But the OP isn't a creditor nor was he paying something off on layaway, he has bought something that the shop hasnt given him. That is stealing. Here we go with the goody two shoes morally wrong but not technically illegal. If the owner of the new shop was the owner of the old shop then he owes the guy a groupset. If the liquidator isn't going to give it to him then we should expect the little guy to absorb the loss because the law is on the side of the shop or the distributor? "Its the law" isn't an answer