BT not stopping debits

Arbed

I changed my ISP at Christmas from BT to Plusnet and I cancelled the payments with BT. However, BT have still debited my bank account for the last three months for their Netprotect service.

I have sent several Emails to them, and spent a few hours on the telephone trying to get them to cancel this payment. I can't get any sense out of them at all. They tell me that it has been cancelled and that I should contact my bank. Can anyone kindly tell me whom I should contact to sort this out?

Thanks

skylight

Paying by Direct Debit? Just cancel it at your bank.

Debit/Visa card?? Phone the provider and tell them your card is damaged and you need a new one. Then the old one will haev the incorrect details in order for them to process a payment (so will everyone else who has regular payments this way) And this is an awkward solution too!

Are BT charging you because you are under contract with them and that has not expired yet??

Arbed

Thanks Charlotte.

The money is being debited from my debit card. I do not have a contract with BT and they tell me that the old contract was cancelled last Christmas.

Yes I could ask my bank for a new debit card and cancel the old one. I might have to do that, but I thought that I was dealing with a responsible company in BT, and I want the money that was wrongly deducted refunded.

It is obvious that there is something fundamentally wrong in BT's organisation somewhere. If I ring up, it has to be on National Rate. I get shunted from one department to another, and last time I was on the phone for over an hour. The last person to whom I spoke, and as you know BT has it's call centre in India, told me, yet again, that this payment had been stopped and that therefore BT could not be making this deduction from my account, and that I should speak to my bank.

amandathepanda

Just a word of advice, never agree to pay a regular amount to any company using your debit card details. There are always problems trying to stop these payments, if you can use direct debit instead as these payments can easily be cancelled by the bank. The bank cannot cancel the card payments as you authorised payment.

ginger_nuts

telling your bank the debit card is damaged may not work .
I told my bank my debit card was damaged ,they sent a new one with the same number .the new one got lost in the post ,a new card was issued with a new number .

gregg1

We have had horrendous problems with BT and I cancelled my direct debit with them so that I am in total control of money going to them. Its more inconvenient but I certainly feel a lot happier knowing they can't just take the wrong amount from my account without my say so. BT is the only company I have ever had to take this course of action with. They have got their own back though by sending me my bill late which leaves me precious little time to get the money to them - but I am determined not to reinstate the direct debit - I just don't trust em!

snezhinskproject

amandathepanda wrote:

Just a word of advice, never agree to pay a regular amount to any company using your debit card details. There are always problems trying to stop these payments, if you can use direct debit instead as these payments can easily be cancelled by the bank. The bank cannot cancel the card payments as you authorised payment.

I can only agree with this. I have just moved abroad and so cancelled all my utility accounts, specifically asking them to cancel the direct debits at the same time.

Two months on, these are the organisations still taking money from my account/credit card:

London Energy (gas and electricity)
British Telecom (telephone)
Virgin.Net (broadband)

The only ones who aren't gratefully accepting the money to which they aren't entitled are Thames Water and Wandsworth Council (in the case of the council because I cancelled the direct debit myself).

jenniferpa

I sometimes wonder if BT's left hand knows what their right hand is doing. When my Mother moved, BT cancelled the direct debit before taking the final payment, leaving them with a negative balance. Within 30 days they sent a solicitors letter regarding non-payment. Please note she was a) still with BT at her new address and paying a DD for that and b) they never sent a final request for payment anyway.

Jennifer

mcfarlane_peter

Hey,

I actually work for BT, and we actually don't have any call centres in India that deal with this. Our call centres in India only deal with out-of-hours faults, i.e. if your line packed in at 3 in the morning.

It may seem that we do but it's more the people that the BT Agency hire, i.e. people who can't speak English very well, they are based within the UK.

As for your card problem your not alone, the best option is to call your bank and ask them to refuse all Debits requested by BT or cancel the card altogether.

Hope I don't get attacked because I work for these people!

Pete

grumbler

If you authorised the company to collect payments by a Direct Debit (by providing them with your account details i.e. sort code and account number) you can easily cancel the DD online or by contacting your bank. DD transactions are clearly shown as DD in your statements. DD set up on your accont can be seen online among regular payments.

If you authorised the company to collect payments by Continuous Payment Authority (by providing them with your 16-digit card number), then the only way to cancel this is by contacting the company. See Regular Payments off a Credit Card Discussion thread. It is absolutely the same with debit cards.

In both cases cancelling the card doesn't help! In case of CPA even closing the account will not help you.