Sky took money at wrong time, i got a bank fee.

moneysaver303

Hi, i am new to the forum but have been lurking for years on the site, and the last few weeks in some of the fascinating forum threads. It seems the people posting here are very friendly and helpful with a good sense of humour!

Anyway, I was wondering if anyone knew the best way to deal with the following:

I set up Sky TV last year (v.good offer!) and as with every new direct debit I asked them to take it out on my payday or soon after. I found recently through my online banking they had taken the subscription fee a day earlier this month and it was returned unpaid.

I called Sky the day it happened (i was not sure if i would be charged yet, but suspected i would), and they were not too helpful aside from explaining the payment date was set to the day before my payday, so I just asked them to change the date. This is their error, and my bank have since charged me £8 for the rejected payment.

I then got a letter from Sky which at the very top had a solid black box with bold white letters inside "MAKE SURE THERE'S ENOUGH MONEY IN YOUR BANK ACCOUNT TO PAY YOUR SKY BILL". As far as I was concerned I had, and it's not my fault. I don't know what my rights are, or feel confident at approaching them again. Any ideas? Thanks in advance!

TrickyNiki

Did the payment date occour over a weekend ie Saturday or sunday? If so then they usually take the payment the friday before.

pinkpig08

With my bank if the payments fall on the weekend, they take it on the Monday after.

LinasPilibaitisisbatman

Sky have no obligation to take it on a date you choose or check your funds for you.

Sky will have a DD agreement set up and you will have been advised of the collection terms thus have no leg to stand on.

Unless sky have breached the terms its not their fault, and you telling them when to take it isnt a term.

moneysaver303

It didn't fall on a weekend, and if my payday falls on the weekend I will be paid on the Friday before. The problem is that they had the wrong bill date on the account. If they had my payday as the bill date they would still get the money even if it was a weekend or bank holiday as I also get paid early.

BlueAngelCV

LinasPilibaitisisbatman wrote: »

Sky have no obligation to take it on a date you choose or check your funds for you.

Sky will have a DD agreement set up and you will have been advised of the collection terms thus have no leg to stand on.

Unless sky have breached the terms its not their fault, and you telling them when to take it isnt a term.

Are you sure this is correct? When setting up direct debits I am often asked when the payment should be taken and have also written asking for it to be taken on a certain date. If this is what you had requested then I would have thought that they were obliged to do so. I would certainly be in trouble if companies started taking dd on random dates.

Given that it is only £8.00 I wouldn't get too worked up about it but would write to them explaining what has happened and asking for a refund of the £8.00. You may get lucky!

Meepster

I set up all my DD's to come out 3 days after my pay day, so this exact thing wouldn't happen...

uganda

Blimey, only an £8 charge? Which bank are you with?

When this happened to my ex, she was charged £35 for the unpaid direct debit and £25 for an unauthorised overdraft.

Scandalous of course, and completely disproportionate 'punishment' for a simple, and understandable, human error - imagine if we fleeced them every time they got something wrong?

I don't know what the law is in relation to DDs but if it doesn't protect against payments being taken out prior to the agreed date (a day or two after shouldn't be a problem), then it's not a good law.

That said, I would advise to give yourself a margin of error by putting your date back a few days so this can't happen - you may have been unlucky here, but sometimes you need to make your own luck.

I look forward to your next run-in with Sky's legendary customer services - hopefully it will persuade you to cancel your subscription and have nothing more to do with them (hard I know, as they have a virtual monopoly where sports are concerned, but principles are principles).

OlliesDad

uganda wrote: »

Blimey, only an £8 charge? Which bank are you with?

I presume Barclays

moneysaver303

Thanks for the replies everyone!
I thought myself lucky to only be charged £8. I haven't had any problems with the other dates yet, but I will put all the dates back a few days just to be safe.

So far the worst Sky have done is keep me on hold for most of an hour and a half, and reckon I have been lucky! I am tied into a contract for now, but who knows what may happen.

advent1122

LinasPilibaitisisbatman wrote: »

Sky have no obligation to take it on a date you choose .

sarcasm mode on

Yeah I know, One month it comes out on the 4th, the next the 23rd, the next the 18th, the next the 6th..
You would think they would take it out on the date I ask them.

sarcasm mode off