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Original poster

WWYD School dinners back payment

26 replies

Somermummy1 · 24/03/2018 07:53

I need a second opinion please

I pay for school meals for DS every week. Due to what has turned out to be an error on the caterers website payment portal thing, no payments were taken for vegetarian meals when he had them

I’ve been sent a bill for backpayments of £100 because it’s taken them so long to realise they had this problem with their system

I completely accept that I’ve had the benefit of the meals and I’m happy to make a payment but each week I’ve paid for the meals I’ve been asked to pay for

AIBU to think I should not now have to shell out £100 !!!???

Thanks!

OP posts:
AdaTwist · 24/03/2018 07:55

Maybe you could negotiate a payment plan with them where you pay an extra £5 a week until its paid off?

Theworldisfullofidiots · 24/03/2018 07:56

How do you know it's right now?

Hassled · 24/03/2018 07:57

But you must have known that he ate say 5 dinners a week and you were only paying for 3 of them? They're only asking you for the £100 that you haven't paid but have benefited from - it's not like it's £100 you didn't effectively spend.
Can you talk to them about paying it back in installments?

ItWentInMyEye · 24/03/2018 07:57

Agree with PP, it's not your fault they didn't take the payments at the time and you're not refusing to pay anything so ask for some leniency in using a payment plan.

Middleoftheroad · 24/03/2018 07:57

Agree with pp. You need to pay this back, but at an affordable rate.

Badhairday1001 · 24/03/2018 07:58

Is it cashless catering where he uses his thumb print? I would agree that it is their error and the money was on his account, it shouldn't be your problem that they have messed up.

Original poster
Somermummy1 · 24/03/2018 08:01

Thanks But it’s not about that

If I bought something in a shop the shop couldn’t contact me 6 months later and say they’d made a mistake and ask for more money. I can’t see how this is different?

OP posts:
Badhairday1001 · 24/03/2018 08:02

I wouldn't know with my sons account if meals had been missed off. I just top up monthly and sometimes he uses it all and sometimes not.

SavoyCabbage · 24/03/2018 08:04

I agree with the others about the instalments and I wouldn’t have noticed either if I was paying for three meals or five as the costs vary so much when they are choosing their own meals. She might have toast when she gets to school, some fruit at break time and a main meal at lunchtime with a pudding and a drink one day, and then just a sandwich the next day so the amounts vary so much.

Catatlarge · 24/03/2018 08:05

You really have to ask?
Oh. You’re one of those parents/people....

Byebyebye · 24/03/2018 08:05

But this isn’t a shop, this is the school that your child attends. Are you really prepared to just ignore it?

FabulouslyFab · 24/03/2018 08:08

It’s about doing the right thing, which is how you should be raising DS anyway.
Yes you should pay.

beachbodyunready · 24/03/2018 08:10

Of course you have to pay, your child has had meals you haven't paid for. Assuming your child is paying around £2.50 per meal that's 40 meals, so I don't buy your excuse if 'I didn't realise'.
Contact the school or your local council and ask for instalments, then pay them.

Joinourclub · 24/03/2018 08:12

What result are you after? No repayment? Partial repayment? Total repayment in instalments?

A shop may not track you down after 6 months because it wouldn't be worth their while, but this is not the same situation. The school know who you are and how to contact you! And the school can't afford to write off £100!

You owe the school the money. It's not reasonable of them to expect the £100 back straight away if that is going to cause you financial hardship , but I'm sure that you will be able to negotiate a repayment plan.

xyzandabc · 24/03/2018 08:14

I get that it's inconvenient and it shouldn't have happened but if you don't pay, the school will have to. If this has happened to a number of children, how many hundred or even thousands of pounds is that going to add up to.

Schools are in absolute dire straights financially, but rather than pay for meals that your child did actually eat, you'd rather kids go without a set of text books they need, or a TA for a class, or a working whiteboard, or get that window fixed that makes the classroom freezing despite having the heating on full blast (hence huge heating bills too). It's horrible but that really is what's happening in schools up and down the country right now.

OK, you carry on with not paying for your child's meals. But do not dare complain when the school says x,y,or z isn't happening due to lack of funding.

Original poster
Somermummy1 · 24/03/2018 08:14

Sorry
Cross posted

Prices stated online were £0 for veg meals

It’s online system where you add money to basket and payment is taken for x amount.

I would put money in basket and buy meals and then checkout

He doesn’t have meals every day so i would put say £20 in the basket, and order meals until it said I needed to top up.

So each time I’ve paid what I’ve been asked to pay

It’s not my DS school by the way it’s an outside caterer who have realised their error after nearly a year

I’m not ‘one of those parents’ - I’m not trying to be unreasonable i was just asking whether it seemed reasonable / legal to suddenly demand £100 !

OP posts:
OliviaStabler · 24/03/2018 08:15

You have to pay for the meals you have received. Annoying as it is that they took their sweet time in telling you.

It's the same if your workplace overpays you, you have to pay it back. You cannot claim it is 'their fault for getting it wrong'.

Cheekyandfreaky · 24/03/2018 08:16

The school takes on the debt if you don’t pay it. School budgets have been slashed so much that a lot if not most schools are struggling as it is. If you don’t pay them back that money is taken from somewhere and someone. This is not the same as a shop making a mistake, schools revenue is not significantly boosted by school dinners- you will be covering overheads. Pay your debt.

MuttsNutts · 24/03/2018 08:18

Of course you should pay. Just because you’d get away with it if a shop undercharged you at the point of sale, that is no excuse for not paying for food YOUR child has eaten.

By all means ask to pay back in weekly instalments but to try and wriggle out of it is really low and also showing a poor example to your son.

Schools are strapped enough for cash without parents trying to take advantage of an innocent mistake for their own gain.

Original poster
Somermummy1 · 24/03/2018 08:30

Thanks everyone

As I said in my original post It was never my intention not to pay at all

Nor to take money from an underfunded school etc as it’s not the School who have done this but independent outside caterers

But how quickly some people presumed I wasn’t going to pay at all or that I wouldn’t do the right thing !

Thanks for all your help

OP posts:
MuttsNutts · 24/03/2018 08:35

AIBU to think I should not now have to shell out £100 !!!???

So hardly surprising that people may have assumed you didn’t want to oay your debt in full Hmm

TalkFastThinkSlow · 24/03/2018 08:39

i’m not ‘one of those parents’ - I’m not trying to be unreasonable i was just asking whether it seemed reasonable / legal to suddenly demand £100 !

Contradictory statement right there.

You owe the money, they're entitled to ask for it

daffodildelight · 24/03/2018 08:43

Not sure what the point of this post was. Mistakes are made by us all. Yes OP you should pay any monies you owe.

SandyDenny · 24/03/2018 08:51

So it said that vegetarian meals were £0 and you didn't think that was wrong?

Did he sometimes have the veg meals and other times not, I don't quite understand how it's happened

fruitcider · 24/03/2018 09:33

So you have selected vegetarian meals with the price stating £0, knowing it was probably wrong and not informing anyone about it?

You need to cough up, you were trying your luck!

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