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

@ShirleyPhallus thanks and hope you enjoy too ☺️

[quote nevereverplease]@HedgieHog thank you so much I feel a massive sense of relief.

I think I took it so seriously because I really care about providing the best possible service it means a lot to me to do my job as well as possible [/quote]

That's smashing! I'm so pleased.

@Gazelda me too!!! X

Great news and shows why it’s always good to tackle it head on - you’ve saved yourself a sleepless night.

@Ffwithfu very true!!! As hard as it might be to do but you're right it's meant I can sleep tonight without an issue.

Never bury your head in the sand is the message to learn from this thread 😆

I’m so glad you got that reply before bedtime.

But blimey, what a thread! Just as I think I’m close to understanding, we get a new bit of information that makes zero sense.

@nevereverplease

Just a quick update I had an email from client saying it's no problem and they'll just wait for the refund!!! Sorry for the drama but it's all fine by the sound of it.

Thanks so much for your advice and kind words, I'm so glad you guys pushed me to sort it tonight you were all correct it's better it didn't wait until the morning!!!

Phew thank you x x

Yay result; wine and sleep and it will all be better in the morning.

@nevereverplease : So glad your client was reasonable and understanding.
You'll sleep better now.
The client's forgiven you - you just need to forgive yourself now.

@WotWouldCJDo 😂 sorry for my confusion I think it was the anxiety getting the best of me

Well done OP for tackling it. As far as I can tell you're company B, facilitating payment from person A to company C. You've accidentally put the wrong amount in to company D? It's a bit of a clanger, but it happens and nobody died... It's ok.

Coriander, you have acted like a huge bell end on this thread, you need to calm the fuck down. OP is obviously panicking. I've seen some nasty words on here but that was fucking cruel, you need to sort yourself out love.

@Meatshake thank you, yes your explanation of the situation is exactly what happened.

And yes coriander could be more tactful

Really glad it’s sorted but how on Earth is that system of taking payments PCI compliant? You can’t use someone else’s details and ‘pretend’ to be them in order to make payments (in inverted commas as i know you’re not being misleading but that is what’s happening when you key in someone else’s details to pay somewhere else). I think £50 goodwill is very low tbh but if the client is happy with that and waiting it’s fine! Definitely think your systems need looking at so such a major mistake can’t happen again but hope you can relax now :)

@SarahFrances89 once again I'm not 'pretending' the clients do not have access to these systems - they are not Client facing, no different to if you book a holiday for example with a holiday company but your flight is actually via the airline - the holiday company is the middle man , an intermediary. This is not against the law! It is normal practice in some industries.

I can’t believe some folks are so hung up on the technicalities, honestly batshit

Op, glad the client is ok with it. I would focus on how you typed 1100 and not 500. Were you confused on what they owed or not paying attention?

@Bluntness100 I must agree I am getting a bit fed up explaining the technicalities over and over - of which that was never the reason I posted for help so are irrelevant!! The technicalities are not what matter the fact client got charged £600 for nothing was the point!

You don't actually type the numbers you click on drop down options. I had it in my head they were paying for a much higher service than actually they were

[quote nevereverplease]@Bluntness100 I must agree I am getting a bit fed up explaining the technicalities over and over - of which that was never the reason I posted for help so are irrelevant!! The technicalities are not what matter the fact client got charged £600 for nothing was the point!

You don't actually type the numbers you click on drop down options. I had it in my head they were paying for a much higher service than actually they were[/quote]
Good to know the client was understanding.

It would have saved lots of posts and confusion and more anxiety for you if you'd explained about the drop down service menu at the start instead of saying you'd miskeyed the amount I think we'd all have understood much more clearly what had happened.

no different to if you book a holiday for example with a holiday company but your flight is actually via the airline - the holiday company is the middle man , an intermediary

But it isn’t. I pay the holiday company and they buy the flight from the airline. I don’t give them my bank details for them to buy the flight on my behalf.

I think you’re talking about a service that the rest of us just can’t picture. (And that’s not your problem of course).

Bottom line. Client does not still owe you £500. You owe the client £600 and your business should pay it back today. And pay £500 to the correct service provder. Simple as that.

If you have inappropriately taken £1100 from a client it is not their concern where you have sent it. It is also not their concern that it might take a while to get it back from where you wrongly sent it. If they are your client their contract is with you.

Good outcome!

I too am baffled by the demands to know all the boring technical details of the tranaction as it didn't appear to change anything about the situation OP found herself in. This must be a personality trait I don't posses. Also it's aibu

@HappyHomeWorker

There’s a big difference between owes and is owed *@nevereverplease*. They’re polar opposites so the OP wasn’t picking at your grammar but trying to understand which it was

Exactly this!

@Besom

Good outcome!

I too am baffled by the demands to know all the boring technical details of the tranaction as it didn't appear to change anything about the situation OP found herself in. This must be a personality trait I don't posses. Also it's aibu

You really can't see why anyone might be interested in the details of how the situation that the OP wants help with has arisen? Especially as what is being described is outside the experience of almost everyone who has asked.

I think you might be lacking is any kind of normal curiosity about something you don't quite comprehend.

I am a finance director. Anyone in my role will have probably come across similar errors.

The key thing is to look at controls.

There must be something you can introduce.

If you work on your own it could be as simple as printing something out and then signing it in pen.

This act of review will cause your brain to pause and re think.

If you work with others get them to check the printout.

Well said @satnighttakeaway

Yes you said ‘keyed it in wrong’ multiple times, not that you selected the wrong number from a menu cos you got the amount wrong. The holiday company / airline example is actually helpful, and the reason I think people are ‘hung up’ on the mistake is cos it’s baffling and scary that this is such an apparently common system as OP repeatedly claims. It’s wild that one person just manually does this and can so easily make 2 big errors, and makes me want to know what other systems I’m engaging with financially are so poor.

@nevereverplease

I'm not sure why people are querying how payment has been taken from my client. When you pay for goods you call and make payments over the phone, this is what happened here! I just took it for the incorrect amount

People are querying because 200 posts in it still doesn’t make any sense.

So based on your latest above,, somebody rang in to make a payment of £500, recited their long card number, but you rang through a different persons card number, expiry and CV code and for £1100 not £500?

I don’t know why people are talking about £600, you owe this person who you incorrectly charged £1100, the fact that somebody else owes you £500 is irrelevant.