Office closed... no phone service.

Happened to a expat friend, that was all the details I remember over a beer or six:

Upon final days at this office, was told final deposit to bank account & tax info would be mailed.
It never came, went by the office and well… they are closed for good. Nobody answers the phone. What would you do? Was a legit business, atleast they had customers buying stuff, but not a retail place.

Check the name on the contract, look up the company info, look up the name of the fuzeren, etc. You can change a company name, but you can’t change its number. You can close a company and open a new one (typically by turning “AB” into “BA”), but the fuzeren is still responsible for the old company. You can change a person’s name, but there are limits on that, and every ROC national with household registration has, of course, a registered address.

The labor department may be able to help. Company lookup can be done at gcis.nat.gov.tw. If you search online you can find websites that offer historic company info, so you can track the changes. The city government where a company is registered has the other info that isn’t available online (but may request proof of your relationship with the company), and the household registration office has everyone’s personal info.

Interesting, but he didn’t seem too concerned about it. I had no advice to offer. I was expecting this thread to fill up with similar stories based on how many stores I see around Taipei opening and closing… and some having virtually zero customers for months - I have no idea how they stay open / why. lol.

Actually, it is quite common for businesses, from travel agencies to investment offices up to factories, to pull that on workers. At least your pal was tricked, most never see it coming. One day, they get to work… and the iron curtains are down, collectors swarm at the gates, and the owners -and their hard enarned money- are nowhere to be found. Par de course.

Yeah I once went to work and the doors were padlocked.
Was not a good experience.
Instead of the employees suing the owners the owner sued the staff. That’s right, one group of shareholder hated the other and sued both them and all the employees…

How did it turn out?

Two lawsuits both failed on their part but only after a year of intimidation and stress… New company opened with half the sued employees and most of management team. Old company eventually shut down as they were left with the shit and nobody like them basically. I left the new one within a year as I had enough at that stage.