Money taken from account without permission

happyhead2012

Hi everyone i am dealing with an au pair agency that took money from my bank account without permission.
I pay them €90 for a monthly fee, i told them that i was terminating my contract and gave them 2 weeks notice that my au pair was leaving( she was homesick ) so she went on holiday with her parents and went travelling around Ireland with her boyfriend, she was meant to stay until January.
I told the agency that i no longer wanted to deal with them because of all the hassle they were (not giving me a discount for the families i referred and terrible customer service) so i sent them an email stating that they were not to debit my account any further. 4 days later they took €350 from my account without my permission! when i rang to find out what was going on they hung up on me!

ABajaninCork

Call the bank and request a chargeback...

Ask a mod to give you your own thread on this. Click on the red triangle by your name. Then in the notes box, ask the mod to move and give you your own thread. The original thread's seven years old!

foggy_lad

You should not request a chargeback but insist on it, your bank must do this as the debit is unauthorised. You do not need any proof or confirmation letter from the company for your bank, they must act on your instruction!

happyhead2012

when i contacted the bank they told me it could take up to 48 days to get my money back and to contact the agency directly, so i did in the mean time the agency sent me an invoice saying that i have to pay them €1180 as I didn't provide them with leaving details from the aupair

unclebill98

Firstly, OP did you cancel the DD when you decided to stop using their service and before the payment went out?

That will be the 1st thing the bank will ask you. A charge back while the only way to get your funds back will not always be entertained
when you 1st ask about it. So as stated you must insist on it.

happyhead2012

I spoken to the owner and then to the manager( who just hung up on me) I then emailed them telling this that they have no permission to take any further payments from my account and 4 days later they took 2 separate payments from my account, i want to see where i stand legally with the agency, is it a normal thing that any company can take any amount they feel like from your account? its not a DD, they have my card details and process it themselves every month

unclebill98

They can take as much as they wish until you cancel the DD. Even then its possible to send threw a DD after its cancelled. The system ain't perfect. Telling them should have been enough but with DD its up to you to but the stop on it to be sure it will not be taken out.

If they are un-willing to give you your money back then a charge back is the next step. However like I said most staff will just tell you it can't be done cause you never cancelled the DD in the 1st place.

happyhead2012

sorry i edited my post to late, it was never a DD , they have my card details and charge them every month with a merchant company

unclebill98

Cancel the card. Is it a Visa Debit?

TheBoffin

Get on the phone to your card company and advise them of the unauthorised charge ASAP. Recurring card payments are NOT the same a Direct Debit Authorities

Snippet from source

Recurring Payments (also
known as Continuous
Payment Authorities)
You can use a credit card to set up a
Recurring Payment to allow a business
to charge your card regularly, for
example for a gym membership or a
magazine subscription. This is different
from setting up a Direct Debit on your
current account, because banks and
businesses that belong to the Direct
Debit Scheme must follow a set of
rules. The scheme gives you a Direct
Debit Guarantee, by which your bank
guarantees to refund your account
immediately if anything goes wrong.
There is no common scheme or set of
rules for Recurring Payments and the
Direct Debit Guarantee does not apply.
So it is important that you check out the
business before you give them the
authority to charge your card.
In most cases, you can stop a
Recurring Payment by contacting the
business that has your authority. It is
best to do this in writing, and to keep a
copy in case they dispute this later.
Alternatively you can contact your
credit card company to tell them that
you have stopped permission for the
payments. They must then stop them
– they have no right to insist that you
agree this first with the company taking
the payments. If your credit card
company continues to allow payments
to be taken after you have cancelled
your authority then these are
unauthorised payments
and they
should refund the amount and any
related charges.

happyhead2012

thank you for the reply, that is the last time i give card details over the phone! i was told i could give to weeks notice and leave. (that was until i tried leaving) it has been weeks of hassle with them

BuffyBot

Cancel the card. Is it a Visa Debit?

That, unfortunately, doesn't stop a company with continuous authority to debit from debiting the account.

Check the small print of your contract with the au-pair company. Depending on the wording, and whether such a fee was outlined, they may or may not be able to refute the chargeback. A chargeback is not a panacea, nor a guarantee of a refund.

happyhead2012

unclebill98 wrote: »

Cancel the card. Is it a Visa Debit?

BuffyBot wrote: »

That, unfortunately, doesn't stop a company with continuous authority to debit from debiting the account.

Check the small print of your contract with the au-pair company. Depending on the wording, and whether such a fee was outlined, they may or may not be able to refute the chargeback. A chargeback is not a panacea, nor a guarantee of a refund.

Thats the problem, i didnt sign anything, i have asked them on multiple times to send me the T&c they say i signed but they have never sent them, i also have the email in which i told them they had no permission to debit my account which has the time and date on it, and the time and date on my bank statement that show they went into my account after i told them not to