[etccarmageddon]

let's be realistic - often people on forums talk about taking things to court but it would never end up there - you'd refuse to pay and they'd most likely credit it to your account (depending on the value involved) or they'd write it off as a bad debt and possibly put something on your credit file.

from the legal point of view, it's their incompetent systems at fault so I can't see how they'd be able to justify back charging BUT they have done that after doing a database clean up AND only advised the customer by the direct debit advance notice. so if you dont want the stress of a large direct debit, resolve it now.