Banking question

[Kymmy]

We've got an abbey business account for a dormant company.. The account was in credit but registered as a bank on a PAYPAL account fo the same company.

A few months ago we bought some stuff on ebay and used PAYPAL to pay for the items. We selected the CARD option (which is on another account) but for some reason the card wasn;t used and the monies were attempted to be taken out of the dormant companies bank account. One went through putting the account £8 OD and the 2nd attempt failed so we got hit with not only OD charges but also failed DD charges..

Firstly tried paypal to find out what was going on but Indian accents are not my strong point so I got in touch with the bank, told them that we hadn't authorised the DD's for them two payments and he said OK he'll put that through as an unauthorised DD's and will reclaim the money. Now PAYPAL have repayed the DD (we had to pay the vendor another way) but the bank haven't even got back to use to specify that the DD's have been successfully reclaimed. Also the charges are still on our account even though we were told that the charges would be scrubbed once the DD gets scrubbed..

We're now getting recovery letters regarding the OD (now at £58 pounds) and find it impossible to contact the bank (it's telephone only banking only as the counters don't do business banking and usually give up after being on hold for 20 minutes :( ) I'm still gonna attempt to contact the bank but in the mean time just wanted opinions on what the situation is regarding charges based on unauthorised DD's, do I have to claim them back from the DD company or should the bank discount the charges..Anyone know what the DD gaurentee states on this matter?

[Julian]

Something HERE (http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/ombudsman-news/27/27-directdebit-guarantee.htm)
Although it is a little old.

I have successfully claimed unauthorised DD's and any associated costs on my business account with Bank of Scotland.

Good Luck

[Kymmy]

Luck :( think I need more than luck..

Finally got through to someone, they explained that it was my fault and asked if I wanted the account closed, I asked what implication that would have on the £55 currently in dispute, they said the answer isn;t relevant and asked again if I wanted the account closed :( This went on for another round with her saying that it was not Abbeys fault.. The batteries in my cordless ran out and the line went dead :(

Rang them back 5 minutes later with fresh batteries and was astonished when I got answered and there was no-one there (open line) worse thing was they were openly discussing my case and laughing about me :shocked:

I got right onto complaints (was in tears at the time) and I'm wating to hear back from them :(

[lauzjp]

good grief! I hope you get things sorted out Kymmy - is there not a business relations / account manager you could speak to?

[Kymmy]

Just had a 30minute phone call from that departments manager..

After a full explanation on the matter he has cancelled all the charges..

I'm happy with that and I also informed him of problems I had whilst speaking to his staff member and whilst just listening to them. I've left that in his hands as feedback which hopefully he'll sort out internally..

I'm just happy it's over...never liked being in debt and all of a sudden I had demands for money without even realising it all thanks to paypal.. I've removed all my direct debits from the paypal accounts I, my partner and the business has and will stick to the cards..

Thanks for the comments guys and thanks to the manager at Abbey collections & recovery for sorting it all out

[lauzjp]

phew. :tu:

[joglynne]

I echo that comment. phew. :tu: Glad your sorted Kymmy.

[icestar2]

I wonder if the manager has just cleared it for you because he was worried about problems that could of been caused had you decided to take it further after hearing his staff talking about you and laughing.

In any case I'm glad to hear you've come away from it happy and the situation in resolved :)