direct debit woes

This is rubbish. Of course you can cancel a DD. The thing that can't be cancelled is an arrangement to enable the payee to take money from your credit card. The payee needs to be told to cease taking. The credit card company simply pays when instructed.

I would suggest that you write a letter to the bank informing them that the DD was cancelled and billing them with the costs you have incurred.

Rob Graham

Launch a complaint through the BS complaints procedure asking that you be placed back in the position you were before all this started. Although the BS is responsible for refunding you, it might be an idea to copy all communication to BACS.

Daytona

Thanks for all replies on this topic. I haven't actually lost out financially in any of this (apart from my own time spent sorting it out) as the BS manager has no problem refunding the fee. Likewise the company whose fault it is acknowledge they are in the wrong and offered to pay any charges incurred.

It's just the 'pain in the arse' factor. Every month I get a letter informing me of a failed DD and a fee on my statement which I have to phone up and get them to cancel. Everyone is very nice to me on the phone they are just incapable of fixing it.

It's quite scary the situtation we have today - these things are controlled by computer systems that nobody in 'customer service' really knows well enough to be able to put right.

Anyhow the main thing I wanted to know was the position on cancelling the DD - I told the BS mgr I couldn't accept that what she said was true - and you have confirmed that it isn't.

cheers, LH

It's conceivable that their systems don't in practice have a way to cancel a DD, but it seems pretty unlikely. What's somewhat more likely is that the people you've talked to don't know how to do it! You need to get it escalated to someone who knows what they're doing.

I already went up as far as the branch mgr so to escalate further I would have to contact the BS head office. The branch mgr told me 'it's cancelled at our end but they can just re-apply the mandate you signed at any time'. Seems bizarre as the mandate is a signed instruction to the bank and I have made a later signed instruction to countermand it.

Anyway I have now cancelled my membership with the company making the DD (a breakdown service) and written to them stating that I don't expect to see any further attempts to take money from any account. Hopefully that will sort the matter, but unfortunately for them they lost a customer because they can't fix their internal system.

I was wondering that if a company continually does this even after admitting it's a mistake do they start breaking any laws (eg fraud?). I mean once or twice can be shrugged off as a cockup but it must have occurred at least 5 or 6 times now that they have attempted to take money that they are not entitled to (and presumably if the money had been in the account they would have got it).

thanks, LH

It's better to use the complaints procedure as they often have a different outlook, and once presented with the DD agreement from the website as proof should recognise it's entirely their problem to resolve, not yours. I would still launch a complaint, with all 3 parties (BS, breakdown service & BACS) merely to get some compensation for your hassle.

That's why I suggested copying BACS who run the DD system, as they can cancel the agreement they have with the breakdown service who don't appear competent enough to use it. With this kind of threat hanging over them, you might have found the problem resolved itself remarkably quickly.....

btw - I heard about some good pay & claim breakdown insurance earlier . I use a similar service from GEM and have been entirely happy with it.

I believe so under the Theft Act 1968 and the Theft (Amendment) Act 1996 -

Thanks for all the pointers, cheers, LH

It wasn't the AA by any chance ? Someone else had a problem with them over on uk.legal.

Daytona