This Wednesday, the brand’s stores had already closed shop. On social media, many customers expressed their anger and dismay at this situation. Orders on hold, birth lists left abandoned, deposits paid a priori lost: there was no shortage of reasons for indignation.
Customers, unprivileged creditors
Could these people nevertheless recover their funds? On the Test Achats side, we recall that a series of specific rules come into play for creditors, when a company is declared bankrupt by a judgment of the company court.
guillementThe net assets remaining after lien creditors are paid are generally insufficient to pay lien creditors.
“If, as a consumer, you have paid a deposit or purchased a voucher (not yet used) from a company that has since been declared bankrupt, you are a non-privileged creditor. This means that you will not get your deposit back that once the general and special preferred creditors have been paidnotes the consumer defense organization. In practice, unfortunately, the net assets remaining after lien creditors are paid are generally insufficient to pay normal creditors. The remaining balance will be distributed in proportion to each non-privileged creditor’s share.”
In other words, you could receive, in the best case scenario, a full or partial refund. But this is absolutely not guaranteed.
Information taken from the company’s management, a communication intended for customers was in preparation this Wednesday at the end of the day. This must in particular detail the steps to be taken in order to possibly – all this being in the conditional – recover the deposits and items paid in store.
Test Achats finally emphasizes that customers should not hesitate “to submit a declaration of debt as a non-privileged creditor to the trustee”. This process can be undertaken via the REGSOL website.
Test Achats again emphasizes that you should not hesitate “to submit a declaration of claim as a non-privileged creditor to the curator”. This process can be undertaken via the REGSOL website.
“The Walloon Region played its role in this company”
The situation of Babykid and its 70 workers was also raised this Wednesday, in a plenary session of the Parliament of Wallonia. On the opposition side, PTB deputy Jori Dupont asked, in a question addressed to Minister of Employment Pierre-Yves Jeholet (MR), if contacts had been made with staff, unions and management of the ‘business. “And concretely, what do you plan to put in place to support these workers?” the MP asked.
“As for the steps that have been taken, please note that the company has been in contact with various Walloon financial tools. The Walloon Region has intervened financially to restore some confidence among suppliers, and to replenish the stores,” replies the minister. The latter notes that despite these efforts, the brand’s sales have not reached the objectives set for 2023. “Birth lists have fallen sharply, and 2024 has not been better, which is now leading to the bankruptcy of the company. (…) We can regret it and understand the situation of workers today, but in any case, the Walloon Region played its role in relation to this company.”
