unauthorised debits

puffingbilly

When my existing motor ins policy was due to expire I received a quote which was unacceptable.As they had No auto renewal mandate I phoned the company to tell them I would NOT renew and I would seek an alternative quote. I had a quote from RAC ins services the following day on similar terms and paid by visa debit over the phone for a 12 month fully comp policy. 10 days later I attempted to buy groceries and my card was declined. I tried to obtain cash from an ATM using my debit card again without success. the next day I received a letter from my original insurer thanking me for insuring my car with them for another year!!!!....I immediately realised they had debited my account without my authorisation or knowledge. And in so doing had created a chargeable overdraft on my account and in addition an unwanted (Twinned policy) My bank refunded the debit immediately in accordance with current banking law and a payment recovery order requested. The company (or their bank) appear to have responded ASAP, BUT also credited my bank account several days later by mistake.After 14 months they are asking me for re-imbursement!! I fail to see how I can be held responsible for their catalogue of errors?? can you?

unholyangel

Are you saying that you received a double refund, they've now noticed and are asking you to repay one of them?

dacouch

Of course you have to refund them the incorrect credit.

You rightly retrieved the incorrect payment from them when they made a mistake. You seem to believe that when the boot is on the other foot that they are not entitled to recover the money

puffingbilly

That is correct. I had initially assumed that their direct payment was simply mis- directed and both my bank manager and I had asked for my bank to claim what I assumed to be rightfully their entitlement from my account. needless to say there matter was never referred to and my bank never gave an explanation....but why should they? they didn't need to...they had already received their credit...

puffingbilly

The company had no right to make an unauthorised debit using financial details
held on file. Is that not prohibited by the law?

dacouch

That does not permit you to keep all their money, if you paid a business twice by mistake, do you believe that entitles the business to keep the incorrect payment?

GrumpyDil

Of course you have to return it. Why would you think otherwise?

S24A of the 1968 Theft Act might make for interesting reading as well as it relates to wrongful credits although the definition of 'wrongful' may mean it doesn't apply here .

Johno100

puffingbilly wrote: »

The company had no right to make an unauthorised debit using financial details
held on file. Is that not prohibited by the law?

Yes we get it your insurer messed up (we all make mistakes) and corrected it in your own words "ASAP". But their mistake doesn't mean you get to keep the mistaken double refund as a sort of unofficial compensation for the problems their error caused 14 months ago.

loskie

charge the a £30 admin fee as they would do to you. Refund the remainder

ampersand

Op - can you spell 'honesty' and 'dishonesty'?

AdrianC

puffingbilly wrote: »

The company had no right to make an unauthorised debit using financial details held on file. Is that not prohibited by the law?

They genuinely believed - through an internal error - that the debit was authorised. You had not cancelled the direct debit mandate, so the bank permitted it. As soon as you notified them of the error, they apologised and refunded the money. What more do you want them to do?

However, they also made another error - and refunded it twice. You are NOT legally entitled to keep that money, and they would be well within their rights to take you to court to reclaim it.

I notice that you don't say how close to the renewal debit date you instructed them not to autorenew - but that the debit was taken within ten days of your instruction. It's entirely possible that the debit was already underway - they are not instantaneous.