Octopus take back refunded overpayments

christinencl

I noticed yesterday that Octopus had taken back the refunded overpayment they were obliged to give back in July. No warning at all just took over £1,000 from my account. I can't contact them over the weekend as customer service is closed. Has anyone else experienced this please ?

debitcardmayhem

christinencl said:

I noticed yesterday that Octopus had taken back the refunded overpayment they were obliged to give back in July. No warning at all just took over £1,000 from my account. I can't contact them over the weekend as customer service is closed. Has anyone else experienced this please ?

We probably need more info, from your bank account? why were they “obliged” to give back. You could try them on X/Twitter.

la531983

If its a Direct Debit and they have taken them without informing you, contact your bank.

QrizB

christinencl said:

I noticed yesterday that Octopus had taken back the refunded overpayment they were obliged to give back in July. No warning at all just took over £1,000 from my account.

What was the balance on your account before they reversed the refund?

christinencl said:

I can't contact them over the weekend as customer service is closed. Has anyone else experienced this please ?

Their phone lines might be closed, but Octopus customer service are available 24/7 by email, Twitter/X, Bluesky etc.

https://bsky.app/profile/octopus.energy 

Scot_39

christinencl said:

I noticed yesterday that Octopus had taken back the refunded overpayment they were obliged to give back in July. No warning at all just took over £1,000 from my account. I can't contact them over the weekend as customer service is closed. Has anyone else experienced this please ?

Did they issue a corrected statement with a debit balance, say for Aug and tgen take the DD for tge amount ?

Are you on annualised DD plan or MVDD - so obliged to clear any bill by that months DD demand as billed and cleared monthly ?

People talk about the advantages of MVDD - FEW point out one of the potential negative consequences when large corrections applied to bills.

Suppliers are legally allowed to correct bills and reclaim erroneous credit refunds - but as Octopus normally require up to date readings dated within weeks (2? Iirc) before authorising a refund - their billing should have been pretty much up to date.

There's also iirc is it  c2 week - well 10 working days - minimum notice on DD adjustments - which is built into mvdd cycles.

 So that begs the question - what has changed to reverse their balance on account figures ?

But idealky they shouldn't just take the money without any notice - if nothing else for many the DD would fail for such a 4 figure demand.

Ectophile

The Direct Debit Guarantee requires anyone taking a direct debit to inform you in advance how much they are going to take.

If they haven't done that, go to your bank and ask for the money back.

MWT

Check your email, they are usually good at informing you of the next DD collection as required by the banks.

EssexHebridean

It should be added, that if you do actually owe the money, while you can ask the bank to reverse the DD if they have failed to meet the requirements of the DD guarantee, you will still need to pay what is owed by another means. Be aware also that setting up any form of payment plan could lead to you getting AP markers on your credit file. 

Scot_39

Ectophile said:

The Direct Debit Guarantee requires anyone taking a direct debit to inform you in advance how much they are going to take.

If they haven't done that, go to your bank and ask for the money back.

Yes 10 working days i believe.

But the op will still owe the money - it only buys time to get the funds into the account.