Company asking me to pay more than agreed

Notflippinlikely

TELLIT01 said:

Is it possible that one of the payments went out late so they are claiming interest on the entire 50%?

Definitely not. All paid on time by DD

Grumpy_chap

Notflippinlikely said:

ACTUAL FIGURES AS PER VAT INVOICES

Machine £4,093.99
Additional item £375.00
Subtotal £4,468.99
Discount £1,103.99
VAT total £4038.00
Payment received £358.80
Balance due £3,679.20

The first Payment was 10% to secure the discounted machine which was on offer on the day.

I made another payment of
£1885.20 which I believed was 40% of the total bill.

I then paid 5 payments of £358.80 by DD.

Your payments made seem to sum to £4,038.

£1,885 does not equal 40% of £4,038 but that may be insignificant given the total appears to have been paid.
Something is odd how the monthly payments have been calculated as, if the agreement was 50% plus five payments of 10% and the total is £4,038, each 10% is £403.80.  Again, not important in the overall scheme of things if the full payments have been made.

I would stop speaking with them on the phone and simply write to them and set out the position:

Dear Supplier, 

Thank you for your letter.  

Purchase at total cost of £4,038.00
Payments made:

• <date> £358.80 with evidence of transaction
• <date> £1,885.20 with evidence of transaction
• <date> £358.80 with evidence of transaction
• <date> £358.80 with evidence of transaction
• <date> £358.80 with evidence of transaction
• <date> £358.80 with evidence of transaction
• <date> £358.80 with evidence of transaction

Total payments made £4,038.

I trust this now resolves the matter.

Kind Regards,
OP

RefluentBeans

When you pointed out that you have paid all the direct debits did they acknowledge receipt of all 5? Or on their end do they still reckon one is missing?

Notflippinlikely

Grumpy_chap said:

This seems odd in the fact of the apparent simplicity and short timeframe of the whole arrangement.  Those factor should make resolving any issue very easy.  (Notwithstanding, in my experience, five months is not a typical repayment period.)

Are the threats of debt collection specific, or just the generic letter?

Anyway, the OP has received a letter advising that the supplier claims not to have received full payment.
Presumably, the OP simply needs to respond with a simple letter along the following lines:

Dear Supplier,

Thank you for your letter.  There appears to have been a mistake in your Account Dept.

I purchased the machine for £1,000 on <date> and the agreement was 50% deposit and the remaining 50% on interest free finance to be paid in equal amounts over 5 months.  Copy of invoice and agreement attached for reference.

I have made payments as follows:

• <date> purchase, paid £500 by <means of payment>.  Evidence attached.
• <date> first monthly payment £100 by <means of payment>.  Evidence attached.
• <date> second monthly payment £100 by <means of payment>.  Evidence attached.
• <date> third monthly payment £100 by <means of payment>.  Evidence attached.
• <date> fourth monthly payment £100 by <means of payment>.  Evidence attached.
• <date> fifth monthly payment £100 by <means of payment>.  Evidence attached.

That is the full payment for the machine all completed as agreed.  I trust that you will be able to review your internal records and correctly assign the payments made against my purchase.

I look forward to your confirmation that this is fully resolved.

Love, hugs & kisses,
OP.

Once that is done, with the correct dates and values etc., the matter should be concluded swiftly.  
If, in doing the above, the OP finds that the number of payments made was incorrect, then the OP can resolve by making that additional payment.

If the above is done and the supplier continues to say payments were not made, the OP can simply keep the same evidence to present later should the issue proceed to court recovery action / claim.

Or, the supplier might receive the above and then provide some evidence as to the amounts the OP claims to have paid were not complete.  For example, third payment was not processed as the DD bounced or whatever.

Many, many thanks for your long reply.
I will take your advice 

Notflippinlikely

eskbanker said:

Notflippinlikely said:

p00hsticks said:

Notflippinlikely said:

I can prove that it was their inability to do basic maths that has left me in this position.

Can you expand on this please ?
Did the five monthly payments you made indeed amount to the full 50% that you owed ?

I have paid all of the monthly payments that I agreed to pay on the finance agreement. They add up to the 50% that I owed.

So what is their side of the story?  Are they claiming that they only received four of the five monthly payments, or something else?

Who knows?! I  can't get a simple answer out of them!

Grumpy_chap

Notflippinlikely said:

Many, many thanks for your long reply.
I will take your advice 

Perhaps not the "love, hugs & kisses" bit.

Notflippinlikely said:

TELLIT01 said:

Is it possible that one of the payments went out late so they are claiming interest on the entire 50%?

Definitely not. All paid on time by DD

Sometimes it is not as clear cut.
We have seen some threads where the first payment is due and made on, say, 15th January but processed on 16th January.  This then either shows as a late payment or a missed payment.  

p00hsticks

Grumpy_chap said:

Notflippinlikely said:

Many, many thanks for your long reply.
I will take your advice 

Perhaps not the "love, hugs & kisses" bit.

Notflippinlikely said:

TELLIT01 said:

Is it possible that one of the payments went out late so they are claiming interest on the entire 50%?

Definitely not. All paid on time by DD

Sometimes it is not as clear cut.
We have seen some threads where the first payment is due and made on, say, 15th January but processed on 16th January.  This then either shows as a late payment or a missed payment.  

If the payments were being made by Direct Debit, then surely it is down to the company to request the payment in a timely manner ? Assuming that there were sufficient funds in the OPs bank account when the DD hit, then I don't see how a DD can be considered as late or missed by the company requesting the payment. 

Notflippinlikely

Grumpy_chap said:

I think dealing by phone may not be the best way as it allows record of exactly what was said to be misplaced or for different people to have different recollections.

Has the company written to you?
If so, a simple written response that sets out the payments due and made will keep everything logical and ensure there is record of exactly what has been said.

No, they have not written to me.

Grumpy_chap

Notflippinlikely said:

Grumpy_chap said:

I think dealing by phone may not be the best way as it allows record of exactly what was said to be misplaced or for different people to have different recollections.

Has the company written to you?
If so, a simple written response that sets out the payments due and made will keep everything logical and ensure there is record of exactly what has been said.

No, they have not written to me.

Then I would do nothing.

If the company phone you again, then politely thank them for their call, state you do not agree with their position however if they write to you setting out all the details you will review everything in full, then thank them for their time and wish them a good day.
Don't get drawn into any discussions over the phone.

This might be enough to force the company to actually check things at their end.
It will certainly filter out if the whole thing is a scammer...

p00hsticks said: 

If the payments were being made by Direct Debit, then surely it is down to the company to request the payment in a timely manner ? Assuming that there were sufficient funds in the OPs bank account when the DD hit, then I don't see how a DD can be considered as late or missed by the company requesting the payment. 

I agree, that is how it should work.
It does not mean that there have not been threads where people report:

• first payment due 15th January
• DD shows taken on time
• first payment shown credited to account on 16th January
• first payment shown as missed / defaulted.
• credit from 16th January allocated against the 15th February payment
• each successive payment allocated as early payment of the next monthly and the first payment always remains showing as missed.
• lender claims the rules for the interest free were breached so a large interest bill now also accrues.

A cynic might even suggest that some of the less honourable companies positively work in this way...

Notflippinlikely

Notflippinlikely said:

ACTUAL FIGURES AS PER VAT INVOICES

Machine £4,093.99
Additional item £375.00
Subtotal £4,468.99
Discount £1,103.99
VAT total £4038.00
Payment received £358.80
Balance due £3,679.20

The first Payment was 10% to secure the discounted machine which was on offer on the day.

I made another payment of
£1885.20 which I believed was 40% of the total bill.

I then paid 5 payments of £358.80 by DD.

Sorry that is wrong
10% holding payment of £358.80
40% payment of £1526.40

Then 5 equal payments of £358.80 by DD