Wanadoo/Orange taking unauthorised ammounts from unauthorised DD's

[PinkGlitterGirl]

First of all, apologies if this is in the wrong forum, feel free to move it if so..

I have my internet through wanadoo (just become orange). I have been with them for 4 years now, since they were freeserve. However it wasnt until i got broadband with wireless and talk in December that all the problems started. Ive had so many issues. The latest is this:

My monthly DD should be £17.99. I have been paying double this for 3 months as they failed to DD the first 3 months. This was up this month. Last month i had to cancel my DD (after going around the houses with them who refused to cancel DD, said i could only cancel it if i gave them my CC details). I managed to get the bank to stop it, as i didnt want to inccur charges.

I then phoned wanadoo and told them this information, and they said ok, you can pay this month over the phone on 19th May (date i requested to pay it). I phoned up on that date, and gave my card details over the phone. I told them i wanted to pay the ammount owing, which was £35.98. All this went through, and was authorised blah blah blah. Thought nothing of it until today. Checked my bank, and there had been £54 taken out! I queried it with the bank, who said to phone wanadoo.

Called up wanadoo - queried the ammount, was told it was a previous balance outstanding from last month. Explained i had called to pay this already, and was told, no miss sweeney, we have no reccord of this payment you made on 19th May. Yes we do have notes on your account for this date. You set up a DD.
No I DIDNT!! I made a payment.
Well a DD was set up for ammount to come out of with your normal DD.
But i didnt ask for that. I made a payment not set up a DD.

So I phoned the bank again, and they confirmed my fears, Wanadoo didnt take out the money they were supposed to (i just assumed it had well you do when you have had payment authorised over the phone!). I made an indemnity claim there and then, as there wasnt the money in the account for the additional cost, only for the normal payment. This has gone through now ok.

Then i phoned Wanadoo again, to ask what to do about paying the ammount now outstanding, and to ask why the hell someone had taken my card details (security number, long card number, all the details needed!) and then set up a DD and not done what i had authorised. And then told me a payment had been processed and authorised by my bank??
I was then told that card payments werent accepted by them. Ok, so now the first person i told i had cancelled my DD to, then the person who i supposedly paid the ammount to over the phone, then the person i had just queried what had happned with were all wrong??

Anyway, by this point i had been stood in the supermarket 45 minutes with a very irritated child, as i had gone to do my weekly shop, and couldnt withdraw the ammount i needed (which is how i found out what wanadoo had done). I told the guy on the phone i wasnt prepared to be messed about. I was more than happy to make a payment, of the correct monthly ammount, but you will have to wait til next friday for the rest of the payment, so therefore if you dont take card payments how do you want me to pay it. You can only pay by DD or by giving your CC details. NO way, not a chance, you have just taken out unathorised ammounts from an unauthorised DD, and you think i am letting you have my bank details. Not a chance! How do you want me to pay - we then went through the same converstation about 3 more times before i said that i was requesting a transcript of my call dated 19th May, and was intending to persue the matter further. He then mumbled something and said i could send a cheque. Thank god.

Ive had enough, but im tied in a 12 month contract til dec. Can i get out of this early for breech of contract? Can i do something about any of this? (ive also had wireless adapters just break for no reason, and been left with out service about 5 times now, in 7 months). Also does anyone know whether this is true about the card payments. Surely they cant demand either DD payment of CC payment, surely for someone unable to do this, as they no longer have these banking facilities then what the hell would they do?

Sorry it was so long. I was intending to keep it short and to the point...but, erm, ooops!!

Jennifer
xxx

[lisamellor]

hi jen, i had similar experience with ntl setting up a d/d with out permission. anyway, my cousin works for ntl and we were talking about getting rid of them he said, because i'm tied in a contract with them, the best way to get out of it is to tell them that im moving house and will not be requiring their services as it is not my house. ( yes this may be wrong and there may be other ways of doing it, but this is probably quicker & less hassle ) so if you just ring them or write and give them 30 days notice to cancel the account with them, giving reasons that you are moving and you will pay the balance outstanding on the final day or when ever they want you to. if you have any equipment you will probably need to send it back to them so call them and arrange a pick up of these. hope its helped some !!


this is just my opinion and it is what i would do. decisions to follow this are your own responsibility.

[poochball]

Interesting my Girlfriend is going through the same thing and getting nowhere.

[seylectric]

I hate the fact that they are allowed to set up D/D's over the phone (although not without your permission, ask them for proof! )

The same goes for online direct debits. It makes an absolute farce of the banks' so called security. Anybody with my bank details, such as anybody I have ever sent a cheque to, can set up a direct debit in my name - or yours!

A trick being used by many companies, especialy finance companies, is to set up TWO D/D's so if you cancel one they simply take the money from the other one.

My advice:
1. Set up online banking and regularly check for new D/D's. You can cancel them online.

2. Ask the bank to notify you in writing if any changes are made to your account including new payment instructions. Tel them that you do not authorise anybody to set up a D/D without your explicit written permission (such as a signed D/D form) and insist that if any are set up by any other means they are immediately to be cancelled.

3. Ask the bank to refund you as the payment has been made in error and outside the terms of the direct Debit guarantee, which are:

The direct debit guarantee applies to all banks and building societies taking part in the direct debit scheme. It says that:

*If there is a change in the amount to be paid or the payment date, the person receiving the payment (the originator) must notify the customer in advance

*If the originator or the bank/building society makes an error, the customer is guaranteed a full and immediate refund of the amount paid.

*Customers can cancel a direct debit at any time by writing to their bank or building society.


If they have taken your money without notifying you even with a valid D/D instruction then you are entitled to a refund. The problem of course with phone or broadband accounts is that if you get behind with payments they will cut off your service anyway, and trust me you will find that Orange are very quick to do this. Technically they are in breach of the terns of the guarantee. It might be worth asking them to waive the payments as compensation for the hassle they have caused you but don't hold your breath, although you could always threaten to report them to the financial ombudsman and/or Ofcom who are both duty-bound to investigate and will charge Orange for doing so.

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/
0845 080 1800
complaint.info@financial-ombudsman.org.uk

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/complain/internet/isp/

[superstarjan]

I have been a customer of wanadoo for about 5 years, since it was freeserve. A few months ago, I "upgraded" to their £17.99 package (I was paying £27.99 for a slower service), they informed me that there was a fault on the line and it would take around 6 weeks to fix. As I work from home this was unacceptable and I told them to cancel my account. They then agreed to give me a free months broadband, when it was fixed, and not to bill me for the time offline. I still wanted to cancel, because I could not have no internet accesss t all, they then offered to give me free dial up whilst the fault was fixed. They gave me a number to dial up and went through all steps with me over the phone, I asked them to confirm that I would not be charged by BT for this dial up and they said that I would not. My partner also phoned a couple of days later and asked the same thing and got the same reply.

They did give me the free month that they promised, but I then received a bill from BT for £180. When I contacted them they said that I would not be entitled to have this money refunded as I had been dailing the wrong number, ie, not the free number.

I have spent around 3 hours on the phone to them (at premium rate) and sent numerous letters, but I've had no luck.

On one occasion (2nd May 2006) that I was on the telephone to "Paula", an employee of Wanadoo, I overheard one of her colleagues laughing and saying to Paula that she was putting a "Mr Diamond" on hold for ages because he was being awkward by asking to speak to a supervisor, then the same colleague asked Paula if I was still on hold at which point Paula did put me on hold, when there was no apparent reason to do so, other than to stop me overhearing her colleague’s comments, then 5 or so seconds later, when I was taken off hold, I overheard the same colleague swearing.

I don't know if I have any rights to claim this money back?

Jan

[callumsgran]

Originally Posted by PinkGlitterGirl

First of all, apologies if this is in the wrong forum, feel free to move it if so..

I have my internet through wanadoo (just become orange). I have been with them for 4 years now, since they were freeserve. However it wasnt until i got broadband with wireless and talk in December that all the problems started. Ive had so many issues. The latest is this:

My monthly DD should be £17.99. I have been paying double this for 3 months as they failed to DD the first 3 months. This was up this month. Last month i had to cancel my DD (after going around the houses with them who refused to cancel DD, said i could only cancel it if i gave them my CC details). I managed to get the bank to stop it, as i didnt want to inccur charges.

I then phoned wanadoo and told them this information, and they said ok, you can pay this month over the phone on 19th May (date i requested to pay it). I phoned up on that date, and gave my card details over the phone. I told them i wanted to pay the ammount owing, which was £35.98. All this went through, and was authorised blah blah blah. Thought nothing of it until today. Checked my bank, and there had been £54 taken out! I queried it with the bank, who said to phone wanadoo.

Called up wanadoo - queried the ammount, was told it was a previous balance outstanding from last month. Explained i had called to pay this already, and was told, no miss sweeney, we have no reccord of this payment you made on 19th May. Yes we do have notes on your account for this date. You set up a DD.
No I DIDNT!! I made a payment.
Well a DD was set up for ammount to come out of with your normal DD.
But i didnt ask for that. I made a payment not set up a DD.

So I phoned the bank again, and they confirmed my fears, Wanadoo didnt take out the money they were supposed to (i just assumed it had well you do when you have had payment authorised over the phone!). I made an indemnity claim there and then, as there wasnt the money in the account for the additional cost, only for the normal payment. This has gone through now ok.

Then i phoned Wanadoo again, to ask what to do about paying the ammount now outstanding, and to ask why the hell someone had taken my card details (security number, long card number, all the details needed!) and then set up a DD and not done what i had authorised. And then told me a payment had been processed and authorised by my bank??
I was then told that card payments werent accepted by them. Ok, so now the first person i told i had cancelled my DD to, then the person who i supposedly paid the ammount to over the phone, then the person i had just queried what had happned with were all wrong??

Anyway, by this point i had been stood in the supermarket 45 minutes with a very irritated child, as i had gone to do my weekly shop, and couldnt withdraw the ammount i needed (which is how i found out what wanadoo had done). I told the guy on the phone i wasnt prepared to be messed about. I was more than happy to make a payment, of the correct monthly ammount, but you will have to wait til next friday for the rest of the payment, so therefore if you dont take card payments how do you want me to pay it. You can only pay by DD or by giving your CC details. NO way, not a chance, you have just taken out unathorised ammounts from an unauthorised DD, and you think i am letting you have my bank details. Not a chance! How do you want me to pay - we then went through the same converstation about 3 more times before i said that i was requesting a transcript of my call dated 19th May, and was intending to persue the matter further. He then mumbled something and said i could send a cheque. Thank god.

Ive had enough, but im tied in a 12 month contract til dec. Can i get out of this early for breech of contract? Can i do something about any of this? (ive also had wireless adapters just break for no reason, and been left with out service about 5 times now, in 7 months). Also does anyone know whether this is true about the card payments. Surely they cant demand either DD payment of CC payment, surely for someone unable to do this, as they no longer have these banking facilities then what the hell would they do?

Sorry it was so long. I was intending to keep it short and to the point...but, erm, ooops!!

Jennifer
xxx

Interesting.............. .. they would never take my payment over the phone!!!!!!