stupid school have wrongly charged me for school dinners...

[mumatron]

and apparently there is nothing I can do except pay it.

£271.

My dc changed schools a year ago, a few weeks later I had a letter from the local council addressed to 'parents of DS' with a bill for the above amount.

obviously I phoned to query it, the man from the council said he would look into it. I also called the school who apologised and said it must have been an error on their part.

My ds had been in the school for 4 years and had never had dinners, I have never qualified for the free dinners scheme.

since then I have periodically had letters threatening baliffs etc, each time I call the council I am told it is sorted.

Friday I came home from work to find a hand delivered letter from a baliff saying they will be coming on 09/03/2012 to remove goods. This is the second time this has happened. Called the council again and have just been told that after speaking to the school the debt is actually mine and as they have invoices I have no option but to pay it. I can make an appointment with the school to see the invoices they have. what good is that going to do? unless they have pictures of him eating £271 worth of dinners.

I should also add the school never once sent a letter home from school to say that there was any amount outstanding, or that they had needed to give him dinners for any reason.

Any suggestions as to where the hell I go with this?

TIA

Yay, have been following your saga.
So glad they have finally pulled their fingers out of their arses.

I have also been following your saga. I'm glad it has been resolved.

It's not the fact a mistake was made - they happen all the time, but the stone-walling by the school. I cannot believe their complete refusal to investigate. They must be both stupid and unfeeling little jobsworths and have put you through nearly 2 weeks of stress, when they could have sorted it out in a matter of minutes.

Complain to the governors.

I wish I had some advice. If your DS left the school a year ago, maybe some of the invoices will be for meals that were eaten after he left. That would definitely prove that it's a mistake.

Not sure what happened there. My phone was showing the last post as the one where you said you would have to pay.

Really pleased it's all sorted.

So pleased you got this sorted and an apology!

onehand that's exactly it. I knew they had made a mistake and if they had been civil and agreed to investigate thoroughly then I wouldn't have taken this further.

When I spoke to the bailiff today he said I was not the only parent asking for dinner fees to be investigated. He did say the figures where not as much as mine had been.

It does make me wonder how many mistakes go unchallenged.