Bank Switch missed a direct debit

dgwave73

I switched my current account last year to take advantage of the welcome payment. It seems that although my mobile provider has record of my new account, they have not debited any money for my phone contract since the switch last October (the last payment was before the switch and none since). 
I recall I had a letter from Vodafone in the new year that they had noticed the missing payments and were going to claim what I owed month by month, but they have seemingly not done this. I had not checked until today but I have still not paid anything to Vodafone since October as I simply didn't notice the monthly debit was missing. 
Where do I stand as I now owe 8 months of phone contract (and also my Vodafone home broadband which was from the same account).
I assume I just have to pay what I owe but is there any come back through the switching service?

eskbanker

dgwave73 said:

...although my mobile provider has record of my new account...

How did they find out about your new account?  If it was via the switching service then that did its job, but can't be held liable for subsequent failures to collect by the merchant....

dgwave73

switch service provided them with new bank details I guess as all other d/debits moved across. failure to collect on behalf of the merchant....they don't know they haven't charged me yet!

TheBanker

Ultimately you have used the service and therefore have to pay. If paying eight months bills at once is likely to cause hardship, the mobile company should be open to agreeing a payment plan for you to settle up over a few months. 

boingy

The switching service does offer a guarantee but I don't know the limits of its scope. I think it's mostly to cover the case where one or other account goes overdrawn or incurs charges because something was not moved correctly. It's worth asking them. 

But it looks more like a screw up at the Vodaphone end. You owe them that money fairly but I'd suggest making a complaint to them. They might knock a few quid off the bill by way of an apology. In the meantime, make sure you set aside some money to cover the bill

artyboy

Historically, Vodafone had a terrible reputation when it came to making any changes to an existing DD. Mrs Arty kept an otherwise obsolete bank account open for years simply because she couldn't face the hassle of trying to switch the one remaining Vodafone DD on it...

But in any case, yes you'll have to pay up, you might get a bit of inconvenience money out of the bank or out of Vodafone, but it's a legitimate debt regardless. Presumably though your account is more in credit than normal due to not having had those payments debited, and it won't be an issue to pay what's owed?

EarthBoy

boingy said:

The switching service does offer a guarantee but I don't know the limits of its scope. 

The guarantee is that the Direct Debits will be transferred correctly, which by the sound of it they have been.  No bank can guarantee against incompetent companies who fail to take DD payments, even though they've got the correct details.  

dgwave73

thanks all. Will point out to Vodafone that they haven't been paid and see what they offer.

dgwave73

After a 40 min call to Voda, apparently it's a glitch that is very rare. the technical team will take 5-10 working days to fix the billing before they can tell me what I owe. useless.

eskbanker

dgwave73 said:

After a 40 min call to Voda, apparently it's a glitch that is very rare. the technical team will take 5-10 working days to fix the billing before they can tell me what I owe. useless.

If you (and they) are saying that they haven't even generated billing and statements (as opposed to actually collecting payment by DD) over a sustained period then they may find that they fall foul of Ofcom rules on doing so within a relatively short window - I seem to recall that telcos have to bill within something like four months or they've lost the opportunity to do so.