Advance notice of New Fee and deduction date

thimbleB

How much notice does a company have to give its customer when taking an annual payment for the provision it provides.  eg. we received e-mail communication advising of the revised price for the forthcoming year on 20th March and the payment would be taken on the 24th March, which doesn't seem to offer much opportunity of researching another provider.

eskbanker

If it's a direct debit then two weeks:

If there are any changes to the amount, date or frequency of your Direct Debit the organisation will notify you (normally 10 working days) in advance of your account being debited or as otherwise agreed.

https://www.directdebit.co.uk/direct-debit-guarantee/

What's the service?

born_again

thimbleB said:

How much notice does a company have to give its customer when taking an annual payment for the provision it provides.  eg. we received e-mail communication advising of the revised price for the forthcoming year on 20th March and the payment would be taken on the 24th March, which doesn't seem to offer much opportunity of researching another provider.

Where is the company based & what service?

thimbleB

Thanks folks, its an annual deduction, revised annually, paid in full in advance for an emergency assistance alarm with Careline in the UK.

Olinda99

You should either accept it and let them take the DD or cancel

If you cancel and they nevertheless take the DD ask them or your bank to refund under the DD guarantee ie they did not give 2 weeks notice

eskbanker

thimbleB said:

Thanks folks, its an annual deduction, revised annually, paid in full in advance for an emergency assistance alarm with Careline in the UK.

Is it actually a direct debit, or a continuous payment authority (it should be clear from your bank statements or contracts/correspondence)?

If the former then they're technically falling foul of the direct debit guarantee, but what would you want to happen, i.e. are you happy to continue with the service or are you hoping for the right to cancel?