[jlokier]

Often when a business representative says they don't have to honour a contract, they are wrong, or lying to see if they get away with it.

If it was a transfer of business ownership, I would expect that you had a contract with the business, the business still existed, and that if you filed in small claims court you could recover at least the cost of the unused entry card due to contract non-performance by the business.

Unfortunately, a lot of business transfers are shady and aren't really transfers at all. The old business winds down or renders itself bankrupt, and a new one is started in its place. Everyone with contracts with the old business loses out. The new business is not supposed to be able to mislead everyone into thinking it's the same business, though.

I worked for a games company in the 90s which did that to its office landlord.

One week I interviewed there for a job, and got an offer. In between that and me starting 2 weeks later, they declared the company bankrupt and started a new company with almost the same name, and the same directors and owners, and I was employed by the new company under its new name instead. This allowed them to ditch their commercial lease giving 0 days notice in contravention of the terms. They moved out in secret over a weekend so the landlord would not know until the old company had disappeared.

[voisin]

> One week I interviewed there for a job, and got an offer. In between that and me starting 2 weeks later, they declared the company bankrupt and started a new company with almost the same name, and the same directors and owners, and I was employed by the new company under its new name instead. This allowed them to ditch their commercial lease giving 0 days notice in contravention of the terms. They moved out in secret over a weekend so the landlord would not know until the old company had disappeared.

There’s got to be more to this story. If you declare bankruptcy, the lenders, including trade contracts like a landlord, have the right to go after the corporation’s assets. If the directors declared bankruptcy in the bad faith manner you are saying, the courts would allow the creditors to go after the directors, personally.

[jlokier]

I agree, there's bound to be more. Perhaps it's not true, but what I've relayed here is what staff were told at the time and was relayed to me when I joined the day after the move. The staff had to pack up all the furniture and other assets on the weekend leaving nothing behind, without looking like they were preparing to move out in the preceding week, and they all knew their employment contracts were being moved to the new company. This is the story they passed on to me about why the company changed name and location between the interview and employment, and why they hadn't mentioned the significant change of location at the time of the interview.

[voisin]

> If it was a transfer of business ownership, I would expect that you had a contract with the business, the business still existed, and that if you filed in small claims court you could recover at least the cost of the unused entry card due to contract non-performance by the business.

Depends on whether the purchaser bought the shares or the assets, and whether the legal entity that you entered a contract with still exists. I suspect you’d be left in small claims court with a defunct corporation.