Can I Sue for 1p?

custardy

ive got an ongoing dispute with orange over 3p
i have a spare sim on the old virgin tarriff,so its a contract with no line rental and only pay for calls
however i only keep it in my wallet as a back up for a faulty sim/borrowed phone
orange have billed me for 3p i cant have used,and no explanation of what its for
i get a bill for it every monthy but they have yet to prove what the 3p is for.
im sad i know

1jim

I think you are right to question it and ask them to prove what the charge is for, if no one checked bills/asked why they had been charged think hoe much these companies could make by slipping 3p on to everyones bill

lindos90

If a business is describing an item at one price, and charging the customer a higher price, (in theory how ever much extra that is) its not on, but im sure if they charged you 1p less it would be a different matter.

For me it comes down to that old chestnut 'the principle of the thing' but personally I would have to cost in the price/effort ratio as well.

So if 1p is supposed to be an acceptable ammount to overcharge, at what point would it be unacceptable? thats down to individual perception I guess...a pound? a certain percentage of the item cost?

I would agree that going to court would be a waste af time all round, but I would probably push it with the company and CC, just on principle.

If they are doing this on every order, sometimes with more than a penny, it will add up eventually....it probably goes into a jam jar and they raid it for a christmas drink!

bravobeastie

I bought some petrol the other day, at £1.07 per litre (there was no .9 just exact £1.07)

I always fill up by the litre so i know how my cars mpg is returning, when i went to pay, i was charged £10.71

I know its only a penny but i was confused, i asked the guy behind the counter how they worked it out to £10.71 when it should have been £10.70 and he said 'don't ask me i haven't driven since 1983'

ianmr65

Can't remember which card company, think it was Halifax or RBS but they rounded a debit balance of -37p back to zero, after i thought i had paid it off in full with the comment:

'Insignificant amount rounding' or somesuch. So you'll probably find that their T&C's now say something around the fact that they have the right to do this either way for a reasonable amount, my guess would be anything below 50p, which is prolly what it costs them all in to issue the bill.
Now i haven't noticed any rounding in their favour yet. But being as I owe 37p i'm not in any position to argue should they invoke it.

NB there is no doubt in my mind that suing would be a hiding to nothing. It wouldn't get past the first claim stage, as the clerk would throw it out.

JPS29

Can I just ask if you would be going to the same lenghts if you were undercharged by 1p:rolleyes:

BigBouncyBall

a similar thing happened to me once - I bought a TV from dixons which came with a glass stand unit type thing which once i got it home found it to be in 1,000,000 pieces - the glass had shattered.

I took it back and was given another one no problems, except the guy at the checkout charged me 1p for it because 'he had to put something through the till', as i was buying a couple of other things it all just went through before i could query it.

I wasn't too impressed to say the least - the guy at the checkout said, rather sarcastically - 'i can get a manager to refund you the 1p if you like'.

I didn't bother. I've not been back since.

BigBouncyBall

bravobeastie wrote: »

I bought some petrol the other day, at £1.07 per litre (there was no .9 just exact £1.07)

I always fill up by the litre so i know how my cars mpg is returning, when i went to pay, i was charged £10.71

I know its only a penny but i was confused, i asked the guy behind the counter how they worked it out to £10.71 when it should have been £10.70 and he said 'don't ask me i haven't driven since 1983'

A local garage round me got into a bit of trouble a few years ago as they hadn't been calibrating the pumps regularly enough, but it got to the point where people were being over charged by about 2p in the pound which on a full tank worked out to be a few quid! I think they claimed it wasn't their fault.

leftfield20

I agree with the OP, because the company were rude (rather than just saying "sorry about that") the OP should cause them a load of grief. It is only 1p but how hard would it have been to put the correct amount through. Not very. Fight the establishment! (etc etc)

BigBouncyBall

the simple solution is to never use the website again and tell all your friends not to either. It'll cost them a damn site more than 1p. Serves them right, customer service is so easy to get right for companies who take 3 seconds to actually give a damn.