Cancelled direct debit but company still charging for it?

alstemp

Hi there MoneySavingExperts

My elderly mother cancelled a direct debit with Care Club back in March.  She did this directly with her bank. However she is now receiving threatening letters saying she owes them £70 and unless she pays by August 5 they will commence court proceedings.  She is very anxious and asked me to call them - however they won't speak to me as I am not the account holder.  They suggested it may be because my mother cancelled the DD but did not inform them, Care Club.  

My question - surely if you cancel a DD with your bank then the bank informs the company?  you are no longer liable to make any further payments?  I can't understand why they are saying she owes money if she cancelled this back in March.

Thanks in advance for any advice

Kind regards

flo22

Cancelling the direct debit stops the payment but if you have a contract with the company you will still owe them money.  I suggest you/she calls Care Club asap as there is no point calling the bank as they have done as requested.

p3ncilsharpener

alstemp said:

Hi there MoneySavingExperts

My elderly mother cancelled a direct debit with Care Club back in March.  She did this directly with her bank. However she is now receiving threatening letters saying she owes them £70 and unless she pays by August 5 they will commence court proceedings.  She is very anxious and asked me to call them - however they won't speak to me as I am not the account holder.  They suggested it may be because my mother cancelled the DD but did not inform them, Care Club.  

My question - surely if you cancel a DD with your bank then the bank informs the company?  you are no longer liable to make any further payments?  I can't understand why they are saying she owes money if she cancelled this back in March.

Thanks in advance for any advice

Kind regards

The company will have been made aware that the DD has been cancelled but this is rarely (if ever) considered to be a cancellation request by businesses.

General_Grant

One needs to cancel DDs with both the originator (in this case Care Club) and the bank.

The bank do not, as far as I am aware, initiate advice to the originator that it has been cancelled, only reject the payment request if it is eventually applied by the company.

Cancelling a DD with the bank does not end the contract with the company. She did not cancel the DD with Care Club as she seems not to have contacted them about it.

Whatever service Care Club were providing, will have continued even if your mother did not avail herself of it.

[Deleted User]

She will need to pay the £70 missed payment, but more crucially, she still needs to cancel the contract with the Care Club. 

Until she does, she'll continue to be liable for payments.

eskbanker

alstemp said:

My elderly mother cancelled a direct debit with Care Club back in March.  She did this directly with her bank. However she is now receiving threatening letters saying she owes them £70 and unless she pays by August 5 they will commence court proceedings.  She is very anxious and asked me to call them - however they won't speak to me as I am not the account holder.  They suggested it may be because my mother cancelled the DD but did not inform them, Care Club.

Have you seen the letters yet, explaining exactly what the sum represents?  If there's a debt of £70 from March, clearly representing services rendered that weren't paid because of the cancelled DD then it would seem reasonable for them to pursue this and for her/you to settle it by Thursday to avoid further problems.

On the other hand, if there was a much smaller token amount that couldn't be collected and they've added extra admin charges to bulk it up to £70, then there may be room for debate, although even then such charges might be permissible under the Ts & Cs of the contract (have you seen this?).

On balance, settling the £70 asap seems the most obvious thing to do if she is very anxious.... 

Thrugelmir

alstemp said:

My question - surely if you cancel a DD with your bank then the bank informs the company?  you are no longer liable to make any further payments?  

The contract is with the service provider. This needs to be cancelled in accordance with the contractual terms signed up to. Nothing whats so ever to do with the bank. 

p3ncilsharpener

General_Grant said:

One needs to cancel DDs with both the originator (in this case Care Club) and the bank.

The bank do not, as far as I am aware, initiate advice to the originator that it has been cancelled, only reject the payment request if it is eventually applied by the company.

Cancelling a DD with the bank does not end the contract with the company. She did not cancel the DD with Care Club as she seems not to have contacted them about it.

Whatever service Care Club were providing, will have continued even if your mother did not avail herself of it.

The bank absolutely does tell them it has been cancelled (among other things.)

https://gocardless.com/direct-debit/receiving-messages/#addacs-messages

As I said, however, very few companies if any would take this as an official cancellation notice.

The_Fat_Controller

Cancelling a DD is just cancelling the payment method, it doesn't get you out of any contract with a company.

If you no longer require their service, you need to cancel it directly with them.

TheMightySwordfish

Always tell both. Just polite if not anything else.

sheramber

p3ncilsharpener said:

General_Grant said:

One needs to cancel DDs with both the originator (in this case Care Club) and the bank.

The bank do not, as far as I am aware, initiate advice to the originator that it has been cancelled, only reject the payment request if it is eventually applied by the company.

Cancelling a DD with the bank does not end the contract with the company. She did not cancel the DD with Care Club as she seems not to have contacted them about it.

Whatever service Care Club were providing, will have continued even if your mother did not avail herself of it.

The bank absolutely does tell them it has been cancelled (among other things.)

https://gocardless.com/direct-debit/receiving-messages/#addacs-messages

As I said, however, very few companies if any would take this as an official cancellation notice.

The fact that you cancelled a DD with one bank doesn't necessarily mean you want to cancel the contract.

You may want to set up a DD with another bank  or you may want to change to paying another way, such as annually.