Virgin Media Direct Debit taken too early resulting in bank charges

Danielle89_2

I am a student and up until July have been renting a student property in Leeds. I set up a direct debit with Virgin Media in Sepetemer, they took £20.00 from my account on the 8th of every month. As I moved back home at the beginning of June, I contacted Virgin Media to cancel my account with them, I was told that I would recieve a final bill stating when the final payment would be taken from my account.

I recieved this bill on the 21st of June, it clearly states in bold writing 'the direct debit for the amount due will be taken on or after the 8th of July'. However, I recieved a letter from Halifax stating that they had made a payment on my behalf, resulting in me going over my overdraft leaving me with a £20.00 charge.

I contacted Virgin media to see why they had taken it early, I spent 90 minutes on the phone, most of it was on hold. They appeard to have some difficulty in understanding the situation and simply stated that it had been taken out on the 25th and that was that. I asked to be put though to a supervisor and I was then cut off.

A couple of days ago I recieved another letter from Halifax, they had made another payment on my behalf, resulting in another £20.00 charge plus an additional £28.00 due to the 'unarranged overdraft'. I had used my card to purchase some petrol on the 24th of June as the funds were there. However, as it only came out of my account on the 28th and Virgin Media took the early Direct Debit on the 25th, this has resulted in me recieving the charges.

I made a visit to my local branch today to see if they could drop any charges, they simply said I should take it up with Virgin Media, as they are at fault. I agree with this, but I have already taken it up with them and got nowhere.

So to cut a long story short, I now have £68.00 in bank charges because of something which is entirely not my fault.

Does anyone have any advice as to where to go from here because I feel like I am getting nowhere.

anniecave

go back to your bank. There's a direct debit guarantee. If you have a letter from virgin saying the payment will be taken on 8th july and they took it earlier, then virgin media took the payment wrongly. The bank should be reversing the incorrect virgin media direct debit, then refunding the bank charges incurred as a result of the direct debit. You will then owe virgin the money, but it will have fixed the problem with your bank account.

You can also then put in a complaint in writing to virgin media and see if they apologise. I wouldn't expect them to do anything, but they may apologise for their mistakes.

You also need to ensure that the charges are not listed anywhere on your credit report, and if they are, this needs to be fixed too. Your bank needs to do this.

leclerc

anniecave wrote: »

go back to your bank. There's a direct debit guarantee. If you have a letter from virgin saying the payment will be taken on 8th july and they took it earlier, then virgin media took the payment wrongly. The bank should be reversing the incorrect virgin media direct debit, then refunding the bank charges incurred as a result of the direct debit. You will then owe virgin the money, but it will have fixed the problem with your bank account.

You can also then put in a complaint in writing to virgin media and see if they apologise. I wouldn't expect them to do anything, but they may apologise for their mistakes.

You also need to ensure that the charges are not listed anywhere on your credit report, and if they are, this needs to be fixed too. Your bank needs to do this.

Bank charges part of the transaction are not covered by the DD Guarantee scheme but Premier is a bit more expert on losses that can be claimed through the DD indemnity scheme(if memory serves me right and should be able to advise on that part of it).

davidgmmafan

I too thought that the bank charges weren't covered by the dd guarantee, but I believe it is more extensive than the little box you see when you set a direct debit up.

If they aren't covered what you are saying is the bank has reversed the transaction which was wrongly taken, yet the charges WHICH WERE CAUSED BY that transaction still stand. If this isn't covered by the direct debit guarantee then its no kind of guarantee at all.

Also on a personal note are their any banks who do know about the DD guarantee at the customers first point of contact?

zppp

davidgmmafan wrote: »

I too thought that the bank charges weren't covered by the dd guarantee, but I believe it is more extensive than the little box you see when you set a direct debit up.

If they aren't covered what you are saying is the bank has reversed the transaction which was wrongly taken, yet the charges WHICH WERE CAUSED BY that transaction still stand. If this isn't covered by the direct debit guarantee then its no kind of guarantee at all.

The direct debit guarantee is not an onus on the banks, it is on the banks and the originator. The company is under obligation to pay compensation if they have made an error. The bank simply reimburse the amount taken by the company, and if the company contact the bank to agree to pay the charges then the bank will refund and claim them from the company. You also have to remember that not everyone who has a direct debit come out in error trigger charges as a result.

davidgmmafan wrote: »

Also on a personal note are their any banks who do know about the DD guarantee at the customers first point of contact?

Um, let me think about that... yes?

Premier_2

Seems a simple, undisputed matter of the originator having taken the DD before the date given in the advance notice.

As others have said, your point of contact is with your bank (and don't let the bank fob you off otherwise).

Reclaim the amount originally taken - reason: Date of DD differs from advance notice

The bank are obligated to take your word for this and to refund your account immediately.
(The bank will reclaim this from the originator, but that won't affect you)

Whilst talking with the bank, claim for consequential loss (i.e. bank charges) accrued as a result of the erroneous collection. For conseqential loss, the bank will usually only pay this back once they have received the same from the originator ... usually within 14 days.

You will owe Virgin the amount charged on the final bill which you should contact them to arrange payment