Virgin Direct Debit Mess

buzzarmstrong

robt wrote: »

I'm amazed people don' check their direct debits. No one has suggested you start cross referencing every transaction on your account.

If you're going to quote me then please quote the whole paragraph so that the quote is not taken out of context by others. What I actually said was

"I check my bank statements for irregular direct debits/withdrawals being taken out. I DO NOT cross reference every single direct debit that is set up and taken out and I would hazard a guess that only a very small majority of people do that each month."

What I mean by that statement is that I do not have a list of companies who I owe money to such as NPower, United Utilities, Specsavers, etc, etc and then each month go through that list to check that the direct debit has been taken. This may possibly be looked on as foolishness by others but 20 years of direct debits working perfectly would say to me that this is not necessary. The only way to spot the mistake was to actually look for the direct debit which I did not do for 15 months and for that I am fully responsible. I was too trusting that Virgin would do their job like all the other companies that I have used before.

I'm still unsure as to the best way to proceed and to be honest I so annoyed with Virgin that I may not raise the issue and just try to put the money away as suggested. The contract that I signed up for was for £20 PER MONTH upon receipt of a bill and as far as I see it it is for Virgin to actually bill me before I pay anything to them.

I do not even know how much I owe! There could have been price increases within the last 15 months for all that I know as I have never been informed. Its as though my account just does not exist but yet I'm still receiving the goods.

They say that you do not look a gift horse in the mouth but my worry is that if not dealt with this particular gift horse may kick me in the goolies!

Thanks for you help everybody. It's greatly appreciated.

abby1234519

No one checks every single direct debt but I am sure most people know what they should have in their account. Anyway you were probably on ebilling or something. But how can you not know you haven't paid for something, just seems bizarre

buzzarmstrong

abby1234519 wrote: »

No one checks every single direct debt but I am sure most people know what they should have in their account. Anyway you were probably on ebilling or something. But how can you not know you haven't paid for something, just seems bizarre

Right now could you honestly say, without checking that you know every amount that you owe to every company via direct debit has been taken? Do you know off the top of your head how many direct debit mandates are active in your account? If you had asked me the question a few days ago I would have confidently answered yes that all is correct but's it's only actually because I trust it to be correct. Do you yourself check every month or do you just check for unusual amounts from unusual sources as I usually do?

I would imagine that there will be plenty of people who read this that could now be checking their statements in full or are they just as trusting as myself?

As I have said before, I've never ever had a problem with anybody not taking payment as instructed. I did not know it wasn't being taken because it was a set amount which I can afford and just presumed that it was being taken.

I just thought it normal not to be billed each month as not all direct debits produce a monthly bill. It's a set amount for the year divided into monthly payments. I just assumed this to be the case.

I definitely do not have any e-billing from them as I've just logged on in the past few days to find out what is going on and had to create a user name for it. By the way the website is so useless it just keeps saying oops something is broken when I try to access it. Nor have I ever received a bill to the email address that I was required to set up with them or to my main email address that I use every day. I have never received a paper bill to my home address which I assume would be the alternative to my not having e-billing. It's as I say, as though my account just does not exist.

I would say that 'bizarre' is the perfect word to describe the whole situation.

macman

It's a monthly charge, not an annual charge divided by 12, so it would appear on your statement every single month. The fact is that for 15 months you've failed to notice that VM have not billed you once. If you don't have paper billing then you will have been registered for e-billing, If you are not receiving either, then why didn't you chase them up long ago? How else would you know if they are taking the correct amount or not, given VM's tendency to take more than is contracted to?
I fail to see what resolution you want to this situation. If you can get a year to pay off the debt that would be a very good result.

Mrs_Arcanum

buzzarmstrong wrote: »

Right now could you honestly say, without checking that you know every amount that you owe to every company via direct debit has been taken? Do you know off the top of your head how many direct debit mandates are active in your account? If you had asked me the question a few days ago I would have confidently answered yes that all is correct but's it's only actually because I trust it to be correct. Do you yourself check every month or do you just check for unusual amounts from unusual sources as I usually do?

I would imagine that there will be plenty of people who read this that could now be checking their statements in full or are they just as trusting as myself?

As I have said before, I've never ever had a problem with anybody not taking payment as instructed. I did not know it wasn't being taken because it was a set amount which I can afford and just presumed that it was being taken.

I just thought it normal not to be billed each month as not all direct debits produce a monthly bill. It's a set amount for the year divided into monthly payments. I just assumed this to be the case.

I definitely do not have any e-billing from them as I've just logged on in the past few days to find out what is going on and had to create a user name for it. By the way the website is so useless it just keeps saying oops something is broken when I try to access it. Nor have I ever received a bill to the email address that I was required to set up with them or to my main email address that I use every day. I have never received a paper bill to my home address which I assume would be the alternative to my not having e-billing. It's as I say, as though my account just does not exist.

I would say that 'bizarre' is the perfect word to describe the whole situation.

It was exactly this half hearted approach to checking my statements that got me in a pickle over our Water bills. At least they are allowing me to pay off (slowly) at £10pcm over the normal amount.

I have 6 regular monthly DD's at the moment.

pmduk

buzzarmstrong wrote: »

Right now could you honestly say, without checking that you know every amount that you owe to every company via direct debit has been taken? Do you know off the top of your head how many direct debit mandates are active in your account?

Yes I do, I don't have money to spare, so I monitor my account closely. I know when Direct debits are due out and how much for. It was part of getting my finances into order. I use Microsoft Money to track these things.

buzzarmstrong

macman wrote: »

It's a monthly charge, not an annual charge divided by 12, so it would appear on your statement every single month. The fact is that for 15 months you've failed to notice that VM have not billed you once. If you don't have paper billing then you will have been registered for e-billing, If you are not receiving either, then why didn't you chase them up long ago? How else would you know if they are taking the correct amount or not, given VM's tendency to take more than is contracted to?
I fail to see what resolution you want to this situation. If you can get a year to pay off the debt that would be a very good result.

Thank you Macman for confirming that it is in fact a monthly charge because nobody at Virgin appears to have done so.

It's an unlimited broadband deal and therefore a flat rate which is why I didn't pick up on the missing bills. Why send a bill out for an amount that never changes from month to month? The contract was also initially for 12 months, hence my assumption that it was an amount divided by 12.

I have never used VM for anything before so I would not know they have a tendency to charge incorrectly. I know now.

The resolution that I'm looking for is the "right" resolution which is why I initially began the thread. I have never been in this situation and was curious as to if anybody else had ever been themselves or alternatively if anybody knew of how these situations were usually resolved.

It appears not to be the case so all I can hope to now do is appeal to Virgins better nature(if it even exists) in the hope that I can pay it at a rate that suits myself.

I also have the original problem which led to the discovery, of my cable needing re-siting, as at present I am still without broadband. I am awaiting a new appointment and so it's probably for the best that I raise the issue with customer services once they ring me.

Mrs_Arcanum

buzzarmstrong wrote: »

Thank you Macman for confirming that it is in fact a monthly charge because nobody at Virgin appears to have done so.

It's an unlimited broadband deal and therefore a flat rate which is why I didn't pick up on the missing bills. Why send a bill out for an amount that never changes from month to month? The contract was also initially for 12 months, hence my assumption that it was an amount divided by 12.

I have never used VM for anything before so I would not know they have a tendency to charge incorrectly. I know now.

The resolution that I'm looking for is the "right" resolution which is why I initially began the thread. I have never been in this situation and was curious as to if anybody else had ever been themselves or alternatively if anybody knew of how these situations were usually resolved.

It appears not to be the case so all I can hope to now do is appeal to Virgins better nature(if it even exists) in the hope that I can pay it at a rate that suits myself.

I also have the original problem which led to the discovery, of my cable needing re-siting, as at present I am still without broadband. I am awaiting a new appointment and so it's probably for the best that I raise the issue with customer services once they ring me.

If you do have problems with Virgin being unhelpful try posting on Cable Forum. This site is independent of Virgin but they have close contacts and Virgin staff members post on there.

macman

All broadband providers will bill you monthly regardless of which package you are on. Both my phone provider and broadband provider charge me fixed sums each month, but I still expect to get a monthly statement before the DD is taken.

Mark_In_Hampshire

The supplier supplies the service, the customer's part is to pay for it.

If you agree to pay a supplier by direct debit, this does not alter the responsibility under contract that you have to pay the sums as they fall due.

Yes, even if the supplier fails to call for the money. It's the customer in breach of contract. They supplied, you didn't pay. Direct debit does not shift the responsibility anywhere. The customer has to e.g. check their bank statement to make sure they did pay. It's possible if you've been getting bills that these have been being paid from somebody else's account - e.g. the s/c or the ac/num was wrongly keyed, so someone else has been paying this for you (and not checking their statements!)

It would seem daft for a company, having realised their error, to insist all the money be repaid in one go and potentially lose/default the customer, so it makes sense there is some negotiation in how the payments are made up.