New Account - Direct Debit Not Showing At Bank

[#1]

A returning customer here...

I signed up to Plusnet on 05/05 for a new build property. Initially there was some back and forth with the builders and Openreach in terms of getting the phone line set up, however on 15/06 the broadband went live and everything has been smooth sailing since.

Back when I signed up on 05/05, I immediately got an email telling me that my Direct Debit instruction had been submitted. The page at https://www.plus.net/apps/paymentdetails/manage/ tells me "You are currently paying by Direct Debit" and shows me the last few digits of my sort code and bank account number, as well as a reference number for the Direct Debit.

But, there's no sign of this Direct Debit in the list of Direct Debits on my online banking for my bank account. Usually when a company sets up a Direct Debit against my bank account, I can see that Direct Debit in the list of payees quite quickly, before the first payment has even been taken. This normally happens within a few business days - for example I set up a new Direct Debit last Wednesday for something else and it was visible in my online banking by Friday.

I'm confused as to why I can't see the Direct Debit for Plusnet against my bank account yet... Is it normal for Plusnet Direct Debit's to not appear until the last moment before first payment perhaps? Or is this the result some anomaly in the way they set up Direct Debits? Or - which is my worry - is it likely there's been a glitch or fault in the setting up of the Direct Debit for my account?

[#2]

Hi there, glad to hear its all working for you. In regards to your direct debit I can see its all active from our side however when we take the first payment then it will show active on your side. By all means if the direct debit fails we will let you know and if need be we would need you to resubmit direct debit mandate.This is the link if need be.

https://www.plus.net/apps/paymentdetails/manage

[#3]

An update on this:

My bill was generated 14/07, at which point I received an email telling me the direct debit would taken on or after 18/07. It's now 20/07 and payment still hasn't left my bank account, and there's still no sign of the direct debit in the list of direct debits in my online banking.

The bill is still showing as "Pending" in my Plusnet account.

Could someone with access to the Plusnet billing system take a look and tell me what's going on? Has Plusnet applied to take the direct debit? When did they apply? When should I expect the payment to leave my bank account, as it's now been 2 working days since the date in the advance notice email and nothing has yet been taken...

[#4]

In my experience payments to PN generally (always?) leave your bank account one banking day later than stated in the PN e-mail.

Companies usually submit the DD set-up instructions to your bank immediately; after all, what business doesn't want to get paid on time?  Have you asked your bank whether they can enlightening you in any way, perhaps it's somehow stuck in their system(s)?

When I recently migrated to another telephone provider, it took a long time for the DD to appear in the list of DDs on my online bank account, but when I rang the telephone provider, they confirmed that it had been set up.  However, unlike your situation, it did show on my account in time for the first payment to be taken on time.

I've sent you a PM with the name of my bank and if it's the same as yours, this might be a problem with that particular bank, although it has only happened with one DD so far.

[#5]

I had replied to this but my reply was marked as spam?

I've spoke to my bank on the phone and they've confirmed that there's no trace of a direct debit from Plusnet visible on my account. She did caveat this by saying that sometimes even she can't see it until the first payment has been requested... So this suggests that Plusnet haven't set up the direct debit, or they have and haven't requested the first payment (despite it being 2 working days past the date of collection given in the advanced notice email).

When I was with Plusnet some years ago, I never had any of these problems, and I was using the exact same bank account back then as I'm trying to use now.

My worry is that if / when the billing system catches up with itself and realises it hasn't been paid, my internet will be restricted / cut off, despite providing valid bank details for the direct debit almost two and a half months ago...

[#6]

I've just spoke to someone from Plusnet on the phone who, although sincerely tried to figure out what was going on, was ultimately unable to explain why payment hasn't been taken yet and why there is no visible Plusnet direct debit on my bank account. The advice given was simply to wait...

Is anyone who monitors these forums able to look into this in more detail perhaps, or has access to another system that can shed some more light on what's going on? Or am I stuck in billing limbo?

[#7]

HI @danielgrant

Thanks for coming back to us. I've just spent some time going through your account and discussing the situation you've described with one of my colleagues. Here are the highlights of the conversation:

1). The DD will attempt to claim 3 days after your invoice date - this explains some of the most recent delay.

2). The DD can take up to 10 working days from that point to clear on your account.

3). The DD may not show in your banks DD list until the first payment clears.

4). If the payment fails (for whatever reason) it will generate a code which we can use to identify why it has failed - obviously, we'd need to wait for that to happen before we have the code.

5). The payment will "auto-fail" after the 10 working day period (or the payment will clear in the same timescale).

So - As it stands, the advice you were given to "wait" is pretty accurate. We're at the mercy of the timescales around DD transactions and need to understand whether a). This has cleared successfully or b). Has failed and which code has been generated against that failure.

In the interim, we'll take ownership of this and ensure that restrictions aren't placed on your account within the 14 day period from your invoice date. If you see anything that we don't, please let us know.

Best wishes,

Dave

[#8]

Hi @RandallFlagg, thanks for taking the time to look into this - I'll keep an eye on it and report back when something changes.

[#9]

Hi @RandallFlagg / Plusnet staff,

An update: I have this morning received an email from Plusnet informing me that the direct debit transaction failed with the following reason:

Your Direct Debit payment failed because of the following:
The bank/building society doesn't recognise the instruction setup to pay the Direct Debit.

I can now see when logging into my Plusnet account that my account has been restricted and I'm being prompted to pay by card. I have done this, have received email confirmation that the balance has been settled, and I can see the bill now shows as "Fully Paid".

However, when navigating to https://www.plus.net/apps/paymentdetails/manage, I can see it's still showing the same information that it showed before - that I have an active direct debit.

Could someone at Plusnet explain to me:

1. Why you didn't set up the direct debit, despite me providing my bank account details when I signed up over two and a half months ago?
2. Why your system was showing my account as having an active direct debit against it, when clearly that wasn't the case?
3. How I go about attempting to set up the direct debit a second time? Do I just use the "Update" button under the direct debit details under the https://www.plus.net/apps/paymentdetails/manage/ and resubmit the same bank account details again?
4. What reassurances you can give me that a second attempt to set up a direct debit on my account will work, and that I won't be sitting here again this time next month with the same problem?

Thanks.

[#10]

Moderator's note:

Two posts released from the Spam Filter then removed as duplicates.

[#11]

I have re-submitted my bank details via https://www.plus.net/apps/paymentdetails/manage. The direct debit currently has a status of "Awaiting Submission", and has generated a new reference (it now begins with "PLUS" instead of "PNET" and ends with a "-2" instead of "-1").

Let's see if this one goes through.

I am still interested to understand why the direct debit wasn't created after I signed up in early May, even though Plusnet's billing system thought I had an active direct debit when I didn't...

[#12]

I don't know what bank you're with, but with Barclays you can view them through internet banking. Worth trying.

It can happen (it did to me with the student loans company when I was a student), that the banks will refuse to pay a DD if the company in question who claims it makes a mistake and uses a wrong reference number. The banks will say "No", company will wonder why it didn't go through and you'll get contacted with a failed bill and wonder why yourself.

The fact you have mentioned two different reference numbers makes me suspect it could be a possibility.

Like what you did, I just set up a new DD using the new reference number which worked. Hopefully it will for you.

I'm old enough I remember paying bills off by cheque .. gone are those days 

[#13]

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@Alex wrote:

I don't know what bank you're with, but with Barclays you can view them through internet banking. Worth trying.

As above, the direct debit did not / does not appear in the list of direct debits on my online banking, and after speaking to my bank on the phone they confirmed that there's no trace whatsoever of any direct from Plusnet on my account,

@Alex wrote:
It can happen (it did to me with the student loans company when I was a student), that the banks will refuse to pay a DD if the company in question who claims it uses makes a mistake and uses a wrong reference number. The banks will say "No", company will wonder why it didn't go through and you'll get contacted with a failed bill and wonder why yourself.

I guess that would be for Plusnet to investigate, however that doesn't account for the fact that my bank has told me that there's no trace of a direct debit from Plusnet against my bank account.

@Alex wrote:
The fact you have mentioned two different reference numbers makes me suspect it could be a possibility.

Huh? Not sure you read my previous posts... I've only mentioned the second / new reference number after re-submitting my bank account details via the Plusnet control panel this afternoon (as doing so generates a new reference number) following on from the failed direct debit email and account restriction I got from Plusnet this morning.

Prior to that the reference number visible of the direct debit for the payment has remained the same since I signed up for Plusnet over two and a half months ago...

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@Alex wrote:
Like what you did, I just set up a new DD using the new reference number which worked. Hopefully it will for you.

Hopefully, as I don't fancy having to deal with a restricted account and manual payment every month.

It would be useful if someone from Plusnet could reply to this or update the open ticket on my account with an explanation as to what went wrong with the initial setting up of the direct debit on my bank account...

[#14]

Yes I have read your previous posts.

It's either not been submitted to the bank, or they are trying to claim under a different reference which may fail.

I know it is not convient for everyone, but if you have a branch nearby to where you live, I would pop in and ask if they have any records of PlusNet on their systems, after you go through security and answer the question to prove who you are. Pain but you have to do it of course.

EDIT: If not, then ask them to add a DD manually. I am sure a staff member can PM you with PlusNet's sort code/account number with your reference number and tell them it is authorised can you please set it up.

[#15]

Hi @danielgrant,

Thank you for getting back in touch. I'm very sorry that the direct debit payment didn't go through and can appreciate the inconvenience that this has caused, particularly as it was all showing as going through fine on our side until we applied for the payment.

Unfortunately, the information that we get from the bank as to why the direct debit instruction failed is very limited so the only information that we have on this side is " The bank/building society doesn't recognise the instruction setup to pay the Direct Debit. " It's possible that this issue was caused by the payment reference that original started with PNET and now starts with PLUS.

As long as the details on the new instruction are correct, it's likely that it will all go through without any problems next month. However, if the direct debit instruction does fail again I would recommend that you contact your bank to determine why they are not accepting this instruction.

I'm sorry for any inconvenience that this issue has caused you and that I was unable to find out more information as to why the direct debit instruction was not set up this month.