Need a little advice on a holiday issue....

[Jim]

Hello,

I had a phone call earlier today from Holiday Company X. They requested that I obtain a bank statement from much earlier in the year (march time) in order to check if £100 had been debited from the account to Company X. They said they had a problem with the PDA machine on the particular day that my girlfriend and I went to pay off £100 of our holiday, which led to the money not being transfered from our account to Company X. We did however recieve a receipt that said we had paid £100 off our holiday. Now, fully 8 months later (and not even the same tax year) they want us to prove that the money came out of our account, and if not they requested that we pay it!! Having checked from previous bank statements, it is apparent that the money was not transfered. My girlfriend and I are now in a dilemma as to if we should pay them or not. Legally, we have a document that states that we have paid the full amount for the holiday, and we're sure that they do not have the right to view our personal bank statements. Morally however, it does seem that we paid £100 less than we should have done and therefore do owe the money to company X. Does anyone have any views on what we should do (preferably on a legal perspective so that we know where we stand)?

[True_Moose]

Legally, you may be on shaky ground, because there are electronic ways to figure out if you paid or not. I'd pay them, because morally, it's the right thing to do, but then again, if you guys really need the (I really have no idea how to do the pound sign)100, I guess you could try to fight it. I personally would want to pay them, just to rest my conscience.

[Kaltia]

Originally posted by True_Moose: Legally, you may be on shaky ground, because there are electronic ways to figure out if you paid or not. I'd pay them, because morally, it's the right thing to do, but then again, if you guys really need the (I really have no idea how to do the pound sign)100, I guess you could try to fight it. I personally would want to pay them, just to rest my conscience.

The pound sign comes with english keyboards. Mine is nestled comfortably between the dollar sign and the speech marks ^_^

[Mack_Attack]

I agree with true_moose. I would pay them there is to many ways to trace back the money. Sure you have a statment saying you payed them. But that was from them and your money never actually left your account. So you already wanted to pay them once but it never happend so I would say to pay them again. Besides if you do not pay themI t could put a black check mark on your credit rating and that is never a good thing.

If you do not want to pay then all at once try to talk to them and pay them back over a couple of months.

[The Hunter of Jahanna]

Give them NOTHING!! Since they gave you a paid slip it is their loss. Just fax them a copy of the slip and tell them to stuff it. It isnt your problem if they dropped the ball.

[Ronn_Bman]

If you are sure you owe the money, the best thing to do is just pay it.

I would think they'd have to prove that you didn't pay, as opposed to making you prove, beyond your receipt, that you did.

I don't think they have any right to request a copy of your bank statement though. Maybe they could request proof from your bank that the amount was debited but not your entire statement.

Of course, you could just return their letter with a copy of your receipt stapled to it and see what happens.

[andrewas]

They made two errors. First they didnt collect the money. Then they gave you a reciept for the money they didnt collect. Recipts are a legal document - they have stated in writing that you have paid. Im no lawyer, but I would think they are the ones on shaky ground.

Although, from a moral perspective, you do owe them 100 quid.

[J.J.]

The choice is completely yours, Jim! As long as you have a receipt showing payment from the company, you are not LEGALLY LIABLE TO MAKE SURE THE COMPANY GETS ALL THE MONEY IT SHOULD!!!!

You are under absolutely NO obligation to show this company your bank records - and you should NEVER NEVER NEVER give anyone or any company access to your personal financial information - they get their hands on it, and it will go into their database, and onto a mailing/marketing list! [img]graemlins/nono.gif[/img]

Ethically, well, that is for U to decide...

My personal feeling is that if the company is so lacking in customary and ordinary financial practices, it is not your place to rectify their fiduciary *uck-up, and let this be a lesson to them to be more on top of things monetary.

Make multiple copies of your receipt, scan it to your HD, and after every correspondence with this place, include or make reference to the paid receipt you have.

Here in the states, you may take any sort of document to any county courthouse, and for what is usually a nominal fee ($7.oo in Montana) you can register the document, which makes it then a legally viable entity in it's own right.... [img]smile.gif[/img]
-is such a process available there?
That way, if they are so foolish as to spend 10 to 1 of the original amount to try to get you to pay, you need only make reference to the document's registered place in any sort of legal proceeding.....you don't even need to provide the dummies copies anymore.

Let us know what you decide....

[AzRaeL StoRmBlaDe]

dont pay them, if you have something showing you paid them, send them that and send the extra money to Ziroc to help fund IW.

[Jim]

Sure you have a statment saying you payed them. But that was from them and your money never actually left your account.

True, but at the end of the day, a receipt is a receipt, regardless of source. It's a document proving that the holiday has been paid for in full (even if it hasn't).

The error lies in their hands. We went on the holiday back in July, and as far as we were aware, it was all paid for and in the past. It's just a pain since you don't expect to be chased up 8 months after paying them (or thinking that you'd paid them) to find you still owe £100.

We probably will end up paying them, although we'll probably go for Mack_attacks suggestion of paying them in installments. I know that paying them is the right thing to do, but wondered where we stood legally. Cheers for the fast replies BTW [img]smile.gif[/img] .

[ 11-02-2002, 02:46 PM: Message edited by: Jim ]