Direct Debit Admin Fee?!

Rebel=UK=

Rebel=UK=

Rebel=UK=

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I just wanted to ask a question, Ive been chagred by telewest £5 per month for not paying by Direct Debit. The reason i cant pay direct debit is im not working at the moment and cant guarantee the money will be in every month for them to take out.

The Question i wanted to ask is what actual admin costs am i paying for here, as i would assume it would all be done by computers, i dont get any letters at all from telewest, its all emails. After seeing in the media about all the disproportionately high bank charges and that the banks are having to pay this back as it breaks the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations, i was wondering if i could apply this law to this.

I know it might sound like nothing but Im paying £40 for 4mb's a month with all the fines added and im geting abit sick of it! I could change but it means having to buy i a new wireless router ive just got.
 
im not sure...but check the T&C...normally for a price, in the small print it says 'if paying by direct debit'
 
DD is a much cheaper way for a company to collect money than any other method. Bank charges for DD are about 0.05%, as opposed to 2-2.5% for other payment methods (remembering Businesses don't get free banking like consumers do), and DD is also an automatic system that requires no intervention, unlike most of the other methods that require you to talk to a person, or a person to check the payment etc.

It's nothing to do with the unfair contract terms as it's not a penalty charge for breach of contract (which is effectively what the bank charges are). It's simply an additional charge made for choosing to pay by a different method.
 
If you cant be sure the money is there for them to take, you should cancel the account.
 
Rebel=UK= said:
I do get a £10 penalty charge tho for not paying it on time on occasions. :mad: so when that happens i get charged £40 for a £25 original bill
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Thats when you havent paid your bill on time though - if you cant pay by DD, then remind yourself to make the manual payment in time. If you seriously cant afford to pay it then call them up (before the payment date elapses) and explain the situation, Im sure theyll be more amiable...

Easy no :confused:

As Dolph explained the £5 charge is levied because it costs companies more to handle payments outside the normal DD route - pretty sure some kind of surcharge has been applied for years in some sectors (notable mobile operators)

ps3ud0 :cool:
 
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Dolph said:
DD is a much cheaper way for a company to collect money than any other method. Bank charges for DD are about 0.05%, as opposed to 2-2.5% for other payment methods (remembering Businesses don't get free banking like consumers do), and DD is also an automatic system that requires no intervention, unlike most of the other methods that require you to talk to a person, or a person to check the payment etc.

It's nothing to do with the unfair contract terms as it's not a penalty charge for breach of contract (which is effectively what the bank charges are). It's simply an additional charge made for choosing to pay by a different method.
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what he said...

You now pay at a 'pay point' at your local shops... i assume the shop takes a % (otherwise why would they have it? hogging space and staff) along with the pay point company i taking a cut.

well thats what i assume..
 
Statistically speaking, individuals paying by means other than Direct Debit are more likely to lead to bad debt. Especially an individual who freely admits that he is unlikely to be able to pay consistently!

The company has to offset this somehow.
 
- You get charged more because it costs more to process your payment.

- You get charged more because you can't pay on time.

I don't get whats so hard to understand? Virgin aren't a charity after all, it's people like you that cause the price of services to rise in the first place... they call it bad debt in the industry.
 
I didn't think it was technically a charge though is it. You pay an amount of money each month for a service. If you paid for that service via direct debit you would get a discount, you don't so you don't get the discount.
 
garyh said:
- You get charged more because it costs more to process your payment.

- You get charged more because you can't pay on time.

I don't get whats so hard to understand? Virgin aren't a charity after all, it's people like you that cause the price of services to rise in the first place... they call it bad debt in the industry.
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rubbish as stated on watchdog people who pay TV licence by direct debit get chrarged for doing so...so your logic is flawed
 
Rebel=UK= said:
rubbish as stated on watchdog people who pay TV licence by direct debit get chrarged for doing so...so your logic is flawed
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His logic isn't flawed at all.

If you can't guarantee the payment then perhaps you should reconsider taking the service instead of coming on here moaning about being charged for not being able to guarantee payment to them. :)
 
Rebel=UK= said:
rubbish as stated on watchdog people who pay TV licence by direct debit get chrarged for doing so...so your logic is flawed
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Sorry but it's your logic that is flawed.

If you can't afford to pay the bill, or refuse to pay the bill in the method that they desire, then maybe you should do something about it by either using that method or leaving, rather than moaning about it on the internet.

At the end of the day they are providing a service that they don't have too. If they want you to pay on a certain way that is up to them. If you don't want to pay that way, then I don't see a problem with them charging you for the privilege. After all, isn't it better to pay a little more than to be refused the service outright?

People seem to forget that companies don't have to provide us with anything. They are not charities. They do what they do to make money and nothing else!
 
well ive paid them for 6 years, so payment is guarantee, ok maybe not on time, sometimes i paid 2 months. Put the point is when i did pay them on time through ebilling by debit card i was still paying £5 even tho the bill was on time, no paper work ..... When i first signed up 6 years ago i cant even remember a charge

dbmzk1 said:
If you don't want to pay that way, then I don't see a problem with them charging you for the privilege.
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but i do see a problem when it substantially higher than need be
 
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It is not the fact that there is a charge levied against people who choose not to pay by DD, but the fact that the amount these companies charge. It costs no more than 60 pence to take payment via other methods. Virgin/NTL are one of the worst if not the worst for overcharging customers (£5 per month).
 
Most charge £2 to £5. Don't see a problem with that myself. :confused: If it was £10 or £20 then yea of course complain.
 
Rebel=UK= said:
well ive paid them for 6 years, so payment is guarantee, ok maybe not on time, sometimes i paid 2 months.
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So, your payment is kinda guaranteed...but not necessarily. Yet you don't expect the company to have any problems with that? I don't think one of their payment options is 'whenever you've got the money'. :p

What planet are you living on?!
 
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