Direct Debit Guarantee

daPOD

Hi Guys ...

Little bit of info needed today ... i have received my statement from the natwest this morning and noticed an initial direct debit had been set up for the carphone warehouse and was debited from my account on the 14th march.. however i have no idea what this is for, or how it had been set up.

The only thing i can think of is purchasing a PAYG phone before xmas ... but still wasn't aware they would take any money from my account. (£41.05)

Anyway, i contacted the bank, who told me to contact carphone warehouse, so i went into the store and was told they had no record of anything for myself at my address on their system .. ok i thought.

Back to the bank about half hour ago to claim a refund under DD Guarantee, however have been advised by the bank manager that they need to fill out an indeminity form and send it to leicester before i will get a refund, and she also stated i may not even get one. How can this be so? Have the rules changed or do i need to pay her another visit with more facts?

Thanks

gazebo

Under the Direct Debit Indemnity rules your bank should have given you a refund there and then.

this thread gives more information

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/....html?t=463093

natweststaffmember

what the bank has to do is to log on a complaints system the circumstances of the DD issue and send to their local Customer Service Centre which I assume is Leicester who will then follow the process of DD indemnity and it is them that credit the account. With regards to the DD itself, the reference number which the branch may or may not have provided to you should have indicated to CarPhone Warehouse as to which account that payment was intended for.

Altarf

It is the usual case of the bank staff pretending not to know what the rules on Direct Debits are and trying to fob off the customer.

http://www.bacs.co.uk/BACS/Consumers/Direct+Debit/Your+rights/Your+rights.htm

If an error is made by the organisation or your bank or building society, you are guaranteed a full and immediate refund from your branch of the amount paid

dellwear

If you get nowhere call the customer contact centre (the numbers' no your statement) and ask to speak with the DD team in the admin centre. They'll get it sorted fro you. Looks like the branch staff just wanted to fob you off.

They should put the money back that day and then fight it out with the company for you.

JohalaReewi

The bank staff are confusing Direct Debit Idemnity with Direct Debit Guarantee.

Direct Debit Guarantee is the scheme where the bank protects the customer from incorrect direct debits. The bank has to refund the customer immediately in full (typically the same day).

The Direct Debit Indemnity is the scheme the bank uses to get the money back from wherever. This can take some time

Some naughty banks like to pretend that they have to wait for their indemity claim to be paid before they refund the customer via the guarantee scheme.

natweststaffmember

NatWest Bank process is that a complaint is sent to their Local Customer service centre who do the re crediting as per DD scheme. That is the process followed by all the branches.
Apologies for wording yesterday which was quite rightly picked up on after i posted it.

amandathepanda

natweststaffmember wrote: »

NatWest Bank process is that a complaint is sent to their Local Customer service centre who do the re crediting as per DD scheme. That is the process followed by all the branches.
Apologies for wording yesterday which was quite rightly picked up on after i posted it.

Yes what you are saying is correct,but NatWest processes shouldn't affect the customer. The direct debit indemnity states that the customer should get a full and immediate refund. As a member of natwest staff myself I think this is a poor service, and we should be following the guarantee by giving an immediate refund and then following out our internal processes. The top and bottom of it is that because the process has been centralised it is very difficult for branch staff to do the refund immediately.

JohalaReewi

amandathepanda wrote: »

Yes what you are saying is correct,but NatWest processes shouldn't affect the customer. The direct debit indemnity states that the customer should get a full and immediate refund. ...

Wrong. It is the Direct Debit Guarantee that says the customer should get a full and immediate refund. The Indemnity is something the banks do internally.

amandathepanda

Sorry, I meant to type guarantee. In the olden days it used to be called the direct debit indemnity scheme, obviously 26 years of working for Natwest has driven me insane.

natweststaffmember

amanda, we both may agree with the process in place is not as laid out in the DD scheme(although the wording itself is something the bank will probably argue over), but are you willing to risk your job by crediting a customers account immediately they walk into the branch? I'm not that brave as you in spite of being in agreement with you in this matter.