L'équipe Texto SMS Gratuit
7 October 2026 · 13 min read
Introduction: the plan was cancelled back in July, and the money still leaves the account in October
There is one category of telecom dispute that rarely gets discussed, because it is humiliating to recount: money leaving your account, month after month, for a line that no longer exists. Or for a "Multi-Surf Premium" add-on nobody ever ticked. Or for €4.99 more than the amount shown in your online account.
And after three calls to customer service — a different adviser every time, every time "I'll escalate your file" — plenty of people simply give up. They set themselves a mental deadline: "if this is still going on after Christmas, I'll switch banks." That is exactly the reaction the system produces, and it is the most expensive one.
What almost nobody realises is that a SEPA direct debit is challenged first and foremost with your bank, not your telecom provider. The European payment services regulation (PSD2, transposed into the French Monetary and Financial Code) grants you very broad refund rights, with precise deadlines: 8 weeks with no justification required at all, and up to 13 months when the debit was never authorised in the first place.
This guide walks through the procedure, in the right order, with the real time limits and the three free remedies available when customer service grinds to a halt.
First, classify the dispute: three very different situations
Before taking any action, you need to work out which box you fall into. The procedure and the deadlines are not the same.
| Situation | Classification | Deadline to challenge with the bank |
|---|---|---|
| Amount higher than expected, billing error, double debit | Authorised but disputed transaction | 8 weeks from the debit date |
| Debit after cancellation, no valid mandate, add-on never subscribed to, identity theft | Unauthorised transaction | 13 months from the debit date |
| Genuine out-of-plan charges (premium-rate calls, roaming, carrier billing purchases) | Legitimate debt | No bank refund, commercial negotiation only |
The distinction between "authorised" and "unauthorised" is a legal one, but it boils down to something simple: did you sign a SEPA direct debit mandate in favour of this provider, and is that mandate still valid?
If you cancelled properly and the line really is closed, the mandate no longer has any purpose: any subsequent debit qualifies as an unauthorised transaction. Article L.133-24 of the French Monetary and Financial Code governs these deadlines, and the Banque de France sets them out in its practical fact sheets on payment methods.
Step 1: gather your evidence before doing anything (20 minutes)
Nothing is won without a paper trail. Before calling anyone, put together a minimum case file. A dedicated notepad will do, but most people fare better with an expanding file folder where the entire dispute lives in one place — statements, letters, delivery receipts.
What to collect:
- Bank statements for the past 13 months, with the direct debit lines highlighted (exact amount, value date, creditor name and its CID — the SEPA Creditor Identifier, visible on the detailed statement).
- Proof of cancellation: the delivery receipt for your letter, confirmation email, case number, or the number portability confirmation if you left taking your number with you.
- The provider's invoices, downloaded from your online account. Be warned: providers cut off access to invoices a few months after an account is closed. Download them now, as PDFs, while you still can.
- A printout of your online account showing the plan you actually subscribed to (dated screenshot).
- A timeline of contacts: date, time, adviser's name, case number given. It is tedious, and yet it is what tips a case in your favour before the ombudsman.
One detail that changes everything: always ask for a case number on every call, and get the conversation confirmed by email. An adviser who refuses to send written confirmation is a red flag in itself.
Step 2: the refund request to your bank
This is the step almost nobody takes first, and it is the most effective. You do not need your provider's agreement to get a SEPA direct debit refunded.
Within 8 weeks: refund as of right
For a SEPA Core direct debit (the one that applies to consumers), you can request a refund within 8 weeks of the debit date, with no need to give a reason. The bank must credit your account back, and it cannot require you to settle the dispute with the provider first.
In practice: a dispute form inside your banking app (most banks have built one in), or a letter to your account manager. The refund usually lands within a few working days.
Beyond 8 weeks and up to 13 months: unauthorised transaction
If the debit was taken without a valid mandate — after cancellation, or because you never signed a mandate in favour of this creditor — the deadline extends to 13 months. In that case, the bank may ask you for a signed written statement attesting that the transaction was unauthorised. You sign it, the bank refunds you, and it is then up to the bank to pursue the creditor's bank.
That shift from 8 weeks to 13 months is the least understood part of the whole system, and it is precisely what rescues cases of phantom debits that have been running for six months.
Revoke the mandate to stop the bleeding
A refund fixes the past. To stop the future, you need to revoke the direct debit mandate. Two levers:
- Blocking a specific transaction (you know the amount and the upcoming date): to be set up before the debit goes through.
- Revoking the mandate with your bank, which blocks any future debit from that CID. This is the right tool when the relationship is definitively over.
A word of caution: if you are still a customer and part of the debt is legitimate, revoking the mandate puts you in default, with the risk of rejection fees and registration on the payment incidents file. Only revoke if the line really has been cancelled.
Step 3: the written complaint to the provider
A bank refund does not close the dispute: the provider still considers that you owe it money, and it can chase you, or even instruct a debt collection agency. So you have to deal with the substance, in writing.
The registered letter to the consumer department
Telephone customer service is not the right contact for a dispute. Every provider has a consumer department (or "national customer service") whose address appears in the general terms and conditions of subscription. That is where you should write, by registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt.
The letter should fit on one page and contain:
- Your contact details, the line number, the customer number.
- The facts with dates, no adjectives: "line cancelled on 12 June 2026, confirmation no. XXXX; debits of €24.99 on 5 July, 5 August and 5 September 2026".
- What you are asking for, quantified: refund of €74.97, cessation of the debits, written confirmation that the account is closed.
- A response deadline: one month.
- A statement that you intend to refer the matter to the ombudsman failing a response.
A pack of registered letter forms with acknowledgement of receipt saves you a trip to the counter and, above all, leaves you with the proof slip. The acknowledgement of receipt is the document that starts the ombudsman's countdown: without it, your referral will be declared inadmissible.
Think time-stamped written records
Many providers offer an online complaint form. It is perfectly valid, but always generate a PDF of the confirmation page, with the date visible. Online accounts do not always keep a history of complaints.
Step 4: the electronic communications ombudsman — free and effective
This is the sector's most underused remedy. The Association Médiation Communications Électroniques (AMCE), which hosts the electronic communications ombudsman, can be petitioned free of charge by any consumer, provided that:
- you have sent a written complaint to the provider, and
- you have not received a satisfactory response after two months (or sooner if the provider has issued a final refusal), and
- the dispute is less than a year old.
The referral can be made online or by post. The ombudsman then has 90 days to issue an opinion. That opinion is not binding on you, but member providers follow it in the vast majority of cases — which is the whole point of the scheme.
Just check that your provider is indeed a member of the sector ombudsman: the list is on the AMCE website, and all the major players in the French market are on it. For non-member providers, the remedy is the consumer ombudsman designated in their general terms and conditions, an obligation imposed by the French Consumer Code.
And where does Arcep fit in?
Arcep does not arbitrate individual billing disputes: its role is market regulation. It does, however, run a useful scheme, "J'alerte l'Arcep", which logs user reports. A report will not get you refunded, but it feeds the statistics that trigger sector-wide investigations — and Arcep has publicly used this channel to launch action, notably on quality of service and billing practices.
Arcep's data on customer satisfaction and subscriber mobility points to a clear trend, incidentally: French consumers are switching providers less and less. That inertia is paid for in quality of service, because a customer who no longer leaves is a customer you can keep waiting.
The four traps where cases get lost
1. Waiting for the provider's agreement before going to the bank
This is mistake number one. While you wait, the 8 weeks tick away and you fall into a more demanding regime. Do both in parallel: bank dispute on one side, written complaint on the other.
2. Switching banks to "cut off" the direct debit
Switching banks does not wipe out the debt: it turns it into an unpaid bill, with the risk of debt collection and blacklisting. And you lose the statement history — the very thing that proves your loss. Mandate revocation is the right tool, not closing the account.
3. Overlooking proof of cancellation
In the vast majority of post-cancellation debit disputes, the sticking point is the same: the provider claims it never received the request. If you cancelled by phone without written confirmation, you have nothing. Always cancel by registered letter, or — it is simpler — by requesting your RIO code and going through number portability, which counts as automatic cancellation.
4. Letting it drag on beyond 13 months
After 13 months, the banking route closes for good. What remains is civil action, before the local court for small amounts, with all the time and energy that entails. A simple reminder in your phone's calendar, every three months, to review your recurring debits avoids this situation entirely. And for accounts you need to watch over the long term, a monthly budget tracking notebook remains surprisingly more reliable than an app whose notifications you end up switching off.
The special case: the debit you never authorised at all
There is a more worrying variant: a provider you have never been a customer of taking money from your account. Two possible explanations.
An IBAN error. Another customer typed a digit wrong, and your account is paying for their plan. It is rare but documented. A bank dispute sorts the problem out within a few days, and you need to report it to the provider so it corrects the mandate — otherwise the debit comes back the following month.
A fraudulent subscription in your name. Here the issue goes well beyond billing: someone has opened a mobile line using your identity documents. In that case:
- Challenge the transaction with your bank (13-month regime, unauthorised transaction).
- File a police report for identity theft, at a police station or gendarmerie. The police report is the document the provider will require in order to cancel the contract.
- Report the incident on the Cybermalveillance.gouv.fr platform, which will point you to the appropriate steps.
- Ask the provider to cancel the contract and erase any entry in its payment incident records.
- Check your status with the Banque de France regarding the credit repayment incidents file, in case a subsidised handset was taken out in your name.
To limit this risk upstream, two simple habits: never hand over an identity document unmarked, and write the purpose and date by hand on every copy. A customisable stamp reading "certified copy — restricted use" does exactly that job in two seconds, and makes the document unusable elsewhere. For paper documents you no longer need, a cross-cut shredder beats the waste bin: bank statements are a goldmine for anyone looking to open a contract in your name.
Summary: the order of operations
| When | What | With whom |
|---|---|---|
| Day 0 | Download statements, invoices, proof of cancellation | You |
| Day 1 | Request a refund of the direct debit | Your bank |
| Day 1 | Revoke the mandate if the line really is cancelled | Your bank |
| Day 2 | Registered complaint letter with acknowledgement of receipt | The provider's consumer department |
| Day 2 | Informational report | J'alerte l'Arcep |
| Day 60 | Referral if no satisfactory response | Electronic communications ombudsman |
| If fraud | Police report + online report | Police/gendarmerie + Cybermalveillance.gouv.fr |
Key takeaways
A disputed telecom direct debit is one of the rare disputes where French consumers are extremely well protected — and yet they reach for the worst weapon of all: calling customer service, on a loop, for months.
The three reflexes that change everything:
- The bank first. 8 weeks with no justification, 13 months for an unauthorised transaction. It is a right, not a favour.
- Always in writing. A dispute without an acknowledgement of receipt does not exist in the ombudsman's eyes.
- The ombudsman next. Free, 90 days, and an opinion followed in almost every case by member providers.
And one good habit, upstream: review your recurring debits once a quarter. Phantom subscriptions survive only on inattention — it is their sole fuel.
