Supplier Claims 3 Year Old Bill is Unpaid ... WTF?

[nevermore]

In short, we had carpets installed 3+ years ago at the end of a huge extension. I am sure we paid everything but had a call from the supplier yesterday saying their credit caller found a discrepancy and thinks the payment might not have been made. They are checking their records to see if it's misfiled but for me to prove we paid will be a huge headache requesting old credit card statements, trying (and failing) to find old cheque stubs etc etc. Does anyone know where we stand? For the record it would be extremely out of character for us to not pay a bill and we would definitely have noticed. But that's not proof of anything....

Can you on your online banking looks at "historic" bank statements? I can in about 3 seconds, It may be you can easily check with on line credit card statements too.

In law there is a 6 year limitation period so if you have not paid for the carpets then yes they can come after you. So worth your while trying to find the evidence you did pay if you can.

Thanks FF, I can check my bank account easily but the credit card isn't the one we had back then and requires me requesting statements for that period. We also have several other accounts that we juggled money around through to pay for the extension so it means quite a bit of work. I guess I'll just have to bite the bullet and start checking back. It's just such a huge inconvenience and worry. If we owe it that's fine but I just feel rather miffed that they waited 3 years to uncover this.

They didn't wait 3 years, it was missed and unfortunately on audit it was discovered to have been missed.

Not sure how you don't know whether you paid for them or not, they're hardly a small it inexpensive item!

They would have to prove any debt first. If their "system" is so good it takes 3 years to spot a discrepancy which sounds like it could be in the hundreds, if not thousands, then it's unlikely they will be able to satisfy a court.

I knew a chap who didn't have to pay back over £6,000 to a bank, because they had mislaid the paperwork.

GraysAnalogy I can easily understand how you couldn't be certain of having paid a big bill 3 years previously after having major building work done on your house. After our last renovation, I was desperate to put it behind us as the whole experience was incredibly stressful.

I can't imagine that any carpet supplier would ask for payment after the carpet has been installed. We've always had to pay first and then they fit it. In any case I can't see how they could successfully pursue such a claim.

It might be a pain, but I would look at credit card statements for that period. If you paid by cheque you probably don't need cheque stubs because it would appear on your bank statements.