Orange and an unauthorised debit

Louise600

In October I signed up to a new phone contract with Orange, to cut a long story short I had no signal so cancelled the contract in 1 day and they confirmed the cancellation.

2 weeks later they attempted to take £33.00 out of my bank account but never billed me for this so I had no idea it was coming out (not that I owed it!). Anyway I then got charged by my bank for a failed DD as I didn't have enough money to cover this.

I wrote to Orange with the proof of charge 2 weeks ago and they haven't replied, so I called the call centre today. She did apologise and admit that they hadn't billed me and shouldn't have attempted to take the money, she also agreed to refund the charge but told me it would take 60 days to get my money back via cheque! Due to a language barrier I couldn't get my point across to her. I am actually complaining about the unauhorised transaction as I think this is a serious matter. It apprears I am not covered by the DD guarantee as I didn't have money in my account.

My questions are

1. Do bank charges affect my credit rating? Or any reputation with the bank?

2. What should I do about this? Is it as serious as I think to just try and take money out of my account which hadn't been billed?

All advice welcome.

Thank you

jonesMUFCforever

If they took out money from your account without authority it is covered by the D/D indemnity.(I know you got the money back as it was not paid but that is not the point)
Explain this to the bank and ask politely that they cancel the charge as it was not your fault. If they refuse complain.

Returned items do affect your credit rating with the bank so it is important that they sort this out for you now.

dalesrider

Bank should refund the charges. As it their charge, that should never have been applied due to a unrecognied transaction.
PSD (payment services directive) states that your account must be put back as it was prior to the unauthorised charge being presented.