Neighbour made a mistake and now wants money

[DomingoFlamingo]

Neighbor moved in about 10 months ago - its a house converted into flats with a communal hallway, front door and letterbox (I live upstairs, she lives downstairs) since she moved in we've had several issues including persistent loud music and her "borrowing" my things that then take several weeks to be returned (if at all)

Then today she knocks on my door with a letter address to me and dated July. She then proceeds to tell me that the letter (a bill) was picked up by her son and she didn't bother to read the name on the front until today when she went to pay again.. hence she's (somehow) been paying my bill since July and I now owe her a 3 figure sum for doing so......

I'd have normally payed this bill in installments throughout the year, but she payed the whole amount in two payments. Because of this I don't have that amount of money available to pay her back immediately (I work part time and its nearly 4 weeks wages for me)

She's asked for the money by the end of the week, I've offered to pay her in installments but she refused the offer and said she wants it in one go or she'll call the police. :( is she BU or am I? I will/would pay her back but I simply can't afford the whole amount in one go......

Check she's paid it. Check the amount.

She needs to get the cash back from the company she paid or accept you're paying in instalments.

Give her the first instalment by cheque or use her account details rather then cash. You need to have some evidence you've paid.

It sounds dodgy though, could be a scam to get cash out of you

Sounds very dodgy to me! How do you manage to pay the wrong bill?

I would tell her to get the refund from the company. I think she trying some kind of scam.

Scam

1 phone company and check if shes paid
2 if she has paid question company re what data protection she went through as i cant think how she can pay without giving date of birth etc.

3 phone police and report her threats and what happened if true or not so they have a record
4 if true talk to cab (solicitiors dont give free half an hour!)
5 if true arrannge a manageable repayment but suggest third party involved and paper trail so you can prove how much been repayed.

Still say its a scam. How pays a bill without checking!

I wouldn't entertain the notion of paying her a single penny.

It's none of your business who she's paid money to. It's between her and the company. She needs to get the money back off them and she can do that pretty quickly.

What you can do, is offer to call the company on her behalf, explain the situation and ask them to refund her while you continue to pay in your normal way. That's as far as you can go to helping her sort out the mistake she made (supposedly) with the company.

However, she won't accept that because this is almost certainly a scam. She sounds like a loon tbh.

Agree with sabine...shes gets refund from company and you set up manageable repayment with company. That means third party involved!

How has she paid? If it's pay point surely you have to have a card? If it's over the phone they usually ask for security details, or mine do anyway. Over the Internet she would have again have login and security details. If it was something like post office they would likely query the difference in names.

I would check its paid because something tells me you will find its not and she is trying to get money out of you, this may not be the first time she has done this either. If it is true explain to the company and arrange chargeback. The thing is if you are paying in instalments by direct debit I would expect the company to have contacted you to ask you why you'd made lump sum payments and if you want to change your arrangements. Do you have the option to go online and see your accounts online? Because if you can you will be able to see if this has gone through.

I think she is trying it on.

Sounds dodgy all round why did you not realise your bill hadn't arrived? And what kind of bill is it if you pay in installments throughout the year do you not already have a direct debit etc set up for it as others say check she has actually paid it and then phone company up.for advice if you can't pay it all at once then you can't pay it I don't know what she thinks the police will do

None of this makes sense. If the bill is dated July and she has paid in 2 instalments then that would normally mean 2 payments at six-monthly intervals. So, just one payment so far. (For, say water rates, for example.)

Thy would have had to ask DPA questions so I don't see how she could have done this!

How's she going to have paid it? If she rang them she'd have had to have confirmed her details with them and given your account number, if she's done it online again she'd have to find the account number on the letter, there's no way she couldn't have looked at the name & address. Sounds like she's having you on. Ring them and confirm.

Agree sounds dodgy.

If she called the co to make payments she'd have been subject to security questions.

If she did it online she'd have needed to read the bill for ac details And your customer number (so she should have seen the name).

Call the co, check if it's been paid. If it has tell them to move it from your ac and to hers if possible.

I agree with the others. Don't loan her anymore stuff either.

I take bill payments over the phone for a large company. If they just want to pay and know how much they want to pay we don't have to do dpa and it doesn't matter if the card details don't match the account, plenty of family members ring to pay bills that are not theirs. However she would have been asked either address or a count number to get into the account in the first place. The most obvious way I can see it happening is her taking the giro slip into the bank/post office and paying that way. Either way she needs to do the running to get her money back then you pay the bill, I wouldn't be giving her a penny.

I hope that you can transfer any extra money to her utility account, if there is any extra and she's not just lying. I would hate to be quarrelling with the neighbour most likely to be accepting parcel deliveries when I'm out.

She sounds awful, even if it's not a scam.

If she goes to the police, she will be more in trouble then you. Opening mail is quite a seriously offence and you could actually go to the police to complain.

I agree with others, speak to your utility company. Look through your bank statements as to what you've paid. Pay them amount you would have owed (if indeed she paid) and tell her to recoup the money herself.

You need to speak to the energy company. Then next time she asks to borrow something say no!

I think your wording is a bit misleading, OP. She doesn't 'want money' if she has accidentally paid your bill; someone owes her money and she wants repayment. It is of course very unreasonable of her to want it all at once from you, because it is certainly her mistake. You could either advise her to contact the utility company and get a refund (they should refund her and start contacting you) or you could contact the utility company yourself and explain what has happened and ask them to refund her in full, with the balance to be paid by you. Don't give her money directly. That sets a precedent that it is your problem, and it isn't.

I think you need to practice saying 'It is not my problem' OP.
Obviously check with the company but surely you must have a whiff of a scam here?

The energy company owe her money, not you.

She needs to contact the energy supplier for a refund (if she actually paid).

Hasn't she committed an offence by opening your mail? She should be grovelling about that.

But yeah, it doesn't stack up...

Where is OP?

I was thinking that!

It all sounds very strange. I would contact the company, explain and go from there.
Give her a wide berth after that.

In bed asleep?