Am i being conned here?

Flatulant_Fox

Rightio, like many other poor souls i had a phone contract with 3. Fair enough i should get what i deserve i know.
Have been in dispute with them from around September time now, and havent paid my bill until someone from 3 actually sends me the paperwork ive asked for. The Trading Standards have advise me to do this. A loophole in their t & c meant i could cancel my contract due to a price rise. Great.

Cancelled my DD with my bank November time, and today i rang Natwest and they told me 3g took a £46 payment via DD yesterday.

Now, i havent consented to this and also havent been told about this via letter or phone call from my bank nor 3g. Natwest say 3 can re-activate a cancelled DD if you have a contract and you owe them money. I dont think this is right somehow. People cant just take money from another person account and activate a cancelled DD can they?

So legal boffs, what can i do? 3 and the bank are liable, or do i complain to Natwest and get them to refund my account with the total that was taken, and get legal advice about 3 for taking money without my say-so?

the_tired_one

A friend of ours had a similar experience with 3 - price rise midway contract, so he cancelled the contract with 3, was refunded any outstanding monies - and kept the upgrade phone!!!

Slayerx

Natwest can recall the money call them and ask to speak to the customer care team explain the dispute and ask them to do an indemnity claim.

grumbler

Flatulant_Fox wrote:

Cancelled my DD with my bank November time, and today i rang Natwest and they told me 3g took a £46 payment via DD yesterday.

... Natwest say 3 can re-activate a cancelled DD if you have a contract and you owe them money. I dont think this is right somehow.

This is lie. Cancelled DD cannot be reactivated. And Natwest must pay money back under DD guarantee if you ask them.

gk172

Did you contact 3 by phone or letter to confirm cancelling your contract? or did you just cancel direct debit? I canceled my contract with them at the same time for the same reasons and called up to confirm cancelation as they would only cancel 28 from you recieving your notification of the price rise anything after 28 you couldnt cancel, so if after 28 days you are tied till the end of contract and therefore will be liable for charges for the full 12/18 months. It helps to take note of dates and calls and who you speak to as i used that as back up when calling saying i had spoke to 'john' they then found the notes and i was cut off on correct day.

suniil

IIRC, i had this issue once with HSBC. I've noticed a debit in my account and in further investigation i found that a DD has setup in my account without my knowledge (onetel/centrica). Initially bank refused to give me the refund or any further action and advised me to followup with centrica. But had further research on AUDDIS / Direct Debit guarantee, and found out that bank has liability to refund the money back. Took the print out blasted at customer service, and got the money back credited in account in 5 minutes

lewt

i had this with homecall they were taking money on an account with them i never fully opened i didnt notice they had tried to take money up to 3 times a month. when i treid to get them to repay the charges i got from nationwide they just ingroed me. i went to the bank branch and was told i would have to pay the full ammount of 247.89 in unpaid DD returns. i was not in a position to do this so i basicly waited till they phoned me asking for the funds to be put in or legal action would start agaisnt me.

the chap on the phone was alot better than the branch manger and after i explained the situation and said the only way they could get the money-as i didnthave it- would be to take me to court or chase homecall or cawdell commuications. hey presto charges lifted as long as i let them shut the account. lovely jubley!!!!!!!!

Tickdick00

It depends on whether you signed a "Direct Debit" - in other words gave them your bank account and sorting code, or did u sign a "Continuous Debit Authority" using your debit card details. If its the latter, then it is possible for 3 to take money out of your account. I dont believe this is covered by the Direct Debit guarantee as in the eyes of the law it isnt actually a direct debit.

grumbler

Tickdick00 wrote:

It depends on whether you signed a "Direct Debit" - in other words gave them your bank account and sorting code, or did u sign a "Continuous Debit Authority" using your debit card details. If its the latter, then it is possible for 3 to take money out of your account. I dont believe this is covered by the Direct Debit guarantee as in the eyes of the law it isnt actually a direct debit.

CPA cannot be seen on the current account and cannot be cancelled in a bank or online:

Flatulant_Fox wrote:

Cancelled my DD with my bank November time

Slayerx

grumbler wrote:

This is lie. Cancelled DD cannot be reactivated. And Natwest must pay money back under DD guarantee if you ask them.

Cancelled DD can be reinstated by the company if they wish to do so and Natwest can reinstate if the customer requests.

grumbler

Slayerx wrote:

Cancelled DD can be reinstated by the company if they wish to do so and Natwest can reinstate if the customer requests.

I admit that the bank can, possibly, reinstate the DD if the customer requests. If you mean that the company can do this if they (only) wish and without the customer concern, could you, please, prove this somehow?