1899 dilemma - advice appreciated

jasonwatkins

ok, i signed up to this a few months back and used my virgin pay-as-you-go mastercard as the payment method.

they started randomly billing me seemingly as and when they wanted to, so since my income is what it is, i had to let the first attempts go then deposit the money on to the mastercard and contact them again to take a payment, which they did.

at this point, i'm sure there's the general thought along the lines of "why not just leave the money on the card to cover it ?". And i wish i could.

Anyway, in november they randomly invoiced me again, so i had to go out and put the amount on to the card which was £10.18. Unfortunately, I made a slight miscalculation of the 2.75% paypoint fee and ended up about 3p short on the card - which i didn't realise until after the 2nd failed payment went through.

(and please, no grief about the prepay card as well )

so, i put some more money onto the card to cover it again, and emailed them back. They told me that with two failed payments on the chosen payment method meant that that method became invalid and i could only clear it by bank transfer.

So, took the money back off the card and went to the bank with the necessary details.

I was told that the only way it could be done is by BACS and it would incur a £20 fee - so a £20 fee for a £10.18 bill.

I couldn't afford to do it, so I emailed 1899 back again and explained to them that as i have a basic bank account, I don't have online banking and I can't afford to pay £20 for a BACS transfer.

The conversation went something like this :

Me: I can't afford the £20 bank transfer fee and I don't have online banking - how else can i pay the bill?
1899: By online banking or bank transfer.
Me: I've just told you, I can't afford the bank transfer fee and I don't have online banking - how else can i pay?
1899: Those are the only two ways - the choice is now yours to make, you can sign up to online banking or make the bank transfer.
Me: I have explained to you twice already, those two choices I am unable to do - you are clearly unwilling or unable to assist me further so I will have to try and find a solution.

I thought I could get one of those one-off, one-time payment cards that i can use, but the 1899 website won't let me change payment details until I use online banking.

It's a bit of a clusterf*ck to be honest and I don't really know what to do - I can pay the £10.18 bill, but not the £20 BACS fee, but there's no way at the moment that I can actually pay that bill.

So i'm a bit stuck !

Apologies for the long winded post, but if anyone has any suggestions i'd be most grateful - cheers.

dave_dph

Can you not get a family member or friend to pay it through their online banking service and give them the cash to cover it? I did it for a friend of mine, doesn't matter who's account it comes from, they will accept the payment.

jasonwatkins

there's a possibility i could do that, but i'm just worried about being charged - I can't afford to shell out £20 for a £10.18 bill.

Would an online transfer be done as a BACS payment or just a normal account transfer ?

CLAPTON

why not set up a DD?

Heinz

jasonwatkins wrote: »

there's a possibility i could do that, but i'm just worried about being charged - I can't afford to shell out £20 for a £10.18 bill.

Would an online transfer be done as a BACS payment or just a normal account transfer ?

I make many BACS payments using online banking and am never charged anything - but mine's not a basic bank account.

notbritishgas

Jason, Are you sure the bank was talking about BACS and not CHAPS as there is a £20 fee when CHAPS is used. The difference is that payments made by CHAPS are normally made the next working day.
I do not know if a Basic account has different rules though.

jasonwatkins

CLAPTON wrote: »

why not set up a DD?

if they had a date each month when the payments are taken, and it was set in stone in the T's & C's, then i would because then I could budget for it and make the money available when it's needed.

but my experience of them so far is that there is no real set time when they take the money - i can't work it out anyway.

i might try and see if i can leave just £10.18 in my account and try the transfer - if it wants a fee, it suppose it would always reject the transaction.

simongregson

They do email you well in advance of taking the direct debit, it has a date on which the payment will be taken. They sometimes take the payment a few days later, but never earlier.