Why check before you pay

The website is the sales pitch. The register is the receipt.

A deposit for a kitchen, a staircase, an extension or a car is usually the biggest sum you will ever send to a company you have never met. This page explains what a check does, what it can't, and why it is worth a minute before the transfer.

The problem in one paragraph

When you pay a deposit, you are not paying "Aurelia Kitchens". You are paying a limited company with a number, a registered address, directors and a set of accounts — and that company may have been incorporated eleven months ago, may be registered for installation rather than manufacturing, and may share its address with four hundred other firms. None of that is on the website. All of it is on the public register, for free, if you know where to look and have an hour to spare.

Why the bank won't help. A bank transfer to a genuine company that later goes into liquidation is not fraud. The reimbursement rules for scams do not apply to a commercial dispute, and there is no chargeback on a transfer. The money is an unsecured debt against a company that no longer exists.

What "checking" actually means

A SafeToPay check does four things, in this order.

  1. 1

    Finds the legal entity

    We work out which company sits behind the brand name on the website — using the company number if they publish one, otherwise the VAT number, the address, the directors' names and the domain registration. If we can't find one, that is the first thing you need to know.

  2. 2

    Reads the official record

    Companies House filings, HMRC VAT status, the domain's registration history, the Internet Archive, the trade registers (Gas Safe, NICEIC, FENSA, the FCA where finance is offered), the advertiser registers and the review platforms.

  3. 3

    Compares it with the website

    Every claim we can test — years trading, "family-run since", own workshop, staff numbers, accreditations, guarantees — is put next to the fact from the register. Where they disagree, we show you both.

  4. 4

    Tells you what to do about it

    A verdict, a safe deposit figure worked from the company's own accounts, the safest way to pay, and three questions that a genuine firm answers in a sentence and a doubtful one avoids.

What it is — and what it is not

We are careful about this, because the difference is the whole point. A report never calls anyone a scam. It shows what the website claims, what the register records, and where the two disagree. You draw the conclusion.

A report is

  • Facts from public registers, each with its source
  • A comparison between those facts and the website's claims
  • A deposit figure derived from the company's filed accounts
  • The questions to ask, and what a good answer looks like
  • Shareable with a partner or parent, no account needed

A report is not

  • A scam list or a blacklist
  • A rating, a score or a review
  • A guarantee that a green firm will finish the job
  • Legal or financial advice
  • A reason to skip a written contract
Green does not mean perfect. It means the public record is consistent and nothing on the website contradicts it. A three-year-old company with filed accounts and real reviews can still be late, over budget or rude. What it is unlikely to be is fictional.

Why most reports come back amber

Amber is not a warning that something is wrong. It is a note that something doesn't line up yet: a company younger than its website implies, a one-person firm describing a factory, an address that is a mailbox, no reviews anywhere. Every one of those has an innocent explanation — and a genuine business gives it in a sentence. The full report tells you which sentence to ask for.

This is why the three questions matter more than the colour. "Which legal entity will the contract and invoice be in?" is a question a real firm has answered a hundred times. A firm that changes the subject has told you something.

Where the safe deposit figure comes from

Every limited company files accounts. Even the smallest set shows net assets and, usually, cash and employee numbers. A deposit that is a multiple of the company's entire net worth is a loan you are making to a business that could not repay it if it wanted to. We size the figure to what the company could actually return, and show you the filing it came from.

The full report also sets out the safest way to pay what you do pay: part on a credit card for Section 75 protection, staged payments tied to delivery, or escrow for larger jobs.

Who it's for

Homeowners

Kitchens, staircases, extensions, windows, driveways — anything with a deposit and a lead time.

Buying a car

Dealers and brokers whose forecourt is a website. The register shows who actually holds the stock.

Adult children

Checking a quote a parent was sent. The free report shares with one link and the verdict is in the first line.

Why it is free to check and £14.99 to know what to do

The verdict and the legal entity are free because everyone should have them before sending money, and because a free report is easy to share with the person about to pay. The full report — every discrepancy, the directors' history, the accounts, the deposit figure and the three questions — costs less than a tenth of a typical deposit. If our sources are down and we can't complete a check, you are not charged.

If you run a genuine business

A report is your best advertisement. It shows your real company number, your years on the register, your filed accounts and your reviews — exactly what a copied website can't show. If anything in a report about your business is wrong, tell us and we correct it within 48 hours.

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