Can anyone help with NTL problem?

[Tigger2405]

having disagreement with NTL. They decided suddenly that they had been giving us double discount accidently for several months, and that when our Direct Debit payment went out, they took the whole of the extra amount (£55.68 -doesnt seem much, but is to us) without notifying us first. When I phoned up, girl who couldnt care less said they were entitled to money back as we had wrongly been discounted twice for something. Pointed out their mistake not ours and why had they not written to us informing us of mistake and offer to take so much extra per month for few months instead of all in one go. Girl said it stated amount to be taken on latest bill, which we hadnt received. Demanded copy, when finally came all it had was normal charges plus amount added on at end, BUT with no explanation!!. have sent complaint to NTL, had one reply saying looking into it & would get back to us within 5 days (but this was 10 days ago!)
Can anyone help? i.e are we entitled to demand money back and repay gradually, and can we do same as with bank charges situations, and justifiably take action. be grateful if any of you can throw some light on this !?!

[callumsgran]

Claim the money back from your bank under the direct debit indemnity guarantee, if ntl was in wrong they will claim the money back from them

[Tigger2405]

According to Citizens advice I cant do this as direct debit was variable and extra discount was listed on bills, -we just didnt question it but then we thought it was their problem

[Tigger2405]

We're still having no luck with NTL situation. As they took the extra amount by Direct Debit, we cancelled the DD with bank to prevent this happening again. We now get bill with £4 added on for not paying by DD. Have refused to pay this, as said brought on by themselves. No-one ever got back to us to resolve the situation so we have gone back to Bt and are having TV & Broadband disconnected soon. Only now do they phone and see what they can do. Asked why no-one bothered before, cant give answer. Still doesnt help us with the situation where they took the extra causing us to go overdrawn, and incurring £30 charge. Citizens Advice say they were entitled to claim money back, and it was variable DD so we cant do anything. But there must be something we can qoute to them to get them to sit up and take notice. Pleeeeese can anyone help?

[Rich44]

Even if its a variable DD you still have the DD guarantee they still have to give you ample warning of the amount they intended to take out and the day they intended to do so, personally if its not too late I would go back to the bank and say you didnt not receive the minimum notice of the amount to be deducted and see what they do then

[dw190]

Any company using the DD scheme must give you at least 10 days notice of the amount to be debited on a variable DD instruction.

Get yourself a dbox.

[Rich44]

exactly

[meagain]

Could be worse. My bill is so badly incorrect I've had to calculate it myself (and found the actual amount to be aruond £100 in my favour!)

[gage]

From what I recall from checking up on DD's in the past it doesnt actualy matter if the amount was exactly right and you had all the notice in the world your still quite entitled to go to the bank and tell them to refund it straight back to your account (in fact im quite sure ive done it in the past when quite skint) its then down to the company to ask you to pay up in other ways.

[Tigger2405]

Thanks to all sorry for delayed reply having probs with broadband surprisingly supplied by NTL!
NTL say gave required notice on bill which very conveniently we didnt receive. This they say keeps their side of agreement. We've now gone back to BT and suddenly they are phoning every 5 mins asking what they can do to put right (Well you had your chance and 2 months of it!) Give up on sorting out just want to get shot of them so have done so! Cancelled all DD's with NTL to prevent taking unagreed amounts again and they try to charge us £4 admin fee for not paying by DD - have refused to pay this.
Anyway thanks to you all for your help

[blacksheep1979]

At the moment NTL are cutting their broadband prices (you have to ask though)

Phone up ask to be disconnected
They ask why
Say SKY will do you 16mbit broadband for £10 a month

We managed to get £55 onto our account (supposedly for a router) and 10mbit for £10 a month from them when we did the above - hope it helps some of you

[petethemanc]

The same happened with me with sky. I made an indemnity claim and had my money refunded, and sky claimed it from the bank. Swings and roundabouts but it buys you time to look into it.