Just opened an invoice for ivf egg storage both me and the missus thought we had cancelled 3 years ago. Wifey swears she posted it. It says we owe 2 years and some how have 150 credit. Our ivf was nhs do we didn’t pay anything. It is for quite a large amount of £

We’ve moved house since, have no evidence of the form being sent back saying we do not need the service, but there has been no emails, phone calls or letters chasing payment until this surprise invoice. Now there is a chance records might have been mixed up or something which I will be checking when we speak to them on Monday.

If it was for such a large amount, why would you not check the acount was closed and settled?

Then again, what can they do? Do they have a version of Storage Hunters down at the clinic?

I’d ignore it for now, it sounds speculative.
Do you have any proof you cancelled the agreement?

Job 1, talk to them – invoices are usually system generated and the fact a credit is shown on it makes me think someone in their accounts team is tying up loose ends at the end of the calendar year and has created a boo boo.

Job 2, if they say it’s not an error, be polite and say, “sorry, we cancelled this 3 years ago” not “we think” or anything wishy washy like that. when people say to me “think” or “I’m sure…” to me I will always assume they meant to do it for months and then forgot. Put the onus on them, after all you haven’t heard from them in years!

Ultimately unless you signed into any sort of credit agreement with them they’ll struggle to pursue it, if they do the burden of proof is on them, coming from the NHS you probably didn’t sign anything with them. Anytime they ask for payment, reiterate that you cancelled 3 years ago and ask them to update their records.

‘thanks all it does seem strange getting a letter now after heaeing nothing they had our numbers email ans we had a mail redirect when we moved.

re checking account was closed we sent a form back saying to closie. and didn’t hear anything so thought it was done

we have no proof. there probably is a photocopy of the form somewhere but God knows where since we moved.

no credit agreement in place. though we did sign a contract for storing embryos, because you have to as part of ivf. the first period was free. luckily we have 2 kids now, the first via this ivf and second natural and 2 is definitely enough!

part of the invoice is for July 18 to 19 so some of it is for the future 6 months. surely you should be asked to pay either in advance / prior to the period to give you the option to cancel rather than roll on and invoice 5 months later. definitely seems like a mistake

accounts department suffering from delayed ejeculation of the invoice

re checking account was closed we sent a form back saying to closie. and didn’t hear anything so thought it was done

Sounds like trouble to me, I would expect confirmation of closure and would want written evidence.

Should’ve seen this coming.
RM.

Sounds like trouble to me, I would expect confirmation of closure and would want written evidence.

I was about to write something very similar. In general if you send paperwork / communication to any business and don’t hear anything, assume nothing has been done.

no credit agreement in place. though we did sign a contract for storing embryos, because you have to as part of ivf. the first period was free.

These ‘free trial, you become obligated if you fail to cancel’ things are bad enough when they are for telly or food delivery services. It’s pretty despicable and immoral that that model is insisted upon for NHS treatment. I’d be very surprised if it was enforceable. I’d firmly tell them that you cancelled, stick it. Would be hard to obtain a judgment against you without a credit agreement I think. (Though INAL, obvz).

I have never asked for written evidence of closing things down, maybe I’ve always been lucky as so far I’ve never had an issue.

we have legal cover on the house insurance so if it turns out it’s not a mistake then will be getting proper legal advice. Not sure I can even find a copy of the original contract either…we did loose a bunch of docs when we were burgled 2 years ago.

https://www.hfea.gov.uk/choose-a-clinic/consent-to-treatment/

OK, looking at this another way.

What did you sign in terms of consent to the storage of eggs etc at the commencement of this period? It’s possible you only signed a time-limited consent form in which case the eggs should have been destroyed at the end of this period, with a further consent neeeded to continue storage.

Looking at the HFEA site, at the time of your treatment, your wife should have consented in writing to storage of gametes, and stipulated how long those were to be stored.

By law (the Human Fertilisation and Embryology
Act1990 (as amended)), you need to give your
written consent if you want your eggs or sperm
to be stored. You must also state in writing
how long you consent to your eggs or sperm
remaining in storage.

I’d be wanting a copy of your consent form from the time, alongside a copy of any contract. If the consent is inadequate, that gives you a possible avenue.

Don’t speak to them on Monday, write to them. Currently you have no proof that this debt exists and no knowledge that they do either, on the phone it’s easy to let something slip and incriminate yourself.

so far I’ve never had an issue

I think I’ve diagnosed your problem..

Good advice about writing. Will do that as it creates a paper trail which so far we have none off. Can’t find contract so it was either nicked with lots of other docs when burgled or chucked when we moved house, which I think unlikely. No electronic copies saved anywhere or email correspondence.

Going to have a chat to a lawyer before we send to make sure it’s saying the right things.

Being an accountant I can tell just about every accounts department now is dire. Full of young people that ponce about on spreadsheets all day and don’t know simple double entry bookkeeping.

BTW,

It’s not legal to chase contested debts. I have a “get lost” letter I wrote to a bunch of chancers here somewhere, I can C&P it up here if it’ll help.

In fact, here.

A few years back we started receiving a series of increasingly threatening and aggressive letters from a debt collection agency looking for payment on a credit card debt we had no knowledge of. Best guess is that it belonged to someone else who shared an address with my missus at some point years ago. It was for a couple of hundred quid, her reaction was “let’s just pay it to avoid the hassle,” mine was “not while I’ve got a hole in my arse.”

This was my reply to them, we didn’t have any further communication from them after this. It’s not directly the same situation as yours but maybe it’ll help to crib from later if they start getting arsey.

>>

Dear [name]

Account no: [number]

You have contacted me regarding the account with the above reference number, which you claim is owed by myself.

I would point out that I have no knowledge of any such debt being owed to [alleged creditor].

I am familiar with the Office of Fair Trading Debt Collection Guidance which states that it unfair to send demands for payment to an individual when it is uncertain that they are the debtor in question.

I would also point out that the OFT say under the Guidance that it is unfair to pursue third parties for payment when they are not liable. In not ceasing collection activity whilst investigating a reasonably queried or disputed debt you are using deceptive/and or unfair methods.

Furthermore ignoring and/or disregarding claims that debts have been settled or are disputed and continuing to make unjustified demands for payment amounts to physical/psychological harassment.

I would ask that no further contact be made concerning the above account unless you can provide evidence as to my liability for the debt in question.

I await your written confirmation that this matter is now closed. Otherwise I will have no option but to make a complaint to the trading standards department and consider informing the OFT of your actions.

I look forward to your reply.

Yours sincerely,

[etc]

Only thing that is missing is a threat to complain to the FCA that they are breaching their authorisations (and thus may have them revoked).