VM early debit order - idiots

A

Abe

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Up the creek without a GB
VM just put through their debit order for the month on the 24th December. The debit order normally goes off on the 1st of the month. WTF is wrong with them. We don't keep extra money in the debit order account to prevent some company taking money that they are not entitled to. So now the damn thing went over.
 
NCA here we come, its illegal unless they contacted you and got your approval.

Phone the NCA and claim back ALL bank charges from VM.
 
remybfg10k said:
NCA here we come, its illegal unless they contacted you and got your approval.

Phone the NCA and claim back ALL bank charges from VM.
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Already called and demanded the bank charges. Waiting for a response. If they don't comply, will cancel the account. It's as easy as that. Then they will lose out on between R700 and R1000 per month. Will probably call the NCA as well if they don't pay up.

They normally send a sms before hand indicating the amount that will be coming off the account. Did not even send the sms this time. Think some bright spark at VM thought it would be a good idea to send through the debit orders early because most people get paid early in Dec. They have been getting really shoddy of late, they cancelled our VM rewards for no reason and have still not reinstated them.
 
Vodacom used to do this as well. But they would usually send you an sms first. With an option (if I remember correctly).
 
If this can be considered "Breach of Contract" then it means that the contract no longer exists from the date that the breach was committed by either party or parties involved in the contract.

Read the contract carefully and if you get to this conclusion, cancel the contract if you wish to do so.

Take this opportunity to legally "get out" of the contract now if you are not totally satisfied with VM. :)

Let us know the outcome please, it will help others in the future.
 
Virgin Active does that as well. Luckily I always have money for debit orders in the bank. But the thing is, if you don't, it will now affect your credit rating at your bank because of a missed debit order.
 
This points towards software problems - or somebody made changes without understanding what is he or she doing. I got on 24th statement for December - about ten days after it was collected. Earlier they used to send me statement at the beginning of the month.
 
Bule said:
This points towards software problems - or somebody made changes without understanding what is he or she doing. I got on 24th statement for December - about ten days after it was collected. Earlier they used to send me statement at the beginning of the month.
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But remember, it's not just Virgin Active that does it. Some institutions (FFS, I can't recall one now!! :o) do early debits, and some do double debits in December because in general January is a hard month for most people and some tend to skip some or other payment. I know for a fact that if you bank at ABSA and your credit card is 2 months in arrears, they will issue a 'journal debit' and TAKE the money from your account.

I wouldn't say this is 'wrong', because you were aware of the situation in the first place, but it does cause difficulty for people in financial trouble.
 
um, is it not the debit-order service provider doing it? (and not Virgin) I am assuming because of all the public holidays. I always budget for early debit-orders in Dec cause companies close and some places run their month-ends earlier.

it doesnt negate the fact that it can be a pain, but i doubt its a contractual breach.
 
Virgin mobile are certainly responsible for when the debit order is taken off. They submit the lists to the banks for processing.

We had a bad experience with a company that took off money when they were not entitled and it was a real nightmare to get it back. Now we put all debit orders (and bill payments for that matter) through a different account. We also save about R300 per month in bank charges by doing it this way as the debit order acc is a R66 pm FNB acc. We have also cut our debit orders down to a minimum and do most things through EFT now (VM is being changed as I type). It only takes 15 minutes per month but saves a lot of potential problems.

On the VM debit order side. They will refund the bank charges. It took a while to get sorted but fixed now.
 
Quick question.

My mother signed up to virgin active and gave my banking details.

Now V.A debits my account without permission (written or verbal) I'm pretty sure that is illegal? !

Any advice?
 
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