I recently started using a credit card again after leaving it dormant for some time. In the meantime it had been moved from one company to another. When I got the statement I checked and it said that the payment would be collected by direct debit.
After the date I checked and saw that it had not been taken and a late payment penalty had been slapped on. I contacted the card co and they said that my bank had refused payment. My bank said it was the card cos responsibility to set up the DD and they had not done so until a week after the failed payent.
After a long and frustrating conversation with a phone operator at Barclaycard, who could not understand "I have spoken to my bank - this is what they said" or "Who can you transfer me to who can sort this out?" I gave up and started preparing a strongly worded letter to someone senior in the UK. I was phoned back by the operator twice (first time I would not speak to her because she asked for the wrong person), she said they would repay the late charge but said that the problem was caused by them not using the DD for over a year. She said that if it is not used for over 12 months it becomes dormant and has to be reactivated before it can work - and that it was really MY responsibility to tell Barclaycard that they had not used the DD for a long time and that they needed to do this.
It sounds to me like they did not handle the transfer of the DD with the card account properly and that they were trying to avoid admitting blame. If they write and say "We will collect this money by DD" I don't see why I should have to contact them and say "Are you sure it will work?"