Well, we arrived at court quite nervous. It had kinda hit home during the day that we were actually going to be in court for this whole fiasco. We walked into the main door and were directed upstairs by a really normal office looking woman who was blatently from round here. That in itself calmed me down straight away – they were real people in here, not crazy strict scary people 🙂
We walked up the short flight of steps to the top floor, and were greeted by a visitor book, and two oldish lookin security guards. We signed in and were scanned to see if we were carrying anything metal. I didnt have a thing on my, not even a scrap of paper. We sat down and dave automatically started fumbeling through the massive folder of papers he had brought. Hes always been the foundations for things, sorting money and paperwork. So he had brought every bit of paper that had ever had maxxd written on it.
We sat chatting about various things, and got into a small conversation with the two people sat next to us – there was 1 manly woman there for a case to do with some old guy tryin to con her, and her mate – and the woman who was calling people into the rooms. They were all sound people and were setting us both at ease. I took daves book of papers off him as he was pissing me off forever lookin through stuff, and we sat just watching the clock tick past.
It got to about 5 to 2, and we were starting to think he wasnt showing up. But unfortunatly he did. He looked quite scruffy, like he had run the last 100 meters because his bus had made him run behind schedule. He walked in and sat down with his back to us both, kinda nodded to me before doing so, and then joining us in the waiting game. About 10 mins later the woman who had come supprting the lesbien lookin chick offered us both a mint, and not danny – that kinda made me smile. Oh yeah sy didnt turn up. I think its because he didnt want to have to lie in court.
It got to half past two and we were called in. It was nothing like what i expected, one guy and a tape recorder. Dave and I sat on one side of the table, and a nervous danny sat on the other side all by himself. The guy got our names, and started getting a picture of what was going off. We stated from the outset that we did not dispute owing danny for these teshirts – and that Maxxd LTD was liable for them, we just couldnt sell them. He started wading through the dodgy paperwork, there were holes in it that he found and quizzed danny about straight away. And he generally got everyones side of the story and got to a point where he offered danny two choice’s.
His first offering, was to strike a deal with us. He was very keen on danny taking this option – we would sell the tees at a discounted rate or something over the duration of a few months, at least gettin him some of his money back. This way hes not as broke as he was and can start gettin on with shit. His other choice was to continue and go for the full amount. If he chose the second option then a CCJ would be filed aginst Maxxd LTD and we would have to pay the full amount – that totalled over £1300 by now!
Now the judge was really pushing danny to strike a deal, as he warned him that Maxxd LTD has no assets – or money – and the 2nd choice would probably lead to him getting nothing. I kind of kelt signalling to dave to shut up as i could see he had built up a profile of us all by now. He kept saying things like;
“So what is the exact amount Maxxd ltd owes you mr simanis”
“Err, its about..”
“no what is it exactly”
“erm,”
“come on this is your trial you should know this”
“er, no this is their trial”
Anyway, danny kept saying things that just seemed to be really quite stupid – and topped it at the end after a “Have you got anything further to add mr simanis..” promit from the judge with..
“Mr hartshorne always runs away from his problems, he hides bla bla bla”
What the fuck danny? This trial was about us not paying you for some teeshirts not about dave and his apparent way of dealing with things. If he honestly believes dave moved away cos of this trial then i think hes obviously been taking it all a hell of a lot more serious than we have! He took things to a personal level and it didnt do him any favors. The judge even praised us up in a way for our approach to the whole thing, and ended it with saying he would get things sorted and get back to us all with the relevant bits and bobs.
Maxxd LTD was set up in 2004, so that we were ready to do tax stuff for when we opened our online shop. That never happened, and all we have been using it for, is for when we order teeshirts, and for paying charity money into so we can send them cheques not cash.
Now as Maxxd LTD has nothing, it means we will probably be forced into liquidation. Which is no big deal at all for us really, it means we lose, err.. Well. the name “Maxxd LTD”.. Never mind.. And the only assets we actualy have are the teeshirts.. Which we cant sell anyway, so they might be taken from us to be sold off.. Ummm.. Ok..
So basically me and dave are totally unaffected. Danny is left with nothing – well he might get a hundred quid after the teeshirts are sold at auction for 50p each. He really should of taken the blue pill dont you think?
Its a shame danny, as we would of been more than happy to try and sell them for £5 each to get you some money – just as the judge dude suggested. But your bad business sence, stubbornness and general lack of common sence has forced you into a position where your probably gonna end up with nothing.
Its shown me how much dave and myself have learnt since we started out on our business journey. Danny stated in the hearing that sy was the best thing that maxxd ever had, and it had gone downhill since he left. Now all this is out the way i think its time to show the world what me and dave are capable of.
Woh, sorry for all that… 🙂
Id like to thank everyone that wished us luck. Your combined chi was with us and helped us keep our cool and make everything go right. And i just want to say how gutted i am that it seems ive lost two friends over something that is just so stupid. Its definatly a lesson in life. Do NOT Do business with friends. Me and dave as a business partnership have experienced every downfall business owner’s can possibly encounter. We have learnt by our mistakes, and this whole fiasco has made us much wiser. I think we will be ok working together now. 🙂 But i wouldnt advise it to anyone. Money makes people ugly.
Anyway.. Thanks danny. 🙂
