Direct Debit: Business wants back £700 back-payment

Time4T_Accounts

Seeing as it was a cancelled session, then presumably more kids than your own were affected ... and so the shortfall to the club is presumably more than just your £700 ... and they’ve gone more than a whole financial year without noticing the hole in their finances / reconciliations?!  It sounds like their treasurer has fallen short, here.  If it were me, I would be looking to split the difference as an absolute maximum. Good luck!

Nick_C

I think it's arguable that you are not liable to pay what the club is now asking for.

You say "The company has just sent me an email saying that I have been paying the wrong amount for the last 20 months" and that is not true - you have not been paying the wrong amount, they have been taking the wrong amount.  The Direct Debit system puts them in control, and they have a responsibility to bill you correctly.

By continuing to allow your children to attend the club for a monthly payment of £35, I would say they have accepted this amount in payment of the service they provide.  They have unwittingly agreed to the contract being varied.

I would suggest that you write to them saying they are at fault for taking the wrong amount, but that as a gesture of goodwill you will pay them £210 (6 months of the amount they have claimed), over the next 12 months, so pay £87.50 a month for the  next 12 months (£70 plus £17.50 settlement).  Insist that this agreement is full and final settlement.

Having said that, is the club a business or a charity?  If the latter, then regardless of legal obligations, I would personally want to reimburse them the full amount but over a longer period of time.

I am not a lawyer.

es5595

It’s not a jump from £35 to £70, it’s a lack of a discount from £70 to £35. I’d suggest paying back the outstanding balance at the same rate as it accrued, so the actual payment of £70 plus, each month for the next two years, an additional payment of £35. 

Again as others have said, it also depends if it’s a business or a charity. If someone was being paid to do the accounts, I feel there is a higher expectation that they are correct than a volunteer club treasurer. 

colsten

Let’s hope one of the poor kids doesn’t get barred from the club because their parent only wants to pay for one of them

wiseonesomeofthetime

Heard you the first time @colsten🤣

[Deleted User]

Nick_C said:

I think it's arguable that you are not liable to pay what the club is now asking for.

I am not a lawyer.

The OP agreed a rate for a service, it's already been provided without complaint and that is what is due.

Obviously, they can negotiate a reasonable repayment plan but ultimately there is no obligation to provide a discount and if the club raised a small claims action, what would their defence to full payment be?

Nick_C

dahj said:

Nick_C said:

I think it's arguable that you are not liable to pay what the club is now asking for.

I am not a lawyer.

The OP agreed a rate for a service, it's already been provided without complaint and that is what is due.

Obviously, they can negotiate a reasonable repayment plan but ultimately there is no obligation to provide a discount and if the club raised a small claims action, what would their defence to full payment be?

As stated in my post. 

"By continuing to allow your children to attend the club for a monthly payment of £35, I would say they have accepted this amount in payment of the service they provide.  They have unwittingly agreed to the contract being varied." 

bundoran

Nick_C said:

As stated in my post. 

"By continuing to allow your children to attend the club for a monthly payment of £35, I would say they have accepted this amount in payment of the service they provide.  They have unwittingly agreed to the contract being varied." 

A party to a contract cannot "unwittingly agree" to the variation of a contract. 

For a contract to be varied then the parties have to address their minds to the issue and agree to vary it. One party cannot unilaterally "unwittingly" vary it and a party cannot agree unwittingly - to agree a party has to apply their mind to the issue and make a decision.

That's just basic contract law.

Takmon

raaymaan said:

Hello,
My two children attend a small local football club and I pay about £35 a month by direct debit. The company has just sent me an email saying that I have been paying the wrong amount for the last 20 months - £35 instead of £70! - and they would like the money owed to them. As you might imagine, I don't have a spare £700 lying around, especially in these torrid times.

The error was not my fault however, but of the football club's accounts. They changed the direct debit amount after a session was cancelled, as a way of giving people a refund, and subsequently forgot to change it back. Dangerous practice it seems. 
The club also insinuated that I am to blame, as "how could I not notice the incorrect amount every month?", well I didn't, and quite frankly that's why I have small direct debits, so I don't have to deal with them. I know they're there, but not the amount. Mortgage and credit card are the only outgoings I really know, as they are the most significant.

I intend to try to pay some of the money back alongside future sessions, but I still do not feel I am fully at fault. 
Opinions and moral obligations aside - am I legally obliged to pay them anything further?
Thanks

So basically you just let the direct debits come out and spend whatever is left with no budgeting whatsoever  ...You really need to sort out your finances and create a budget which allows you to build up some emergency savings and also check your bank statements because you may have money being taken out that is incorrect! 
If you don't even have £700 in savings then your just one unexcepted bill away from financial ruin!

[Deleted User]

Nick_C said:

dahj said:

Nick_C said:

I think it's arguable that you are not liable to pay what the club is now asking for.

I am not a lawyer.

The OP agreed a rate for a service, it's already been provided without complaint and that is what is due.

Obviously, they can negotiate a reasonable repayment plan but ultimately there is no obligation to provide a discount and if the club raised a small claims action, what would their defence to full payment be?

As stated in my post. 

"By continuing to allow your children to attend the club for a monthly payment of £35, I would say they have accepted this amount in payment of the service they provide.  They have unwittingly agreed to the contract being varied." 

To use your logic - 

"By continuing to allow your children to attend the club with a monthly payment of £99, I would say you have accepted this amount in payment of the service they provide.  You have unwittingly agreed to the contract being varied." 

Do you think this would hold up in court?