Company contacted me 6 months after purchase stating failed to collect PayPal fees

fed_up_and_stressed

I have a lot of dealings with German companies and there is no tone implied in the email. By referring the the contract being concluded in english we would refer to this as they had supplied the articles. German contracts are always incredibly "wordy".

Poppie68

ScorpiondeRooftrouser wrote: »

He only owes them money because of their stupidity. They didn't notice for six months they had failed to collect a payment. Then they threatened further action and set him deadlines instead of saying sorry, we've messed up, can you send payment please.

'He only owes them money because of their stupidity'?
He owes them money because he formed a contract with them when he made the purchase...It was a banking error and now it needs putting right, he doesn't get away with paying just because he doesn't like the tone of the request.

How many people don't notice that the £200+ that should of been paid didn't get paid, not many I would think? They may think he's been dishonest by not alerting them and Germans don't suffer fools gladly... They also don't intentionally go out if their way to be rude, it's not their fault if a customer who owes them money is a sensitive soul they are a business who rightly want their money.

He can play hardball if he wants but it's not going to make the debt disappear and could end up costing him more.

rjames27

The exact same thing has happened to me with the same company and time frame.

MikeWhite

Poppie68 wrote: »

'He only owes them money because of their stupidity'?
He owes them money because he formed a contract with them when he made the purchase...It was a banking error and now it needs putting right, he doesn't get away with paying just because he doesn't like the tone of the request.

How many people don't notice that the £200+ that should of been paid didn't get paid, not many I would think? They may think he's been dishonest by not alerting them and Germans don't suffer fools gladly... They also don't intentionally go out if their way to be rude, it's not their fault if a customer who owes them money is a sensitive soul they are a business who rightly want their money.

He can play hardball if he wants but it's not going to make the debt disappear and could end up costing him more.

Oh, the irony.

ScorpiondeRooftrouser

Poppie68 wrote: »

'He only owes them money because of their stupidity'?
He owes them money because he formed a contract with them when he made the purchase...It was a banking error and now it needs putting right, he doesn't get away with paying just because he doesn't like the tone of the request.

How many people don't notice that the £200+ that should of been paid didn't get paid, not many I would think? They may think he's been dishonest by not alerting them and Germans don't suffer fools gladly... They also don't intentionally go out if their way to be rude, it's not their fault if a customer who owes them money is a sensitive soul they are a business who rightly want their money.

He can play hardball if he wants but it's not going to make the debt disappear and could end up costing him more.

No, it wasn't a banking error, their systems went wrong and they didn't attempt to collect the payment he sent. If they hadn't made a mistake, he wouldn't owe them money because they would have collected it by now.

I wouldn't notice that £200 hadn't been taken from my bank account. It's too small a sum. Sorry about that, it's not my fault. I look at my account and check that I recognise everything that has gone out; it's not my job to check that everyone I do owe money to has collected it.

It's absolutely ridiculous to suggest he should have alerted them they had failed to take the payment he sent. If he had sent a cheque and they lost it, do you think its up to him to check his account, notify them that they haven't cashed it and send another one? That is absurd.

Your comment about them appearing to think he has been dishonest is the whole point. They are behaving as though this is the case when in fact he did everything right and they did everything wrong.

marliepanda

Honestly if they'd forgotten to send it and for some reason the op hadn't noticed for 6 months, and the company said 'yeah we'll get that sent to you at some point in the next few months' would everyone say that was acceptable?

ScorpiondeRooftrouser

d123 wrote: »

The company has 6 years to notice...

So? They didn't notice for six months but we have people claiming that he should have noticed immediately. Why the double standard?

ScorpiondeRooftrouser

marliepanda wrote: »

Honestly if they'd forgotten to send it and for some reason the op hadn't noticed for 6 months, and the company said 'yeah we'll get that sent to you at some point in the next few months' would everyone say that was acceptable?

He didn't forget to pay. They forgot to collect his payment.

The scenario that would match is if they sent it and it was left at the post office for 30 days, and he didn't collect it so it got sent back. Then he didn't notify them of this or say a word for six months, then sent them a brief note demanding his item within seven days or he would sue.

In those circumstances he would be being a bit of a ****. Most companies would completely ignore the empty threat, look into the matter and deal with it at their convenience.

timbstoke

It's taken them 6 months to send a mail asking for payment. I'd wait for now, and see how long it takes them to send a reminder. I'd reply to that reminder, acknowledging their letter and pointing out that the exchange rate means the £200 I originally paid is now only worth €255 (or whatever it is at the time), not €297 as it was when I purchased, and asking for their confirmation that they will be absorbing the exchange rate difference due to their mistake. If they confirm that they only want £200, they can have it. If they want €297, then we have a dispute.

JPCooper

Don't worry, I've received the same email.

However they have provided the incorrect transaction and invoice number compared to the failed PayPal transaction.

As such I've requested they correctly verify the info before I pay.

They have also requested payment via 3 different methods.

Complete agreement in the lack of service. I have no issues paying, but not to someone who provides the incorrect reference details.