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Originally Posted by Buzzby
Last October my girlfriends daughter managed to get a £450 bill for internet etc on mum's phone. Mum couldn't pay it all there & then.
She negotiated a deal with NTL £50 a week, and no service until the bill was
cleared. No problem, she was paying the £50 a week until suddenly NTL
grabbed the rest of the debt out of her bank a/c, emptying it.
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If she had agreed to pay the debt by DD and was paying it correctly and had received no notification from NTL that they were intending to vary the agreement or the amount, then they are in breach of the Direct Debit Guarantees:
* 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.
See
http://www.financevictims.co.uk/direct-debits/ for some useful information as to what to do next including:
"If an error - by the originator or by the bank - has caused you extra expense (perhaps by causing you to go overdrawn), the bank must put you back in the position you would have been in if the mistake had not happened. Whether this cost is borne by the bank or passed on to the originator is no concern of yours."
I'd also suggest contacting your local Citizens Advice Bureau if you need any more help or info.
Best of luck!