My nephew purchased some furniture about 4 months ago and got it under finance through their house finance company.
One of the procedures for the in house finance was that in order for the furniture company to get paid, he had to give the furniture company a 4 digit PIN number which was supposed to be sent to his at the time. He didn’t have his phone on him and so they both agreed (him and the shopkeeper) that he would just message it to her when he got home.
He has gotten home, no message and by this time he’d forgotten about it. He never received the message and wasn’t asked by the furniture company for it. He started making his payments as normal to the finance company.
Now we find out several months later that they never actually charged him for the furniture.
Long story short but a shamozle happened between him and the furniture company during these months with faulty furniture and incorrect parts, etc. Will save the long winded story, but essentially, he is refusing to answer their calls (chasing the PIN number I assume). They didn’t realise until several months later and neither did he.
My question is... if he continues to ignore them and not give them the PIN number so they can get paid, would that be considered theft under criminal law or would it be a civil law matter where the furniture company take him to court?
Any help appreciated as I’m not sure what to do here since he is adamant he is not giving them the pin.
One of the procedures for the in house finance was that in order for the furniture company to get paid, he had to give the furniture company a 4 digit PIN number which was supposed to be sent to his at the time. He didn’t have his phone on him and so they both agreed (him and the shopkeeper) that he would just message it to her when he got home.
He has gotten home, no message and by this time he’d forgotten about it. He never received the message and wasn’t asked by the furniture company for it. He started making his payments as normal to the finance company.
Now we find out several months later that they never actually charged him for the furniture.
Long story short but a shamozle happened between him and the furniture company during these months with faulty furniture and incorrect parts, etc. Will save the long winded story, but essentially, he is refusing to answer their calls (chasing the PIN number I assume). They didn’t realise until several months later and neither did he.
My question is... if he continues to ignore them and not give them the PIN number so they can get paid, would that be considered theft under criminal law or would it be a civil law matter where the furniture company take him to court?
Any help appreciated as I’m not sure what to do here since he is adamant he is not giving them the pin.