On Thu, 14 Jun 2018 09:31:21 +0100, Jeff Layman wrote:

On 13/06/18 10:25, Harry Bloomfield wrote:
Jeff Layman formulated on Tuesday :
Direct debits are for those who are content to let someone else run their
financial affairs, by abrogating control of their bank account to a third
party. In theory, they are fine; in practice, there can be problems. Just do
a Google search on "direct debit" and "problems". Unfortunately, the DD
guarantee doesn't cover loss resulting from withdrawal of too much money
leading to insufficient funds for other purposes.

They cannot change the amount without giving prior warning. My account
always has enough funds to cover a few months of even the worst case.

From
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/nireland/consumer/energy/energy-supply/energy-bills/problems-with-energy-bills/your-energy-supplier-has-increased-your-direct-debit-payments/:

"Under the rules of the Direct Debit Guarantee, you should be told of
the change at least ten working days before the money is taken from your
account. If you are not told in writing or on your bill, you can
complain and ask for compensation from your bank."
major snippage of stuff that I didn't know - thanks for the link

I don't know what the situation would have been with my experience about 25
years ago:
a DD was taken by a company with which I didn't have - and had never had -
any dealings. This meant not enough to pay other DDs but they went through
and I was in the red.
The bank (Nationwide, then) was very apologetic and all was put right
immediately.
Now, I reckon that there must have been some sort of mistake by the bank or
the other company had got its fingers befuddled when entering the numbers.
If I had suffered loss, it would all have been a right mess to sort out!
--
Peter.
The gods will stay away
whilst religions hold sway