TSB refuse DD guarantee claim

gregdl

I've recently been going through my statements and found a direct debit to a company in 2013 for £195 which should have been £176. I notified TSB on the phone on Friday at 4.30pm, informing them that the amount was wrong, the lady told me iit would be refunded under the direct debit guarantee on Monday before noon.

Monday came, no refund so i called the customer centre. As is usually the case with these things, i was speaking to someone who didnt know what they were onabout, but kept putting me on hold whilst they spoke to the DD department. This is what i was told.

1. Cant invoke DD guarantee, must contact company for refund. (Told them this is incorrect).
When they accepted they were wrong, it was then...

2. We can't refund as it's too long ago. (checked with BACS, no time limit on DD claims)
When i pointed out BACS guidelines and no time limit, it was then....

3. We cant do partial refunds (difference between £195 and £176 which should have been taken) - at this point i had to remind the guy i was claiming the full amount back as what he was saying was ridiculous. I never asked for a partial refund i was simply claiming the £195 under the DD guarantee.
When i pointed out i didnt want a partial refund and it was a ridiculous thing to say, it then was....

4. You told the lady in the call centre on friday that you didnt recognise the transaction. (Absolute RUBBISH, i told him to get the call recording and he told me it takes weeks, i told her nothing more than i spotted the transaction, the amount was incorrect and it needed refunding under the dd guarantee).

After 49 minutes on the phone, him going backwards and forwards with the DD team (funnily enough, i couldnt speak to these people directly so was left speaking to some wally who knew nothing about anything!) he eventually just kept repeating, i'm very sorry but we are unable to refund the direct debit claim, again, and again, and again.

They have basically point blank refused to refund it.

I've since phoned back twice and again, been told by the wally i speak to, that the DD department are refusing to refund and saying i must contact the company in question.

So fuming! Any help?

MarkFromCornwall

There's information here about how to pursue a claim:
https://www.directdebit.co.uk/DirectDebitExplained/Pages/Incorrectpayments.aspx

agrinnall

Have you actually tried to get the £19 back from the company? If they'll refund it that's a hell of a lot simpler than getting the full amount back through the DD Guarantee then having to pay the company the £176.

That notwithstanding, I don't believe TSB have any grounds to refuse your request so make a formal complaint to them.

skybluesaver

I hope you manage to get it sorted.
Referring to TSB customer service, the last few times i've had to call them, they've been shocking, to the point where i'm even considering closing my accounts with them.

eddddy

Try putting you request in writing. Use the same language as in the direct debit guarantee...

e.g. "an error was made in the payment of a Direct Debit by the organisation" See: https://www.directdebit.co.uk/DirectDebitExplained/pages/directdebitguarantee.aspx

You need to make it clear that it was an error, and not a contractual dispute. (Contractual disputes aren't covered by the DD guarantee.)

For example, this would be an error: "They informed that they would collect a DD payment of £176, but they then collected a DD payment of £195."

But this would be a contractual dispute: "They informed that they would collect a DD payment of £195, they then collected a DD of payment £195, but the amount I owed was only £176."