Meteor debit / overcharge money from my bank without me knowing, what can I do?

Seamonster

Hi, I am hoping somebody can help me on this, I am so angry it has happened and don't want to let Meteor get away with it.....

I am unemployed and barely able to live on the social welfare payment I get. I get just over 200 Euro a week, it sounds like a lot but I have a mortgage to pay and I'm not going to give you a sob story but I never have money left at the end of the week. That 200 is very important to me.

This Thursday 18th February I just gone my dole payment went into the bank as usual. Because I couldn't afford to pay my phone bill for ages I decided that the dole money would be used to pay off my phone bill and have it reconnected. My phone bill amounted to around 61 Euro's, which included @ 39 Euro's for January and @ 22 for February. I rang the 1905 number, got through to credit control and said I wanted to pay my bill in total - @ 61 Euro's. The girl on the other end didn't have a clue what to do, said my CCV number was wrong and couldn't process the money. I said to her not to worry, I will just go into a post office and pay there instead. Now it starts to get sinister.......

I went to withdraw the dole money out of the bank and the girl there said that there was 219 Euro dole money there, but that 202 Euro was pending - as in somebody had withdrawn it but it wasn't on the system as to who took it out. So in effect, my dole money was taken out of my account by somebody and now I have no money for the week. I went home and rang the bank's head office, they said that Meteor had taken out @ 39 Euro twice and @ 61 twice! They never had permission to do that, somebody made a mistake in there and in my mind its an abuse of data which I imagined should be used in confidence.

So, I rang Meteor and explained what happened and the guy basically told me that unless I can prove that they took the money, I won't be getting a refund! I pleaded with them that this was my dole money and that I have nothing for the week but he didn't care. I asked him to put me through to his supervisor and he wouldn't. I rang the bank back and asked them if they could give me something to prove that Meteor took the money and they said it would be a week before it goes through the system. They gave me the authorization codes for the 4 transactions which I called Meteor back with and they said it wasn't enough - no proof, no money back!

This has been making my blood boil since yesterday because I have shag all money left until next week (19 euro's) and even though Meteor are a massive company who clearly made a mistake, I am the one who has to suffer for the week. How can they just use my private data to just go into my account and just take the money out without my permission anyway??? It must be completely illegal. It's also left me broke.

Does anybody know what I can do? I understand I can't compete with Meteor, but once I can prove they took the money I will get it back, weeks later. Can I sue, get compensation, anything? Has this happened to anyone before???

HELP! :mad::eek:

sceptre

The Help Desk forum is for people having trouble with the site or who wish to clarify or contest a moderation decision. Regular members can't reply to your thread there so we're better off putting this somewhere else.

As it involves a bank transaction (though you don't say whether this was via direct debit or whatever), I suspect the banking forum is the best place for an answer. Moving this there.

Seamonster

Thanks for that - wasn't sure where to put the thread and thought this section was for people needing help! Thanks......

Jet Black

It should only take a day, two max for it to show on your account depending on the bank. It wont take a week to show. It should be showing on the account by now.

Seamonster

Hey, thanks for that, I will have a look at my account later. If it's on my online account I will just do a screen grab or something and mail it to them. My worry is that they will just give me 202 Euro credit on my phone instead of the money back. We will see. As soon as it's sorted I'm definitely closing my account with them and going elsewhere........thanks again.

trishasaffron

You have my sympathies - unfortunately I cannot help - I realised after 6 months that I was paying meteor on the double for mobile broadband. They were debiting my credit card while I was paying directly online. I really don't know who is right or wrong but after 6 monhts and endless emailing I still haven't got a refund (or even a credit). Either their banking records are terrible or something more sinister is afoot.

goodluck

Seamonster

Thanks for the post Trish. Sorry to hear about your predicament. The sinister thing is that I have never set up a direct debit or transaction before with them, so it amazes me how they have the balls to just use my card number I gave them in confidence and withdraw / overcharge me and then say "Prove we took the money and we will look at the problem then". I am surprised that my bank allowed them to do that too. I thought you had to tell the bank to give permission for companies to take money out or set up a direct debit, like for gas bills or something. Either way, all my dole is gone now and I'm broke till next week! :mad: BUMMER!

Jet Black

Just one thing to note is if they were to admit thier mistake today it will probably be over a week before the refund was back on your account. I would definitly not accept the money to be used as credit from them. They should be able to see what payment was made to your account.

Seamonster

Hi, I rang them again today to ask to talk to somebody else regarding that and was sent around in circles - they even hung up on me. I told someone else in there what happened and they even said that they looked at their system and they can´t find any records of Meteor taking my money - very convenient for them. I also rang my bank back about how they could let Meteor take the money without my permission and they told me they can´t stop Meteor from taking my money!!! I have lost total faith in buying things online. It means that if I book a cinema ticket, give them my card number, they effectively can take any money they want out of my account! That´s what Meteor did and the bank said they can´t stop them. The mad thing is that I never set up a direct debit or anything...........! So anyone can do it then!

BuffyBot

If they tried making multiple attempts to bill your debit card with Meteor (which is what it sounds like) then there may have been multiple authorisations made. Authorisations check for funds and often put a hold on them.

The card issuer can always see who the pending authorsations are from. Ring the bank, and ask - if Meteor has made multiple authorisations, they should also be able to cancel some of them, freeing up the funds. Of course, it depends on the bank.

They money most likely hasn't gone: it's just been placed on hold, and it's unlikely they managed to take a direct debit from an account where one didn't exist.

Seamonster

Hi Buffbot, you seem to be spot on there, the girl on the phone kept on trying to process the payment but she said it wasn't working - obviously it was. 4 times. That's reassuring to know that the money hasn't really left the account yet too. I think what I should do next is call Halifax, get them to cancel the 4 payments pending and give a big two fingers to Meteor. I might have to change bank because there is nothing stopping Meteor doing this again. I understand I could get the money back again after a few days but I have no piggy bank or money saved anywhere, what they took was all I had .

Thanks a million for the advice, it definitely puts a more positive light on it.

BuffyBot

Call Halifax. I'm sure they can see if there are pending authorisations, and if so, sort some of them out for you

Changing bank isn't an issue (well obviously, it is, as Halifax is closing) - but changing because of this would be pretty pointless. It's not Halifax's fault, and could happen with pretty much any card/card issuer.

Meteor haven't taken anything as such - the money is still in your account. The system has just put it aside temporarily. Authorisations made to cards expire in their own time, mostly after the payment in question has been taken, and the put aside funds have been sent on to the company in question. The big thing here is to call Halifax and see will they cancel some of the pending authorisations

Seamonster

Hi BuffyBot, thanks again for the reply. I called Halifax this morning (Monday) and explained the situation to them. I told them that Meteor had wrongly requested to take over 200 Euro's from my account and that I wanted it to be cancelled. They said 'It's not part of our policy to do that'....I told them again that I needed this money, that Meteor were in the wrong and amazingly they said they could only try and stop it 'Once the money has gone through'!!!! It's so frustrating. I again got Halifax to confirm that the 202 was in fact requested by Meteor. I asked them if they could give me some kind of written confirmation that Meteor requested the money, so I could give that to Meteor and get a refund - again, I got the brick-wall response "It's not our policy'. I told them it was my account, my data but they wouldn't help me at all. So basically, anyone that has my card details (Even if I buy cinema tickets) can basically go into my account and take as much money as they want. Halifax won't stop them and won't do anything until my money is gone. It's a brainless system. So, I have to wait until the money is stolen and spend weeks chasing these idiots at my expense. So, it looks like my dole money is gone and even my own bank won't help me out. I told Halifax I don't feel safe banking with them, I have no confidence in them at all, that I thought the customer came first and their reply again was 'It's not our policy'.....it's just unbelievable. I am NEVER doing anything online like this again