right to choose payment method

KimYeovil

ali_p wrote: »

When I have ever queried my billing in the past . They won't make any changes without meter readings. In my case then i was part way through billing and had to give readings they then sent me a bill for that date so i was then paying part of my next quarterly bill in advance. No matter how adamant i am to keep my cool with them, i am a very easy going person. They always end up twisting what i am saying and getting me irate by not listening to what i am saying.

But that usually results in a reset of your quarterly billing date - you pay a couple of extra weeks, yes, (in arrears, not in advance) but your subsequent bill is pushed back by that same period.

neas

No offence but the direct debit thing is a weird thing.

Usually you either pay a little too much or dont pay enough..

I.e Pay litt over;

Monthly Usage - £30
DD - £35 a month
Net effect: 'putting' a fiver into savings for a month, eventually the DD will be adjusted to say £25 to eliminate the overpayments

Underpay

Monthly Usage - £40
DD - £30
Net effect - every single month you are building up a debt of 10 pounds a month... and like above eventually the payments will increase to say £50 DD to eliminate the debt.

I suspect you may have built up a debt overtime.... a DD does not assure you pay full for the gas its basically an estimation where you pay regularly to stop big bills..... its generally a better way to pay and cheaper too.

In a 1 bed flat we use on average across a year £30 a month gas on Direct Debit... we are very frugal as we realise its expensive. How can you get up to 150 quid a month? oO either you use a ton of gas or have built up a large amount of debt to them.

ali_p_4

KimYeovil wrote: »

But that usually results in a reset of your quarterly billing date - you pay a couple of extra weeks, yes, (in arrears, not in advance) but your subsequent bill is pushed back by that same period.

I have never been told that or even been given that impression.
Hopefully matter resolved have spoken to a lovely sympathetic lady who agreed my figure was too high and have been given aan amended one £59 per month lower. Much more realistic and equally manageable.

neas

still dont know how you use 120 quid+ gas a month. we use a 1/4 of that.

Fire_Fox

ali_p wrote: »

Why though, i can't understand is that they say on a letter i have that you can cancell your direct debit at any time. When you obviously can't ???

You have made an agreement to pay your fuel bills on a monthly basis. You are within your rights to cancel such an arrangement, but it's common courtesy to inform the other party of your decision. From their perspective the first the supplier knows is when they ask your bank for money and the request is refused. You can't blame them for thinking you are unable or unwilling to pay. If someone wrote you a cheque, then decided to pay you in cash but didn't tell you, you would be rightfully annoyed when the cheque bounced.

norfolkshops

so you pay £30 per month(120 quid+ gas a month. we use a 1/4 of that.)on gas alone = £7-50 p/week)may i ask which gas company you are with and do you use full cental heating???

ali_p_4

neas wrote: »

No offence but the direct debit thing is a weird thing.

Usually you either pay a little too much or dont pay enough..

I.e Pay litt over;

Monthly Usage - £30
DD - £35 a month
Net effect: 'putting' a fiver into savings for a month, eventually the DD will be adjusted to say £25 to eliminate the overpayments

Underpay

Monthly Usage - £40
DD - £30
Net effect - every single month you are building up a debt of 10 pounds a month... and like above eventually the payments will increase to say £50 DD to eliminate the debt.

I suspect you may have built up a debt overtime.... a DD does not assure you pay full for the gas its basically an estimation where you pay regularly to stop big bills..... its generally a better way to pay and cheaper too.

In a 1 bed flat we use on average across a year £30 a month gas on Direct Debit... we are very frugal as we realise its expensive. How can you get up to 150 quid a month? oO either you use a ton of gas or have built up a large amount of debt to them.

If you was applying to me then i have never said i use £150 gas per month my quarterly bills have only ever been £200 each max normally as per my latest one of £110 each, that was why my concern over being asked to pay £170 per month. I do not have a vast debt only ever the current bill. and not even that at the moment. And that's for a 3 bed semi

ali_p_4

Fire_Fox wrote: »

You have made an agreement to pay your fuel bills on a monthly basis. You are within your rights to cancel such an arrangement, but it's common courtesy to inform the other party of your decision. From their perspective the first the supplier knows is when they ask your bank for money and the request is refused. You can't blame them for thinking you are unable or unwilling to pay. If someone wrote you a cheque, then decided to pay you in cash but didn't tell you, you would be rightfully annoyed when the cheque bounced.

The cancellation was aware by them 3 weeks before it was due as soon as i realised i had a problem. They acted on it immediately before they received any written confirmation from me.

Cardew

ali p
This thread has changed from your original question, which was, in effect, can a company refuse to offer me credit terms. (i.e. quarterly billing)

The answer to that is very clearly that they can. This is why many people are forced to have pre-pay meters.

We have now moved to the question of were they justified in refusing you credit terms, and that none of us can answer.

Normally it is absolutely straightforward, you ring and ask to be put on quarterly billing and they agree.

For some reason they had doubts about you(justified or unjustified!). Could it be that you told them you couldn't afford the new DD payment? as you indicated in your original post.

Anyway glad it is sorted.

ali_p_4

Hi cardew
I have since found out from a very helpful operator,unlike the last one, That they apparently don't do quarterly billing as an option anymore. The last operator was most abrupt and said "you can't have quarterly billing anymore there is no going back". It wasn't down to me personally it was a company issue. That is unless i have been given a lot of bull again. It gets to the point you start doubting what to believe i'm afraid as goalposts and rules constantly get changed. I could write a book:rotfl: