ex Company Wages Over payment Claimform

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Hello,

 

Thanks for any help.

I worked for a company until Apr 2015, and now have just received a claim form, from a "County court business centre" stating that I owe the company money. Apparently they overpaid me some salary, not that I can remember, so long ago.

 

This is the 1st corresondence regarding this.

How should I reply to this please?

They reckon it was £700, but with interest and now with costs it's near £1200.

 

If I own money, I owe money, not a problem, but somewhat baffled as to why after over 5yrs I suddenly get this claim form, and was not informed at the time.

 

Any advice/help with my defence would be very helpful.

 

Thanks.

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Many thanks, I'll go through it.

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Name of the Claimant ? Centrica PLC

 

Date of issue – 02/12/2020

 

Particulars of Claim

 

What is the claim for – 

 

1.The claimant's claim is in respect of an overpayment of salary/expenses full particulars of which have been previously supplied.

 

And the claimant claims 717.10p Account no:..., 325.19p interest thereon in accordance with section 69a of the County Court Acts 1984 at a rate of 8% p.a calculated from the date upon which payment became due to the date hereof as set out below. Further interest at the rate of 0.16p per day (8% p.a.) to judgement or payment.

 

What is the total value of the claim? £1192.29
 

Have you received prior notice of a claim being issued pursuant to paragraph 3 of the PAPDC (Pre Action Protocol) ? No
 

Have you changed your address since the time at which the debt referred to in the claim was allegedly incurred?

No
 

Did you inform the claimant of your change of address?

N/A

Is the claim for - a Bank Account (Overdraft) or credit card or loan or catalogue or mobile phone account?

No
 

When did you enter into the original agreement before or after April 2007 ?

N/A
 

Do you recall how you entered into the agreement...On line /In branch/By post ?

N/A
 

Is the debt showing on your credit reference files (Experian/Equifax /Etc...) ?

Not known.
 

Has the claim been issued by the original creditor or was the account assigned and it is the Debt purchaser who has issued the claim.

Original creditor
 

Were you aware the account had been assigned – did you receive a Notice of Assignment?

N/A
 

Did you receive a Default Notice from the original creditor?

No, this is the 1st letter.
 

Have you been receiving statutory notices headed “Notice of Sums in Arrears”  or " Notice of Arrears "– at least once a year ?

No
 

Why did you cease payments?

N/A
 

What was the date of your last payment?

N/A
 

Was there a dispute with the original creditor that remains unresolved?

No
 

Did you communicate any financial problems to the original creditor and make any attempt to enter into a debt management plan?

N/A

 

Any more information needed just ask, and thanks again for any help.

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April 2015.

No, I worked for them for 4yrs +.

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Many thanks for the replies.

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Hi dx

OK, sorry for the late reply, been on/off talking to my bank. Yes it looks like i did recieve 717.10p, we use to get quarterly bonuses, maybe I thought that's what it was at the time. Now what action is best?

 

Hi bankfodder,

Yes. And as above re dx; sorry for the late reply, been on/off talking to my bank. Yes it looks like i did recieve 717.10p, we use to get quarterly bonuses, maybe I thought that's what it was at the time. Now what action is best?

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One go.

Quarterly bonuses can vary from a few 100 to £1k, depending on hitting certain targets which were always changing.

 

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if they had mentioned it, or it was my fixed salary amount, I would of raised it. But being an ad-hoc amount I didn't think anything of it.

 

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Thanks for your help.

Yes I looked up estoppel, trying to get my head around it.

Yes i did spend it on day to day things as I went self-employed.

Yes it makes sense.

Thanks.

 

This is my 1st correspondence.

And I was looking at the form wrong, it looks like CST Law are dealing it. There's a phone no, shall I ring them instead? I have no problem with the 700 but 300 interest is a bit cheeky as they haven't sent anything before.

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OK I'll phone the law company , many thanks again. And I'll get back ASAP.

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Many thanks again.

 

Yes the claimant is Centrica and CST are seemingly the correspondence address.

 

Just spoke to CST and they reckon they sent 5 letters, one may of not got here, but 5? Not sure I believe that.

 

She's going to send any docs via email. And has put the case on hold.

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No idea, I would of sorted before, I have the money.

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Just saying 1 may/may not have gotten through. But 5 can't go missing.

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Ok many thanks again, really helpful.

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7 hours ago, Manxman in exile said:

 

No.  I think he's suggesting that out of five letters supposedly sent to him, it's possible/understandable that one may have gone astray, but not that all five would.

 

So he's confirming that nothing has been received by him pre-action.

 

(OP - having dealt occasionally with recovering overpayments in a previous life, I am quite surprised that you've heard nothing at all about this in the last five years.  Normal practice would be to inform you immediately when the overpayment was discovered. 

 

If they ought to have an up-to-date address for you, sounds like they've sent previous correspondence to the wrong address.  Although that does raise the question how they've managed to get the correct address now).

 

Just to add - from my experience I would expect that a prudent employer paying a bonus scheme would use a formal system of informing employees how much quarterly/annual bonus they would be paid, and not just pay some unconfirmed ad hoc amount through payroll. 

 

If they don't have such a system in place, it makes it much easier for employees who have been overpaid to argue legitimately that they did not know they had been overpaid, and would have no reason to believe that they had been overpaid.

 

Just something to bear in mind.  In my experience, virtually all overpayments end up getting repaid, but I'd tell them to stuff the £300 interest as (1) it's their fault in the first place, and (2) they should have chased this up years ago - it's not your fault they've taken five years to get their act in order

Thanks for the reply. Agree, and I think your last paragragh is the way I'll go.

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2 hours ago, BankFodder said:

 

This is a very interesting point. Maybe the OP could tell us if there was normally a notification of a bonus or if it simply found its way into the bank account.

If there was normally a notification then this would make it more difficult to argue good faith

Agree. Thanks for all the replies.

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No contact from CSW Law, so phoned them again, they said haven't received anything from Centrica yet. Case is still on hold. Thanks again.

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Thanks all. Eventually heard back from CSW Law, stating Centrica require the full amount including interest and costs, basically I said no. I'll the pay inital amount overpaid, and I'll argue the extras. CSW came back and told me Centrica would accept the inital amount as a full and final payment, so I paid that and the case is closed.

 

Still nothing from the SAR's.

 

Thanks again all, stay safe.

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Thanks again for your help "bankfodder".

 

dx100uk; Good question, I paid as advised to an account: Credit Style Ltd". CSW law (Chloe) confirmed payment and that the case was closed. I'd spoken to her on a couple of occasions. Has to be said, very helpful, wether CSW get a cut is not know.

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Hi, apparently CSW Law and Credit Style Ltd is one and the same, same building, although different names. And they confirmed again the case is closed.

 

Thanks again.