Vijay Patel got in touch with a complaint about epay, saying he wants to warn retailers about just how hard it is to get a deposit back from them.
He and his family ran The Papershop in central London for 23 years but had to close it in mid March due to the expiry of the lease.
He says they had an account with epay for more than 15 years. “During those years we never ever missed any payment or direct debit. Few years ago, they asked me to provide a deposit of £200 on account because we were doing more transactions than our credit limit.”
They gave epay the correct notice to close the account. “And they collected their terminal on 15th March 2023. They confirmed that they have received the terminal and there is no money outstanding on our account. They have agreed to pay my deposit £200 back and I followed all their requirement for confirmation of our bank account. They have confirmed that they are not waiting for any more information from me.”
I saw a series of bizarre emails between Vijay and epay where they kept saying, in effect, yes we are paying up.
But, by mid July, still no money. He sent numerous emails and made several phone calls but they refused to give him a date when they would repay him. He adds: “I have threatened them with legal action but they are just ignoring.”
I contacted the company but, aside from requesting a couple of days’ extension to the deadline, I didn’t hear back.
Vijay called the Financial Ombudsman Service for Small Businesses but when they looked into it they confirmed that epay worldwide is not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) so they couldn’t help.
He says: “I can’t believe that they operate in UK selling financial products (phone top up vouchers, gift cards, electricity and gas payments etc.) without being regulated by the financial service authority. I wonder how Trading Standards allow it. I think you should warn other retailers about them.”
The FCA did advise Vijay to “contact some solicitors who can help and charge fees to epay”.
I therefore suggested that he should call Lawyers for Your Business for half an hour free advice on the telephone. I also recommended that he should take them to small claims court. The company has to respond to a claim and would probably pay up rather than bothering to defend the case.
Vijay first tried the lawyers. “But they think amount is too small and court may not award us the full cost. They advised me to make small claim court online.”
He did this, demanding the £200 plus the claim fee of £35. Epay was given a deadline of 11 September to pay or face having a County Court Judgment (CCJ) against it. This certainly got epay’s attention.
Vijay says: “In response to my court claim epay paid my deposit £200 on 4th Sept. But did not pay £35 fees for the court which I had included in claim. So I have requested court to issue CCJ. Finally I got my deposit money but I will be going to chase them for legal cost. And I am prepared to take further legal action.”
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