I've been refused a refund after a DD payment wasn't even attempted

Marksweb

I've got an account with Very.co.uk which has a direct debit setup with their 'Take 3' option (this splits your balance across 3 monthly payments).

In December they didn't even attempt to take my direct debit payment and a few days after it was due I received a notification of a default charge (£12).
I contacted them to ask what had happened because the DD was active on my bank's side of things and on my very.co.uk account it showed active with the Take 3 option. They escalated my query but I never heard anything more.

Now in January, I got a text message to say they had received a payment but this time it was for the minimum £5, not the 'Take 3' amount it should have been. So I got in contact again and they said;

I am sorry, unfortunately, we had not been receiving the correct Take 3 payment for your account.

The payments should have been £28.33 for your Take 3 payments and because of this we have only taken the minimum payment this time.

I have removed the interest that has been applied to your account but to avoid further interest we need a further payment of £32.58 to bring your account up to date before your next statement is printed which will be the 28.01.13.

Once you have made the payment, let us know we will look into the £12.00 charge that was applied to your account.

Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience caused.

So I immediately payed the remaining balance to be done with the hassle and informed them as such.

This morning I was pretty shocked to see them say this;

Thank you for contacting us about your payments.

I am sorry but as you have paid off your full balance of £44.58, we are not able to refund the £12.00 late charge applied to your account.

If you wish to dispute this decision, please write to us at the address below:

Can they legally refuse to refund a charge applied to my account based on their error? I certainly plan to write a letter of complaint to them, and would like to know where I stand with regards to legislation/regulations.

Thanks

Wywth

Sorry to hear of the issues youare having with very.co.uk

What I would first advise you is that an originator (in this case very.co.uk) are only permitted to collect by DD an amount previously advised to you. If they collect any other amount, such as only the minimim (assuming that is not what you were advised of previously) then you are entitled to a full and immediate refund under the terms of the DD scheme. Make this claim direct to your bank.
Now this may not be particularly useful to you, as you would still owe the amount and you wanted to pay it off. However, for future information, it is worth making a claim in such a situation as the originator's sponsor gets informed of claims and will take action if appropriate (the extreme being to remove the right of the originator to continue to use the DD scheme)

Regarding the issues you are having over very and their resultant charges, I would suggest you make a formal complaint in writing to the address you were supplied.

Marksweb

Thank you I thought that might be all I can do.