Talk Talk just took £200 in Direct Debit that I NEVER SIGNED FOR. Bank "Can't help"

Frank_Sebem

Hi all

I just went to my bank account to find that Talk Talk have taken £200 from our business account, which in my view is unauathorised. The story goes...

Previously I have had history with Talk Talks disgusting customer service, so when I received a notice 2 months ago that they had bought out and taken over our current provider V Networks I immediately rang another provider and told them I wanted to terminate with Talk talk and move to them. Indeed the new provider Swains Telecom have taken the account over with no problems. However on checking our account Talk Talk have taken £200 for Termination Fee.

I rang them and told them "I have never signed anything with you. This account has been active with V Networks for 4 years without your intervention & without problems". Their rep told me "Yes, I can see that. We will refund you the money next month". Next Month??

So, I rang them yesterday and spoke to somebody different who told me "Well, you rang on 2nd December to let us know the problem, but your billing date is 3rd December. We didn't get it actioned in time so now you'll have to wait until 3rd January. Then we can raise an internal credit. Then you can ring us and we'll sort it out". I told them "That's not correct. If I took £200 out of your account, then admitted I shouldn't of taken it and I would pay you the money back after Christmas what would you say?". The guy told me "Sorry, that's the way our systems are set up. You can contact your bank if you like and claim an indemnity charge back". So, this I did... I mailled my bank direct and told them the story. They have just messaged me telling me they can do nothing about it? !!!!!!?

So, suggesting Talk Talk (V Networks) had 1 Million customers who wanted to terminate their contracts surely they simply can't deduct every customer £200 just like that and then pay them back 4 - 5 weeks later? That's a nice little earner in interest.

Some facts are....

Yes, we did sign up for the variable Direct Debit with V Networks 5 years ago. That contract has been rolling over every year which I was happy with UNTIL THE INTERVENTION OF TALK TALK.

The lady at Talk Talk has agreed that I can cancel the account and that the money can be creditted/refunded.

Any advice please? I am particularly Pee'd off with my bank after reading up on the Direct Debit Guarantee which appears to be in our favour.

pmduk

Contact your bank and state that the amount taken was not in accordance with the agreement and state that you want to invoke the direct debit guarantee. If necessary, start the bank's formal complaints procedure.

dorisday

Thats why im not a believer in direct debits, standing orders are much better.

meer53

Was it a direct debit or a CPA payment ?

christmas_bells

We were with Talk Talk ages ago and were unhappy with them so we moved to Tiscali who were great. Unfortunately Talk Talk bought out Tiscali and we found ourselves with Talk Talk again.
Recently we phoned to leave them and they offered us loads of deals but the problem was that they only have two dates to take direct debits and the date we've been allocated is a couple of days before payday. We asked if we could choose a more convenient date but NO we couldn't change the direct debit date. We asked them if we could end our account to go to someone else and they said fine we'll email you your pac code later this week. A week later no pac code. We phoned them again and they don't know what the problem is, another week goes by. We phone again to be told we can't have a pac code because they have taken over our line. If we leave them we will have to pay a reconnection charge with BT and loose our phone number which is known by all my husbands parishoners and used on our church publicity.
We are fuming and feel trapped. We had no idea this was going on or the consequences.
I have the feeling Talk Talk are too big for their boots and ride roughshot over their customers.
Has any one else had this experience or advice to give.

noh

pmduk wrote: »

Contact your bank and state that the amount taken was not in accordance with the agreement and state that you want to invoke the direct debit guarantee. If necessary, start the bank's formal complaints procedure.

It appears to me that the amount taken was in accordance with the agreement if the contract had a £200 termination fee.

molerat

Your contract would have been with V Networks and their heirs and successors so if the termination fee was justified with the former company then it is probably justified with TalTalk.

ChiefGrasscutter

I agree with posters 'molerat' and 'noh'.

If the original contract with V networks contained a £200 termination fee clause then after they get taken over by Talk Talk all exisiting contracts remain as they were and move to Talk Talk.

If the above is the case and if Talk Talk refund the £200 at all, let alone next month then if I was you I'd consider that you have been given very favourable treatment by Talk Talk.

Look at it like this....
You have a fixed rate bond account with building Society X.
It gets taken over by bank Y
Your fixed rate account remains as it is: you still get the same rate of interest, now coming from bank Y, however you still have to wait until the end of the term before you can get your money....the contract of the fixed rate account including all the termination agreements moves intact to bank Y.

Mr_Toad

christmas_bells wrote: »

We were with Talk Talk ages ago and were unhappy with them so we moved to Tiscali who were great. Unfortunately Talk Talk bought out Tiscali and we found ourselves with Talk Talk again.
Recently we phoned to leave them and they offered us loads of deals but the problem was that they only have two dates to take direct debits and the date we've been allocated is a couple of days before payday. We asked if we could choose a more convenient date but NO we couldn't change the direct debit date. We asked them if we could end our account to go to someone else and they said fine we'll email you your pac code later this week. A week later no pac code. We phoned them again and they don't know what the problem is, another week goes by. We phone again to be told we can't have a pac code because they have taken over our line. If we leave them we will have to pay a reconnection charge with BT and loose our phone number which is known by all my husbands parishoners and used on our church publicity.
We are fuming and feel trapped. We had no idea this was going on or the consequences.
I have the feeling Talk Talk are too big for their boots and ride roughshot over their customers.
Has any one else had this experience or advice to give.

Have you tried talking to another provider?

What you've been told by TalkTalk seems very dubious. Why not ring someone else like BT and explain what you've been told. Tell them what you want and see what they say.

Moving providers should be straight forward and you will be able to keep your number. I thought hanging on to a PAC to try and get customers to stay was a no no.

ic

Frank_Sebem wrote: »

I just went to my bank account to find that Talk Talk have taken £200 from our business account, which in my view is unauathorised. The story goes...

So this is a business account? Do direct debits work the same for businesses as they do direct debits?

As for the termination fee, that must have been a term on your contract with the previous supplier - which transferred to TalkTalk? Did you notify Talk Talk of you intention to switch away, was necessary notice given? Were you perhaps in a rolling annual contract?

You might view it as unauthorised, but what was in the paperwork?

TalkTalk

Hi Frank,

As per this page talktalkbusiness.co.uk/store/existing-customers/v-networks/an-old-v-networks-customer/ the V Netowrks customer base were migrated to TT Business.

As such when migration completed the terms of your contact would be as per the Terms of TT Business (which you will have been notified of during the migration epriod).

As such you will need to speak to the TalkTalk Business Teams to query the validity of the charge. The full termination policy is on the TT Business site here

talktalkbusiness.co.uk/Documents/Legal/termination-policy-website-versionconnect-01.09-hol.pdf

Regards

Mark
TalkTalk Residential Online Community Department