Bank keeps cancelling my direct debit

Bergaspeed

I needed to change from a variable DD to a fixed one with my electricity. I was told by my supplier to cancel the first DD and set up another one for the fixed amount.

I did this no problem however when my new DD came to be taken out my bank told my supplier that it had been cancelled.

I set it up again for the next month and the same happened again.

After speaking to the bank the have assured me that the DD is now set up correctly, and I can see it on my account, however this morning my supplier has told me that the DD was returned again. :eek:

The problem I have is that my supplier charge £5.00 for not paying by DD also I get a dual fuel discount at the end of the year for paying by DD as well which I now miss out on.

Any advice on how to get a DD set up that will actually come out of my account or what to do about charges.

grumbler

It's the company that sets the DD up on your permission, not you.
If there are sufficient funds in your account and the DD fails, it's not your fault. The company has to sort this out with your bank and I don't see any grounds for charging you £5 and/or withdrawing the discount.

alanq

I don't understand why a new DD was required. Why couldn't the company just have claimed the same amount each month under the variable amount arrangement?

Hanky_Panky

grumbler wrote: »

If there are sufficient funds in your account and the DD fails, it's not your fault. The company has to sort this out with your bank and I don't see any grounds for charging you £5 and/or withdrawing the discount.

This is not true.

DD is just the means of payment - it is still incumbent on the payee to ensure the payment is made. This is however a good example of where companies can apply some discretion as clearly the OP is doing what they can to resolve things and I would not expect to be paying the additional £5.

OP - like alanq stated you should not have had to set up another dd at all so you were given incorrect advice, presumably by the electricity company - another reason not to pay the extra £5 !

From your banks point of view they have a current cancellation for this originator with the same reference number so the system will continually think that this should be cancelled and wont pay it. If you get someone who knows what they are talking about you will be able to get them to override/cancel the cancellation (if that makes sense!) so that the new dd instruction can go through normally. You really need to make sure this happens otherwise you will get caught in the same loop all the time, new instruction get sent to bank - gets set up - you confirm it's set up - payment gets claimed by electricity company - system recognises that current cancellation in place - dd returned cancelled.

grumbler

Hanky_Panky wrote: »

This is not true....

There were three statements in my post. Which one(s) was not true?:

1. It's the company that sets the DD up on your permission, not you.
2. If there are sufficient funds in your account and the DD fails, it's not your fault.
3. The company has to sort this out with your bank

Hanky_Panky

grumbler wrote: »

If there are sufficient funds in your account and the DD fails, it's not your fault. The company has to sort this out with your bank

These specifically.

SnowTiger

Bergaspeed wrote: »

I needed to change from a variable DD to a fixed one with my electricity. I was told by my supplier to cancel the first DD and set up another one for the fixed amount.

I did this no problem however when my new DD came to be taken out my bank told my supplier that it had been cancelled.

Your energy supplier needs to set up the Direct Debit, not you.

I wonder if the Direct Debit is being returned because the original mandate was cancelled.

And I wonder if the second Direct Debit you think you've set up is not a Direct Debit at all. Instead, you've set up your energy supply as a payee, so you can make payments to them (manually) from your bank account.

bengal-stripe

SnowTiger wrote: »

I wonder if the Direct Debit is being returned because the original mandate was cancelled.

That's what I presume.

About a year ago, I changed my electricity DD from fixed amount monthly to variable amount quarterly. I did not change anything, let alone did I cancel the DD. It is still the same DD, set up maybe five years ago. Only the frequency and, of course, the amounts have changed.

grumbler

Hanky_Panky wrote: »

These specifically.

What exactly?
Is a failed DD is my fault?
Is it me who has to sort this out?

Yes, I know that I have to pay by other means, but this doesn't mean that it was my fault or that I have to sort out the DD malarkey that I have no control over.

Hanky_Panky

grumbler wrote: »

What exactly?
Is a failed DD is my fault?
Is it me who has to sort this out?

Yes, I know that I have to pay by other means, but this doesn't mean that it was my fault or that I have to sort out the DD malarkey that I have no control over.

Remove the word 'fault', it's too emotive and replace with 'responsible'.

So:
Is it my responsibility to ensure the payment is made by whatever means - yes.
Is it my responsibility to sort this mess out - yes !

grumbler

So, first you say that something was not true.
Then you suggest replacing some words to actually make it not true.