Virgin Media -Direct debits taken out on the wrong dates

[philiph20]

For some bizarre reason VM take out seperate Direct Debits for my Broadband and the TV/phone and V plus however the broadband bill is never posted to me and the direct debits do NOT come out on the same day. I have tried to get some sort of feedback from them but getting through on the phone is difficult so i was horrified to see they tried without notifying me in advance and as a result no money was in the account on that given day ( i am paid weekly and tend to take mosy if not all out on pay day) and the "right-on" hypocritical co-op bank duly took £30 in comission, this morning i checked online and found out teh same thing had occured yesterday on another completely random day hence another £30 to those masters of spin Co-op, has anyone else suffered this from the totally incompetent Virgin Media?, any advice?

[NaciravBanks]

I had the same thing happen to me last year, only i had cancelled my DD and it resulted in V-M paying me back the charges levied on my bank account.

 

Provided the dd was not taken on the day agreed, then i would write a letter to them (VM) explaining this and attach your bank statment highlighting the charge's and request a refund. you'll prob get a call back (like i did) and have the moneys credited to your VM account.

 

Good Luck

[Holdred]

Personally I wouldn't trust VM with a Direct Debit at all.

[mfpa]

Personally I wouldn't trust VM with a Direct Debit at all.

 

Or anybody else for that matter. Most DDs are now worded so that they allow the payee to dip into your account and take what they want whenever they want. They *should* inform you of any change to amount or date but this can be done in a change to T&Cs buried on a website somewhere or enclosed in a booklet nobody reads when they check the bill. I know there is a "Direct Debit Guarantee" but everybody I know who has tried to get the bank to repay under that scheme has failed and still had to fight the payee for refund.

 

The only organisations I deal with who refuse to accept payment by internet banking or Standing Order are TV Licensing (who keep refunding my payments) and my gym, Fitness First (who accept cash over the counter at the gym). Some organisations take several months to realise you will *not* pay by card or DD or via a PayPoint outlet and they must give you their payment details if they want any money.

[mick094m]

I had the same thing few years back created havoc with my other direct debits as I was only on Incapacity Benefit at the time,I did the same and cancelled the direct debit with them,I am now thinking of not paying the charge they levy for non payment by dd as I read somewhere that if you pay at a cash point like I do that it takes the same amount of time as a dd for the money to go through as it is the same system bacs I think it's called,got another bone of contention with Virgin will start another thread on that one

[Conniff]

Cancel the direct debit and set up another one. Where it say 'variable amounts on variable dates', cross out the variable dates and insert the date that it is supposed to come out on.

 

Any further problems you can blame the bank.

[mfpa]

Cancel the direct debit and set up another one. Where it say 'variable amounts on variable dates', cross out the variable dates and insert the date that it is supposed to come out on.

 

Any further problems you can blame the bank.

 

It may not be a bad idea to actually inform the bank that your mandate for DDs to Virgin specifies the date and/or the amount. Often the mandate does not go to the bank - they just assume any DD payment requested is kosher until the customer squeals.

[ASIIndustries]

BACS Direct Debit FAQs