I had a lengthy conversation with a regional manager for a bank yesterday on behalf of a newsagent who was having trouble getting the bank to refund money they had deducted from the newsagent’s account without authority.
I understand why the bank takes they view they do – they are skeptical of a customer who says that a long standing direct debit is wrong. This is easier than them having to fully research the situation. The problem with the Bill Express direct debits is that newsagents signed them for one business and the payments now in dispute have been taken out by another business.
I expect that yesterday’s conversation will lead to the newsagent receiving over $1,000 back from their bank.
Mark ..what was the name of the bank ?
Westpac. I’d note that Westpac has refunded payments to others. These issues are quite local.
has anyone received any money back from suncorp and if so could i get a name of the manager that you spoke to ?
our ANZ bank manager told us they have never refund before. is anybody with ANZ have received their money back? how?
I’m currently in “dispute” so to speak with Westpac who are investigating the matter. I’ve been told i’ll have an answer by September 29 so hopefully it’ll be a favorable one as the amount is over $2,200. Either way i’ll let everyone know of the outcome when i find out.
I am with ANZ, and have had all monies refunded. I dealt with my Business Relationships Manager, sent him a email with the details and money was back in my account in about 3 weeks, not a big fan of banks, but on this occaision I cannot fault them, nice to have a win now and then
We are with ANZ and have had the money refunded. We raised it first with our BRM, and were told they would investigate the transactions, after a few calls to chase up the status it was paid back to us after about a month.
Mark, Thanks to you we got two months of payments returned to us last week.
Shaun,
I have not had a problem with Suncorp. I got all my payments refunded…
We placed a stop on the DD and provided a formal letter to Suncorp advising that we have recently completed our bank reconciliations and noted 3 direct debits which were not ours… we also stated that if they were for BXP then the contract has been voided, the goods are unable to be used and there is a class action pending.
Suncorp put a trace on these payments to which the they did not receive a response, refunded all transactions and provided us with a written response that “Direct Debit User has not responded to our request to investigate and as result we have refunded the amounts to your account” – it took a little over two weeks as they have to give the direct debit user 5 working days to respond.
Would suggest you adopt this approach first. Failing this I do a lot of work with Suncorp and know the guy who heads the deposits and payments section.
Let me know what you want to do…
Peter thanks for the info , yeah we did the trace on it but who ever did the the transactions for those three months sent the bank the bill express paper work that was signed so the bank said there waas nothing wrong with the direct debit and for us to make contact with BXP , they don’t understand that there is no one to contact .
Shaun,
Give me a call later today 0407077721 and I can fax you through a copy of the letter we used, the contact details for the lady who helped us in the disputed transaction area and if all us fails the guys details who runs the deposits and payments function for Suncorp.
Peter i would like to say a big thankyou for putting me in the right direction in getting back my money from bill express rentals i just got off the phone to katie from suncorp and she said they will pay back all 3 payments .
So if anyone has not tried chasing it up go for it it is definantly worth while doing it
shaun s
Shaun, Glad to hear it worked out. Its just a matter of the right approach.
Cheers
Peter
Has anyone had any success in getting the Commonwealth Bank to refund the dollars fraudulently drawn by CHP (and negligently provided by the bank).
My branch, whilst acknowledging that there was no authority in place for CHP to do so, claims “they don’t know what the process is to provide a refund” and would like to know what branch did so they can have the process explained to them.
It’s a cop out and will ultimately cost them a number of accounts but I don’t think they care – but then “The People’s Bank” never really has!
Jim,
I encountered this with a Westpac area manager a couple of weeks ago. A newsagent had their area manager call me. The bank was refusing to refund the money. After e talked, the newsagent was refunded.
The bank had failed in its duty of care under the terms of the banking Industry Code of Conduct. They had assumed that the latest deductions were based on the original authority the newsagent signed.
Mark
Jim,
The approach should be the same regardless of the bank. I assume you have stoped the direct debit.
The next step is to lodge a formal letter of complaint advising the supplier contract has been voided by their inability to fulfill their contractual obligations, and the goods are waiting to be collected, therefore you are requesting payments dated x, y & z to be refunded.
The branch cannot action this and it will go through to the complaints area, or disputed transactions area. They will place a trace on the funds and the debiting party has 48-72 hrs to respond – to which they will not, the bank will then refund the money.
The letter just needs to be straight to the point and about the facts.
The complaints/disputed transaction areas of the banks know the precendent have been set for this and will action accordingly.
Cheers
Peter
Peter,
The legal team behind the proposed class action has provided different advice based on there is no authority with the bank to process the direct debits.
Mark
Mark,
I did this prior to the class action process being advised and got the refund pretty quickly.
Factually the goods are faulty, awaiing collection and whatever contracts were signed have been voided by BXP’s inability to fulfill these. The later point you raise can also be included in the letter.
Either way, a search would be undertaken by the bank and given the various parties that have been involved a reponse will not be forthcomming and the monies will be refunded.
The key is to get the monies refunded and let the class action take its course.
Cheers
Peter
What is the class action going to achieve now that they are bust? I’m not criticising, just wondering. Does anyone have any idea as to what will be happening with the equipment? It’s taking up space which I need and the screens don’t look good turned off.
Michael,
The key is that we are not liable for the payments. Turn the screen on use for internal advertising, the grand finals, spring racing carnivals, today show or whatever creates the mood for your customers.
Failing this take it down, send it home and use as a spare… That is what we have done with one of them…
Cheers
Peter
Michael ,i will have your screen if you don’t want it as i need one at home ,but seriously i only have the small sreen and they make a great poster display as mine is hanging from the roof in the middle of the shop customers can’t walk into the shop without noticing it
Shaun, come around with some pages for me to sign and have the BE/Mobius/etc dodgy letterhead on it and you can pick it up this afternoon!
But seriously shoudn’t we be the ones that take ownership of the outdated equipment for all the stresses newsagents have had to put up with in the last six months??? The abuse, threats, having to explain to customers that they can’t get phone credit/pay bills, all these surely add up to something.
We’ve been treated like pawns in all this and I bet if the screens are recovered, no one will pay to restore our roofs to how they were – again treated like crap.
Mark,
My claim to Westpac Bank was recently rejected.
I would like to get in touch with anyone who had successfully make a claim from Westpac.
Kindly leave a contact no.
Thks,
Steve