Getting My Money Back. HELP!

dillypea

Does anyone know of the legal implication with regard claiming interest on money which was held by a company without need or permission for a long period?
Story goes:
Purchased a kitchen from Homebase in 2005 by cheque, told sales staff not to process cheque until I had transferred funds into that account (2 days). They disregarded this request and so the cheque bounced. They called me to tell me a few days later so I then paid by card over the phone, I also requested that they do not re-represent the cheque.
At this time in 2005 I was spending a great deal from my bank account as I was renovating 2 properties. It was not until a new accountant went over my books recently (Feb 09) for tax reclaim purposes that he noticed that I had paid for the kitchen twice. Once by card and then by the cheque that Homebase had re-represented.
Homebase were quite good when I informed them of this issue a couple of months ago and directed me to the cheque clearing company that they use called Chequespread. Chequespread were most efficient and found the discrepancy straight away (within the hour) but not apologetic and sent the check for almost £3000 to be received by me next day. :j
On receipt of the cheque it then occurred to me that they had knowingly held onto almost £3000 of my cash since 2005 but failed to add any interest to the amount sent. So I wrote to them requesting lost interest on this money since 2005. I received a cheque on the 10th April 2009 for £25.00 as a good will gesture- Hmmmmm :rotfl:
Does anyone know my legal entitlement in this matter?

sporedude

You got the 3 grand back + 25 quid. What more do you want?

pinkshoes

You need to recognise your mistake in this saga.

Firstly, you shouldn't issue a cheque to a large company and tell them not to cash it until several days later. Was the check post dated? It's a big store, so staff won't remember things like this. It'll just go in a pile with other cheques to be paid in.

Secondly, instead of asking them to not re-represent the cheque, you should have spoken to the bank and cancelled it, so that the mistake wouldn't occur in the first place.

£25 is a little low, but this mistake was perhaps more your fault than theirs. They had a cheque, they paid it in. Large multinational companies don't offer a personal service. You're just "a customer", so they don't do special requests!

sporedude

What I want to know is how two lots of £3000 went out your bank unnoticed...

dillypea

sporedude wrote: »

You got the 3 grand back + 25 quid. What more do you want?

3 grand in the bank for 4 years would of earned me more interest!

MX5huggy

It would have, but as you did not notice 3k missing we can safely say that you can't be to streched to worry about a little intrest.

Thank your lucky stars that you did not buy a MFI kitchen and pay twice!

sporedude

Yeah so legally theyve paid you what they owe you

djb215

dillypea wrote: »

told sales staff not to process cheque until I had transferred funds into that account (2 days). They disregarded this request and so the cheque bounced.

A little late now but it isn't possible to delay processing a cheque. At Argos we use a similar banking system and we have to bank cash/cheques on certain days, so maybe you went in the day before banking. Stores have no control over this.

This is one of the reasons why Argos and many other retailers have stopped taking personal cheques because they sometimes bounce, they can take a while to process and dependant on the amount companies get charged for processing cheques rather than cash/debit cards.

dillypea

I am a little dissapointed that nobody has actually answered the question,
only provided negative comments with regard ' how would one not noticed losing 3k out of a bank'.
Reason was explained.


Focus must be on the transactions themselves and the salesperson who at the time was told that I was not in the postion to commit to payment at the point that my kitchen had been planned. To close a sale he was willing to accept a cheque that he new I could not honour on that day, in fact I has suggested I call him the next day to make a card payment but none the less he wanted the sale (as they earn commison on kitchen sales).
Being an experienced sales person he would of been trained to understand the payment processing system within his organisation and therefore informed me to stop the cheque once it had initially bounced and after another payment method was supplied if it was going to be a problem. To be doubly sure with hind sight I should of cancelled the cheque also but I was assured that this was not necessary.

This aside we are forgetting here that a company, when reconciling its books, would of found a decrepency and should of acted on that for the customers benefit, as my accountant did when reconciling my accounts, instead of holding money which they knew belonged to me.

sce

Hi there - first post in this forum, so hope it's helpful.

Regardless of who was at "fault" here, both parties agree that one party owed a debt to the other for a period of 4 years. Whilst in the Homebase's account it was earning interest which Homebase was not entitled to.

Dillypea - you need to look at The Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 which gives you the right to claim interest at 8% above base rate on outstanding debts.

You also need to bear in mind that you must make the claim within 6 years of the debt accruing otherwise you will be "statue barred".

dillypea

sce- Appreciate your input on this, I will look at The Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 and act accordingly. It may have to be through a small claims court if all else fails. I will let you know the outcome. Regards Dillypea