Credit Card Direct Debit Issue

franticf

New on here but wondered if anyone could help.

I've had a Tesco Credit Card for a couple of years now and set up a Direct Debit (DD) to pay off the card in its entirety every month.
However, in Feb due to wanting to pay the balance from a different account rather than the one the DD is set up for I paid the balance via the online tool and it took the money. What I didn't realise was that as it was within 5 days of the DD coming out the funds had already been requested from my DD account. So not wanting to pay twice I called Tesco to see if they could refund the DD.
The Customer Service Representative said not a problem we'll just refund the DD for this month. He also asked if I wanted the DD cancelled form this account altogether as I'd paid from another account and I said "No". All sorted so I thought.

That was until March came along and I realised I had too much money in my DD account. Looking online I saw the Tesco CC DD had not come out and they had started to charge me interest and a £12 late payment fee. The DD had also been cancelled. Called up Tescos who agreed to refund the late payment charge and set up a new Direct Debit, but said to call back if and when the interest came through on the statement so they could look at refunding that. I paid the balance in full and as suggested waited for the next statement to turn up.

The statement turned up and I had been charged about £48 interest. Called up Tescos who basically said that the cancellation of the Direct Debit could not have been by them as they cannot cancel Direct Debits so the interest charged was valid and it must have been your bank that cancelled it so call them and get them to compensate you the interest that we have charged.

Seemed a bit odd but did as requested and the Bank said "Why would we cancel it we would only cancel it if you didn't have funds in your account but you did. It says on the history that the Direct Debit was cancelled by the Originator which in this case would have been Tescos." So back to Tescos I went who continue to deny the fact that they can cancel a Direct Debit so rather than stack up more and more interest charges I paid off the balance and asked them to cancel the Credit Card as I'd had enough with it all.

So a couple of questions are Tescos telling fibs when they say they cannot cancel a Direct Debit that is being paid to them?
If so can I claim back the interest they have charged me for wrongfully cancelling the DD when I specifically asked them to only miss a months payment?

As a side point when the DD was cancelled I received nothing to advise me it had been cancelled, however, when it was reinstated I received two letters from Tescos to advise me of such within a couple of days. Should they not advise me when a DD is cancelled as well as when one is set up? They said "No"

Anyway I know its long winded but any advise would be greatly received.

Cheers

Chris

jonesMUFCforever

Ask your bank who cancelled the direct debit - they will be able to tell you if it was cancelled by originator or not ie Tesco.

Really though you should not mess about with D/D especially so close to the payment date.
Next time transfer the money to your normal account instead of paying from a different one.

franticf

Yeah they said it was the originator (Tesco) that cancelled it but Track still deny it.

I know not to muck around with it now. Bit late though in this instance unfortunately.

Cheers

jonesMUFCforever

Get the bank to print out who cancelled the direct debit and then start a formal complaint with Tesco.