Bill paid for twice leaves me overdrawn?

21yrold

Hiya,

I pay for my phonebill on my creditcard (bill comes out on 24th of month) and then pay it on the 1st when my wages go in..normally no problem but this month ive paid for my phonebill and they have taken it out of my bank aswell which has left me £50 over my overdfrat!!

I am going to be charged but the question is who do i contact 1st..the bank and ask for the charge to be removed or 02 for taking the money twice, which leads to me being charged by the bank?

I hope you understand this ok

Cat695

Basically when you sign a direct debit form you are telling the bank that the company (in this case O2) can take as much money as they want when they want.....so the bank is just carrying out what you have asked them to do (you signed the form) so I believe its NOT the banks fault....

so I would go to O2 first

A standing order is where only a set amount of money can be taken each month (no more and no less at a given time)

21yrold

Ok, i did guess this is a problem for 02 as they should have seen the 1 payment etc...

has there been cases of this b4 and do people get there charges back from 02 do you know?

Thanks for the help!

Cat695

21yrold wrote: »

Ok, i did guess this is a problem for 02 as they should have seen the 1 payment etc...

has there been cases of this b4 and do people get there charges back from 02 do you know?

Thanks for the help!

I suspect the reason why is because the 24th and the 1st are quite close to each other and the payment received system at O2 and the payment taking system don't talk to each other...hence why you got charged twice.

I honestly cannot say if they will give you back charges as I have never been over drawn because of two payments

But I reckon with a bit of a fight then yes you should be able to retrieve the money off O2

( the bank is NOT at fault here as YOU have paid by credit card and then the payment taken from your bank account so they have not done anything wrong)

21yrold

I know im not blaming the bank..i know its the easy way out for most people..they have been told to do something and have dont it as far as im concerned...

Ok i will ring them up tommorow as im at work now or should i send off a letter and keep it all recorded?

Ive never had to deal with this sort of thing before sorry for being a pain!

Cat695

I would ring first as you may get a friendly person......keep it friendly and explain that it has cost you extra because they made a small error...then follow it in writing (get the name of the person you spoke with overtime etc)

make sure though that you have proof (statements etc) that you did pay it on the 24th via credit card.

remember to mention loyal customer etc etc when you ring up.

Certainly don't lay into whoever you talk to (not suggesting you would) let them know that you know its not THEIR fault but O2's/computer error and they will probably be more willing to help you mate.

natweststaffmember

Did you cancel the DD on your current account?
If you didn't and made a payment on your card, unless the DD is canceled, they will ask the bank for payment.

nick1977

I guess this was in February?
With February only having 28 days I guess what has happened is that your payment by credit card has not cleared in time for the system to stop the direct debit.
You can try to argue for the fees back, but I would worry that the most O2 will do is refund you the amount you paid twice to avoid leaving your account with a positive balance. From their point of view it is not their fault that you didn't allow enough time for the payment to clear, and additionally not their fault that you didn't have funds in the account you set up a direct debit with. Might be worth checking their T+C's for what it says about payments / direct debits etc., and how long you are supposed to allow them to clear.

Of course, if there is a long time between the 2 payments (more than 10 days) then I take all this back!

Good luck
Nick

21yrold

Hi again,

The payment on my CC was:

22 Mar 2010 23 Mar 2010 WWW.O2.CO.UK £54.95

and on my halifax account when its due to come out is:

24 Mar 2010 Direct Debit - O2 54.95

i understand its not really there problem but i will ring them as be nice to them and they may help me in some way or form

thanks for all the help and will write back the result in a bit!

Rikki

It's not a good idea to have direct debits on a credit card as you can only cancel them with the company claiming the money not the card company.

I've had good results dealing with o2 sometimes a little hassle but a good outcome.

You could cancel the credit card direct debit, set up one with the bank to co-inside with your pay day.
I have mine set up as a bank payment and I pay them via on-line banking.

21yrold

They just said its not there fault..which is correct i was just hoping they would help me out! The guy was nice enough and i asked to change my DD to the start of the month so i dont have this problem again

Still im £35 down for a £50 contract

Thanks guys!