Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Legal matters

Mumsnet has not checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. If you have any legal concerns we suggest you consult a solicitor.

Original poster

Surprise Direct Debit!

9 replies

Dakiara · 14/05/2015 11:42

Hi all,

Hope you can help - it's an odd one. Turns out we've been paying for a small direct debit since 2003. We have never had correspondence about this and the only reason we found out was that an administrator wrote saying it was going to be cancelled.

We definitely didn't ask for this and it appears to be connected to a mobile phone contract from our first ever mobile phone.

Our bank says to contact the company but they are not replying to emails.

What is our next step and are we just going to have to write off this money? Confused

Thanks for any advice - we're feeling kinda embarrassed about the whole thing but don't want them to get away with this fraud.

OP posts:
Cherryapple1 · 14/05/2015 11:44

you tell the bank you are claiming back the money via the direct debit indemnity. They may kick off but you are entitled to ask for the money back if it was claimed in error. You bank seem to be giving you the wrong info here.

TranmereRover · 14/05/2015 11:49

could this be a PPI claim in the making?!

Original poster
Dakiara · 14/05/2015 12:19

Thanks, will contact them. We tried last week but the guy we spoke to couldn't find the computer code to cover it as it's been going on such a long time and the claim team he phoned asked had we called the company. :-)

Still can't believe this happened - we never thought to look at direct debits for something dodgy as we thought it all had to be forms sent to us.

OP posts:
Cherryapple1 · 14/05/2015 12:22

no ppi is not a dd for a mobile phone.

The bank have to refund you and then they debit the company. That is part of the guarantee of any DD. Do not let them fob you off.

sockmatcher · 14/05/2015 12:28

How much money is it? Ask for interest on top

Hobby2014 · 14/05/2015 12:29

I wish I knew I could go to the bank.
We had a dd coming out of an account for over 3 years @ £10 per month. It was a subscription for a game which the company could see we hadn't used in any of that time (not logged into it). They said they couldn't do anything as we hadn't unticked the automatically renew box. Eventually they refunded us 3 months. Didn't even realise I could go to the bank. This was a few years ago. I'm assuming I'm too late now Sad.

Original poster
Dakiara · 14/05/2015 12:36

It's around 800 in total. I'll pop past tomorrow and be more insistent. Smile

OP posts:
Original poster
Dakiara · 15/05/2015 16:13

Update - the bank is now pursuing it, but it might not go through properly due to the length of time apparently. If it does come through it may later get taken back, but if it does we will need to contact the Ombudsman, at which point we stand a good chance, apparently! :-) Can keep fingers crossed at least. Still can't believe that it happened. Blush

OP posts:
sockmatcher · 17/05/2015 16:42

Good luck. I hope you get it sorted :-)

New posts on this thread. Refresh page