T-mobile taken over £500 from my bank! Help!

carli_h

Hi, I hope this the right place to be posting this but I desperately need guidance. I'm not sure how to proceed and what my rights are.

Back in November I upgraded my phone and increased my tariff. I was advised the phone would be £29.99 on my new tariff. My bills are all online so unless I log in I have no idea what it is. I never go over my allowances so don't check my bills. Admittedly that was my first error.

I also stupidly don't check my account frequently and didn't realise I had £600 taken from my account in January by t-mobile until 12 Feb. I'm currently on statutory maternity pay and every penny counts so I really should have checked sooner.

Anyway,I contacted t-mobile that day and was reassured it was an error and they would refund the money firstly to my account then back to my bank account. Two weeks passed and I hadn't received anything then by 11 March I'd had enough so called again and spoke to a truly awful customer service advisor who was rude and patronising and even claimed I hadn't asked for it to be refunded to my bank, but my t-mobile account is in credit by £500. Anyway she advised her manager was pushing the refund through and it would take 3 days. Four days late nothing, so on Monday I called again. She advised that it can take up to a week to process and would call me back the next day. To be fair she call back but only to say to day it had yet to be processed.

I put a message on Facebook and I was asked to send details to look at my account. I missed a call yesterday eve which may have been from them. Since then I haven't heard anything and I've still not been refunded.

I have asked several times for a CHAPS payment, but been brushed off. They are fully aware that I needed the money to pay my mortgage this month so I didn't go overdrawn and unfortunately I have.

Am I right in assuming they've unlawfully taken the money without my permission? Or as I received an online bill does it mitigate this?

Does anyone have any advice on what I need to say as no one is taking me seriously and I need the money ASAP to pay bills.

Sorry for the long winded post. Thanks for reading and any advice would be gratefully received!

MamaMoo_2

carli_h wrote: »

Hi, I hope this the right place to be posting this but I desperately need guidance. I'm not sure how to proceed and what my rights are.

Back in November I upgraded my phone and increased my tariff. I was advised the phone would be £29.99 on my new tariff. My bills are all online so unless I log in I have no idea what it is. I never go over my allowances so don't check my bills. Admittedly that was my first error.

I also stupidly don't check my account frequently and didn't realise I had £600 taken from my account in January by t-mobile until 12 Feb. I'm currently on statutory maternity pay and every penny counts so I really should have checked sooner.

Anyway,I contacted t-mobile that day and was reassured it was an error and they would refund the money firstly to my account then back to my bank account. Two weeks passed and I hadn't received anything then by 11 March I'd had enough so called again and spoke to a truly awful customer service advisor who was rude and patronising and even claimed I hadn't asked for it to be refunded to my bank, but my t-mobile account is in credit by £500. Anyway she advised her manager was pushing the refund through and it would take 3 days. Four days late nothing, so on Monday I called again. She advised that it can take up to a week to process and would call me back the next day. To be fair she call back but only to say to day it had yet to be processed.

I put a message on Facebook and I was asked to send details to look at my account. I missed a call yesterday eve which may have been from them. Since then I haven't heard anything and I've still not been refunded.

I have asked several times for a CHAPS payment, but been brushed off. They are fully aware that I needed the money to pay my mortgage this month so I didn't go overdrawn and unfortunately I have.

Am I right in assuming they've unlawfully taken the money without my permission? Or as I received an online bill does it mitigate this?

Does anyone have any advice on what I need to say as no one is taking me seriously and I need the money ASAP to pay bills.

Sorry for the long winded post. Thanks for reading and any advice would be gratefully received!

Was the payment taken by Direct Debit? If so, phone the bank and ask them to reverse the direct debit under the DD guarantee which states that if an error is made in the payment of your Direct Debit, by the organisation or your bank or building society, you are entitled to a full and immediate refund of the amount paid from your bank or building society.

ETA- If the payment was taken by card, phone the bank and issue a chargeback. Having reread your OP it appears they may have overcharged you for the phone, which they usually take payment for via card. If this is the case, phone the bank and ask for a chargeback. They should refund the money immediately.

bod1467

And also any consequential bank charges removed as well. (Assuming the returned payment means such charges would not have occurred).

oopsadaisydoddle

I would definitely recommend the DD guarantee.

Also, have you now looked at your bills and/or have they (T-Mob) explained why this has happened?

wealdroam

oopsadaisydoddle wrote: »

Also, have you now looked at your bills and/or have they (T-Mob) explained why this has happened?

That is a very good point.

Op, you don't appear to have told us whether you owe T-Mobile this £600 or not.

MamaMoo_2

wealdroam wrote: »

That is a very good point.

Op, you don't appear to have told us whether you owe T-Mobile this £600 or not.

Well, the account is £500 in credit, so I'm assuming not?

wealdroam

MamaMoo wrote: »

Well, the account is £500 in credit, so I'm assuming not?

And that may be because TM took the money without sufficient notice/authority/or something.

You are making a reasonable assumption... I'm just asking the question.

carli_h

Thank you everyone for your responses. Everyone has been so helpful.

As an update, I received a call from the customer complaints department in Newcastle as I sent a complaint about the customer service advisor I spoke to last week, suggesting retraining. I wouldn't normally but she was awful.

The lady I spoke to also suggested that I do a DD indemnity claim as the refund hadn't been action despite red flagging my refund for urgent action.

I have spoken to Nationwide who has processed and confirmed I won't be charged as I was still within my agreed overdraft.

Hopefully I'll have a refund by cob tomorrow unless t-mobile dispute it.

I could kick myself for not checking my bill and not coming on here sooner.

Thanks again I really appreciate your help.

carli_h

wealdroam wrote: »

That is a very good point.

Op, you don't appear to have told us whether you owe T-Mobile this £600 or not.

They took out the full cost of the iphone in error as it should only have been £29.99, plus the cost of the tariff and calls over my allowance so less than £65.

Sorry I thought I included it, but I still have baby brain

dalesrider

carli_h wrote: »

I have spoken to Nationwide who has processed and confirmed I won't be charged as I was still within my agreed overdraft.

Hopefully I'll have a refund by cob tomorrow unless t-mobile dispute it.
.

PSD states a immediate refund. Which at the very worst is close of play on the day you speak to them... Should be in effect as soon as you have made them aware.
Any longer raise a complaint with Nationwide, that they are in breech of PSD (payment services directive)

psychoticreaction

T-mobile are awful - I spent 2 years on a contract with them, and at the start of the second year they started charging me almost double my contract for calls, which were supposedly unlimited!
Many, many phonecalls to their HQ made no difference and it wasn't until I actually went into a T-mobile store and threatened to take action that they contacted a more senior member of the company and had these bills cancelled, and the extra money I had payed refunded.