Merchants and Bankruptcy

[SunshineGirl]

Some of you may be hearing about a lot of companies filing for Chapter 11 protection lately. And yet you still see some of them on SR. What's up with that?

I'm not a bankruptcy attorney anymore, but I did work in it for a couple of years. So I'll do my best to give you the short and sweet about a Chapter 11 and how SR is dealing with these merchants.

First--CH 11 does not mean that they are going out of business for sure. It means that they are having some problems but that they are "reorganizing" their debts and credits in an effort to stay afloat. Some companies will come out of it just fine, others will not.

Second--If they do NOT emerge from the CH 11, you will have already seen your credits and SR will be the one to eat the loss. So if you see a credit hit your account, it it there to stay, even if we do not eventually get paid.

Third--We are watching all of them carefully. We have pulled a couple off of the site but left others that we feel more comfortable with or that we have closer ties to the affiliate managers.

The economy is bad and I feel for these companies who are doing everything they can to keep going until it gets better. I don't want to make things worse for them by pulling out our business from them as well, but we continue to be prudent about our relationships.

[~Kathie]

Tricia,

Thank you for the clarification and for protecting us. It's great to know you are always there watching our backs.

Merchants here in RI are locking their doors like crazy. I know of 4 restaurants that have closed in the last few weeks. Their owners just can't keep up with the product increases.

The economy is bad......but Bush says we're not in a recession. :confused: :confused:

Yeah right!!

Thanks!! :sunshine2:

[linanglab]

Thanks for protecting us. But I do have to say, that if I order something, I was going to order it anyway. Therefore, if I order something from a place that is going bankrupt, you do not get credit, please do not give it to me. It is obviously something that I needed or wanted. SR is just an extra perk for it!

[pbhall13]

thanks for the info Tricia...

I have been hearing about some retailers filing, so this is a good synopsis for those of us who don't know a lot about bankruptcy.

Pamela

[Hedy]

Thanks, Tricia!

[askomsky]

Thanks Tricia, We really appreicate you taking the time to explain it all. I'm with Angela if its something I buy trough SR chances are I needed it anyway.

[lanny76]

Thanks for the info, Tricia. I hadn't really noticed/thought much about it in particular with businesses on SR, mainly because I haven't done much online shopping really. It's good to know for future reference tho.
As far as the economy goes, I don't know if anyone has gone beyond saying 'recession possible', which is what the Fed Chairman Bernanke said the other day. I'd take what he says over what Bush says on the matter! The economy isn't great by any means, officially in recession or not.

[OhMari]

I have a few things I am afraid of. I have airline tickets for next November and Nascar tickets from a Ticket Agency broker. I paid with a credit card, but I am still whary of the situation since it will be still many months away. I know with ethics you can't give advice, but it is nice to know I can still come here and vent my worries a little.

[SunshineGirl]

I have a few things I am afraid of. I have airline tickets for next November and Nascar tickets from a Ticket Agency broker. I paid with a credit card, but I am still whary of the situation since it will be still many months away. I know with ethics you can't give advice, but it is nice to know I can still come here and vent my worries a little.

Here are a couple of general tips that I can give. They won't protect you 100%, but they should help:

1) Get tickets in your hand as soon as possible. Make sure that you verify that tickets are legit. For events, if you have them in your hand, you don't have to worry about the broker going belly up.

2) Use a good credit card for purchases. In particular, make sure that they protect your losses over X amount. For example, people who paid ATA in cash are probably out of luck. But people who used credit cards might get some of their money back.

3) Set up a Google Alert on companies that you use frequently--airlines, hotels, ticket brokers, etc. You will get an alert every time they are mentioned in the media and blogs. Just scan through each time you get an alert and see if anything jumps out that indicates they are in trouble--stock prices going down drastically, board members jumping ship, "reorganizations", etc. You'll stay ahead of the curve in knowing if a company is in trouble.

[m 'n c]

3) Set up a Google Alert on companies that you use frequently--airlines, hotels, ticket brokers, etc. You will get an alert every time they are mentioned in the media and blogs. Just scan through each time you get an alert and see if anything jumps out that indicates they are in trouble--stock prices going down drastically, board members jumping ship, "reorganizations", etc. You'll stay ahead of the curve in knowing if a company is in trouble.

This is a pretty good tip. I tend to use Factiva at work (not sure if its free) for news on my client but I think I"ll set up some google alerts for my shopping places.

[OhMari]

Here are a couple of general tips that I can give. They won't protect you 100%, but they should help:

1) Get tickets in your hand as soon as possible. Make sure that you verify that tickets are legit. For events, if you have them in your hand, you don't have to worry about the broker going belly up.

2) Use a good credit card for purchases. In particular, make sure that they protect your losses over X amount. For example, people who paid ATA in cash are probably out of luck. But people who used credit cards might get some of their money back.

3) Set up a Google Alert on companies that you use frequently--airlines, hotels, ticket brokers, etc. You will get an alert every time they are mentioned in the media and blogs. Just scan through each time you get an alert and see if anything jumps out that indicates they are in trouble--stock prices going down drastically, board members jumping ship, "reorganizations", etc. You'll stay ahead of the curve in knowing if a company is in trouble.

Thanks tricia.
I found out it doesn't matter where you buy Nascar tickets, they don't release the tickets until 2 weeks before a race. Isn't that stupid. We went with a company that is in good standings with the BBB, so hopefully Nascar doesn't go bankrupt.