Overpayment of wages - debt collectors

[Wullie32]

My girlfriend stopped working for Wetherspoons at the back end of last year and even for a few weeks after she left,

she received several payslips saying that she had been owed tax back

yet they had taken it all in what they claimed was overpayment of salary due to her having taken extra holidays

- that claim in itself was a complete nonsense because her manager never let her have holidays that she hadn't worked enough days to take

but she was so glad to get away from the place that we just let it slide.

 

Since around February though, we have received several letters from a debt collection agency working on behalf of Wetherspoons

- Capitol Commercial Collections

- demanding the princely sum of £18 left over from the "overpayment of salary".

 

Perhaps rather foolishly we have ignored them because we assumed they would get bored (18 quid ffs)

but now we are receiving Final Demand letters with a £25 admin fee bolted on top,

threatening CCJs after another 21 days.

 

She also has a friend that she has met at her new job who worked in a completely different Wetherspoons

and has also been receiving identical letters on the same dates.

 

What are our rights?

 

We really don't want to pay it, as a matter of principle more than anything else,

and we're certainly not paying a spurious admin charge. Is the threat of legal action sheer bluff on their part?

 

Can anyone please advise us of our rights and the best course of action?

 

Thanks in advance.

[dx100uk]

dca's have no legal powers to do squat all.

 

they also have no powers to add to a debt.

 

they ARE NOT BAILIFFS

 

and have no such legal powers.

 

dx

[Wullie32]

We don't want to ignore it any longer though, seems like a risky strategy?

[Seminole]

Your starting point is to establish exactly what this debt is for. Does she have all of her payslips, details of hours worked and her employment contract? She should also have received a P45 when she left. It sounds as if the employer has deducted holiday pay from a tax refund and so, if she didn't take any leave, then they may owe her something.

 

Trying to work out the correct position in an online forum would be well nigh impossible. I think you have two options. Firstly, she could make an appointment to go and see someone in Wetherspoons HR department and work out what has happened. Alternatively she could try to get some help from Citizens Advice.

 

You should draft a brief letter to the debt collector not acknowledging the debt but saying that the matter is in dispute.

 

There is no contractual basis for the £25 admin fee and you should not pay this even if the £18 turns out to be correct. In fact if you do need to make a payment, this should be made to Wetherspoons and not the parasitic dca.