Outfox The Market Direct Debit changes

Arefer

dont_use_vistaprint wrote: »

An update on my switch away from them. I cancelled the DD as I believed I was in credit and they would be taking the unauthorised amount of £124 when it was £61 I had agreed to.

I got an email from them saying payment failed and a £25 charge. I replied that they never reply to my emails to resolve so I cancelled as I informed them I would. I then got an email from credit control in their parent company. I replied that OTFM never reply to my emails to resolve so I cancelled as I informed them I would.

Switch to PP gone ahead as planned, I expect a final statement from OFTM in a year or so maybe if they are still around

Hi


Could you please share the email address of Credit Control at Outfox?


Thank you.

Vortigern

WhoIsThat wrote: »

There are strict rules in place under the Direct Debit Scheme that govern the reinstatement of a cancelled DDI.

Could you provide a link to those strict rules please?

Anthorn

Steve456 wrote: »

I cannot see that clause being enforceable in any case. It is certainly accepted that any changes to an agreed contract have to be mutually agreed, or else they could simply say they have changed your contract so that your fixed rate ended early, your payments are doubled but you are still tied into a 12-month contract. Oh, and by the way, we have extended that to 10 years with a £1,000 penalty for each service for early termination.

Payment by Direct Debit is not usually covered in Ts&Cs other than your agreement to use that method and your agreement to pay according to the interval between payments, for example "Monthly Budget Scheme", on receipt of bill, etc and that may be variably enforced according to the particular tariff.

The Direct Debit agreement and the required notice to vary it should be in the Direct Debit Guarantee.

WhoIsThat

Vortigern wrote: »

Could you provide a link to those strict rules please?

Of course

https://www.bacs.co.uk/SUGR/1Introduction/Pages/1Introduction.aspx

but you need to register to gain access
(and I think they only grant registration on a 'need to know' basis)

Alternatively, contact your bank if you have any query relating to the operation of any direct debit you have in place.

editor1

@Voucherman,

As far as I'm concerned the T&Cs I agreed to with OFTM were those that existed on the day i signed up for them, namely the time I gave over bank details for the DD payment - further, at the time of authorising the DD payment I was aware OFTM was just a name some company called Foxglove had used, and its Foxglove that appears on Bank Statements. With multiple changes to the T&Cs since I joined, none of which have been notified to me, as well as OFTMs abuse of the DD system by utilising different business accounts operating out of its premises in Frog island, Leicester, there is much to be concerned about, but it does seem OFTM are a law unto themselves, which is fast coming unstuck as more horror stories become visible.

lucyC

So I have had the same problem with outfox the market as many others in this thread.
I cancelled my direct debit as I was in credit, and initiated a switch.
My oftm account then said I was in debit, so I rung fischer energy as I couldnt get through to the OFTM phone line, and payed the remaining balance.
Then OFTM blocked my switch, so managed to contact them via the web chat, and made a further payment via basc.
They have now blocked my switch again even though my account says I am not in debit.

They are such a nightmare to get through to. So I am stuck with them and cant switch.

Steve456

Click on the last question on this page. . .


https://www.directdebit.co.uk/FAQs/Pages/CancellingADirectDebit.aspx


That should be quite definitive as it's straight from the horse's mouth so to speak.

VoucherMan

editor1 wrote: »

@Voucherman,

As far as I'm concerned the T&Cs I agreed to with OFTM were those that existed on the day i signed up for them,

Me too. The trouble is I have a lousy memory. I will have read the T&C before joining, but it is possible I may have misunderstood if they were using unfamiliar terms, and there's no chance I'd remember them any way. [STRIKE]The now defunct (for most people) membership fee[/STRIKE]


Okay, I must have blinked and missed something. I know they'd abandoned (for now) the idea of a standing charge for customers on fixed tariffs, but when did they backtrack for variable rate customers too? I've checked the site and all that's mentioned is the membership fee.



As I was saying, the method of calculating the membership fee is one of the parts in question. I've more or less given up on that now as the current issue of whether or not they'll survive the winter is more pressing.

Luckily we're both in the fortunate position of low cost & sufficient funds to afford the excessive hikes in direct debits, knowing we'll get it back at the end. I still feel for those in less fortunate circumstances who find themselves unable to afford the increased charge at such short notice, and take exception to anyone 'attacking' them for putting themselves in such a situation.


{Text removed by MSE Forum Team}

wild666

lucyC wrote: »

So I have had the same problem with outfox the market as many others in this thread.
I cancelled my direct debit as I was in credit, and initiated a switch.
My oftm account then said I was in debit, so I rung fischer energy as I couldnt get through to the OFTM phone line, and payed the remaining balance.
Then OFTM blocked my switch, so managed to contact them via the web chat, and made a further payment via basc.
They have now blocked my switch again even though my account says I am not in debit.

They are such a nightmare to get through to. So I am stuck with them and cant switch.

I would contact the CEO you can get his email off ceomail, just search for it and tell him you are taking action in court against the company. Some people could pay a month or more of the inflated charges and claim the credit back.
Once there is one successful claim against a company then it sets a president that can be quoted in similar cases.
Stopping a person from moving when they have enough credit to cover the amount of usage should be illegal and the customer should,IMHO, be able to claim off the company stopping them moving, especially if the credit amount is large, and they would still have a credit balance after the move.

rich_forum

Don't waste your time contacting them or writing to the CEO of threatening legal action you are probably not going to get anywhere.

It's obvious OTM are in a bit of a pickle financially and don't have the balance sheet to hedge the energy prices over the winter. Which is really unfortunate as the business model was quite attractive. I for one really hope they survive as it would be nice to have a consistently low rate and avoid the tediousness of switching.

One solution is for them to get everyone to pay more... now... irrespective of the credit balance.
I would imagine that if they survive the winter then next year it will be a bit better and your bills a bit more aligned to you usage. Obviously that does put the onus on us as customers to manage the summer/winter budgeting.

There will be a lot of people like me that only use OTM for electricity. My heating is gas so I don't have a seasonal usage pattern. So I just asked for and got a credit refund (they are refunding my balance so it's just one months dd). I'll need to repeat that again at the end of the winter when I'll back in credit by a few hundred again.

So yes technically I'm an investor in OTM by doing that and propping up their balance sheet.
I reckon I'll have about £400-£500 tied up (less with more regular refund requests). But I'm getting a £50 cheaper bill. So 10% return isn't too bad.

If they go bust (which I think is on the balance of probability the most likely outcome) at least that credit balance is protected.

There are times when CEO mails and courts are good. But here I think it will just cause undue stress.
So move supplier
or do you own calculation to see if it works financially for you.

:rudolf: