Direct Debit Payment - taken early by Talk Talk!!

[DebbieM7]

Good Morning

I have just had a notification from my bank advising I am overdrawn as Talk Talk have attempted to take my Direct Debit today despite the payment date on my Account being the 30th of each month. I have tried to find an email to contact someone at talk talk regarding this but cant find anything on the website. I will now incur late fees from my bank through no fault of mine. Has anyone any suggestions on what I do to get this resolved?

I need Talk Talk to resolve the DD date for future and also reimburse me for bank charges. It is day before payday and I cant access any money I did have left until the direct debit is returned at 3pm today. Not great!! 

[DebbieM7]

I know - I never did get an explanation from Talk Talk on why this happened or even an apology for the issues it caused me! I ended up having no access to the money that was in my account as it caused me to be overdrawn (the day before payday too - the money was actually train fare to get to work!). Since then I have just been paying by card payment on my paydate. I refuse to set up another direct debit as I will not take chance of the issue happening again. I have been so fed up with the service from Talk Talk, internet dipping constantly and they have told me to try changing the wireless channel on my line (I looked it up and its not a basic thing - how they think its acceptable to ask the customer to do something that long ago an engineer would do for you as part of your service is crazy if you ask me!)  I am looking into an alternative provider.  

Regarding the explanation we are told by email the date of the direct debit on the actual bill - it still defeats the purpose of us 'choosing' our prefered date if Talk Talk keep amending it to suit them. I have never had any other service provider or direct debit amended in such a way EVER! I am resposible for setting up direct debits in my current workplace and requesting them via our bank system - never would it be allowed for us to attempt to change dates without more than 10 days notice to the customer in writing and we would also have to give a reason why the date was being changed (usually due to bounced payments etc) The whole purpose of a direct debit is to eliminate the hassle of remembering to make payments and for peace of mind that payments are not taken until you actually have the funds available in your account. I set up direct debit specificately for my pay date to avoid being over drawn -  to have it taken prior causes hassle, stress and costs more as I get charged fees from my bank.

I shouldnt need to double check the payment date on each bill just in case.... my bills are genenrally the same amount monthly as I dont use the telephone much so I barely even look at the bill.  Hence why I didnt realise Talk Talk wanted to take payment early.

Talk Talk are a shambles of a company and reading the other threads it appears most people think the same....

[Gliwmaeden2]

I suspect that they are referring to this, @TTsouthampton:

 

The point being that it's the date shown in the email notification bill, not precisely what you have chosen in My Account. 

Long years ago we actually used to get far more notice, which helped avoid these shocks, but they have always treated it as "on or around" your chosen date. Then they reduced the notice period considerably. 

The thing that never changes is the billing cycle, so, though the notification date itself sometimes alters by a day, the days the bill covers never change, eg always from 7th of this month to 6th of the month ahead (and catching up on chargeable phone calls, engineer charges etc).

It's very easy not to read the notification email properly but the direct debit due date is always displayed along with the amount, without you even having to sign into My Account. 

As they display this information in the notification email, they think they are covered.

If you want staff to look into your own particular case, please start a new topic. 

[TTsouthampton]

I'm not sure why none of the customer service drones have replied with the relevant info, but I've had the exact same issue several times: DD set up for 30th and they take payment on 27th or 28th. TalkTalk told me their conditions advise they may take payment 4 days early! What's the point in letting us 'choose' a date then? I have several unpaid DD charges with my bank as a result. It may be in TT's conditions but I doubt the Comms Ombudsman or Ofcom (whichever has the authority) would approve of such tactics.

[DebbieM7]

Good Morning

I have just had an email advising you will be charging me £12.50 on my next bill due to the direct debit being returned unpaid. Please ensure this charge is removed from my account as this was not my fault. You attempted to take payment earlier than it was scheduled! I set up a direct debit date that would be after my salary was paid. My online account still said it was set up for the 30th of the month. I checked this after the bill was issued.

This is a TALK TALK ERROR not mine.

I have still not receieved an update on why this happened in the first place and it has been a week since the incident. As advised I was then unable to acess the funds that were in my account that day as you TALKTALK caused me to be overdrawn! The day before payday you left me without any money at all!! I know I have said it before but this really is very poor service from Talk Talk.

I have made payment by card so my account balance is clear. 

Debbie

[Gliwmaeden2]

I'll re-escalate this for attention, @DebbieM7, but most staff are still away for the Bank Holiday. 

[DebbieM7]

Is there an update on this? I have been notified of bank charges being issued for an unpaid DD. This also caused hassle as I was unable to access the money I did have in my account as the unscheduled DD caused me to be overdrawn! Not great the day before payday! Very poor customer service Talk Talk. 

[Arne-TalkTalk]

Hi DebbieM7 & richard1603

Let me investigate both these accounts and send them to the billing team. 

[richard1603]

What are you going to do about this TALK TALK.  You should not be billing early when there is a Direct Debit mandate in place.  How are you going to rectify this???

[richard1603]

Talk Talk need to sort this out.  My bill also said payment on 27th which I only saw today.  I have gone onto my account and checked my DD and it says due date is 30th of the month so they should not be taking before this date as this is the direct debit mandate.  I will also be getting bank charges for this.

If this is not rectified and I dont get reimbursed I will also be looking elsewhere.  I am not in contract so am not binded and to be honest I can get a lot better service and speed from elsewhere who do not take payments before they are due.

[DebbieM7]

Exactly! I checked my online account at the time of the bill and this still clearly shows the DD date is set up as 30th. This is actually bad financing. I work in a property factors and I am responsible for the processing of direct debit payments from our tenants. If a direct debit payment amount is changing in anyway we are required to give at least 10 days notice of this in writing and we are certainly not allowed to take payment earlier than agreed on the Direct Debit mandate- they can report us to the finance ombudsman for this. My bill was only emailed on the 20th March.

[DebbieM7]

My account was actually set up as the 30th by me in the beginning as my salary is paid on the 28th. When I receieved the bill I did see the 27th date but I logged in to check and change the DD Date but it still said it was set up on the 30th.  Why does this recent bill state 27th but my online account states 30th?

Also no idea why it has changed to the 27th anyway. Are you allowed to just change payment dates!? This is a Talk Talk Error- not mine. Previous Direct Debit payment dates as follows -

28th February (obviously due to the 28 day month?)

30th January

29th December

29th November

30th October

29th September

30th August

Please look into this properly rather than just having a quick look at my recent bill. 

Last month I had an error from your billing telling me my account was overdue (despite direct debit being taken)and then you followed up to say you were incorrect. I assumed this was yet another error with your billing.

I will be looking at an alternative provider as I have a terrible iternet connection at home anyway and now your billing is causing issues.

[richard1603]

I have just had exactly the same.  Regardless of when they say the bill is ready, my DD is set up for the 28th of the month (payday).  They have taken payment a day early for me causing the same problem.  This is why you set up a DD to have a set payment date!!!

[Arne-TalkTalk]

Hi DebbieM7

Your bill was produced In My Account on the 19th March and on that bill it clearly shows the payment date is the 27th. 

Sorry for the inconvenience