Did I have to pay this?

[MrsMaxwell]

Had a filing repaired today at Dentist and when I paid they only charged me £20.60 I thought it was cheaper than normal but thought maybe as it was just a repair and only took 15 mins it was charged at check up rate.

Anyway they have just called and said I was charged the wrong rate and it should have been £56. I paid by card over the phon (after giving the women my card number 5 times FFS!) but could I have refused to pay?

My mum paid the incorrect fee as directed by the dentist receptionist. The charges get checked and she had to pay the difference and a £100 civil penalty fine- she was mortified.

Why would it not be legal to charge the full amount for a service? Their initial mistake shouldn't go into your pocket
It's perfectly fine to issue an amended invoice if there's an error in the first one.

Legally yes you have to pay.

If they quoted the wrong price before you accepted the service, you would not have to pay the extra (because in legal terms they would have offered the service at that incorrect price and you would have accepted at that price, so that’s the contract price).

In this situation, you accepted a service knowing that you would need to pay for it although not the exact amount. They gave you the incorrect price, which is annoying, but does not relieve you of the legal obligation to pay the correct price.

My god I might go private!

My private checkups are £45 (although they do see DD for free, so that's something) and a hygienist (scale and polish) is about the same.

I had a bigger filling in January which was £120, interestingly (on a legal point) they always do a printout with an estimated cost that I have to sign BEFORE any work gets done so there isn't any confusion.

Would you try to get away with it you were incorrectly charged for an NHS prescription?

If we want the NHS we must all pay our way

Within 6 months they can just take payment if they hold your card details or they get 6 years to request payment.

Yes - legally you had to pay. Unless you agreed in advance to only pay the lower amount, you are bound to pay the correct amount not withstanding their mistake. The mistake was not a variation to the contract.

Legally, no, I don't believe so. You had the treatment, were asked for payment and paid. Contract concluded.

I believe there's some wiggle in the law, e.g. if you know the price to be significantly lower than it should be then you do have to pay. So if you'd only been charged £5 when you know a check up is £20, they could argue that you were aware the price was not correct.

If you're an NHS patient then yes, you had to pay. At a private practice I'd be more inclined to say their mistake, their loss.

The small gap in cost is probably due to the banding of treatment on the NHS, a single filling is probably one of the cheaper items in band 2 if you were to pay privately but it covers other things that would be more expensive privately.

I suspect no, as the transaction was complete. However is it really just curiousity on the legal position, because as you know, it was a genuine error and you had the service so morally yes you had to pay.

If you had been overcharged for an item and then returned to the shop you would expect a refund. As far as I can see the law isn’t clear on your circumstances and much has to do with the terms of the individual contract. For example..if the receipt states “Errors or Ommisions excluded” (in the small print) they could legally come after you. In other circumstances, if you’ve paid by card, they can charge the underpayment to the card. It’s certainly not “making off without payment” as was suggested ..You have paid, it’s just that they made a mistake...

I'm an NHS patient but get fillings privately because they're only £15 more where I am and I think they look better (they're white)

I don't have any fillings

I’m halfway through having a crown fitted atm. I’m with a NHS dentist, clicked on the link upthread and I’m rather surprised to see that Band 3 treatments are £244, not the £550 that I’m paying. Can anyone explain that ?

The transaction had been closed by your first payment, and legally I dont think you had to pay. But IDK if you have any legal right to be retained as a patient.

I wouldn’t think they could legally insist, OP

Of course. That's how much your treatment cost.

My mum paid the incorrect fee as directed by the dentist receptionist. The charges get checked and she had to pay the difference and a £100 civil penalty fine- she was mortified.

A ‘civil penalty fine’ - eh?

AlbertaSimmons

I feel your pain - are you having a white crown? That could be why..?

OP - you can go private if you want, your NHS dentist probably has private patients so you can pay more to see the same person if thats what you so wish.

Of course you have to pay, the staff made an error

f83mx

I don’t like my dentist if I went private I would go elsewhere.

Yes legally you did have to pay the band gets submitted to the system and if you have refused to pay you would recieve a £100 Penalty charge + the amount you owed from the nhs business service authority.