Request for bill payment - 18 months' old

jicms

I have received a request for payment for £200 for a service provided a year and a half ago which the company say has only just been highlighted in an audit. I paid this but have no evidence or memory of how as I have not kept statements going back this far. Can I be expected to pay up?! How should I deal with this?

unholyangel

So you dont even know if you maybe paid by cheque or credit/debit card or whether it was cash?

Yorkie1

Do you have online banking etc? Statements online often go back that far.

KeithP

jicms wrote: »

I paid this but have no evidence or memory of how as I have not kept statements going back this far. Can I be expected to pay up?! How should I deal with this?

If you have no evidence of paying and you have no memory of how you paid, one must wonder just how you are sure that you have paid?

If you can convince yourself and people on this forum that you have paid, there is a chance you might be able to convince your service provider.

Slightly off topic, but why do you not keep receipts or records for a longer period?

jicms

I am not certain I paid it. Just that I always do pay bills straight away.

I have two bank accounts and have, and previously had, several credit cards that I could have used.

I only get online banking statements and these are only available for 12 months.

I do normally keep paper statements for a few years but this is dependent on when I've had a clear out of the mountains of paperwork that build up. I realise on this occasion I won't win a moneysavingexpert award for organisation!

I am not trying to avoid bill payment if this is genuinely outstanding and will probably just pay it regardless. It just seems strange for a tradesman to request this after 20 months. I would have thought there would be some kind of cut-of-date.

gordikin

The cut off date is 6 years.

neilmcl

jicms wrote: »

I only get online banking statements and these are only available for 12 months.

Doesn't mean you can't manually request a paper statement going back further.

jicms

I decided it wasn't worth the hassle as I would have to pay for individual bank and credit card statements without knowing whether they were the right ones. The bank were not able to look at them for me. I just paid it.

Thanks anyway.

unholyangel

jicms wrote: »

I decided it wasn't worth the hassle as I would have to pay for individual bank and credit card statements without knowing whether they were the right ones. The bank were not able to look at them for me. I just paid it.

Thanks anyway.

Your bank must not be very considerate. My own bank will tell me anything about a transaction i want to know. Its only if i require a paper copy they would charge (which i would have asked the company to pay if it had indeed been paid).

Then again my bank statements online go back 4 years.....which is as long as i've had the account. I switched from HBOS whom i had nothing but trouble with.

Kind of unreal to expect someone to keep all receipts/documents for 6 years though

jicms

I'm with Cahoot which are paperless. They say the statements older than 12 months are generated and sent out from another department which it's not possible to speak to! They charge £5 per statement. Maybe it's time to change as their website's not very user-friendly and depositing money's inconvenient.

Yes, 6 years would be quite a stack of paper!

magpiecottage

A Data Subject Access Request would cost a maximum of £10 and should go back for six years or more.

If it proves payment then you could ask the company billing you to reimburse you.