getting compensation from virgin

yogiberr

hiya,

I've been left out of pocket because virgin sent me a letter saying that my direct debit had been set up.Then, on the date in question, they didn't collect any money, (their fault, the money was there..I have a statement saying that the dd was set up, and that they colected £o.oo) so I simply received a new bill.I paid bill and they couldn't tell me, despite asking several times, if the direct debit the next month would not be taken, as I'd already paid the bill.

Anyway, needless to say the dd did come out, so virgin have over 60 quid of MY money for a mistake they made, and they're saying that they can't refund it directly to the account that they wrongly took it from.They want me to accept an apology and let them sit on the 60 quid and use it to pay future bills ..

Essentially, for a mistake they made, they now have an interest-free loan of my money.Can anyone with a similar experience advise me on how to hit them as hard as possible for compensation?

Ta,

yogi

visidigi

Compensation? For what? Interest Free Loan? Are you serious?

Just relax and...Call your bank, advise VM have taken a Direct Debit which you have already paid - and the bank *should* under the Direct Debit guarantee return your money to you pretty much straight away.

timberflake

Don't you just love the compensation culture.

The whole idea of compensation if to put you back into the same position as before the loss occurred. VM have offered a solution which seems reasonable, if you were to get compensation too you'd be in a better position than before it happened.

A mistake was made, they offered a reasonable way to solve it, so why should you be compensated?

Mark_In_Hampshire

I'm not 100% clear on what's happened, but, if direct debits have been taken from your account, and (this is important) the *entire* amount of the direct debit is in error (not just part of it) then you can have the bank reverse the direct debit and refund you directly. They claw the money back from Virgin.

nomoneytoday

I fink you shood get five 'undred pounds of compo, coz ur worth it

Buzby

The DD goes out when the accounts system calls for it. If you pay by another method, and this is 12 days before the DD processing date, the amount will go again, which is why the error is in paying again - you should not have, if a DD was in place. As it stands, your account will be in credit, so there is no loss (and mimimal interest). At least you'll not be charged £5 for NOT having a DD.

yogiberr

hiya,

hmm, compensation culture..They immediately charged me £10 on the day that they should have, but didn't draw the money from the DD.I then got a bill, which I paid..I assume the reason they sent me it was so I would pay it.They didn't explain that if I paid it the DD would come out again.

I asked them well in advance if the DD was going to come out even though I'd paid the bill, and they couldn't tell me.

<<
The DD goes out when the accounts system calls for it. If you pay by another method, and this is 12 days before the DD processing date, the amount will go again, which is why the error is in paying again - you should not have, if a DD was in place.
>>

It might have been nice if the people in virgin told me this when I took the time to ask them directly, but thanks for letting me know.The whole point is, it was their mistake, they were ill informed and I was left to go to the bank, and find out what actually was going on..I don't know about anyone else, but wasting hours trying to sort out a mistake that I didn't make isn't really that trivial..I can think of better things to be doing.

In short, if they'd taken ownership of the issue and said, "have a free month's broadband" that might have been a better way to have dealt with it


Thanks for the replies.

yogi