Been charged for non D/D payment on credit card - Santander. Why's this happening?

Nine_Lives

I switched to Santander for the £100 fee (+£50 quidco). I switched 1 D/D which was my Tesco credit card D/D & one 'bogus' SO.

My SO was paid from my Santander account no problem after the switch. I got a confirmation letter from tesco regarding my D/D being handled by Santander now instead of my old bank - Halifax.

Payment due for 10th March. I log in today - no payment taken.

I log into my Tesco account & find i've been charged £12.00 for late payment. !!!!!!??

I go into my direct debit section & my details are listed there for Santander
I go into my Santander account & in the D/D section, the details are listed there for Tesco payment.
There was more than enough money in the account to cover the payment. Double in fact.

So why am i being charged £12.00 for late payment? Who do i take this up with & what are my chances of getting my money back, as everything was set up to be "right"?


I'm hoping for replies beyond "thats what you get with Santander" as i know they get a lot of bashing & from my short experience, rightly so, but i'm in need of some help here chaps.

Thanks in advance.

EDIT: Looking at tesco's confirmation letter of the switch to santander handling the d/d, it was written/posted on 28th Feb.

WelshRarebit

Give both Santander and Tesco a call and find out what went wrong. I'd start with Tesco as you're more likely to get an honest answer out of them than Santander.

Chances are you'll get Tesco blaming Santander then Santander blaming Tesco.

My money is on Santander screwing up....as like you said you had a confirmation letter from Tesco confirming the new DD was set up. Either way...as long as the DD was in place and you had sufficient funds in your account you should get you money back.

pvt

For once, I don't see this to be santander's failing.

If you had a letter from Tesco saying they would use the new DD on your santander account, and they then took the funds from your old Scallyfax account, Tesco are the ones you need to beat up.

When DDs are moved the banks are at the mercy of the companies collecting the cash to change their records and do it correctly. So it sounds here as if santander has correctly set up a DD so Tesco can draw on it, informed Tesco accordingly, and Tesco have confirmed to you that they have noted the change. So if Tesco then drew their DD from the Scallyfax account it is obviously Tesco at fault.

Have a look at the Tesco letter - did they hint that the change would take effect straight away? Or did they say "for payments after xx/xx/xxxx"?

Good luck

pvt

pqrdef

Usual thing with Tesco is that they do exactly what they say they'll do on the monthly statement. Any changes after the statement date won't take effect until the next cycle.

coolesticeking

Yeah, its always best if you are moving banks to make the minimum payment either via card or via BACS to ensure it reaches them before the payment date.

You can't always be sure that the Direct Debit has been set-up and ready to be taken..

Problem seems is that although it may appear in your online banking for example, does not mean that i.e Tesco have confirmation that it has been set-up/active as it all depends on the type of systems they use.

Nine_Lives

If everything said it was going to go smooth I had no reason to doubt them. I'll double check the exact wording on the letter tonight.

If they were taking from Halifax still then there was more than enough money to pay the fee, so I still don't understand.

Who do I complain to & how do I complain if I don't get the late payment fee refunded?
Thanks guys.

Nine_Lives

Not happy!

Just called Tesco & gone through their menu system. Finally working my way to an option that was along the lines of "if you have a problem with an entry on your statement, press 4".

So i do, only to be told sorry we're out of hours, call back between 8am and 6pm on blah-blah-blah.

First off, i wish i only worked those hours in a day. Unfortunately i start work before you do & i finish at the same time or even later than you do. I don't get long for my breaks. Your phone number would kill my mobile phone balance & not only that, i'd likely run over my break allowance waiting on you to take my call.

Secondly, how fast do you expect me to be able to write when you read out your phone number? I remember 01. Everything after that is a blur.


What do you guys recommend?

EDIT:

I thought sod that for a game of soldiers. Called back & pressed options to put me through to someone.
Told them i had it set up at my bank end, & the details were correct. I had it set up at Tesco's end - details correct & i have a letter with my from Tesco confirming the D/D setup, yet i got charged.

I'm sorry sir, i'll refund you the late payment fee.

Thanks you.