British Gas have taken the same payment out twice this month :(

peardrops_2

Just been on my bank and British Gas have taken a second payment of £52.00 from my bank this month.

I had to pay £52.00 to close my account with them as they have been nothing but a nuisance.

I've rung them and they can't refund it until Wednesday ??? Why do I have to wait for them to refund something they've taken in error?

fightyfish

3-5 working days is the normal timescale, think that's partly to do with bank administration and time it takes to show back up in your account so can't be changed despite circumstances. Annoying for you though - make sure you make note of any charges you incur if it pushes you over your limit as BG should pay those back!

skyelouise

told me wednesday also in bank account today MONDAY

TIMMY85

Any charges incurred will be refunded by BG - all affected customers will have the money back by weds - some banks are faster than others with refunds.

PhiltheBear

TIMMY85 wrote: »

Any charges incurred will be refunded by BG - all affected customers will have the money back by weds - some banks are faster than others with refunds.

These payments were taken by debit card - not direct debit. The speed of the refund process is dependent on the card processor e.g. Visa, Mastercard, etc., which is one day. It's got nothing to do with the banks - it's got everything to do with British Gas's crap system and lousy customer service.

TIMMY85

PhiltheBear wrote: »

These payments were taken by debit card - not direct debit. The speed of the refund process is dependent on the card processor e.g. Visa, Mastercard, etc., which is one day. It's got nothing to do with the banks - it's got everything to do with British Gas's crap system and lousy customer service.

I did not mention direct debit.
Yes the payments were taken by debit card (or credit card), card issuer/bank most consumers will not distinguish between the two.
For ALL affected customers to get their money back will Wednesday - as has been posted already here many have had it back already.
It happened to me in a restaurant once where the payment got taken twice - it can happen with any merchant processing payments

flyingjock1

Just to back up earlier comments, used to work in telephone banking. A debit card refund can take up to 5 working days to clear through the bank's clearing system, but in the past if its evident that both debit card transactions were processed say a minute or so apart, its apparent that theyre duplicates with 2 separate authority codes then in the past instead of refunding the bank have cancelled once of the auth codes and released the funds immedidately into the customers bank account (i stress this is only after the customer has contacted the supplier ie BGas and asked them to fax the bank and confirm which auth code they will be claiming the money against) not all banks do it, but worth a try if it happens again. thru experience happens a lot in the supermarkets where you put ur debit card in, the till operator says it didnt work and you enter it again and it seems to go thru, however in reality it may also have worked the first time and you end up getting charged twice.