Missed Direct Debit, but bill paid

Lux23

I had a run in with a Telecoms company recently in relation to a up to date account but with a missed direct debit.

Basically, I was overcharged by another company and I had to block all Direct Debits to my account to stop them taking their money. It was a last resort. (This has been sorted in the meantime but is having knock on effects)

My broadband providers DD was due a few days after I blocked the Direct Debits so I paid the bill using their card payment option through the site. I also received an email from the company saying that they received the payment as well.

Anyway, the direct debit was missed but the bill was paid. A couple of days ago I come home to find my services were suspended.

I ring them, they say I missed a direct debit and they had to cut me off because of this. I say the bill is paid and they say 'oh ok we will un-suspend your services'.

Fair enough I missed the direct debit, but do they really have a legal basis to suspend an account that is up to date?

I have asked them to show me where in the terms and conditions they say they can do this, but that strikes me as an unfair term.

What does everyone think?

goldenhoarde

Its the same with most. They don't do a check to see if the bill has been paid, they are just working off the fact that you had a DD enabled but this was rejected by your bank hence they suspend you.

They should by right check if there is an outstanding balance before they suspend but the team/process doing this probably does not have access to account balance.

Had the same with my final bill for electricity, I paid it online so had 0.00 balance but they still wrote to me saying I had missed my DD.

Lux23

Writing to you is acceptable, but cutting you off is another story. The customer service agent as able to see that my balance was zero so I would imagine the credit department had access to the same information.

28064212

Lux23 wrote: »

My broadband providers DD was due a few days after I blocked the Direct Debits so I paid the bill using their card payment option through the site.

Timelines aren't clear. DDs have to be submitted to the bank a few days in advance, and card payments take time to be received and processed, so they may not have known that your bill was paid until after the DD was submitted. Their process may automatically block your service if you miss your DD.

If you paid by card earlier, your DD wouldn't have been initiated, so it probably wouldn't have been suspended. You'd want to check when payments are required to be submitted in order to prevent a DD attempt being made.

Lux23 wrote: »

Basically, I was overcharged by another company and I had to block all Direct Debits to my account to stop them taking their money.

Who advised you of this? Under SEPA, you can instruct your bank to refuse all DDs from a specific creditor, there was no need to block all DDs

runawaybishop

Lux23 wrote: »

I had a run in with a Telecoms company recently in relation to a up to date account but with a missed direct debit.

Basically, I was overcharged by another company and I had to block all Direct Debits to my account to stop them taking their money. It was a last resort. (This has been sorted in the meantime but is having knock on effects)

My broadband providers DD was due a few days after I blocked the Direct Debits so I paid the bill using their card payment option through the site. I also received an email from the company saying that they received the payment as well.

Anyway, the direct debit was missed but the bill was paid. A couple of days ago I come home to find my services were suspended.

I ring them, they say I missed a direct debit and they had to cut me off because of this. I say the bill is paid and they say 'oh ok we will un-suspend your services'.

Fair enough I missed the direct debit, but do they really have a legal basis to suspend an account that is up to date?

I have asked them to show me where in the terms and conditions they say they can do this, but that strikes me as an unfair term.

What does everyone think?

They made a mistake, which I assume they rectified? What's the problem?

Lux23

runawaybishop wrote: »

They made a mistake, which I assume they rectified? What's the problem?

The problem was losing a half a days work.

And they cut me off two weeks after the bill was paid, I just find it ridiculous that they suspend services in on a fully up to date account.

runawaybishop

Lux23 wrote: »

The problem was losing a half a days work.

And they cut me off two weeks after the bill was paid, I just find it ridiculous that they suspend services in on a fully up to date account.

Did you inform them the DD was cancelled? Mistakes happen, they didn't knowingly cut you off like. Why are you asking if a mistake would be in the terms and conditions?

Lux23

I didn't need to, I had paid my bill and I am under no obligation to pay by direct debit either, I just set it up for convenience sake. It has cost me a considerable amount of money and a company saying 'oh we were mistaken really doesn't cut it for me'. Maybe I just expect too much.

runawaybishop

Lux23 wrote: »

I didn't need to, I had paid my bill and I am under no obligation to pay by direct debit either, I just set it up for convenience sake. It has cost me a considerable amount of money and a company saying 'oh we were mistaken really doesn't cut it for me'. Maybe I just expect too much.

Most times you do need to inform the company when you cancel a direct debit. Anyway... did you make a complaint to the company and ask for a reduction due to loss of service?

Lux23

runawaybishop wrote: »

Most times you do need to inform the company when you cancel a direct debit. Anyway... did you make a complaint to the company and ask for a reduction due to loss of service?

I did. They are looking into it for me apparently.