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in recent years, prepaid cards have been widely used in the catering, beauty salon, fitness and other industries. however, there are some unpredictable risks hidden behind the various benefits. once a business closes its store or a company is deregistered, can the balance on the card be refunded? recently, nanjing gulou court announced a case involving a prepaid card refund dispute after a company was deregistered.the court held the shareholders liable for the company's debts.compensate the plaintiff for the loss of more than 30,000 yuan in beauty service fees and interest.

"zhenmei" co., ltd. was registered and established in april 2019. its business scope is beauty services. the shareholders of the company are chen damei and zhang xiaozhen. since october 2019, xiaofang has applied for a beauty card at the beauty store of "zhenmei" company, and recharged 48,200 yuan and 980 yuan respectively. after that, xiaofang has carried out facial and eye maintenance projects in the beauty salon. suddenly one day, the beauty salon "quietly" closed the store without notifying xiaofang. upon further inquiry, "zhenmei" company was cancelled and the owner damei also transferred the store to others.

after many unsuccessful attempts to contact the company, xiaofang sued the company's shareholders, chen damei and zhang xiaozhen, in court, demanding the refund of the balance on the beauty card and the corresponding interest. chen damei and zhang xiaozhen argued that although xiaofang had not spent the 980 yuan she recharged the second time, it was only valid for one year and had passed the expiration date, so a refund was not possible. xiaofang said that "zhenmei" did not inform her of the expiration date when she issued the card, and that she had been spending at the store for almost three years, so the recharge could not have been valid for only one year.

the court held that the beauty service contract between the plaintiff and "zhenmei" was established in accordance with the law and was legal and valid, and both parties should perform in accordance with the contract. on september 30, 2022, "zhenmei" company handled the cancellation registration, and its civil rights and obligations were eliminated. the beauty service contract in the case could not be performed legally and in fact, so the contract should be terminated from that date. after the termination of the contract, "zhenmei" company should refund the service fees that the plaintiff had not consumed in accordance with the law.

regarding the 48,200 yuan recharge, according to the number of times, amount, discount and the number of times the plaintiff actually spent, the court decided to refund 30,000 yuan; another 980 yuan recharge was not spent, and this amount should be refunded in full. chen damei claimed that the recharge was valid for one year, but the recharge record "annual card" was a unilateral record, without the signature and confirmation of the plaintiff, and judging from the plaintiff's consumption record, the time span was three years, so the defendant's claim was not established and the court did not accept it.

the court held that, according to the judicial interpretation of the company law,if a company is cancelled without liquidation in accordance with the law, the shareholders shall be liable for the company's debts.in this case, the plaintiff's claim against "zhenmei" company existed before the company was deregistered on september 30, 2022. shareholders chen damei and zhang xiaozhen should have known this, but they did not notify the plaintiff to declare the claim when the company was deregistered, which resulted in the plaintiff being unable to obtain a refund. their behavior constituted illegal liquidation. xiaofang's request that the shareholders of "zhenmei" company bear liability for compensation for her beauty expenses is legally justified, and the court supports it. therefore, the court ruled that chen damei and zhang xiaozhen compensate the plaintiff for the loss of beauty service fees of 30,980 yuan and interest.

the presiding judge said that this case is a typical case involving prepaid consumption. the court reminded consumers that when choosing prepaid consumption, they should try to fully examine the qualifications, scale, reputation, etc. of the operator; be rational in consumption, and avoid being greedy for cheapness and paying a large amount of money at one time; do not easily believe the verbal promises of merchants, and the service agreement must be implemented in a written contract. remember to ask for invoices and other payment receipts, and keep written evidence to prepare for disputes. at the same time, the case also reminds company shareholders not to use the cancellation of the company as a "talisman" to evade responsibility. before the company is cancelled, it must be liquidated. when the shareholders handle the company's cancellation registration, they fail to include the company's debts in the liquidation report, resulting in unsettled debts after the company is cancelled. it is a failure to fulfill the liquidation responsibility and should be deemed as not liquidated in accordance with the law. the creditors have the right to require them to bear the corresponding compensation liability for the company's debts.