Nationwide bank charges caused by excessive nPower, possible reclaim?

Aquamania

Moneyineptitude wrote: »

I cannot believe only one person at that giant utility company can inform the OP what the payments pertain to. Regardless, the Bank Holiday was yesterday and I would guess everyone is back today.

I think the OP needs to be certain these payments are actual errors before proceeding down the DD refund route.
I think we'll have to agree to disagree on this.

I can only base my advice on the information I have been provided by the OP and it is not up to any of us to cast judgement on the accuracy of that information.

By following my advice, the OP will receive immediate recompense for any amounts collected without proper authorisation and within 14 days tops all consequential losses ... guaranteed.

The OP is clearly struggling with getting an answer out of nPower (and that should be a topic for discussion on the gas & electric board if it continues) and following the MSE guide to reclaiming bank charges will not (a) get the OP money back for unauthorised DD deductions, (b) will not be immediate and will almost certainly take longer than 14 days and (c) is not guaranteed.

[Deleted User]

Aquamania wrote: »

the OP says they are waiting to speak to a certain person at nPower who isn't currently available to get this looked into.

I cannot believe only one person at that giant utility company can inform the OP what the payments pertain to. Regardless, the Bank Holiday was yesterday and I would guess everyone is back today.

Aquamania wrote: »

To advise the OP otherwise could incur the OP in further consequential losses (i.e. accumulating bank charges) and these may not recoverable if the OP fails to mitigate these losses by contacting their bank immediately.

I think the OP needs to be certain these payments are actual errors before proceeding down the DD refund route. I wonder are these additional payments to cover the arrears caused by the Bank returning the Direct Debits unpaid?
I think we'll have to agree to disagree on this.

Aquamania wrote: »

Financial hardship doesn't come into any of these claims; they are a right under the terms of the Direct Debit Guarantee.

I am as fully aware of this as you are. The problem is that I suspect the OP is likely to not have any right to claim under the terms of the Direct Debit Guarantee and is more likely to get the help needed by asking the Bank to consider a "hardship" plea.

[Deleted User]

Aquamania wrote: »

I can only base my advice on the information I have been provided by the OP and it is not up to any of us to cast judgement on the accuracy of that information.

I'm giving my opinion on what is more likely, not casting "judgement".
You're right that we can only base advice on the information given, but I think this is severely lacking so far.

Aquamania

Moneyineptitude wrote: »

...The problem is that I suspect the OP is likely to not have any right to claim under the terms of the Direct Debit Guarantee ...

Perhaps you missed this nugget of information?

EmJ86 wrote: »

I haven't entered into an agreement for them to take the £40 only the £82 ...

Therefore the Direct Debit Guarantee applies

[Deleted User]

Aquamania wrote: »

Perhaps you missed this nugget of information?

It seems apparent that the OP thinks this may be the case, but doesn't know for sure. I therefore recommend the OP advance with caution.
No more replies from me (or the OP, probably:p)

EmJ86

I didn't have chance to check back on this post yesterday, so I've come back to it to see everything that's been mentioned... I'm a little perplexed as to which way would be the best way to proceed.

When I first set the direct debit up with nPower, it was for £82 yet the first payment taken was for £40 and another for the same amount the month after. I queried this with them at the beginning of the agreement (Sept/Oct) and was told my agreed direct debit amount was £82, but because they'd had issues setting up the account to begin with took the lesser amount and would revert to the higher agreed amount.

Yet as I stated previous they continued to take the lesser amount as well as then attempting on two occasions now to take the higher amount...?! I'm hoping someome at nPower can help me soon, I wasn't successful on the phone yesterday morning and haven't been able to speak to anyone today.

Being 9 months pregnant with a due date approaching in the next 8 days (and a 3 year old to look after) I'm finding it a little difficult to ensure I get everything done... I'm very aware this needs to be resolved quickly and I'm trying my best to get things sorted..!

Think my next course of action should be to contact nPower (again!) and try to find out why they've taken additional payments, as well as writing a letter for financial hardship (omitting the nPower direct debits) to the bank and see where that gets me.

[Deleted User]

EmJ86 wrote: »

When I first set the direct debit up with nPower, it was for £82 yet the first payment taken was for £40 and another for the same amount the month after. I queried this with them at the beginning of the agreement (Sept/Oct) and was told my agreed direct debit amount was £82, but because they'd had issues setting up the account to begin with took the lesser amount and would revert to the higher agreed amount.

Yet as I stated previous they continued to take the lesser amount as well as then attempting on two occasions now to take the higher amount...?!

It seems obvious that if you only paid £40 instead of £82 on two consecutive months then that would be a cumulative shortfall of £84! Don't you think it's likely that the "additional" £40 amounts are simply to make up this deficit?

EmJ86 wrote: »

Think my next course of action should be to contact nPower (again!) and try to find out why they've taken additional payments, as well as writing a letter for financial hardship (omitting the nPower direct debits) to the bank and see where that gets me.

This is what I would be doing (others might disagree;)).

I hope you manage to get it all sorted soon.