Company insists we haven't paid bill in full

Well here's the answer then, they made a mistake, which they have admitted, by entering €800 twice. They probably then got totally confused because some money was paid by cash and some by cheque. No proper accounting was done that day because, 1, they were too busy or, 2, the person doing the accounts didn't know what they were doing at the time.They may have been distracted as to what they were doing at the till.You have a receipt to say you paid in full, so no, dont pay another €400,€800 or whatever. Not your fault, theirs. end of story. So what if it's a small town, I know what small towns are like, do not let them bully you into paying just because you are new in town.!!!

I think Swallows may be on to something, though I wouldn't approach him quite as "robustly" as Swallows has posted!

Put the ball back in the supplier's court. What can he show you to convince you that you have made a mistake? Insist that you think you have paid the full amount, and his own invoice backs this up. By his own admission he has made a mistake recording your cash payments. He is dealing with lots of customers and you can understand how easily that could happen. But you only have your own finances to deal with. And everything suggests you paid him the full amount. The simplest explanation from your point of view is that he has made more than one mistake. Currently you regard the account as closed and fully paid, but if he can demonstrate you have made a mistake, you would certainly reconsider.

Also, and I know it's easy to say this now, let this be a lesson to others to always get exact receipts for payments when they are made, especially cash payments. If you had a receipt from a particular date showing nothing but a cash payment for the final balance, that would be enough to convince the supplier.

Thanks all.

I called in to the shop when they first contacted us to try and clear it all up. He showed me where they had double-entered the amount into their computer. It was an excel spreadsheet type thing with two €800 entered under our name. How do we know the second entry wasn't added after we paid that €800?

And yes, the owner himself was paid on the day.

I think the owner is being very foolish. The best he could do is advise you that they think there was a mistake, accept the loss and hope to do business with you in the future. If he knew you had a 'paid in full' signed document then he is quite stupid to even chance his arm.

ubiquitous said:

Really? I doubt if there is a business in the country that would allow members of the public to access their book-keeping system.

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You're only asking to see the details of your account, not their whole book keeping system. I don't believe that this is an unreasonable request, especially in the circumstances - i.e. legitimately and politely trying to resolve an issue to the satisfaction of both parties.

ubiquitous said:

If any of my customers requested access to my own business records, I would run them there and then and tell them never to darken my door again.

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While you can do business in any way that you choose, if I was asked in a reasonable fashion for access to someones personal account in order to clarify a query or an issue, then I wouldn't have a problem with that at all. And, I don't think that any business could reasonably refuse to give anyone a view of their account with that business (would this be a Data Commissioner issue?).

ubiquitous said:

Were someone to do so giving no advance warning and making a comment such as "I'd hate to think that you do this regularly" they would be calling the Guards for their own protection.

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If the OP were to be as gullible and cheeky to approach the matter in this fashion, then there would be no reason for the business to accomodate the request (though not by threatening violence in response to the request). If they approached the business in the manner I stated above, reasonably and politely, focusing on getting the issue sorted, it would be unreasonable in my view for a business to refuse to let someone see their own account information.

Finally, as has been shown by the OP in subsequent posts to yours, they were allowed see the information in an effort to show clarity to the situation.

If a business has nothing to hide, then there should be no issue at all in showing their customers their account information, simple as that.

Points taken, but in fact it was You who suggested..

ronan_d_john said:

Would it be worthwhile calling in some day and asking to see the error - giving no advance warning that you'll be looking to see the books?

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and...

ronan_d_john said:

You did mention above below that you'd hate to think that he does this regularly. This would confirm or not.

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I don't know how you could expect the OP to establish the latter point without seeing other customers' records.

Thanks lads, good to see someone else as worked up about this as we are! Apparently a few of our neighbours have used this guy and have been disappointed, either with poor service, or over-charging. I'm even less inclined to ring this guy now. I'm tempted just to ignore him and hope he'll go away, but I'm kind of worried about the legal aspect. Can he bring us to court over this?

ubiquitous said:

Points taken, but in fact it was You who suggested..

and...


I don't know how you could expect the OP to establish the latter point without seeing other customers' records.

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I think you're misunderstanding me.

The OP said that the owner had stated that he'd made a mistake in the books. By calling in, unannounced, and asking politely to see the books, you're giving the owner a chance to show the account as it is. By not giving notice, you're not allowing him the chance to "doctor" the account if it is the case that he might do this regularly.

There's no issue with calling in unannounced.

And I didn't suggest that the OP go in all guns blazing accusing the owner of doing this regularly.

However, by getting a look at their account, to see if the error is as the owner stated, they can then see whether or not he's being genuine. You don't need to see other peoples accounts to determine whether or not he's being genuine about the alleged mistake that he made on the OPs account.

If he doesn't let the OP see the account then the OP could conceivably have a doubt.

Ronan, thanks for clarifying your points.

Reyes said:

Apparently a few of our neighbours have used this guy and have been disappointed, either with poor service, or over-charging.?

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That's a very telling point.

Reyes said:

I'm kind of worried about the legal aspect. Can he bring us to court over this?

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Unless he is vastly more organised than he appears to be, he would have great difficulty in establishing a case strong enough to bring to court. I think you have little to fear.

OK, so I think most people I've asked agree that we don't owe this guy anything, and if we do end up paying him, it would be a goodwill gesture to keep the peace so to speak. Thanks a million guys, you've been a great help, I'll let you know how it works out.

Hi Reyes

and if we do end up paying him, it would be a goodwill gesture to keep the peace so to speak.

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Based on the details in this thread, you should not make any payment at all. You don't need to make goodwill gestures.

Marion

I know we bought a custom made sofa bed off a company in Glasnevin, paid a deposit of someithng like €100 which we got a receipt for, balance to be paid on delivery.

When the delivery guy came he said we got a good deal as the guy who priced it for us (only a young fella) made a mistake and under charged us by €300.

As we had a written receipt for the €100 and the balance remaining they didn't look for the extra €300 and would just put it down to experience.

As you have a signed receipt saying all paid in full then you have "Paid in Full" as far as I would be concerned regardless of €800 being missing from his "accounts" - an excel spreadsheet that would so easy be altered by a 6 year old

Reyes said:

We paid €800 cash and €1200 cheque as a deposit one week before the job was done. We paid the balance in cash the day after the job was done. They claim that they credited 2 x €800 to our account rather than just one. However, we got a receipt after each payment, the final receipt saying 'paid in full' in the owner's handwriting.

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On the day you paid the balance I am sure you would have gone in with an approx. amount due. If the bill was €800 less then that amount wouldn't you have noticed on the day? Was your final reeipt for approx €4,600 i.e. the €4,000 quoted plus the €600 for the garden furniture.
This that make sence or am I miising something.