BT taken £ from bank without authorisation - HELP!

ilovecoffee

Hi everyone,

I really need some help! Phoned BT to pay the phone bill last week - said i could only pay £50 which they said was fine, made the payment on my debit card - no problem. Until today... I went to the bank and BT have taken the full £200 NOT the £50 I authorised. They have actually STOLEN my money - as a result I am now penniless (18p left in account) and I have important direct debits coming out in the next week. I even stopped my direct debits with BT as they had caused me problems in the past and I don't trust them. :mad:

I have tried calling but they are closed. I don't know whether to demand a refund, or to go further - really I want to take them to court as it is theft/fraud! :mad:

Does anyone have any advice on the processes to take or has anyone been in a similar situation???? I am having very little luck hunting on the net as most similar cases involve re-activation of direct debits not theft from card payments!

Thank you.

PNPSUKNET

You can just go to your bank and ask for an indemnity claim, although have you tried asking them for a part refund as their calls are recorded so they can play back what was agreed.

Mark_In_Hampshire

I did type a longer and more detailed reply, but the forum lost it.

You have no case for fraud or theft. You owe the amount and you have agreed with BT they can take as much money as they like whenever they like from your account.

You say you called and agreed to pay a lower amount. That would require the competence of the person you spoke to to be sufficient to realise it was not an additional payment, but rather a replacement one. Or, the time between your call and the DD was insufficien to stop it.

The moral of the story is not to use direct debit.

mandi

Mark_In_Hampshire wrote: »

I did type a longer and more detailed reply, but the forum lost it.

You have no case for fraud or theft. You owe the amount and you have agreed with BT they can take as much money as they like whenever they like from your account.

You say you called and agreed to pay a lower amount. That would require the competence of the person you spoke to to be sufficient to realise it was not an additional payment, but rather a replacement one. Or, the time between your call and the DD was insufficien to stop it.

The moral of the story is not to use direct debit.

Wrong wrong wrong.. !!!!!!!!!!!



Any company requesting to change the amount they are requesting for a DD MUST give the account holder written notice of the change , If they then take a higher amount then the account holder can claim back under the DD debit guarantee, and ask for a FULL & immediate refund from the bank / Building society


http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/ombudsman-news/27/27-directdebit-guarantee.htm


Anyway the OPs question was about a debit card transaction

mandi

To the Op . If you call BT tommorrow, make a complaint they will refund you , problem is it can take a few days . I hate it when staff are so careless with other peoples money :mad:

Hope you get sorted soon

Mark_In_Hampshire

I'd assumed that the direct debit went ahead despite the upfront £50 payment.

With regard to the specified notice period of which you speak, I'm afraid you're incorrect.

You are referring to this:

The Direct Debit Guarantee

• If the amounts to be paid or the payment dates change, the organisation collecting the payment will notify you normally 10 working days in advance of your account being debited or as otherwise agreed
• If an error is made by the organisation or your bank or building society, you are guaranteed a full and immediate refund from your branch of the amount paid
• You can cancel a Direct Debit at any time by contacting your bank or building society. We also recommend you notify the organisation concerned.

http://www.bacs.co.uk/Bacs/Consumers/DirectDebit/Pages/YourRights.aspx

And the catch here is the first line, "as otherwise agreed".

If you read the BT DD mandate form carefully, you'll find this line quoted.

However further up on the same piece of paper you'll see it says "up to 10 days".

In practice, therefore, the notice period you are entitled to is anywhere from one second to ten days.

Provided the bill arrives on your doormat or the online bill is posted before the debit is taken, there is absolutely no minimum notice period required.

mandi

Mark we will have to agree to disagree on this one . I have claimed back incorrect payments from BT several times , using the DD guarantee, however in the case of being notified on your bill of a change & not seeing it , is a different matter

Money_Grabber13579

The facts of the matter are:

£200 is owed.
DD for £200 was set up.
OP could only pay £50 right now
Phoned BT to instruct them to only take £50.
There was insufficient time to change the DD to £50.
£200 came out.

That's the way I see it!

Mark_In_Hampshire

Having re-read the OP...

You verbally instructed payment of a specific amount and the incorrect amount was taken.

It might be better to pay online using your card than verbally over the phone.

You have as I see it, two options. One is to call BT again and insist they refund the difference. However, you are liable for the full amount (unless you dispute you owe it) so this might be tricky, the other aspect is that there may well be no record of your specific request for that amount only.

The alternative would be to perform a charge back on your card (it is a Visa debit?) - contact your bank for advice - basically the same as a direct debit reversal although more long winded and you will need to fill in a form in which you'll be asked why you want to charge it back. The bank should then refund your account and then take the matter up with the payee. Even if this is an option, that could take some time.

The best way to pay is probably BACS via online banking. In either event you instruct the amount to be pushed, not have the payee pull the amount. This applies to pretty well everything not just this scenario/case.

BT_company_representative

Hi ilovecoffee

I understand your shock to find the wrong amount was taken. If you still haven't this sorted I can arrange a refund back to your debit card. I'll need your details to sort this out so drop me your bt telephone number and account number to my PM and I'll get the money refunded.

Hope to hear from you soon
Linda
BT Support

ilovecoffee

Thank you to everyone who replied to my post.
Mark, it appears you misunderstood my post, they did not take a dd but a debit card payment over the phone. The dd details they had previously was a different account that is no longer in use.

I phoned the bank and they said to call BT and discuss the matter. If it was not resolved they stated that I should ring again and they would initiate negotiations of some kind with BT on my behalf.

I did get through to BT, the call centre lady was helpful and immediately contacted a supervisor. However, when she came back on the line she told me that if they refunded my money they would disconnect me all together (an even worse situation as the phone line is a business line).

I said I would be in touch to BT by letter and that I would contact the police, my bank, watchdog and ofcom/oftel.

I received a call a little later from a supervisor from BT who was exceptionally helpful. We discussed the whole situation, she listened to the orginal call and acknowledged that £50 had been agreed. The extra £150 could not be refunded - only the whole amount. The whole problem had been caused by human error as payments different to the whole bill amount have to be inputted manually.

I am now in the process of having my bill refunded. I have been given an extended period of time to fully repay the outstanding bill, and I have had a quarter's line rental refunded in compensation.

I am glad it has been resolved, but i will be paying by cheque in the future if I need to pay installments.