Eir Direct Debits

shane7

Hi
I'm just looking for some advice regarding Eir and missed direct debits. I was with Eir for around 2 years before I switched to sky. When I switched to sky a couple of months ago I checked my Eir balance online and paid my bill whch was just over a hundred euro. So after I paid my bill I cancelled by direct debit and set up everything with sky.

Eir then sent me a bill for 7 euro. The amount was that small I just forgot about it. However that 7 euro bill has now turned into over 50 euro because they keep charging me 18.45 a month for a missed direct debit.

I told them I would gladly pay them the 7 euro that was outstanding but there is no way I am paying for a missed direct debit that does not exist.

So that's my main question can a company charge me for a direct debit that I have cancelled. There is no direct debit mandate in place or direct debit contract in place between myself and eir as I terminated the contract.

If the bill said late fee I would sort off understand but the bills say Missed Direct debit and there is 100% no direct debit in place.

Surely I don't have to hand them over €50.00 for nothing. My contract with them was up so its not like I bailed on my contract

Thanks

L1011

You need to cancel a direct debit with the other end of the transaction also for it to actually be cancelled*. The mandate they have is still valid; and the agreement you made with them would include the missed DD fee. However, I would expect a business to notify you after one and move the account to being considered in debt; and not continue adding more each month.

*You can block DDs from being taken or even restarted with a mandate by a specific issuer which will stop them being able to take any money; but that's a different issue to this.

daheff

did you cancel the contract with Eir?

Samuel T. Cogley

It's really important to understand that canceled direct debits aren't really cancelled, as above.

The fees might be considered unfair, I'm not sure how you'd dispute that in a cost efficent manner though. Small claims procedure is €25. I presume ComReg doesn't get involved in billing - it does on cancelations procedures so may be some milage there, maybe not.

Sorry I can't be more help but a couple of avenues to explore. In the mean time I'd pay it to stop it getting any higher.

shane7

L1011 wrote: »

You need to cancel a direct debit with the other end of the transaction also for it to actually be cancelled*. The mandate they have is still valid; and the agreement you made with them would include the missed DD fee. However, I would expect a business to notify you after one and move the account to being considered in debt; and not continue adding more each month.

*You can block DDs from being taken or even restarted with a mandate by a specific issuer which will stop them being able to take any money; but that's a different issue to this.

Thank you for the quick reply. I suppose there is not much I can do. The fact the bill was only €7.00 and I had just paid over €100 means it obvious it was a genuine oversight. I dropped in to the post office and paid the €7.00 but I'd rather go to court than pay them the other fees.

shane7

daheff wrote: »

did you cancel the contract with Eir?

Yes everything was cancelled properly. I was out of contract with them and everything was cancelled correctly

daheff

shane7 wrote: »

Yes everything was cancelled properly. I was out of contract with them and everything was cancelled correctly

Well if this was the case (and you can prove it), then you do not owe for the DD and any attempt by Eir to impose charges are not valid.

stronglikebull

shane7 wrote: »

Yes everything was cancelled properly. I was out of contract with them and everything was cancelled correctly

The problem is not that the cancellation was wrong, it's that the service provided by eir from the time you paid your last bill to the time Sky started providing service was not paid for by you. Although this was only €7, you did owe it, and still do. Since you didn't pay that, and had previously been paying by direct debit, they are within their rights to impose whatever fine is stipulates in the contract you had with them.

Being out of the minimum term of a contract does not mean that there is no contract. The contract for them to provide service, and you to pay for it, was still in effect. You are still bound by that contract.

You can of course choose to ignore them, and they'll probably bill you a few times and send a few threatening letters about court action and all that, and then it'll just go away. Or it might not. Either way, you do owe this debt and you should pay it. It was your fault for not paying the bill on time, and this is the price of forgetting it.

daheff

I'm assuming as the op said everything was cancelled correctly that the final bill was also paid? But it may be that this was not the case and 7 eur was the final bill.


However if a DD was cancelled (and notified to Eir) they cannot bill the OP for an attempted DD failing. In this case they should not have attempted to claim the DD. The OP has (from what I've seen here) correctly cancelled the DD. That said, if there was an outstanding bill due, that still needs to be settled up (but not by DD as its been cancelled).

OP if you've cancelled the DD with Eir, they havent a leg to stand on for the extra charges. Do pay them the 7 EUR though (if its owed).

shane7

daheff wrote: »

I'm assuming as the op said everything was cancelled correctly that the final bill was also paid? But it may be that this was not the case and 7 eur was the final bill.


However if a DD was cancelled (and notified to Eir) they cannot bill the OP for an attempted DD failing. In this case they should not have attempted to claim the DD. The OP has (from what I've seen here) correctly cancelled the DD. That said, if there was an outstanding bill due, that still needs to be settled up (but not by DD as its been cancelled).

OP if you've cancelled the DD with Eir, they havent a leg to stand on for the extra charges. Do pay them the 7 EUR though (if its owed).

Thanks for the response @daheff

I cancelled my contract with Eir and after I paid my bill online I then cancelled my direct debit with the bank. Its very hard to find any information online what the actual rules are but that's what I have done for 20 years so presumed it was the right way to go. The only information I can find is on how banking works.ie . They say I only need to inform my bank if I wish to cancel a direct debit.

My thinking is that a direct debit is a contract between two parties and once I cancel with the bank that contract is now null and void. So are Eir not trying to enforce a contract that does not exist anymore by seeking payment by direct debit. Obviously they are entitled to pursue their seven euro by other means but it doesn't seem right to me that they can keep pursuing a direct debit payment when the direct debit mandate no longer exists and continue to charge me €18.45 a pop.

I paid the seven euro in the post office today but hell will freeze over before they get another cent from me

daheff

shane7 wrote: »

Thanks for the response @daheff

I cancelled my contract with Eir and after I paid my bill online I then cancelled my direct debit with the bank. Its very hard to find any information online what the actual rules are but that's what I have done for 20 years so presumed it was the right way to go. The only information I can find is on how banking works.ie . They say I only need to inform my bank if I wish to cancel a direct debit.

My thinking is that a direct debit is a contract between two parties and once I cancel with the bank that contract is now null and void. So are Eir not trying to enforce a contract that does not exist anymore by seeking payment by direct debit. Obviously they are entitled to pursue their seven euro by other means but it doesn't seem right to me that they can keep pursuing a direct debit payment when the direct debit mandate no longer exists and continue to charge me €18.45 a pop.

I paid the seven euro in the post office today but hell will freeze over before they get another cent from me

ah theres the problem. you didnt cancel it with Eir though. You need to cancel it with the provider, not your bank (you can instruct your bank to no longer accept DDs from a particular creditorID and they will stop accepting it- but that doesnt mean the DD is cancelled with the provider). Also, Eir should have gotten a notification back from their bank telling them that your bank no longer recognises the DD -and then not tried to collect it again. Worst case is you should only pay 1 failed DD charge.