Direct Debit Problems..

[apprentice87]

Anyone had any problems?? I have a direct debit thingy from my Santander bank account to pay Air Products [the gas people] Anyway, it gets paid on the 15th of every month. This month however, the money has not gone out of my account, at least not according to my internet banking thing it has not, but Air Products maintain they have been paid???

When i contacted them, they said i was the second person that day with the same problem....

john...

 

[ProDave]

In this case it's an error in your favour. So I would not get too exited.  Yet.

Personally I think direct debits are the work of the devil and should not be allowed. Given the option, I much prefer manual payments or standing orders.

I dislike the principle of "unspecified amounts on unspecified dates"

My hatred of them stems from many years ago when I paid for gas by DD.  I cancelled the supplier and cancelled my DD.  2 months later, money went out of my account again, making me overdrawn, making me miss a mortgage payment because I was overdrawn, and costing me charges because I was overdrawn.

I told the bank I had cancelled it and it was their error. To which they replied  WE cannot cancel a direct debit, only the debitor can.

It was only when I said in that case I'll close my account and move to a different bank that they finally agreed to reimburse the wrong DD, refund the overdraft fees, make the late mortgage payment (a standing order) , and write to my mortgage company explaining the late payment was due to a bank error.

If you do insist on using DD's my advice is mistakes WILL happen, so keep a large enough float in your account, so you can at least argue the mistakes without upsetting anybody else.

 

[apprentice87]

Hi Prodave,

I feel the same as you!!! I only have two of the things, and left to myself i would not have any!!! The one is to Air Products, and i did not think i had a choice other than to have a direct debit thingy and the other is to the HP company to pay for my motorbike!!!!

john...

 

[OnOff]

Had a major problem with one of the major electricity suppliers. I have direct debits set up for quarterly payments with various companies for ease tbh. I recently bought another investment property and whilst this was being renovated I again set up a direct debit for the electricity used there. Scanning the bank statements and seeing there were payments going out to this particular supplier I thought all was good. With rents coming in on this and other property, payments going out to BG for landlords insurances, building suppliers etc I "missed" the problem.....

Out of the blue I received an email that my home meter reading was due. Found this odd as it is read and always has been. I went on line to my suppliers account to find they had, by direct debit, taken £1100.00 in one hit without informing me. It turns out that I had not paid a home electricity bill for 18 months. Phoning them they informed me verbally that they "now only bill once a year". Absolute rubbish. I very quickly downloaded the agreed payment set up on my account page - quarterly by direct debit. They simply had not been taking the payments.

TBH it was torturous to sort out. Roughly cutting a long story short as it was their mistake they had to reimburse me the full amount and then give me 18 months to pay it back. This is set out clearly in energy supplier guidelines I can dig out if anyone is interested. They eventually paid the money back in a couple of hits citing the amount was "too high to pay without manager's approvals etc". Not before they tried to take the £1100 again in one hit. Via my bank I cancelled the direct debit and all hell let loose. They tried to take the money again. I received threatening letters giving dates when balliffs would be on the doorstep. Every time I phoned them they would apologise and say it wouldn't happen again. Would speak to different people each time and there was plenty of "she doesn't work Thursdays/afternoons/different department" rubbish. Promised calls back never happened. Conflicting letters with the same dates etc. Absolutely dire! In all this time they were supposed to set up the payment plan but never did despite our constant attempts to do so. We eventually got someone who slated the previous operators and sorted the plan. Have a whole mass of names & dates written down of what was said and when.

It is now set up that we pay a monthly fixed amount to clear the debt, We have no issue paying the debt or that we owe the money. They tried to get me to set up a direct debit for the repayment plan and I point blank refused. We now pay the money manually, online monthly along with the normal bill. We were so sick of them we decided to change supplier to BG but until the repayment is cleared we can't - even though they caused the issue in the first place.

The theory of direct debits is great. Saves you time etc. BUT you do lose control. When it goes wrong it can go VERY wrong. I couldn't agree more AVOID them if at all possible.

 

[batty]

I always thought legally they have to advise you what they are taking before taking it. We get emails with the amount going from our account.