Tony Hetherington is Financial Mail on Sunday’s ace investigator, fighting readers corners, revealing the truth that lies behind closed doors and winning victories for those who have been left out-of-pocket. Find out how to contact him below.
F.P. writes: I printed out a mini-statement of my Halifax account, now operated by Lloyds Bank, and to my horror it showed that, on September 10, Philips Domestic took £4,399.
I have had no dealings with any company of this name. Can you help me, please?
Tony Hetherington replies: I have been doing this job for a long time, but even I was shocked by this.
You are an 85-year-old pensioner, living alone, and the missing money was about half the total amount in your Halifax account. You were upset, worried and scared that whoever took your cash would come back for more. You even began to blame yourself, thinking you must have given your card details to a scammer.
But – with your permission – I rang the Lloyds Bank debit card fraud line, and was told this was not a one-off debit card transaction. The £4,399 had been taken from your account under a direct debit, suggesting it was a regular bill payment and that Philips Domestic would be back for more.
Worrying: Finding fraudulent bank withdrawals can be upsetting
Lloyds said it was up to us to contact Philips Domestic. Yet according to Companies House, there is no such British company.
You might wonder how your bank could allow any payment when you had never signed a direct debit authorising it. Well, under a scheme called the Automated Direct Debit Instruction Service (AUDDIS), companies simply tell your bank that they have your approval, and the bank hands over your cash. What could possibly go wrong?!
I asked Lloyds to say exactly where your money had gone, but it told me: ‘We wouldn’t be able to share that information.’
However, to give Lloyds its due, it refunded your £4,399 within a day or so – so well done for that.
The Philips electrical giant is based in the Netherlands. And when I contacted it, I was told it had licensed a company called Versuni to use its name – so this was my next stop, again in the Netherlands.
And this is where your bad dream has turned into what could be a nightmare for many more people.
Worryingly, Versuni told me that someone ordered high-end products, and provided your bank details for payment, but with a delivery address that was not your home.
The company explained: ‘We are aware of recent third-party fraud associated with some direct debits and have launched an investigation.’
You are not the only victim, and Versuni has notified the police.
But should it be this easy to fool AUDDIS into dipping into anyone’s bank account, no questions asked?
Pay UK, the banking body which oversees AUDDIS, commented: ‘If there is an error in the set up or collection of a direct debit, customers are fully protected by the direct debit guarantee.’
Fine words, now that we know how AUDDIS can be used fraudulently.
On the other hand, just how reliable is it when something simply goes wrong, without any fraud, and how easy is it for the ordinary customer to go up against big banks and businesses?
I’ll give the answers next week, and again, they will not make for easy reading.
Months without a pension – thanks to an IT ‘update’
S.L. writes: I was resources director at a housing association, and last year the chairman gave me notice on the grounds that my age, 67, did not fit with his succession plan.
I left in January and have been trying to access my pension.
The scheme is run by TPT Retirement Solutions, and it closed access to the fund for four months on ‘administrative grounds’. I tried again in June, but still find it difficult to get any information.
Waiting game: The pension scheme is run by TPT Retirement Solutions, and it closed access to the fund for four months on ‘administrative grounds’
You worked for the Cottsway Housing Association, which told me: ‘TPT have been carrying out work on a new online portal since December 2024. They contacted our staff in advance with information about the changes, including steps to take and deadlines to meet if they wanted to access their pension fund before the work was due to complete in May.’
Cottsway washed its hands of any responsibility to you.
TPT confirmed it warned it would not process any new pensions before the end of April. It added: ‘Unfortunately, it seems that Mr L was made redundant in January during this transition period.’ And then, of course, the work overran.
Even after you resubmitted your application, TPT delayed paying you. It told me this was ‘because of a reconciliation of post transitional annual management charges that needed to be undertaken’.
I am sure you were happy to accept this gobbledegook as a reason for living without your pension for months! But miraculously, two days after I contacted TPT, it sent you all of your outstanding pension.
If you believe you are the victim of financial wrongdoing, write to Tony Hetherington at Financial Mail, 9 Derry Street, London W8 5HY or email tony.hetherington@mailonsunday.co.uk. Because of the high volume of enquiries, personal replies cannot be given. Please send only copies of original documents, which we regret cannot be returned.
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