Reply to: Returning an overpayment

[Dow Jones]

They'll have to prove that it was 'knowingly'

There was a thread in here some time ago where the guy was out of contract and in financial difficulty. I think they let him off the hook. Can anyone remember?

[Bluebird]

I think they changed the law recently to say something along the lines of "if you knowingly keep money you're not entitled to it's theft"

[Dow Jones]

Honestly...

...can't believe how honest some people are on this. I am not talking about stealing here, however if a payment was made in error and the funds aren't subsequently there for a full refund (say you had to pay a large tax bill/etc), what happens then?
a. You have to prove that you were acting in good faith - now tell me how many of you get sent credit statements from the agency on a weekly/monthly basis? I bet only a few. I remember they all used to do it a few years ago, now it is more like an e-mail reminder - mostly without a proper attached credit record. So you didn't check your e-mail, it is not malicious, is it?
b. You may make a (goodwill) offer to repay them over a period of 60 months @ eg £ 100 p/m ie 60 x 100 = 6000 if that's what is owed. What's wrong with that? Will they accept it? Doubt it, as they'll have to pay someone to monitor the payments. Are they going to be around in 5 years time? Doubt it, if they are not Spring/CP/etc.
Can anyone tell me if this is not within the law?

[alreadypacked]

No sure what I would if it were an agent but I am currently doing some direct to customer work. After the initial six months he overpayed me one month by £600 - I flagged it up with him straight away and have been there nearly three years now - so it does pay to be honest sometimes.

Something simular happened to me, I was on my last week of my contract and they were due to pay me the previous month (30 day terms) Said I was off to India for 3 months could I have the current month also. The day before I left I got a cheque, got home 10K over paid
Took the cheque back the next day, they were very suprised.
Even more suprised when they realised they didn't have any UK address for me.

[weemster]

No sure what I would if it were an agent but I am currently doing some direct to customer work. After the initial six months he overpayed me one month by £600 - I flagged it up with him straight away and have been there nearly three years now - so it does pay to be honest sometimes.

[the average man]

it appears I've been overpaid by £660ish today

I'm likely to leave my current contract and agency in a couple of weeks for a new thang so not sure wether to bother raising it....

[NotAllThere]

Send them the invoice. Then invoke late payment when they don't pay.

Let us know what the judge says in the small claims court. ;-)

[Kess]

This matter is still rumbling on - the agent has now finally responded but claims they've overpaid me by even more than they really have (by a massive margin, not just a few pence), so I've requested a breakdown of their figures and will have to go through things yet again.

Under the circumstances my company would like to charge them an administrative fee for the time and expenses incurred in sorting out their errors. When I raised this on the phone the agent said they could only refund any "real" bank charges their errors had caused - apparently to them my time etc. is free.

It is reasonable to simply send them an invoice for "Administrative Charges" (which they might then reject/ignore) or is that likely to be a pointless exercise?

[Kess]

Complain to the bank. You have hassled your client, publicly sought assistance and generally been very narked for ages.

To be honest I'm not too annoyed at the bank. It looks like a genuine one-off error, they answered the phone promptly (within 2 rings I was talking to a human being who actually wanted to help - incredible!), etc.

It's the agency I remain narked with. The remaining two overpayments and one deduction (in breach of contract) were their doing yet they don't respond to e-mails, don't return calls, etc. It's a big agency and ironically I've had plenty of junk e-mails from their clueless management in recent weeks boasting about themselves, their new helpdesk (manned by "a team of experts"), and their marvelous new accounting system. Pah.

STOP PRESS - make that three overpayments now - another £1500 has appeared this evening! I think I've done all I can. I'm now going to do what I should've done in the first place: stop badgering them, chill out, sit back, and wait for their accounts department to get its act together and make the effort to contact me.

[BrowneIssue]

Although the payment originated with the agency, so I naturally assumed it was yet another of their mess-ups, the lady at CA hinted that the error was the banks'. I guess that's why they had the power to correct it without seeking my authority or informing me in advance.

Complain to the bank. You have hassled your client, publicly sought assistance and generally been very narked for ages. All because your bank - who you use because they are supposed to be money management experts - can't manage money.

Tell 'em you want a few quid for the inconvenience.

Also, tell them you want a letter of explanation that you can show your client. That'll teach 'em.

(My gut reaction is that somebody at the bank has done something they shouldn't have - they have responded to a request from the agency without checking with you. They'll be wanting to hide that fact from you and £100 "shut him up before he goes to the ombudsman" money could well be yours very soon.)

[Kess]

Although the payment originated with the agency, so I naturally assumed it was yet another of their mess-ups, the lady at CA hinted that the error was the banks'. I guess that's why they had the power to correct it without seeking my authority or informing me in advance.
Hopefully the rest of the money in my account is safe...

[Bluebird]

Is it the bank who's allowed to make the switch, or the agency?

sounds like it was the banks error so they did they recersal - son't think the agent can just request it.

[NotAllThere]

Is it the bank who's allowed to make the switch, or the agency?

[Lewis]

I phoned the bank (Cater Allen - at least they are pleasant and answer the phone unlike my ****ing agent's accounts dept). They said the payment was intended for another contractor's account and found its way into mine by mistake, hence they were "allowed" to switch it from my account to theirs as soon as the error was spotted.

Still seems a bit of a liability to do it without any warning though.

On the bright side, CA did credit me with £10 interest for the time the overpayment was in my account.

WOW! So anybody can just "back-out" a payment made to your Cater Allen account by simply claiming it was paid in error. That's really scary.

[BrowneIssue]

Blimey! I just checked my company account and the agency has snatched £4540 directly from my account - without my knowledge or involvement.

I know they are only recovering their overpayment but I didn't realise it was possible to grab money from someone else's account in that way.

This situation is turning into quite a learning experience!

It certainly is. I maintain two business accounts; one is a deposit account where I keep the money for the taxman. I would have automatically transferred any overpayment to live in that account. In your situation I would now be £2500 overdrawn ... and probably found out in a letter in seven days time. (Earning the bank some charges to the tune of a couple of hundred quid.)