To cancel my direct debit?

[Whatisthisfuckery]

Virgin Media are putting my monthly broadband fee up by more than 10%. I have the option to cancel without fees if I didn’t want this rise which I have done. I’ve decided to go with a lesser package and to return to BT, as 200MB internet is massive overkill and BT’s customer service doesn’t fill me with the same dread as Virgin.

I was told that the cancellation would happen in 30 days and that my next bill would be taken as usual but I would then have an over payment that will be returned to me in the form of a cheque. a bloody cheque FFS.

The monthly bill which I will be charged will be £32, and I was told on the phone that the check I will receive to cover the over payment will be for £46.

When I recieved the email confirmation it said the following:

If you pay by Direct Debit, your last bill will be drawn after your disconnection on your normal date from the bank. The Direct Debit will be cancelled once you’ve paid your final bill in full.
If your account is in credit, it’ll appear on your final bill and we'll send a cheque to your registered address – this can take up to 45 days from your disconnection.

So they’re going to bill me after they disconnect me, even though I’ll already be £14 in credit.

This is taking the absolute piss right? They’re going to take extra money from me even though they’ve already had more than I owe them, and to add insult to injury they’re going to take up to 45 days to return it, by sodding cheque.

AIBU to cancel my direct debit so they can’t have anymore of my money? Knowing them I won’t get my cheque anyway, so at least I’ll only be losing £14, rather than the £46 I’m likely to have to spend hours and hours on the phone trying to chase them for? Will it tarnish my credit score if I refuse to give them money I don’t even owe them?

Bump!

You don’t control direct debits on your account, the company does. Therefore they have to cancel it. If you do, they will still attempt to take it and it will come back as unpaid which will be noted on your credit file

Then taking a payment will be because it’s already in the system to do so. Your account will go into credit and will be refunded - or at least it should be

They can still take the money even if you try and cancel the direct debit.

Yes, just cancel it and tell them why.
Tell them cheques are irresponsible anyway at the moment when they have means to return electronically

You can cancel direct debits with the bank, but the company will still try to take it. I can’t follow any of the nonsensical billing info (not blaming you, nonsensical from Virgin I mean!) so I suspect that indicates they’re the type of company who would try and charge you for the failed DD, even though they were only going to refund it to you anyway

Yes, it making a black mark on my credit file is what I want to avoid. I know Virgin are an absolute shower but I can’t believe they make you wait 6 weeks, for a flipping cheque. Every other company I’ve dealt with have refunded over payments electronically, and it’s not like they don’t have my bank account details.

I was in a situation several years ago with Vodafone where they kept taking a month dd payment even after I canceled my contract (contacted them 3 times to cancel). I contacted the bank and cancelled my dd to close ties with them.

Be very careful, in my case Vodafone kept demanding the monthly payments, and ended up putting a marker against my credit score. The financial ombudsman were involved, but Vodafone lost(?!?) all call recordings of me demanding they stop the dds. Vodafone ended up refunding me as a 'good will gesture' but the marker stayed on my credit file for years and ultimately affected big financial decision e.g. moving house. Put everything in writing whenever possible. I made the mistake of only dealing with the call centre.