Virgin Mobile is stealing from me?

hairgrlburrito

Ok so maybe stealing is a bit strong but I have recently discovered that unknown to me, Virgin Media has been taking payments from my bank account by DD for the last 3 months despite the fact that I did not sign up for a mobile account with them.

I am a Virgin Broadband customer, and can see the broadband payments leaving my account as normal Unfortunately, Virgin Mobile ltd has taken around 200 pounds out of my account (over 100 in May and around 50 in March and April). I have spoken to Virgin Broadband and Virgin Mobile numerous times and they cannot find the account in question despite the fact that I have given them the DD number, my personal details etc.

I have been advised to check the DD reference number (which I did, and it was correct) and have requested evidence of the transactions from my bank which I will send to Virgin Mobile's freepost (Trowbridge) address as soon as it arrives.

Essentially I'm asking for advice on how to proceed from here, as I'm not sure what to do if Virgin cannot find the account, and am not willing to simply ignore the fact that in my opinion, they've essentially been stealing from me.

thanks for reading, and my apologies if a similar query has been posted elsewhere. I used the search function but didn't come up with anything.

robt_2

Surely the first step would be to cancel the direct debit and tell your bank that they are unauthorised transactions.

hairgrlburrito

thanks for your response. I forgot to mention that I have cancelled the direct debit and informed the bank that these were unauthorised transactions.

swilliam

Under the Direct Debit guarantee you should be refunded in full.

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

DarkConvict

If done by DD, the bank can refund the money by DD indemnity under the direct debit guarantee.

asandwhen

As said above from me too - You may need to remind your bank of the direct debit guarentee (especially if you bank with abbey). It is the bank that need to refund this then they can chase Virgin for the money.

hairgrlburrito

Thanks for your advice people. I will talk to my bank about the direct debit guarantee and report back.