ChatterBank1 min ago
Am I a bad person
Answers
No best answer has yet been selected by sarahbowen82. Once a best answer has been selected, it will be shown here.
For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.They will find out, and they will demand the money. It's up to you whether you decide to make them wait, but since they have honoured their side of the contract, it would be the honourable thing for you to do the same.
That said, I would hang onto the money until they ask - better in your account than theirs.
O.H? not sure what that means. Anways, I think that sooner or later they'll realise that you haven't paid, it'll be on a computer somewhere and I dare say it'd be very easy for them to find out. You could get in a bit of trouble if you say you've paid and you haven't so best thing to do would be to plead ignorance if they confront you and just cough up.
If it wasn't worth quite so much money then I'd say try and get away with it, but �700 is a substantial amount.
Put the money to one side and start the clock running on the 6 years that they've got to claim their money. If they don't contact you within that time, then it'll be too late for them to pursue the debt.
Chris
While usually nodding in agreement with Chris fine fellow, I'm afraid I have to disagree on both of his counts. Granted, I'm speaking from a point of view based on U.S. law, but assuming some similarities, the U.S. courts would find that sarah has entered into a binding contract. True, it's a verbal contract (res ipsa loquitur) in some parts, but binding nevertheless. She states that she was told, and apparently agreed to the fact that she would pay the balance owing at the time of delivery. At this point, the fact that company representative did not demand the payment didn't relieve her of her duty in paying the amount..
Secondly, the moral obligation is inherent in that sarah would have to ask herself if she would feel the same way if the situation were reversed? I doubt it. If she were in business she would be greatly dissapointed if a customer didn't make a reasonable effort to pay a debt that had earlier been agreed upon. Probably to the extent that a remedy in the courts would be sought....
Lastly, sarah expected to pay the bill and had indicated by her action in agreeing to the purchase that the value of the suite was equal to the amount she expected to pay... an important consideration under U.S. law. This further indicates an expectation of quid pro quo on the part of the seller... and buyer...
The second point was based upon the laws of England & Wales. I never tried to suggest that Sarah has not entered into a contract. She has definitely done so. Furthermore, I never suggested that Sarah should not pay up and soon as she is asked to do so. I only pointed out that it's not her job to sort out the company's invoicing problems. Under our laws (and, I'm sure under yours as well) a company cannot initiate court action before they've even made a demand for payment! In England & Wales, if a company takes no action to recover a debt (i.e. if there's no contact at all, regarding the matter) for a period of 6 years then the debt continues to exist but becomes unrecoverable.
A final analogy: I do quite a bit of freelance writing. Obviously, once a newspaper has accepted an article from me, there is a contractual obligation upon them to pay me for my work at the rate which has been agreed. However, even if I managed to get a scoop for one of the national dailies, showing how World War 3 had narrowly been averted, which filled the front 10 pages of the paper, I can guarantee that if I forgot to submit an invoice then I wouldn't get paid a penny. The rule with newpapers is 'no invoice means no payment'. I don't see why it should be any different in any other business.
Chris
This company will catch up with you sarah, so have the money at the ready!
The company you ordered the dining room suite from, would have created an Order No. When the suite was delivered to the store, they would have created an Invoice No. & Account No. chargeable to you. The fact that you weren't given an Invoice at the time of delivery is irrelevant.
When the Sales Ledger Clerk does her monthly analysis, she/he will see that it has not been paid. They will then issue you with a Statement requesting the money. Once you have sent this, the remittance will be allocated to your outstanding account & matched. That will be the end of it.
Having said all that, I would still wait until they request payment from you. You can simply say you were waiting for them to issue an Invoice - enjoy the interest in the bank!
my parents have recently had thesame kind of dilema with a carpet company!
a carpet was ordered and fitted last novemeber, but there was a problem & the carpet was unsatisfactory - payment was made, but after a **** up on their behalf payment was cancelled (coz the carpet company were messing around not answering calls etc and the carpet was still faulty) - after about 6 months they sent a letter wanting payment, we explained the reasons why they were still waiting - they ten apologised, fixed the problem and payment was made again. However, a few weeks later they recieved a letter of apology from the company, informing them that payment had already been made and that the payment had been refunded - this was last June!!
Last week my parents recieved another letter (a year later!) requesting payment (again!!!) even though they have kept all the letters & reciepts, they now don'tknow what to do.
I agree with those who say wait until they ask for payment - if they can't run their company it's there problem