Oh those employers ...

[percival]

As some of you may remember, for nine months, I was working two jobs, one at University A and one at University B. At University A, I went from contract to contract, and as I was switched around, they made a mistake and paid me my salary twice. For two full months. I alerted them to their mistake, it was sorted out, and I handed a cheque covering the amount they'd overpaid, which amounts to £2110, to Payroll. In person.

Today, I get a letter thanking me for alerting them to the fact that they overpaid me and would I care to phone them to discuss how the money could be paid back.

I've now sent them a polite e-mail asking what the f**k they did with that cheque. I'm not paying them any more money unless they've traced it.

That same letter also tells me that they got my tax code wrong, so I'll be getting a windfall of a couple hundred quid this December.

Comments

[awelkin.livejournal.com]

Incompetence!

Catherine

[joesther.livejournal.com]

You know, some people wouldn't have even bothered to alert them to the fact that they'd double-paid, and would have just told them to shove off when they got the letter. Their mistake, their loss. IMO, they should be grateful to be dealing with someone as moral and honest as you.

In all practicality, though, do you have a copy of the cancelled cheque? Or the cheque number, at the very least? Do you know if it was ever cashed?

Good luck in sorting this out. From what I recall, they were a bunch of incompetents back when you were working for them as well, no?

[perceval.livejournal.com]

Oh, I can prove it was cashed (bank statement) - I just can't prove it was made out to them and reached them, because I don't usually photocopy my cheques, y'know. I might have a written confirmation, but I'll start digging once they've said they can't find anything. Onus on them, period. I paid.

Also, this incident should be unusual enough for the Payroll to remember ...

[joesther.livejournal.com]

Not if they double-pay everyone, it won't be...

Sheesh. Don't you just love idiots? They're so much fun to laugh at. But I'd think that if you coupled the date of your cheque along with the sum, you have a good argument. And I'm thinking -- can't your bank pull up some kind of information to see who the individual or institution was who cashed it? There has to be a way to do that. If worse comes to worst, I'd think that'd be an avenue you could investigate...

Good luck!! *hugs*

[perceval.livejournal.com]

You know, I think they're probably plenty embarrassed already - they already acknowledged that I alerted them to the overpayment AND they deducted too much tax from me. So I do hope that they'll chase up the money on receipt of that e-mail.

[cynthia-black.livejournal.com]

I'm hoping you know exactly who you handed the cheque to when you went in to pay it back. Failing that, as you say, you can prove that the cheque cleared your account. And in such cases, the bank does keep the actual cheques for quite some time after, so they should be able to prove whose account it went into.

[perceval.livejournal.com]

I do know the name, the person, and the office. I should also hopefully still have some of the e-mail correspondence pertaining to the case, which should include emails from me about taking the cheque up to Payroll.

They've now said that they will investigate.

[adela-terrell.livejournal.com]

What is it with pay roll and just trying to make our lives harder than they need to. Honestly.

[perceval.livejournal.com]

Sheesh indeed. Have your issues been sorted out at all?

[adela-terrell.livejournal.com]

Yeah. they insist they were right so they took the money back from me.

I am having a very poor and pennieless christmas!

[ljrags.livejournal.com]

Does the bank photocopy/microfilm the checks? You should be able to get a front and back copy of the check that way.

What a story!

[perceval.livejournal.com]

I don't know whether the bank microfilms the cheques - at any rate, they shouldn't have to. I'll keep you guys posted.

[tefkas.livejournal.com]

wtf???

Well, a tax windfall's always welcome, personnel losing cheques for £2k plus less so :-/

Incidentally, your card arrived - the photo was adorable! You have an extremely cute and pretty daughter!!!

*hugs*

[perceval.livejournal.com]

Wtf exactly. At least they are investigating now. I'm not doing anything until they've proved that they can't find the cheque. I think the repayment just wasn't entered correctly - after all, personnel reimbursing overpaid salary should be a very, very rare occurrence. In theory.