Manweb

PKJones

My mother has just revealed to me that she was owed around £1400 from British Gas and Manweb in the early 90’s. British Gas sent her a cheque for their half of the money owed, but manweb never sent theirs. Obviously Manweb are no longer. I think it was Scottish power that bought them, so my question is do you think it’s possible to get her this money back? It’s 30 years, do you think there would be any records? Any suggestions on where I could start? Or if I should bother! 

Thanks 

Brie

Well it doesn't hurt to enquire but I suspect that if you ring SP and ask about cheques from Manweb they'll say "who? what?"    Records may not exist and if the company was taken over that so often means they were under resourced so the money that wasn't there then won't be there now.

If mom has any records that might help but to save the cost of the stamp it might be best to email.  Does she have email or could she use your email address ?

la531983

Also, and dont take this the wrong way, if it was 30 years ago, and your mum is now 30 years older, is she likely of an age where she could potentially be misremembering?

Scot_39

I suspect forget it.

Most civil cases have iirc a finite lifespan - from memory 6 year limitation in civil claims.

There are a few exceptions - e.g. when reason for claim emerges late - but even then iirc its a hard 15 years.

Your 5x or 2x those limits now.

PKJones

Thanks for the replies guys, she’s a paper hoarder so I suspect she has some kind of record in her files 😂 

She’s pretty sound of mind, only 67 and on the ball. Switching suppliers and things recently has jogged her memory, so thought I would at least enquire for her. 

I did wonder if it was too long ago, but I’ll have a rummage in the files and see what I can dig up. Give me something to do for the afternoon tomorrow anyway 👍🏼

Gerry1

It may be relatively easy to show that a refund was due.

Unfortunately, the difficulty will be proving a negative, i.e. that it wasn't paid.

It's like trying to prove you don't have a secret yacht in Marbella or a numbered Swiss bank account.

PKJones

Gerry1 said:

It may be relatively easy to show that a refund was due.

Unfortunately, the difficulty will be proving a negative, i.e. that it wasn't paid.

It's like trying to prove you don't have a secret yacht in Marbella or a numbered Swiss bank account.

Yeah good point, she may have a letter showing owing but there’s no way there’s a bank record showing it’s never been paid.