Direct debit taken and paid manually

[Mauricequinn]

Hi, my direct debit for my sky TV was taken a day after I paid it manually, this I did because I was worried that the money would not be available the next day. This meant, I paid £20 and direct debit of £20 was also taken which meant I was £20 in credit. Next bill due on 07 Dec 2025 but now sky say that has failed and will try again and also bank have sent me a letter for a failed direct debit. How can sky try to take the money when the direct debit is not due until the 7th of December and when my account is clearly in credit

[SKY1992bf]

@Mauricequinn If you have a continuous payment method setup you should never need to make a manual payment as it won’t stop the automatic payment process if you make the manual payment 4 days before payment due date as the payment request has already been submitted

For direct debits if first attempt fails sky try again 10 calendar days later automatically and if second attempt fails your service will be restricted and that's the point to make a manual payment

you need to let sky take payment as normal because your payment has been applied to next month's bill not the bill that is due to be paid now

You can now either leave the overpayment on your account as credit to use against a future bill or contact Sky and request a refund which will take 3-5 working days to complete

For future reference if you want to make a manual payment to prevent the automatic payment being taken you need to make sure that the total bill amount is showing as credit on your Sky account 4 working days before your payment due date

[caesarome]

@Mauricequinn 

What is your billing date each month ?

[Mauricequinn]

The previous was my first bill which was due on the 22nd, paid by me on the 21st. Now the second and all following are due on the 7th of each month

[caesarome]

@Mauricequinn 

That is correct as you are billed twice in your first month as a new customer as your first bill covers the period from your activation up to the second bill and the second one covers the next 4 weeks as you can read about here under the "When you'll be charged for your first bills" section::

https://www.sky.com/help/articles/understanding-my-bills

Going forward as you have a direct debit set up you do not need to make any manual payments. If your billing date falls on a Saturday, Sunday or a Bank Holiday then it will be taken on the next working day.

Should a direct debit ever fail Sky will attempt to take it again 10 days later so during those 10 days you do not need to make a manual payment as it will; not stop Sky from trying to take it again.