aside, it’s perfectly feasible for those who contact you from this outfit to claim they have been in business for 13 years because that fact can be verified by a visit to Companies House. However, when you dig deeper, as we have done, you find the true facts, a dormant company for the entire of its existence that only sprang back to life on 30th May 2022 with multiple Directors, all bar one resigned. So a pointed question is that, if they have been in business for 13 years, how is it that they have never made any money?
They can hardly have been successful as there is no submission of accounts as is legally required, except if the company is dormant! But if it’s dormant it’s not trading so whilst the entity has been in existence for all those years it has never traded and likely won’t.
Using web technology we have established that until now Sonata Trading last had a website in 2005, since then the domain has been dormant, much like the company.
Scam companies, not only those involved in timeshare, use the “off the shelf” route because apart from the credibility factor, it’s just as easy to fold such companies as it is to acquire them. Run them for a while, take as much money as you can then fold and start again with a fresh company then repeat the process as many times as you like. Mark our words; it won’t be long before Sonata Trading is back on the shelf and for sale all over again.
Our comment
Given that the majority of timeshare scam companies operate offshore, having a UK company registered at Companies House, a UK address and phone number certainly add a massive comfort factor but as this article confirms you need to investigate further to ascertain the true facts. We appreciate that this may be beyond the scope of many readers which is part of the reason TCA exists. If you can’t do the digging, we certainly can and are happy to do so. Remember we are only a phone call away.
Addendum
Just prior to completion of this article we received an enquiry via our helpline. The caller stated that he had been contacted by a representative from Sonata. Apparently the representative was offering to cancel his ownership at what was Azure Malta. On top a claim would be filed to get all the monies paid for the timeshare refunded, for a fee.
Our caller had actually terminated his ownership many years ago properly with Azure and had written confirmation, not good enough said the rep from Sonata, “They can still come at you and demand all the missed years of Maintenance”. That old chestnut!
The cancellation happened so long ago that our caller was unaware that Azure had folded and been replaced with VCMS as managing agent. If Azure did carry out any form of misselling, how can a claim be made against a company that doesn’t exist? However, the final nail in the coffin of this erroneous phone call is that the only country where there is solid legislation against timeshare misselling is Spain. Apart from the EU Timeshare Directive of 2008, Malta has no local legislation that could be used to effect a claim.
If our caller had fallen for this he would have been out of pocket for thousands to get rid of a timeshare that he had already done himself with no prospect of getting any money back.
Once again, be on your guard, do your own due diligence and above all don’t make rash decisions on the spur of the moment.
For more information regarding this article or assistance in any other timeshare related issues please contact the TCA on 01908 881058 or email: info@TimeshareConsumerAssociation.org.uk