excellent, thanks very much im in the middle of typing up my masterpiece right now , hehehe i'll finish it off and send it tomorrow first class, recorded delivery will update once i hear back thanks again , much much appreciated

Well they didnt phone me like they said they would. instead i have just received a letter from them today stating that they are NOT going to re imburse me for the charges they put on my account. they also mentioned and i quote " i understand we agreed to refund charges totaling £355.50 which credited to your account last year as a gesture of goodwill (when i got money back due to the bank charge fiasco) our action was not intended as a precedent for any further refunds" "I am sure you will appreciate the responsibility for ensuring sufficient funds remain in your account to cover payments which are due, falls with yourself as the account holder" AHEM.... i CANCELLED the direct debit and 8 days later the company tried to take money from my account , surely it was responsible of me to cancel within plenty of time ... do you think i should get onto the financial ombudsman now , or is there something else i could do first? ps. thanks for all the help

i took your advice flying doc and mentioned everything that you outlined.. it was funny cause after i did the tone of the conversation changed and i got the impression the bank were willing to help me a bit more. they are going to contact me within 5 working days to notify of their decision whether they are going to reimburse me or not ... if they dont should i then mention the financial ombudsman? the first guy i got on the phone at the bank was as useless as an ashtray on a motorbike. he was obviously just quoting from a previously rehearsed script and i got a bit irate with him and mentioned the ombudsman.. which at that point he told me to contact customer services to take the matter further (he was from retail collections or something) thankfully the woman at customer services was more helpful ... but we will just have to wait and see.

hey everyone thanks very much for all your advice , much appreciated well i phoned up the bank again and actually got someone really helpful for a change. turns out i cancelled the DD on the 20th and convieniently the car insurance company set up a NEW direct debit on the 20th. as a last resort i stated that according to the direct debit guarantee i cancelled within plenty of time and did not give any authorisation for any direct debit to be reinstated therefore the citizens advice bureau told me that it is the banks responsibility to pay me back immediately. the woman then said that she noticed that i had a legal challenge for charges with the bank last year... which i did and won THANKS to this site and everyone on it. so then she said she would refer the case and get back to me within 5 working days to say whether they are going to re imburse me or not. i told her that i was completely frustrated because if i contact the insurance company they come up with some story so as to fob me off to the bank and vice versa with the bank. she said it didnt look like i was getting anywhere with insurance company and would try to do as much action with the case as much as she could. so now i need to wait!!! ok... ive never had any problem with my insurance company so i never sought other insurance and had good faith (naiveity) that they would send the renewal documents... i can honestly say that direct debits have been the worst invention in history... lol

by electronic banking do you mean online banking? because thats what i used to cancel the direct debit. how can i pay for instance insurance without using direct debit? I think there should be a massive widescale campaign to end the direct debit system... who's with me?

thanks mate the thing is i NEED to phone them tomorrow as the charges have put me into an unauthorised overdraft situation which they say i need to pay the amount of charges into my account by wednesday. can you tell me more about electronic banking? because after this i am never getting any direct debits again. also i have been hearing people open post office accounts, whats your opinion on that?

Hi everyone i wonder if anyone can help.... I cancelled my car insurance Direct Debit on the 20th Nov , went on holiday and came back to find out that the insurance company tried to take out money from my account , accruing £104 in bank charges. I phoned the bank who confirmed that i had cancelled on the 20th but that they weren't going to refund the charges and that i should speak to my insurance company about re imbursement... i did and the insurance company states that if i had cancelled the direct debit then they shouldnt have been able to take anything ... and that they were never given the instruction of a cancellation even though they tried to take out the money on the 28th.. 8 days after i cancelled. I am going to phone the bank back .. does anyone have any advice in how i should deal with this

has anyone ever had this problem... My insurance contract was meant to end on the 23rd October 2008 but my last instalment was made on the 16/9/08. I waited for renewal documents but none arrived so i cancelled my direct debit knowing that my contract had ended so i could pursue other insurance quotes. The company then tried to take out money from my account resulting in £104 in bank charges and then kindly gave me a letter saying they were cancelling my policy and that my "outstandind debt" was £168 in my naivety i didnt notice that the insurance firm will just continue the policy if no renewal is asked for. fair enough , very clever on their part , but fair enough. now.... the insurance contract that ended was for £290 for the whole year , i have since found out that the renewed policy (in which i had no part of) is for £348 ... HIGHER than last year... note: i have made no claims..... then i find out that the so called "outstanding debt" is based on the NEW RENEWAL price.... WTF!!! this is absolutely disgusting , like anyone in their right mind would agree to renewing their contract if they knew the price was going to go up AND especially when i found out i can get the insurance from another company for 100 quid less. listen to thiis... they then said .. and i quote from the credit control department of the insurance company "if you do decide to make a new policy with us the majority of the outstanding debt will be removed" am i missing something , since when were the mafia in town.... can anyone please advise on this situation i would be extremely grateful

booooooo yep you're right, i should have read T and C properly.. ah well own fault there but its really annoying.. talk about getting you in a trap. so basically say you had car insurance for two months, your car was unrepairable and you didnt have any money to buy a new one , you could be liable to pay the FULL year of car insurance??? or is it just usually one months premium? i could see the purpose of charging you one month premium for cancelling, but they seem to add on more and more stupid admin costs. thanks everyone for your help , you all really opened my eyes on the subject... cheers

ok I totally understand the angle and point of view you are expressing and also understand that when i took out the policy the official view is that , the contract lasts for a year regardless of what happens (car stolen, sell it, etc etc) you are still liable for the year (hence your burger king reply, lol) but , from a consumer point of view do you think this is fair? surely its unfair trading ? surely i should only need to pay for the service i receive? i think this is tyrannical trading, heheh lets say that i insure my car and i pay the insurance on a monthly basis, then fair would be that the moment i phone them up and cancel should be the moment i stop paying .... , they could then calculate exactly the amount you owe... so if i started the insurance on 1st November and decided to cancel on the 25th for some reason they would only calculate how much it would be from then until i phoned. heres an idea , top up insurance cards, i might be onto something , lol - you could top up your insurance as you need it

LOL .. ah but thats different I should be expected to pay because burger king would have provided me with a service .. heres a better analogy.. or maybe not even an analogy , heheh if you had cable tv and paid monthly then cancelled , there would be no cancellation fee OR if you had cable for 8 months then decided to cancel they wouldnt charge you for the next 4 months... because logically and rightly so you wouldn't be receiving any channels hence there would be no service if i cancel insurance why do i need to pay for months afterwards when i didn't have a car... this makes no logical sense. These companies like to add their "admin" charges , but what charges? all they need to do is press a few buttons and it would be sorted. surely those charges are disproportionate to the service provided?

Hi , wonder if anyone can help last year my car completely broke down and i had to get rid of it - i cancelled my car insurance (as you would) and a few weeks later got a bill for £85 from them which is the remaining money to be paid including a cancellation charge!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! is it just me , but i find this completely outrageous.. imagine going into burger king , ordering a meal, then changing your mind quickly only to be told that you still have to pay the £6 , without getting anything I didnt have a car so why should i have kept paying my insurance till it expired... this is ludicrous... now im getting sherriff officers letters demanding i pay £116 now , which includes other charges anyone got any advice?

Thanks to everybody who replied ....... ok heres what happened.. unbelievable!!! I phoned up the bank and stated that for the sake of £29 , they were gonna charge me £105 , totally unfair , etc , etc , etc The guy on the phone said , ok as a gesture of goodwill we will REFUND ALL THE CHARGES , this just DOESNT happen - it must be something to do with the OFT thing because usually they hum and haw, then pass you onto a supervisor , then a manager who ultimately tell you that it cant be done , but this was just a normal worker , really helpful guy WOOOO HOOOOO !!!!! thanks people

maybe i should just phone them and ask them to postpone taking it out until i get this sorted ... ?

The thing is, they havent taken the charges out yet , but they are going to - also my benefit gets paid in soon and i need that to go to work ... is there any way i can stop them from taking it out? can i ask DWP (or whoever it is) to pay the money into someone elses account for the time being? I cant afford for them to take it , they are going to try to take it tomorrow , but no money in account , benefit gets paid in on Fri and i need it - i cant try the right of appropriation thing cause you need 7 days notice AAARGH!!!