To pay or not to pay? WWYD?

[jumblebee]

Hi everyone, I was just looking for a few opinions on this situation me and my partner or in.

At my OH's last opticians appointment they noticed that for over a year he had been paying £21 for his contact lenses but had not been charged each month an additional £13 (I'm not quite sure what this covers, I can't remember what OH said it was for, but it is something he would usually pay-he didn't notice this either)

The amount owed is £150 and they said we could either pay the whole amount or make monthly payments.

I was telling my sister and she said that as it was the Optician's error we should not have to pay this, as it was not our fault OH had been undercharged.

It is an annoyance that we found ourselves with a big charge, which normally we couldn't afford to pay in one lump sum. However luckily I am owed 70 holiday pay at the end of this month due to not being able to take it (whilst on maternity leave) so we can afford to pay it.

In some ways I'm thinking it's not our fault, we shouldn't have to pay, but I know if the shoe was on the other foot and we had been overcharged we would most definitely claim back the money we had been overcharged.

So WWYD? Pay the money back or (as my sister insisted I should do) kick up a huge fuss and refuse to pay, or at least haggle for a discount?

We will most likely pay it as it is a small opticians that DP has gone to all his life and we don't want to create bad feeling over an innocent mistake.

Thanks :)

I think you should pay it

It's annoying but you need to pay it as you've received the goods and had intended to pay for them.

Btw it's not lawful to be paid in lieu of annual leave unless you're terminating your employment.

I'm glad people agree with me, my sister is the type that will barter for anything when she can and happily kicks up a fuss for nothing! I'm not a haggling type and hate confrontation, I'd rather pay and move on!

PostmanPat I'm a little confused, the holiday I had left over from last year is not able to be carried over to the next year (I go back in April) so my manager called HR and they said they would pay me the amount of holiday hours I didn't take. Is this not what they're meant to do? I did want to just use the rest of that holiday at the end of my maternity leave (my manager said I could before I left) but at my back to work meeting last week he said the policy changed and I was no longer able to. Now I'm confused! I did have a job interview today so hopefully if that went well I will be leaving anyway! Sorry to bombard you with questions

The policy changed while you were on mat leave? You should definitely be allowed to take it then. You should arrange before you go on mat leave how you're going to use your AL - either at the beginning, or stuck in at the end, added to next year's allowance or whatever.

If you were supposed to be carrying it over so didn't take it before mat leave, then they changed the policy, they should allow you to take it.

What is your yearly annual leave allowance? Is it more than 5.6 weeks?

That's a lot for contact lenses!

What kind off lenses does he have? I used to pay £30 a month, changed to monthly extended wear and now only pay £17!

I took 2 weeks holiday but didn't confirm that I would take the rest at the end of maternity leave. My manager told me I could either take it or be paid for it so I thought I'd see what our financial situation was like before committing to either. Should I ask my manager about if I would still be able to take it because the policy changed during my leave? The last thing I want is to be paid for my holiday and then a few months down the line having to pay it back because they realised they weren't meant to pay me for it.

Joules I'm fortunate to not wear glasses or contact lenses so I've no idea of the costs, but if it's quite high it may be because DP has quite a specific eye condition that requires special lenses, so maybe that's why they cost more?

What Joules said ^^

Is it an independent opticians with a lense price and a separate payment for solutions then?

Still, its overpriced. Get thee to specsavers and save twenty quid a month

And by fortunate I mean fortunate not to have that cost for myself, not that it's unfortunate to wear glasses or contacts!

TheGirl yes I think that's what the two payments are for, that has jogged my memory somewhat! I am all for cutting costs where we can but DP I think wouldn't like going somewhere else, I think he feels quite loyal to the branch he goes to

Yes, they have to allow you to take it - paying off holiday is not a legal practice any more.

I can't blame him I'm like that myself, I am a very loyal specsavers customer

£34 a month for contact lenses?
Tell him to go elsewhere. Specsavers is around £3 a month for the solution. Not £13 a month. And the lenses will be cheaper.

Oh and no way would I pay the extra. Their fuck up. They didn't notice for over a year that they hadn't been bothering to charge.

Yes they might be a small business but this is no reason to make errors.. It would also make me think in what other way are they messing up

I'd pay it if I could though I can see the point of it being their error, but if they'd charged you in error and you hadn't noticed then you'd, rightly, want it back.

Off topic but if your DH has astigmatism and needs toric lenses they're more expensive but you can get them cheaper than £34 but would have to shop around.

I wouldn't pay it. Also fwiw I get my contacts from specsavers but can't have the cheaper ones and also have to pay £30 a month so I don't think that is an unreasonable price for quality lenses.