Large organisation 'accidentally' paid me 100s of ££ and want it back. Do I have to repay it?

[southparkhamster]

NC for this.

I moved out of a rented house recently. In the course of cleaning it and making it nice, I used a product which made it look worse (being deliberately vague so as not to be outing). I complained to the manufacturer and said that because of their product I might lose my security deposit. I asked the company to pay to have it put right. There was a lot of emailing and a lot of stress (for me). They didn't tell me that they would put it right, instead they asked to deal directly with the landlord, so I put them in touch.

Next thing I know, I receive a cheque from the company for several hundred pounds. It came with a letter that said something along the lines of 'we hope this restores your faith in our company'. The letter said nothing about what the cheque was for - specifically, it did not say anything like, 'this money is to pay for the damage to be put right'.

I paid the cheque into my account. A few weeks later, the company contacted me to say that they sent me the cheque by mistake, and that they meant to pay a contractor that they had booked to do the work. They want me to repay the money.

My view is that they have basically given me a gift and then changed their mind about it, so have no right to demand it back. There was nothing in their communication that could have led me to think this was a mistake - their letter was, basically, 'Hi Hamster, following your complaint, here's some money to make it right'.

Can anyone advise about the law here?

out of interest, when was the damage put right? After you had moved out of the flat or while you were still living there? Who had to take time off work to be available for the contractor?

You talk of stress and hassle caused for you over having to email the manufacturer. You had no choice but to do this, the landlord would have been well within his/her rights for you to provide that information to them, so they had a history of what had happened, and could then use this themselves to get the problem sorted with the manufacturer. So you would have had to do that anyway if you didn’t want to lose your deposit . Anyway, It hardly compares to the stress the landlord has had to make further arrangements for a contractor to come out to put it right.

Keep it. Presumably it was in your name? This is the wrong place to ask about this for balanced opinion

I don't believe you're being unreasonable actually.

Sorry! I know it's not AIBU but that's my sentiments.

If I had a letter telling me that this was a goodwill offer to restore faith in the company, and the accompanying cheque was made out to me then I would make the assumption that it was mine.

There was probably a few zeros added to the figure they were going to give you and now they have asked for it back. I would reply to them with a refusal as nothing they provided at the time led you to believe it was a mistake.
Mistakes are made in our accounts department but usually one offs paying the odd invoice twice and it becomes obvious to the supplier.

Let them take you to the small claims court, I’m sure they won’t actually bother.

As for receiving a cheque for no good reason, I might agree if it had come without any letter . But it came with a letter referring to 'this restoring your faith, etc...' enclosed with it. That's unfortunate wording on their behalf and I think they'd find it very difficult to argue against it when the cheque was cashed in good faith and to refund would subsequently cause the recipient hardship. Perhaps it's just an expensive learning point for them!

Go on op block out your name and their logo and post the letter you received so we can actually see how they wrote it!

I think it’s probably worth your while speaking to Citizens Advice Bureau about it. It sounds like a good will gesture to me.

Keep it op. Following a complaint you've got a letter addressed to you and a cheque made out to you with no stipulation that the cheque money goes to the landlord or the contractor or anyone and specifically stated to be a goodwill gesture. If someone sent the cheque and letter in error that's on them and their admin failures are not your concern.

I used to have a job writing these letters and sending out cheques, I can see how this could happen.

Sounds like they've had too many people involved in it at their end, and someone's sent a standard 'sorry, not admitting liability, but here's some money to go away and leave us alone' letter along with the amount they've logged to be paid, not realising that they should be paying it to someone else. Or they meant to send you a smaller cheque but got crossed wires and sent you the contractor's amount.

Either way its not your fault, you've accepted it in good faith, spent it and now don't have it to hand to repay.

I'd respond telling them exactly that and see what they say - my guess is this is a last ditch attempt to fix the mistake and if you resist they'll write it off. Depends how big the company is really.

Sod that.
Find out who the CEO is.
Write to them personally. Outline the entire matter. Say how pleased you were that it had been resolved properly. Enclose both letters. Say how disappointed/annoyed you are.

Presumably they use goodwill gestures towards those whose property has actually been damaged though? The OP’s property wasn’t damaged, the landlord’s was.

It may help if you said exactly what had been damaged and how, OP. For example if you’ve used a chemical carpet cleaner or something then if I were a landlord I would be a bit that you had just gone ahead and done that without checking what you should use on it. And most landlords organise a professional clean between tenants anyway so I’m wondering what sort of shape the flat was in to leave you thinking you needed to do anything more than hoover, dust, clean kitchen and bathroom, empty bins and make sure all your belongings were removed in good time.

It would be theft to keep it. It is irrelevant that their letter was worded in a way that made you think at the time of receipt that it was genuinely being given to you. The key thing is that you know now that it was a wrongful credit, so now it would be theft to keep it.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think it would stand up in court, but I do think that not wondering why you had received such a large cheque was an error of judgement. (I don’t class hundreds of pounds as a goodwill gesture, that amount definitely seems like a reimbursement for something)

incidentally, how did you come by the cheque if you had moved out of the flat by then? Surely the manufacturer would only have the address of the property the cheque was for? Doesn’t make sense that they had your forwarding address, if the “putting right” job was organised by the landlord after you had moved out?

They sent you a letter apologising for something and didnt specify what for and along with that a large cheque in your name.Rightfully,you came to the conclusion that this was in response to your complaint and a form of compensation.
Its tough luck on their part,you owe them nothing.They ought to hope you don't complain again for the 'stress' this has caused

Surely the manufacturer would only have the address of the property the cheque was for?. Or the landlord’s address?

I don’t get how they would have your new address?

Ps the onus would be on them to prove you are not entitled,which given the letter would be very difficult.

You haven't said that you did lose any of your deposit OP so I'm assuming that you didn't - so I am edging towards paying it back because you knew they were dealing directly with the landlord and if it really was several hundred pounds why would they send a large amount to you if you haven't incurred any actual loss (especially when you knew they were dealing with the Landlord)?

“Can anyone advise about the law here?”

I re read, OP, and realised that you had posted in Legal. I think you need some proper law types to come in and advise, don’t you, not us busybody types with an opinion who think they’re part of a Judge Rinder audience

A roofbar company sent us £600 and new roofbars, and paid for repairs when the roofbars they said were for our car cracked the glass roof and they tried to pretend after the fact that the instructions said dont use on a glass roof, when we had the original instructions which didn't say that.

We were the ones out of pocket though I suppose, do you think they sent the letter to you instead of your landlord by mistake?

Either way, I think you should be able to keep the money.

There is a legal presumption against a gift but the letter should be enough to rebut that. It’s not clear cut but I would tell them you are not returning it.

“In the course of cleaning it and making it nice, I used a product which made it look worse.”

This could be where it could get complicated unless you know the details. Did you misuse the product, not read or follow the instructions to the letter ? Eg if a chemical cleaner, they usually say do a spot check first, so if you didn’t do that and put it everywhere and caused discolouring then the company would have no liability. Sometimes I think companies pay out small goodwill payments to stop customers moaning publicly about their product when really, the product wasn’t used precisely as intended on the instructions.

I don't think there's any harm in contacting them stating your position and see what they come back with. They may accept your point or think it's not worth the hassle taking it further. If they continue to pursue you for the money though I'd probably just repay it (offering instalments) as I wouldn't want the stress of court claims etc.

The company don't have a leg to stand on and they know it. They are hoping you will pay for their mistake. Stuff that OP. The letter was addressed to you and the cheque was made out to you and you had no reason to think that it wasn't for you.

If I had been the company who made the mistake, I would have thought this was my own mistake.
I might have ev asked for the money in case the person was amenable but I certainly wouldn’t expect it back iyswim.