DELL Invoice 18 months on!

matildajj

I bought a Dell laptop back in August 2008. It was over £700 and at the time i was in a good job and could afford it. I was told over the phone the money would come out of my account.

The laptop arrived and has worked perfectly. The invoice came with the laptop but as advised by Dell, i left it with them with the details i gave them to pay up.

Today (18 months on) they call me as they want me to pay?! at the time i advised i paid it and he said they would need proof from my bank. I checked my online account and the money never came out!

I am in the position now where i can no longer afford a £700 laptop but its too late to send back! i am so gutted as i 100% thought i had paid it - more fool me for not checking at the time but i kept thinking any day it will come out and that was that.

Are Dell allowed to just call back 18 months later - why have they left it so long?? any advice?

Thanks

dreamypuma

matildajj wrote: »

Are Dell allowed to just call back 18 months later - why have they left it so long?? any advice?

Thanks

Yes they are, and why not? Probably an error on their side. It's their business, they can run it as badly as they like.

Advise: If you don't notice transactions like £700 from your account, you've either got way too much money, or you have lost control of your finances.

Look at it another way, you have had 18month Interest Free Credit, unless they are proposing to charge you for the credit.

OlliesDad

matildajj wrote: »

I bought a Dell laptop back in August 2008. It was over £700 and at the time i was in a good job and could afford it. I was told over the phone the money would come out of my account.

The laptop arrived and has worked perfectly. The invoice came with the laptop but as advised by Dell, i left it with them with the details i gave them to pay up.

Today (18 months on) they call me as they want me to pay?! at the time i advised i paid it and he said they would need proof from my bank. I checked my online account and the money never came out!

I am in the position now where i can no longer afford a £700 laptop but its too late to send back! i am so gutted as i 100% thought i had paid it - more fool me for not checking at the time but i kept thinking any day it will come out and that was that.

Are Dell allowed to just call back 18 months later - why have they left it so long?? any advice?

Thanks

They have 6 years to seek payment from you.

Due to their mistake would they be willing to arrange some sort of repayment plan with you?

Darksun

So... where has the original £700 gone? If it was never taken out your bank account surely it's still there?

Abbafan1972

Darksun wrote: »

So... where has the original £700 gone? If it was never taken out your bank account surely it's still there?

He's obviously spent it.

I would certainly notice if £700 hadn't gone out of my account.

matildajj

he is a she.

like i said, at the time i was in a very well paid job. i kept an eye on the payment but it never came out and before i know its its 18 months later.

my question here is not if you think i earned too much money, but what my right is as a consumer in terms of time scales. Can they really leave it 18 months before calling me up.

i will pay for the laptop, i am just shocked at the way Dell has dealt with this. I paid for the laptop online with a card and was told the money would come out of my account - it never did.

I am also trying to be aware of the many scams that are about and asking for advice. For example i need to get this in writing - it could be anyone calling me up!

matildajj

Abbafan1972 wrote: »

He's obviously spent it.

I would certainly notice if £700 hadn't gone out of my account.

not helpful at all.

fluffnutter

matildajj, unfortunately I don't think there's much you can do; you do owe Dell this money after all. However, hopefully they can come to some sort of arrangement with you. Offer them a repayment plan that you can stick to. Not something ridiculous like £1 a month but a realistic amount that would clear your debt in, say, six months max. After all, they've been happy to wait 18 months, another six isn't going to make that much difference. Ultimately if you didn't pay and they pursued you all the way to a court action, then the courts would set some sort of repayment plan based on your current financial situation, so effectively they're no worse off agreeing this now with you.

Put it all in writing, be polite and good luck. And check your bank balance regularly in future!

Optimist

Fault on both sides here but I fear you are still liable to pay irrespective of how badly Dell run their accounts. If you genuinely cant afford it I would suggest contacting them to explain, they might give you easier terms to pay it off.
Do it before they employ debt collectors.

realised

The same thing happened to me.

I purchased a laptop off Dell, they took 4 months to deliver it. and a year to realise they hadn't taken the payment for it. I had just started uni and didn't have internet banking (the statements were still going to my home address so I didn't realise they hadn't taken the money)

Anyway, I had to pay them them the full amount. Learnt my lesson, got internet banking and now keep an eye on everything that goes out of my account.