EDF Monthly D/D Cancellation Policy!

SevenOfNine

I asked EDF to switch monthly D/D from bank A to bank B. Final payment from bank A in Oct then Nov payment from bank B. The banks are not connected at all.

No problem I thought, all done over the phone (can't do it on-line or email).

After final Oct D/D taken from bank A & I could see a D/D mandate was set up by EDF with bank B, I deleted the old D/D in my a/c with bank A - I don't leave 'closed' D/Ds sitting on my a/c, no need to.

Bank A wrote to EDF to say D/D cancelled, that is their policy. EDF offset the 'cancelled' notification against my new D/D for bank B. So no D/D was taken in November, I didn't notice & got booted off the 6% discount scheme for the D/D payment method.

EDF say it's MY fault for cancelling the old D/D with bank A after the final payment was taken from there, I "should have just left it as EDF would not have used it". As far as they were concerned it was dormant & replaced by bank B anyway.

I've hit my head against a brick wall trying to get an explanation as to why they would use a D/D cancellation notice sent by bank A against a totally different banks D/D.

Apparently what they did is completely correct, it seems any old cancellation notice will be do & when they received one they were totally correct to use it against my new DD & cancel that!!**!

Now I think I'm being fed a load of BS. I shifted Council tax, BT & water rates D/D's at the same time, exactly the same way, deleting the D/D's from bank A after Oct payments taken. All 3 have managed to take the Nov payments from bank B without a hitch.

Only EDF have a stupidly weird 'cancellation' policy it seems.

Rant over.

Bark01

Just a note on the above you may have been booted off the DD payment plan, but you should still continue to see the DD discount for 30 days. Its a buffer period so you can sort out what the problem is.

Its something that was introduced under the recent RMR reforms. You shouldn't be out of pocket, but obviously you have the inconvenience of having to set up the DD again.

SevenOfNine

Thanks for info, something else EDF forgot to mention when I was whinging about what had happened......took 45 minutes on the phone to sort it all out (good job it's 0800 number).
Just got an email from them saying a D/D is tied to our EDF a/c number which I why ANY D/D cancellation notification they receive would be actioned, no matter that it's not from the current bank set up!
Thank goodness EDF seem to be alone in doing this, or I'd be obliged to let my on-line banking a/c, D/D information become as long as a roll of wallpaper - wouldn't be able to tidy up by deleting 'dead' D/D info.

brewerdave

SevenOfNine wrote: »

Thanks for info, something else EDF forgot to mention when I was whinging about what had happened......took 45 minutes on the phone to sort it all out (good job it's 0800 number).
Just got an email from them saying a D/D is tied to our EDF a/c number which I why ANY D/D cancellation notification they receive would be actioned, no matter that it's not from the current bank set up!
Thank goodness EDF seem to be alone in doing this, or I'd be obliged to let my on-line banking a/c, D/D information become as long as a roll of wallpaper - wouldn't be able to tidy up by deleting 'dead' D/D info.

...Can't apply in all circumstances -I was with EDF when I switched bank accounts from NatWest to Santander in 2013 - I cancelled the original DD once I had notice that the new one was set up - had no problems with retaining fixed online tariff and discounts til I moved utilities over in May 2014:)

SevenOfNine

brewerdave wrote: »

...Can't apply in all circumstances -I was with EDF when I switched bank accounts from NatWest to Santander in 2013 - I cancelled the original DD once I had notice that the new one was set up - had no problems with retaining fixed online tariff and discounts til I moved utilities over in May 2014:)

It all comes down to whether your bank write to EDF to tell them the DD is cancelled. If NatWest had done that then EDF would have cancelled your new DD with Santander.

If my Lloyds had not written to EDF I wouldn't have had a problem, I'm actually a bit miffed with Lloyds as I don't feel it's their place to tell EDF anything....I'm their customer not EDF.

brewerdave

SevenOfNine wrote: »

It all comes down to whether your bank write to EDF to tell them the DD is cancelled. If NatWest had done that then EDF would have cancelled your new DD with Santander.

If my Lloyds had not written to EDF I wouldn't have had a problem, I'm actually a bit miffed with Lloyds as I don't feel it's their place to tell EDF anything....I'm their customer not EDF.

Think NatWest DID write/communicate with EDF -they certainly did with other bodies who I was paying by DD -because at least one wrote to me to tell me that I would have to pay by other means because the DD was cancelled!:)

Hazzanet

Simply put, it's down to sloppy software development here.

EDF has a DDI set up with Bank A with the reference 123456789

You ask EDF to change to Bank B so they send an AUDDIS instruction to Bank B with the referencer 123456789

You then cancel the DDI with Bank A, so Bank A generates an ADDACS notification to EDF, saying <Old Bank Details> <Reference: 123456789>

EDF's computer checks for an account with the reference 123456789 and finds one (the one set up against Bank and cancels it.

You find yourself in this position.

It's a common mistake (my developers did it on a software project involving DDs that I'm working on) so we added the clause to check for the Reference and that the bank details on the ADDACS report match the current ones on file. The report is raised for manual review if either of them don't match.

This is EDFs fault.

Hazzanet

In fact the DD User's Manual is quite clear:

footyguy

Cancelling a DDI in favour of EDF direct with your bank causes havoc as EDF at you have found

In my case, I switched from EDF, received their final bill saying they owe me money, noticed they had not collected the previous monthly DD (presumably because they still ended up owing me money even without that payment) and so cancelled the DDI

Next I get a letter from EDF confirming I have cancelled my DDI, so advising me they will charge me on a different basis i.e. without the DD discount I was getting.

Not to worry I thought, EDF don't even supply me anymore and I'm just waiting for them to send me the money they owe me.

Oh no, next I get a new bill, all backdated, charging me up til I switched at the non DD rates, meaning I somehow now owed them money.

Anyway, gave them a call and got nowhere.

So made a formal complaint. They realised the error and agreed to cancel the latest bill, reinstate the previous final bill and arrange to pay what was owed to me by bank transfer.

I'm keeping an eye on my bank account, waiting eagerly for this money to arrive and what do I notice? The DDI is back on my bank account! :eek:

I call the bank to ask what is going on. They check the history, and confirm I did cancel the DDI but EDF reinstated it.

Another complaint to EDF, and they say they had to reinstate the DDI to pay me money they owed me. (I'm not sure that is correct, but that was their excuse). They said I could cancel it again one I receive the money I was owed.

As I had already by then received the money owed, I cancelled the DDI. Yes you've guessed it, another snotty letter arrives from EDF saying I have cancelled a DDI in their favour and I will be charged now at a different rate.

And then yet another back dated bill arrives, recalculated because of the DDI discount I had received and was no longer allegedly entitled to.

So yet another complaint to EDF, who basically replied saying ignore it, we've cancelled it. Account is closed, we paid you what you were owed. You owe us nothing. You are no longer supplied by us.

Not quite the same as your issue, but hopefully helps explain the confusion to expect when cancelling any DDI in favour of EDF.

In your instance, Hazzanet is entirely correct. The ADDACS report EDF receives quite clearly states the sort code & account number of the account with a no longer held (or cancelled by payer) DDI.

Complain to EDF using their complaints procedure (do it in writing, forget about trying to resolve this on the phone) and they will see their error and hopefully sort it all out for you.

SevenOfNine

Great explanation Hazzanet, thanks.


I opened an official complaint via email after hitting my head against brick wall on the phone, got this response:


"The information that you have already received is correct. If you have changed bank accounts and then cancel the Direct Debit instruction with the old bank, they will automatically send us an instruction to cancel the Direct Debit. The Direct Debit cancellation instruction is tied to the account number so even though the Direct Debit for the old bank account is cancelled, there still exists an active instruction for the account number. The message from the bank automatically cancels the active instruction even though it is registered with a new account".


From that response I can't see how BrewerDave didn't get his new DD with EDF cancelled if NatWest wrote to EDF like Lloyds did??


They've said 'complaint closed' but I've noticed that my tariff went up so I've suggest before considering it 'closed' they should backdate my DD discount to when this fiasco started, given that it wasn't my fault. Not holding my breath..........


Thanks all for responses. OMG Footyguy what a mess!

brewerdave

SevenOfNine wrote: »

From that response I can't see how BrewerDave didn't get his new DD with EDF cancelled if NatWest wrote to EDF like Lloyds did??

...in view of the other responses -I'm beginning to think I had a narrow escape!
I think I got a snotty letter from EDF about 4-6 weeks after I'd switched banks & cancelled the original DD - but no reissued bills and they took the correct amount from the new bank acc. on the expected day!:)