Cancelling a direct debit

vector

I've just cancelled a direct debit with a company (BT Ireland) their billing dept is the subject of many horror stories (see the Broadband forum!), can I also cancel the direct debit with my Bank (Bank of Ireland), would the bank even listen to me? I think that when it comes to direct debits they only take instructions from the company?

jayok

Cancel away - it's your money remember.

I too had a problem with a particular company and I contact them to cancel the service. Immediately after that I contact my bank and requested the cancellation of the DD. To confirm this I had to sent a letter requesting the DD be cancelled. 14 days later along came the DD request from the company and it was rejected!! It felt good...

Anyhow, follow up the DD cancellation with a dated letter and if it leaves you a/c the bank will have to refund you as they are in breach of their T&C's.

ircoha

vector wrote:

I've just cancelled a direct debit with a company (BT Ireland) their billing dept is the subject of many horror stories (see the Broadband forum!), can I also cancel the direct debit with my Bank (Bank of Ireland), would the bank even listen to me? I think that when it comes to direct debits they only take instructions from the company?

u have the right to cancel at bank side as it is your signature that allows the DD to work.

previous post is spot on write to branch where ur acc is held

Eoin

vector wrote:

I've just cancelled a direct debit with a company (BT Ireland) their billing dept is the subject of many horror stories (see the Broadband forum!), can I also cancel the direct debit with my Bank (Bank of Ireland), would the bank even listen to me? I think that when it comes to direct debits they only take instructions from the company?

It is the company who defines how much the direct debit is for, but it is you that is instructing the bank to pay it in the first place. Definitely cancel it, if BT accidentally bill you for another month or something like that, it could be a major pain to get that money back.

Sponge Bob

also remove the account details from the BT online billing system, log in and change your account number to zeroes with a zero sort code

Random

Cancel with your bank in writing.

BC

You actually don't have to contact the company at all, you can just go directly to your bank to cancel a direct debit. Only problem there is that some banks will charge you for the refusal when the company try to put it through the next time. Best thing is to write to both the company & the bank.

Nuttzz

BC wrote:

You actually don't have to contact the company at all,

most DD forms say you do have to contact them

ScouseMouse

I had a rep fill me with crap about smart telecom broadband. When i checked what she said i rang 3 times trying to cancel the sign-up. Between no call backs and voice mails i got nowhere. I faxed AIB and notified them that they were to reject any direct debit mandates from Smart Telecom. Three days later, smart rang me........

Ha Ha

Dont believe the reps, she told me i could have 3MBit up AND DOWN, they dont it is 3 MBIT down and 256k up.

ciaran00

I cancelled a DD with BOI and BT (yes i know there's another page for BT related complaints..) BOI acknowledged this as did BT in writing eventually.... Then 2 monts later i was back on DD and monies were taken on 2 occasions without permission, we cancelled twice. BOI fobbed us off with "Originator plus" brownstuff last august and we accepted it. Recently i started investigating it and it turns out what BOI said was totally wrong. I dunno bout you guys but i found IPSO were reasonably good. I got a great response and email with which i was able to go to the bank with. I'm meeting the bank manager on monday and hopefully will have resolution.The evidence is stacked against them. My intentions are to take them to court. It has taken a year and a half of paperwork and evidence collection (sad it may sound but i got my teeth into this one...) They are obliged to write to BT (or whoever) with information that you've cancelled your DD with them, eventhough the mandate with BT was paperless/over the phone. You deserve to see evidence of this. If it's not forthcoming, you have rights under the data protection legislation - write to their data protection manager. Don;t give up people, hopefully we'll all get resolution. I'll let ye know how i get on...

Our man in Havana

Originator plus is the spawn of satan. It basically allows the originator to set up direct debits without a written mandate. These cannot be cancelled easily as the Originator submits each payment request with a difference reference number so cancelling in the bank has no effect as the reference number is difference each time.

It took the threat of legal action to stop BT from DDing my account.

ciaran00

a bank, whether or not mandates are written or unwritten have a basic requirement to protect the customer. the IPSO told me that under no circumstance should the bank allowed this to happen. They have to follow up on instructions from the customer. In my case i canceled the DD. The bank, should have evidence that they've checked this with BT. If the bank house your money, they should protect it. There's no public info on the rules that the banks work from, keeping the customer in the dark. My intention is to bring the bank and BT to court, i'm 12 months waiting for this to be rectified.

Our man in Havana

In my case, BT continued to debit despite cancelling in the bank. The banks response was "We cancelled the DD ref no xxxxxxxxx. They submitted a DD with ref no yyyyyyyy. We have followed your instructions and have done nothing wrong." The bank basically did not care.