Undercharged by company but have receipt showing otherwise

sonofswiss

Hi,

I had some work done on my house last year by a large well known company.

There was a £250 deposit - I paid this using using my debit card on their automated phone line, while the salesperson was in my house with the contract. I subsequently received a letter from them clearly stating that the £250 had been paid, and setting out the balance to be paid after the work was completed (which was paid with a cheque on the day).

This was exactly a year ago. I received a letter from their credit control department last week saying that the deposit was never paid. I thought this was a mistake, given the letter I had received from them, but when I check my bank account I can't see the £250 debit.

So my question is: Given that they clearly stated to me that the £250 had been paid, do they have the right to now say that it wasn't, and claim the money from me? Or is this their mistake and their responsibility? If they do have the legal right to claim it from me, that's fine - although given this is completely unexpected, £250 out of the blue is a bit of a shock at this time of year!

Thanks.

[Deleted User]

If the money was never paid then, clearly, you still owe it.

London50

as above,you still owe the money and need to pay.perhaps for the future it would be a very good idea to check your bank statements each time to make sure all things are correct

George_Michael

Reply to the company concerned acknowledging that you have checked your records and saying that you agree that you do owe them the £250 and state that as you've not budgeted for such a payment this month and are unable to pay at the moment.
Ask if they would be willing to allow you to pay the money either in a couple of installments or in one lump sum sometime after Christmas.

DoaM

As above ... if payment now would be problematic then agree a payment plan with them.

But yes - you do owe it, and they have 6 years to chase you for it via small claims. (Well, 5 years now).

Jumblebumble

DoaM wrote: »

As above ... if payment now would be problematic then agree a payment plan with them.

But yes - you do owe it, and they have 6 years to chase you for it via small claims. (Well, 5 years now).

Is this as simple as you make out ?
I had this once when buying a car and gave the seller a cheque backed up by a guarantee card which the seller promptly lost.
My bank said that if the cheque was ever presented they would honour it.
On that basis I refused to pay again.
I would be concerned that the company could re charge the OPs debit card again and then he has paid twice and the onus would be on him to reclaim the money?
If the company went bust in the meantime then what

DoaM

1. Once 6 months have elapsed they cannot unilaterally charge the OP's card without first informing them and getting OP's agreement

2. OP admits that the funds did not leave their account, thus it is impossible to be charged twice ... debit card transaction failure <> cheque lost in the post.

hollydays

Jumblebumble wrote: »

Is this as simple as you make out ?
I had this once when buying a car and gave the seller a cheque backed up by a guarantee card which the seller promptly lost.
My bank said that if the cheque was ever presented they would honour it.
On that basis I refused to pay again.
I would be concerned that the company could re charge the OPs debit card again and then he has paid twice and the onus would be on him to reclaim the money?
If the company went bust in the meantime then what

Could you not have stopped the cheque.?

[Deleted User]

Jumblebumble wrote: »

I had this once when buying a car and gave the seller a cheque backed up by a guarantee card which the seller promptly lost.
My bank said that if the cheque was ever presented they would honour it.
On that basis I refused to pay again.

I'm guessing the lost cheque was then quickly found and no more was said about it?

If not, then you must realise you still owe this money even now?

Or are you saying the car dealer simply wrote this off as a loss and you got a free car????:eek: