Advice on cancelling DD with Vodafone?

Richard Dower

I am being forced to leave my home of 10 years, essentially an eviction....i have a landline and BB with Vodafone. I am under contract with Vodafone for another 12 months, because of my eviction which is beyond my control i will soon have to get the landline disconnected and cancel the contract with Voda.

As you might expect they want €238 from me because of breach of contract, even though it is 100% out of my control.

I have a DD setup, my concern is Voda might take steps and clean out my bank account, one option is to either close my bank acc. or take out all my money etc.

What i would like to do is cancel the DD on the banks end....but how would i do this

I know its a two step process, the bank + Vodafone. But i simply cannot afford to the pay the €238 penalty....any advice would be appreciated?

SickBoy

Call bank and advise them to cancel the DD.
Then call Vodafone and open a discussion with them around how you would like to come to an arrangement with them regarding the outstanding balance. I'm sure they might agree to a partial settlement as this is something outside your control. Offer to pay 25% of the balance or something...
The worst thing to do would be to cancel the DD and not contact Vodafone.

ElNino

If you call into your bank they can cancel the DD for you for a small charge depending on the bank. Obviously you will need to deal with Vodafone. Maybe transferring your Vodafone broadband to your new house might be a compromise solution?

Cantona's Collars

Whatever you do,make sure & contact Vodafone.Try the Talk to Vodafone forum here on boards also.You might be able to transfer services to your new address.

Richard Dower

SickBoy wrote: »

Call bank and advise them to cancel the DD.
Then call Vodafone and open a discussion with them around how you would like to come to an arrangement with them regarding the outstanding balance. I'm sure they might agree to a partial settlement as this is something outside your control. Offer to pay 25% of the balance or something...
The worst thing to do would be to cancel the DD and not contact Vodafone.

I'm open to paying a monthly thing, say €10pm....but paying €238 upfront is not an option. I'm not rying to skirt my responsibilities....but considering my circumstances there is no way i pay a lump sum.

Richard Dower

ElNino wrote: »

If you call into your bank they can cancel the DD for you for a small charge depending on the bank. Obviously you will need to deal with Vodafone. Maybe transferring your Vodafone broadband to your new house might be a compromise solution?

Vodafone said that,that if i reconnect within six months they would waive the €238. But a new landline would cost €150 to install in the new house....i simply cant affod that, not now at least until things settle down.

Richard Dower

zerks wrote: »

Whatever you do,make sure & contact Vodafone.Try the Talk to Vodafone forum here on boards also.You might be able to transfer services to your new address.

I called Voda yesterday, i'm not trying to skip out on them or the contract, but i'm financially not in a position to pay €238.

Cilar

Isn't it a force majeure outside your control, and in such case, you do not have to pay anything? I know it would be the case in other EU countries, would have thought it would be the same in Ireland through EU laws. Might be worth checking with a customer agency.

dub45

You can cancel the Direct Debit Instruction by writing in good time to your bank

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


Unfortunately knowledge of the dd scheme can be very poor amongst bank staff and it is not unknown for a bank branch to refuse to cancel a dd so be forearmed with the information available above.

Cancellation of the dd does not absolve you of course of any contract obligations.

Also a company cannot just arbitrarily debit an account they must give advance notice of their intention to debit an account. The minimum notice period unless otherwise agreed is 14 days.

Originators must give advance notice of the date and the amount of each direct debit. The advance notice period is generally fourteen days, or in some cases seven days or less if agreed by all parties, before the direct debit is applied

A Direct Debit Guarantee is provided by your bank in the following form:
If you authorise payment by direct debit, then
Your direct debit originator will notify you in advance of the amounts to be debited to your account
Your bank will accept and pay such debits, provided that your account has sufficient available funds

Also it is important to note this:

You can request your bank to refuse a direct debit payment on your account up to close of business the day before the direct debit is due to be paid from your account

Remember it is your bank account and the bank has to respect your instructions as per the provisions of the dd scheme above.

xii

Sorry to hear about the eviction,

Cancel the DD, never use VF again.

They cant find you, even if they could they cant affect your credit rating, their debt collection agency CMOS also cant find you and have so many cases they will only deal with the top 10%.

End