Direct Debit Incorrectly Claimed

LifeBeginsAt40

Hello Una,

I have noticed today (03/01/2013) that Electric Ireland have taken a direct debit payment of €132.02 which has resulted in a CREDIT of €132.02 now showing on my Electric Ireland account.

This Direct Debit obviously should not have been requested and has now resulted in my bank account becoming overdrawn.

I do not have an overdraft facility with my bank so when I receive confirmation of penalty charges I will forward on the details to yourselves.

Please can I request that Electric Ireland IMMEDIATELY refund the €132.02 incorrectly claimed by Direct Debit today.

Claiming a Direct Debit amount that is not due, is in breach of the DD banking mandate.

PM sent.

Regards, M.

EI: Una

Being investigated by private message.

LifeBeginsAt40

Thanks Una for the info. Hopefully resolved in a few hours at the bank.

LifeBeginsAt40

With reference to the above post.



I made a full bill payment (€213.70) which was credited to my Electric Ireland account on the 28th December 2012 - clearly shown on this screen shot of my ESB account.

Then on the 3rd January 2013 a Direct Debit payment was taken that placed my ESB account €132.02 in CREDIT. There was NO OUTSTANDING bill to pay.

This resulted in my bank account becoming overdrawn as I had already paid you €213.70 on the 28th Dec to clear the outstanding bill.
I was informed via PM by Una of Boards/ESB that the Direct Debit could not be refunded and I was to contact my bank in order to have the funds reversed.

I went to my bank branch on 3rd January 2013 and filled in a form to have the ESB Direct Debit reversed and the funds applied back to my bank account. The amount of €132.02 was refunded to my bank account.

It now transpires that I have been charged a fee of €12.70 by my bank, just to get my money back from ESB.

I expect Electric Ireland to refund this fee as soon as possible. You took a Direct Debit payment that WAS NOT DUE. This placed my bank account overdrawn and my ESB account €132.02 in credit.

The simple act of asking for my funds back has now cost me €12.70 in fees.

cookie1977

Why did the bank say they charged you the fee? I'd query that too with your bank.

LifeBeginsAt40

cookie1977 wrote: »

Why did the bank say they charged you the fee? I'd query that too with your bank.

I was charged a standard fee for an unpaid transaction. I had to ask my bank to "un-pay" the ESB Direct Debit transaction. The fee is legitimate. The fault lies with ESB in making me have to apply for a DD reversal. If you go into a bank and ask them to reverse a Direct Debit they will charge you an admin fee. This was the €12.70.

I was instructed by a customer service agent of ESB to contact my bank and ask for the DD to be reversed. I did as they said, I was charged an admin fee.
I now would like my fee refunded by ESB as it was them who applied for the DD when there was no outstanding bill.

cookie1977

Normally if a direct debit was taken in error then under the direct debit plus scheme:

http://www.ipso.ie/section/DirectDebitScheme

Paying Banks Must:

Only pay direct debits in accordance with customers’ Instructions
Ensure that unauthorised and/or cancelled direct debits are intercepted and returned immediately on presentation
Promptly refund customers for indemnity claims and present the Indemnity to the Originator
Assist customers in resolving disputes with Originators
Inform the Sponsoring Bank if an Originator is not adhering to the Scheme Rules

If it is established that an unauthorised direct debit was charged to your account, you are guaranteed a prompt refund by your Bank of the amount so charged where you notify your Bank without undue delay on becoming aware of the unauthorised direct debit, and in any event no later than 13 months after the date of debiting of such direct debit to your account
You are entitled to request a refund of any variable direct debit which exceeded the amount which you could reasonably have expected, subject to you so requesting your Bank within a period of 8 weeks from the date of debiting such direct debit to your account

They really should not have charged you. How did you request the refund/reversal of the amount from your bank. I'd be strongly complaining to my bank/bank manager about this.

LifeBeginsAt40

cookie1977 wrote: »

Normally if a direct debit was taken in error then under the direct debit plus scheme:

http://www.ipso.ie/section/DirectDebitScheme


They really should not have charged you. How did you request the refund/reversal of the amount from your bank. I'd be strongly complaining to my bank/bank manager about this.

ESB say that it wasn't a DD taken in error. ESB applied for the DD to be taken about 7 days in advance. This I understand is standard procedure.
So even though the DD came out on the 3rd Jan 2013 it was applied for just after Christmas.

Once a DD is applied for it cannot be stopped, so regardless of the fact my ESB account was showing a zero balance by the time the DD was actually due, it was too late to stop the debit from my bank. Whilst it may seem nice to have a credit of €132.02 in my ESB account, it does not feed the kids and has resulted in problems.

To get the Direct Debit reversed and the funds back in my bank account, involved going to my bank branch and filling in a form at the customer service desk asking for the DD to be reversed. The bank charge a fee for this service.

ESB told me this was the only way I would be able to get the funds returned to my bank account.

cookie1977

LifeBeginsAt40 wrote: »

ESB say that it wasn't a DD taken in error. ESB applied for the DD to be taken about 7 days in advance. This I understand is standard procedure.
So even though the DD came out on the 3rd Jan 2013 it was applied for just after Christmas.

Once a DD is applied for it cannot be stopped, so regardless of the fact my ESB account was showing a zero balance by the time the DD was actually due, it was too late to stop the debit from my bank. Whilst it may seem nice to have a credit of €132.02 in my ESB account, it does not feed the kids and has resulted in problems.

To get the Direct Debit reversed involved going to my bank branch and filling in a form at the customer service desk asking for the DD to be reversed.

ESB told me this was the only way I would be able to get the funds returned to my bank account.

Sorry is the 12.70 a charge for the payment reversal or for going into overdraft due to the direct debit being taken? Or do you know?

LifeBeginsAt40

cookie1977 wrote: »

Sorry is the 12.70 a charge for the payment reversal or for going into overdraft due to the direct debit being taken? Or do you know?

Payment reversal. It clearly states this on my bank account. Actually the bank refer to it as an "unpaid transaction" as in theory it is.
ESB applied for the DD and I told the bank to reverse it = i.e. unpay the DD.

I know it seems like an unfair fee, but when you look at it it's standard banking.
A DD was requested by ESB and I wanted that DD reversed. The only way to "reverse" a DD is by the bank not paying it.
ESB told me that they could not reverse the DD themselves and that only my bank could action this.

On paper the money left my bank account and then the bank "unpaid the DD" and the €132.02 returned to my bank account a day later.
This results in the "unpaid" fee of €12.70.

EI: Una

Hi M/LifeBeginsAt40,

PM received and replied to.

Regards,
Una

GerardKeating

LifeBeginsAt40 wrote: »

I was charged a standard fee for an unpaid transaction. I had to ask my bank to "un-pay" the ESB Direct Debit transaction. The fee is legitimate. The fault lies with ESB in making me have to apply for a DD reversal. If you go into a bank and ask them to reverse a Direct Debit they will charge you an admin fee. This was the €12.70.

I was instructed by a customer service agent of ESB to contact my bank and ask for the DD to be reversed. I did as they said, I was charged an admin fee.
I now would like my fee refunded by ESB as it was them who applied for the DD when there was no outstanding bill.

If I understand you, You setup up a Direct debit to pay the bill, but just before this was processed, you paid it by another means?

In that case, why are ESB at fault, you chose paid the bill twice, so any cost is yours really.

LifeBeginsAt40

Electric Ireland: Una wrote: »

Hi M/LifeBeginsAt40,

PM received and replied to.

Regards,
Una

Resolved by ESB. Thank you Una.

As this issue originally began due to my submitting meter readings, would it be possible to pass on a request to the IT team asking that a CLEAR MESSAGE is placed on the "submit your own readings page".

Stating that: Submitting Your Own Meter Readings Will Produce a Bill Out of Sequence.

I know I am not the only person here who has simply submitted their own readings and then suddenly had a bill produced they were not expecting for about 30 days or so.

With the economic climate as it is, not all of us have a "float" of cash in the bank for unexpected bills.

Just a though, Kind regards M

EI: Una

You're welcome LifeBeginsAt40. Above suggestion passed on to I.T.

velvet1989

Life begins at 40. I am pretty sure the 12.70 if for not having the money in your account when the dd was processed. This is exactly what happened to me and on the same date as you infact

wmpdd3

velvet1989 wrote: »

Life begins at 40. I am pretty sure the 12.70 if for not having the money in your account when the dd was processed. This is exactly what happened to me and on the same date as you infact

I had a DD reversed with BOI in Oct and there was no fee for this, but the unauthorised DD had caused my account to be in the red, this also cost me €12.70.

cookie1977

velvet1989 wrote: »

Life begins at 40. I am pretty sure the 12.70 if for not having the money in your account when the dd was processed. This is exactly what happened to me and on the same date as you infact

That's what I thought too hence why I asked.

LifeBeginsAt40

wmpdd3 wrote: »

I had a DD reversed with BOI in Oct and there was no fee for this, but the unauthorised DD had caused my account to be in the red, this also cost me €12.70.

You see my DD was authorised, but not required. It was due to ESB starting the Direct Debit process about 7 days in advance of actual DD due date. So come the due date an additional payment I made had already cleared and the DD payment wasn't required but could not be stopped.

The only way to reverse DD and transfer the funds back into my bank account was a trip to the bank and fill a form in. This resulted in a fee as I unpaid the DD.

As when a DD is reversed it becomes "unpaid" and attracts the fee.

Anyway as I mentioned earlier in the thread, the matter is now resolved between ESB and myself and the moderators are welcome to close this thread if they so wish.