Mistake at work - help please!

[nevereverplease]

I had a client who owes £500 for work carried out, instead I sent the money to the wrong place for £1100.

I made this mistake an hour ago so will speak to the merchant first thing but assuming I can't reverse it, will take days to refund back to the client.

I will explain all to the client tomorrow, process the refund ASAP and offer a gesture of goodwill of £50.

Is this reasonable? I guess I'm just looking for someone to say it'll be fine in the end although I think it won't 😬

Btw I'm self employed so job isn't on the line but I just feel terrible

@HedgieHog it's horrible isn't it I feel physically sick 🤢

I hope I've done the right thing by emailing as she didn't answer, I figured sending something is better than nothing

Perfect. You’ve identified the error, informed them of it, put steps in place to rectify it, compensation for the inconvenience.

Professional, acceptable.

Ideally I would rather discuss via phone

A refund could take a week to get to them, and it is Christmas. If they cannot afford to be missing £600 then you will need to find the money to give it to them, but you'll need to have something set up to ensure they pay it back to you when their refund comes through.

@Whattimeisdinner

I would be angry if you didn’t tell me and I discovered it myself.

I would not be angry at all of you phoned tonight and let me know that I was getting my money back plus an extra £50 in the morning.

You must either be very rich or very very laid back. There's no way to know/when if the person who has the £1100 wil pay it back

I'd don't know specifically what it meant by a merchant but the OP hasn't even spoke to that party yet so who knows what they'll say.

Also, does your error mean that they have not paid the £500 to the person who provided them a service?

What will happen with that. Will they he charged late fees, or will it affect them using the service in the future?

@WhereverIGoddamnLike I have offered to help in the email

What if the client logs in and sees £1100 gone how worried will they be and how will you face them then? What if it makes them overdrawn or bounces a payment or as above they phone fraud?

You have to notify them. Sorry that you’re stressed but I would be livid if you did this to me and left it overnight. £50 wouldn’t save you. However if you rang and explained I would understand.

@WhereverIGoddamnLike no that fee is to me so I'll wait for the until this is all sorted. Last if my worries. Hence why technically client is out of pocket £600 as they owe me £500 of it

Are there any ramifications for your client of you not having paid the correct place the 500 today?

Your offer of a goodwill gesture plus any costs is very reasonable. As others have said, it's important to contact the client immediately to let them know. Client will probably still be annoyed/angry, but it's obviously worse the longer you leave it to inform them (and could potentially end up costing you more).

Do not do as another poster suggested and compensate them out of your personal funds to claim back later. You need a hard barrier between business and personal finances. This isn't the end of the world. It's just a mistake that can be rectified.

@whatwedontknow I've just called them no answer so I emailed first thing I'll be on phone to merchant and then call the client

Sorry x-post.

@nevereverplease

Thanks so much all honestly you've helped massively - I just called my client they did not answer so I've explained in an email. I've also said I do t mind sending them money temporarily if it's going to disrupt their finances.

I hope it's ok x x

Well done. Now breathe.
Get on to the merchant first thing and keep badgering them until it is resolved. Keep the client in the loop.

Are you their accountant? Else why on earth are you authorising payments from their bank account? And it only needs one person to raise/approve? That's madness

I would not offer £50 that would be odd.

The person who got sent money by mistake will return it to the company NOT YOU so if you give company a £1100 they will have it twice.

Is this company so near the breadline that £600 extra will sink then? Most companies aren't that close to the edge.

And doesn't company c also want some money too? So they still need paying.

If you have offered to send the money, then do it.

I’m not sure how these payments work where someone could take more out of my account than I agreed never mind send it to the wrong person?

@burnoutbabe

It is not a company. It is an individual who was paying for something but more than double has been taken from their account. A lot of individuals at the moment are struggling financially.

You need to send them the £600 immediately. Unsure how the fuck you managed that.

@RunningFromInsanity

Perfect. You’ve identified the error, informed them of it, put steps in place to rectify it, compensation for the inconvenience.

Professional, acceptable.

I agree with this. Also there is no point in second guessing any of the rest of it until you've spoken to everyone involved.

I would be happy to know and don’t thin’ you could have done more.

You're worrying over nothing. Most people understand that mistakes happen. What matters is that you acknowledge it and fix it as soon as possible. People get angry about mistakes when they're fobbed off and have to spend time chasing it up.

Oh I see. The client owes you £500 and you took £1100 from their account and paid it to a third party to whom your client owes nothing.

My understanding is that OP's client owes someone else £500, OP was trusted to make that payment on client's behalf, but OP has inadvertently authorised a payment of £1100

OP, the best way to address this is to go a bit over the top, so client ends up reassuring you it's not a big deal. Don't minimise it or play it down like it doesn't matter. Phone them tonight, very contrite, promise you will cover any additional costs they incur. And it's absolutely your responsibility to reimburse the over payment immediately, even if that requires you to take a short term loan or whatever

In your client's shoes, I would totally understand that mistakes happen. I would be very forgiving if it was resolved quickly and I could see that you were taking it seriously. But I would not tolerate you expecting me to wait while you sort it out. That's on you

I can’t understand your OP as it makes no sense but regardless, EVERYONE makes mistakes so don’t beat yourself up too much. You’ve done all you can do

Oh I feel for you, OP. Horrid feeling.

You mustn't feel bad or lose sleep. You're a human, not a robot. Mistakes happen. You've said it's very unlike you and I can believe it. It's because you ARE good at your job that's it's bothered you this much.

You've done what you can, now fingers crossed for a speedy resolution, it's easy to imagine the worst but in my experience these things tend to work out better than we fear!