AOL Broadband - No sign of a direct debit

Skintski

Good Morning Folks

My partner signed up for AOL Broadband a long time ago and has just cottoned on that they are still taking money from his account despite him not having their broadband any longer.

However there does not seem to be any sign of a direct debit in his account for him to cancel so we're a bit confused as to how we go about cancelling these payments.

Is this likely to mean he has given the the wrong account details and he will be tied into some contract or other?

Many Thanks

Oliver14

Contact your bank.

wealdroam

Yes, as mentioned above, contact your bank.

You don't say whether your partner ever cancelled his contract with AOL?
May also be necessary to get in touch with AOL, as a lot of organisations get upset when direct debits are cancelled without telling them.

pcyam

Skintski wrote: »

Good Morning Folks

My partner signed up for AOL Broadband a long time ago and has just cottoned on that they are still taking money from his account despite him not having their broadband any longer.

However there does not seem to be any sign of a direct debit in his account for him to cancel so we're a bit confused as to how we go about cancelling these payments.

Is this likely to mean he has given the the wrong account details and he will be tied into some contract or other?

Many Thanks

As far as I am aware, AOL so not set Direct Debits. They take the payments via card payments, so only they can cancel the payments. They are a nightmare of a company to get hold of to cancel the payment, and even when you do get someone to answer they may not neccesarily cancel future payments. Check if it says card payment or direct debit. If its card payment contact your bank and request a VISA dispute to AOL, they will get you your money back. But look through how many transactions AOL have taken from you. Think the bank can only go as far back as 6months and they can help stop future payments too.

HTHs

Skintski

Thank you very much for the replies so far. The account has recently been cancelled by telephone but we are anxious that no more payments are removed from his bank account. We would be able to visit his bank on Saturday so would it go very far if we took a letter with us to the effect of "Please do not allow removal of funds by AOL broadband, any attempt to do so will be fraudulent as they account has been cancelled" or would we be wasting our time?

Thanks again, very grateful for all advice.

arcon5

Skintski wrote: »

Thank you very much for the replies so far. The account has recently been cancelled by telephone but we are anxious that no more payments are removed from his bank account. We would be able to visit his bank on Saturday so would it go very far if we took a letter with us to the effect of "Please do not allow removal of funds by AOL broadband, any attempt to do so will be fraudulent as they account has been cancelled" or would we be wasting our time?

Thanks again, very grateful for all advice.

you'd be wasting your time. Even if it was fraudulent then the police wouldn't do anything about it so you'd have to go through the same routes had you not given them the letter.

cancel the card. Not sure if that will work though if they have CPA setup. But your basing your concerns on one persons experience, not really a great basis.

Skintski

The card has been changed during the last year due to an alteration on type of account and the payments have continued to come out anyway.

I have written a letter to AOL tonight to request confirmation in writing that no further funds will be removed from the bank account and that the account has been successfully closed. Is there anything else we are able to do please? Will the bank not be able to assist at all?

CPA = Cash Point Approval?

arcon5

Skintski wrote: »

The card has been changed during the last year due to an alteration on type of account and the payments have continued to come out anyway.

I have written a letter to AOL tonight to request confirmation in writing that no further funds will be removed from the bank account and that the account has been successfully closed. Is there anything else we are able to do please? Will the bank not be able to assist at all?

CPA = Cash Point Approval?

cpa = continual payment authority

I've read in the past sometimes retailers can still charge cards that have been cancelled where a recurring payment has been setup prior.

Still cancel the card though if your worried.

Also bear in mind if they charge you and you do a chargeback for the unauthorised transaction the retailer gets charged usually a handling fee by their merchant account, do this a few times they'd soon regret it

texranger

arcon5 wrote: »

Also bear in mind if they charge you and you do a chargeback for the unauthorised transaction the retailer gets charged usually a handling fee by their merchant account, do this a few times they'd soon regret it

Also if they have a habit of doing this, soon their bank will have enough and tell them to look elsewhere for banking regardless of the companies size

Skintski

arcon5 wrote: »

cpa = continual payment authority

I've read in the past sometimes retailers can still charge cards that have been cancelled where a recurring payment has been setup prior.

Still cancel the card though if your worried.

Also bear in mind if they charge you and you do a chargeback for the unauthorised transaction the retailer gets charged usually a handling fee by their merchant account, do this a few times they'd soon regret it

The card has already been changed a few months ago so will that make any difference if we do it again or is there something else the bank can do when they issue a new card to make sure the payments do not follow him?

Thanks for your help so far.

fluffnutter

There is little the bank will do to help. As already mentioned, even replacing the card so that the 16 digit number is different doesn't always stop the payments. The only people who can 100% prevent payments being taken are AOL themselves.

CPA should be outlawed - it pretty much contravenes the spirit of every consumer law we have in place, putting the control firmly back in the hands of the company, not the poor sod who's been stitched up by sharp practices and bad admin; the customer has virtually no power.

You've written a letter, OP. Hopefully this will do the trick and no more payments will be taken.