Umbrella or bank lost money

[candyflipper]

A reputable umbrella company wired five figures to their holding company. The holding company states that they sent the money to the contractors bank account, and they say they can prove it with a wire trace (which takes some time to complete).

The question is, how possible is it that the receiving bank lost the money, or is holding it for some reason?

The umbrella, holding company, contractors bank account, and bank account of the holding company are all in different countries - so if a lawyer is needed, the other question is which jurisdiction to hire the lawyer - and what jurisdiction should law enforcement be involved?

[max]

A reputable umbrella company wired five figures to their holding company. The holding company states that they sent the money to the contractors bank account, and they say they can prove it with a wire trace (which takes some time to complete).

The question is, how possible is it that the receiving bank lost the money, or is holding it for some reason?

The umbrella, holding company, contractors bank account, and bank account of the holding company are all in different countries - so if a lawyer is needed, the other question is which jurisdiction to hire the lawyer - and what jurisdiction should law enforcement be involved?

Depends in which jurisdiction the work is done, that is, the jurisdiction where the tax has to be paid.

Is it Scotland?

[Paddy]

When in doubt sue all parties under one case number. This is know as joint defendants. If one party is proves that they are not at fault before the Hearing then you can drop them from the list. If you discover another party in the action is at fault; you can add them to your list.

When I have sued agents (only twice); I always sue the agent and the end client together as it works wonders by embarrassing the agent.

Suing them may not be the best way, taking out an injunction (to enforce them to do something) may be quicker. Taking out an injunction is easy, can be done the same day and you can fax it to both parties. (It must be supported by an affidavit that can be sworn at the court). Also ask for costs, you can charge £9.20 per hour for you time working on the case plus travel costs.

Even if you complete the form and send it to them with a threat of going to court may get you instant results.


http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/H..._forms_id=1092

[BlasterBates]

I would wait for the wire trace. In other words the money went from one bank to another. Sounds like a problem transferring money between two banks. International transfers can take up to a week.

If you are going to take legal action, then against the co. wih whom you have a contract. If the bank was at fault, they then take action against the bank. In fact if they have transferred, the banks will sort it out.

[PayMatters]

I used to work at a company that received thousands of receipts a week and can safely say that banks do make mistakes (even if it's only 0.001% of transactions they do millions of transactions!). Most errors though were due to cashiers i.e. manual transactions rather than automated ones.

Must be very frustrating. I would take it up with your bank to see what's happened. IF the umbrella sends proof that they sent it give this to your bank?

[Moscow Mule]

Cater Allen lost nearly £20k of payments to myco for nearly a month. That was a bit of a pain.

Most likely it's sitting in a suspense account at your bank because somebody got something wrong somewhere.

Bit early to be thinking about legals...

[BlasterBates]

The main thing is the agency or umbrella or whoever you have the contract with. They can't simply say it was the banks fault. It is their responsibility to make sure it ends up in your account. As long as you gave them the right bank details, you push them until you have it. If they then say "oh well its not our fault", you still chase the umbrella co. They then should reimburse you and it is their responsibility to chase the bank, not yours.

[candyflipper]

Thanks for all the responses.

It looks like the sender used the wrong routing information. I'm amazed at how long it took to detect the problem, and discover what happened, and restore some of the money (since all banks involved take wire fees even for unsuccessful wires).

BTW max, it's not Scotland.

[NotAllThere]

I had the cheque for a house deposit lost on its way from Abbey National to NatWest. That caused some ructions at a high level in both banks and the law society. First Direct lost a transfer order as well. It happens.