I want/need my money back

hulahoop09

Hiya

My husband set up what we thought was a direct debit end of last year for a kickboxing membership. Last month he amended the membership and the gym set up a dd with a new finance company and told him to cancel the old dd. So I went onto his online banking (coop) and in his direct debits I cancelled the direct debit for the finance company. Well I noticed today they had srill taken payment on 29th july. We have had a letter from them advising the credit agreement was overpaid and to claim our money back they need the amount it was overpaid by, his bank details and a letter from tye bank to confirm the 'standing order' was cancelled! We contacted the bank and they advised there was still a so set up for this company which the bank cancelled today. I questionned why it had been showing in the direct debit list and I had cancelled it last month. They werent sure as had no confirmation of thos on the account as it isnt a dd. They have requested the funds back from the finance companies bank and we have to wait up to 10 working days to find out if its returned or rejected! The bank advised if they reject to give us the money back that we should contact trading standards as they admitted we have overpaid.

I was wondering if anyone has had similiar issues before. Obviously with a dd tou are covered by a dd guarantee but the fact it showed as a dd but wasnt didnt help with confusion.

TIA

opinions4u

If the payment was collected in error tell your ank to reimburse you under the Direct Debit Guarantee.

hulahoop09

Apparantly its set up under a so even though the gym, my husband were under impression it was a dd and it was showing.in dd list in online banking.and.even though I cancelled last mnth from dds it was still set up as was an so. So frustrating. Lol.

pmduk

Could this have been taken as a CPA? A recurring card payment? Has he ever given the gym his card details? for the initial payment perhaps?



Purely on the basis of what you've said think it's time for a
formal complaint, even if only on the bank's inability to explain what has happened.

hulahoop09

No its not a recurring card payment. Coop said its an so. They have now cancelled it but its just trying to get this payment from end of july. I have emailed them advising the bank are contqcting their bank to request funds back, hoping this is enough for them to give back what they admit we overpaid. It doesnt help that the gym source out to a finance company to sort payments etc. Its ashburn finance services.

hulahoop09

Should we email the bank advising we arent happy.regarding the fact it was showing on.account as dd and I cancelled online.as a dd which it confirmed yet behind the scenes.so to speak it was still sitting.as.an so.

marlewuk

SO is not covered under any guarantee as you would be in control of that - you would have instructed the bank to set this up via the usual channels (branch/phone or online).

Cant see any bank error as you thought you had cancelled the payment yourself.

its down to recipient to recredit your account

virgin_moneysaver

I maybe wrong but it sounds like the original was a SO & the new payment a DD, you cancelled the new DD but the old SO was not cancelled & still active therefore a payment was sent under the SO instructions

Wheres_My_Cashback

Generally with DD's the company is in control when it comes to setting them up/collecting payment.

With S/O's it's usually the account holder that is in control, either setting them up themselves or instructing the bank to do so.

It seems to me that you've got confused with these and your hubby set up a S/O, not a DD and since then the gym has also set up a new DD which is why you've paid twice. YOU should have cancelled the S/O when the new DD was in place.

Looks to me as if YOU need to ditch them all and start again and ask the company nicely to refund any over payment. I can't see that the bank or gym have done anything wrong here.

hulahoop09

The form hubby was given to fill out wasnt clear it was a dd and the gym were also under the impression it was a dd as they told him to cancel the dd. But instead it was an so. When I went to cancel what I thought was the original dd I cancelled it (not a new one as that hadnt been set up yet) as it was in his dd list on his online banking account but infact the bank said it was set up as an so so even though I cancelled it online in the list because it was so it stayed set up behind the scenes. The bank have now admitted the online account doesnt show so and they have apologised the so was showing in a dd list.

I have emailed the company advising the bank will be requesting the money back and they emailed saying we will receive a refund asap and they will let us know when this is processed. If I havent heard by about 2 weeks I will chase up.

Thanks again for the replies.

pqrdef

If I were the finance company I'd set up both an SO and a DD. I'd expect a lot of people to cancel the SO after a couple of months, and then I'd just collect the balance owing via the DD.