Hair salon alleging I haven’t paid

[wellbugger]

Posting here purely for traffic.

I had my hair done last weekend. Their card machine was down. The stylist charged me over the app. I checked my bank in front of her and showed her that the money had left my account.

They’ve called me today to say that on their end, the money hasn’t come through. I’ve sent a screenshot of my bank which clearly shows that the money due has left my account and gone to them.

AIBU to think this is their issue now? I’ve paid, if they’re having issues with their app that’s not my problem

A good plan sending those screenshots too. Other than that I would agree the ball is in their court and I definitely wouldn't be paying again when you've clearly shown you have already paid for the service.

I’m just panicking as if I go down tomorrow and they try to say I’ve not paid they could end up calling the police etc., and I cannot afford to pay double

Everyone gets bank statements. You may not get an actual paper one, but they will be in the banking app.

If they call the police nothing will happen as you’ve got evidence you’ve paid.

You should contact your bank. They can hold payment for a huge variety of reasons and it will still show that it has been paid on your banking app/online banking

Her Bank statement might not be ready yet though anyway it only updates once a month.

We used to get this in the shop where I worked. The money leaves the customer's account and is 'in limbo' for up to a week. Then it's returned to the customer. If I were you I would tell the salon that you will wait to see if the money returns to your account and if it does you will go in and pay.

We used to get customers up in arms about this all the time. They hadn't paid, the shop didn't have the money, but it had left their account. So we would have to make them pay again which, in their eyes, meant they'd paid twice, although the first lot would bounce back in a couple of days - it's a fault of the banking system.

Definitely don’t pay again. You have done everything you can. It’s down to the salon to sort out unless the money comes back into your account.

It’s been a week though. The money was taken on Monday, after the appointment on Saturday

Yeah and I won’t get that till the end of January!

If it shows as debited from your account its not your issue. Don't send another payment. Let them sort it out with their bank

Sometimes it takes a few days, depending on the account. I have 2 accounts in the same bank, one goes through instantly and the other takes about 4 or 5 days.

They both look to be ‘pending’ but one doesn’t actually go out of my account for a few days. I have also used Fresha with both.

If it was me I would say that if the money hasn’t gone through by January then you will come down and pay again then. But I would give it time or you might end up paying twice.

Some banks are slower at returning money than others, it can take 7-10 days with some.

But I don’t know what I can do when the payment shows as completed? Nationwide don’t allow you to dispute payments for 15 days anyway as I’ve already had to do that once.

I don't get paper bank statements, but I can download them from my bank account online as a PDF. Don't all banks do this?

I have never heard of the Fresha app. Wouldn't it have been easier to do a simple bank transfer?

This is my thinking. I can show them everything and I’d be happy to hand over screenshots/bank statements when I get them but I’m not willing to pay again

It’s the app they use. That was THEIR suggestion for how I should pay when their card machine didn’t work.

You are spiralling a bit here. It doesn't even sound like they are alleging you haven't paid. They are alerting you to an issue with the payment transfer. You've shown proof that it has left your account. If you have time it might be worth trying to ring the bank before you go down there. I can't see why on earth they'd ring the police over this

You aren't disputing the payment you are just calling to check if it is being held

Nationwide and Co-Operative are notorious for making and returning payments slowly.

But what will you do if the money pings back into your account again? Because in that case you WON'T have paid?

So just leave it until January it’s not your problem. Don’t pay twice or you might not get it back for a month!

Call them up as soon as I notice it and pay? I’m happy to pay again if the money comes back. But I can’t afford to pay again if it doesn’t.

They are though. Or they’d have not called.

If the money came back into her account due to the app not processing the payment then obviously the OP would pay again, she's not said anything to suggest otherwise. However, it's perfectly reasonable to not want to pay a second time when a payment has been shown as approved.

Has the money clearly been deducted from your balance?

If so definitely sounds like an issue their end. I would still call my bank just to clarify then I would know I have done everything I can my end.