charging for not paying by direct debit

ironchicken

Hello, I've been reading this site for some time now and had some very useful tips from it, but this is my first post.
It has only just come to my notice that Virgin Media are actually charging me £5.00 a month for not paying by direct debit, but phoning up and paying over the phone with my debit card. Are they allowed to do this? I am certain that this amount wasn't in the contract that I signed - in fact, I'm sure it wasn't as it is only recently that I have been charged.
Any advice would be gratefully received (the reason that I don't want to pay by DD is I am trying to sort my finances and I prefer to pay when I want to and not a date set by them - I always pay before the due date though).

BlueAngelCV

Sorry I don't have a response but I am having the same problem with my 3G internet connection.

I signed up for a £15.00 a month contract and had been paying by direct debit. Due to problems with my bank and other direct debits I have cancelled the direct debit and have been making the payment manually. They are now charging me £19.00 a month. That is not the contact I signed up to. Are they allowed to do this?!

Colliefrog

Yes they are unfortunately. You'll find that most companies charge an extra few quid to pay by statement. Virgin Media also charge you extra for having a paper bill too, so I have recently switched to online billing to save a few quid!

bookworm1363

However, people have successfully pursued and reclaimed those charges too, as not being representative of their true costs (ie what it actually costs them to process your payment by other means than DD). The fact they do it doesn't make it necessarily lawful.

Even if you don't feel up to the challenge of reclaiming them, I still prefer knowing that by paying as I do, *I* say when, *I* say how much... Much safer than letting them help themselves to my account.

Ask yourselves why companies are so keen to make you have a DD? Yep, got it in one. If (when) they mess up, see the fun you will have to try and get your money back from them after you've allowed them to dip unchecked into your account!

DDs are the surest way to lose control of your finances. I'd rather pay £5 a month and keep the control, thank you. (I'm letting the £5 build up and then I'll reclaim it all in one lump sum at the same time as the £10 "late" payment they have stuck on my account too.)

Art_2

If you make payments by DD you are fully protected by your bank against errors.

DDs are cost effective for companies as they don't have to deal with individual customers to collect payment. It's all automatic. Dealing with individual customers costs money and has to be paid for.

Regards,
Art.

McKneff

ironchicken wrote: »

Hello, I've been reading this site for some time now and had some very useful tips from it, but this is my first post.
It has only just come to my notice that Virgin Media are actually charging me £5.00 a month for not paying by direct debit, but phoning up and paying over the phone with my debit card. Are they allowed to do this? I am certain that this amount wasn't in the contract that I signed - in fact, I'm sure it wasn't as it is only recently that I have been charged.
Any advice would be gratefully received (the reason that I don't want to pay by DD is I am trying to sort my finances and I prefer to pay when I want to and not a date set by them - I always pay before the due date though).

Oh, it will have been in the T & Cs.
If you always pay it before the due date every month i cant see why you have a problem with paying by DD, surely it would be easier to not have to remember to ring them and you'd be a fiver a month bettr off.
and gawd knows how much if you just happende to forget to ring the.

Oblivion

Art wrote: »

If you make payments by DD you are fully protected by your bank against errors.

In theory yes, and both the banks and the creditors concerned are very keen to tout the Direct Debit Guarantee.

The reality is very different. As Bookworm said "Ask yourselves why companies are so keen to make you have a DD? Yep, got it in one. If (when) they mess up, see the fun you will have to try and get your money back from them after you've allowed them to dip unchecked into your account!"

Just ask all the people who have been ripped off by power companies taking excess monthly direct debits, and who are struggling to claw their money back! The banks don't want to know, and the companies are more than happy to sit on your money and earn interest on it.

Dave.

McKneff

I dont agree, an amount of dd can only be taken out with your permission.
Power companies write to customers telling them x amount of £s is going out in DD, its up to the customer to tell them 'oh no it blumming isn't.

Colliefrog

I'm with virgin media and before I signed up for online billing I used to get a bill around the 11th and they'd take the payment on the 1st of the following month. That's nearly 3 weeks to make sure the money is there.

bookworm1363

Art wrote: »

If you make payments by DD you are fully protected by your bank against errors.

That's a common misconception. You are protected against mistakenly taken DDs, for example if the company were to take 2 or 3 payments in a row, or if they took if from your account by mistake instead of another customer. In other words, you are protected against "technical" mistakes. And even then, it will takes weeks before the bank gets it sorted, notwithstanding their promises of prompt action.

But if the error originates within the company (disputed amount), then the bank will NOT intervene, they'll refer you to the originator company.

DDs are cost effective for companies as they don't have to deal with individual customers to collect payment. It's all automatic. Dealing with individual customers costs money and has to be paid for.

Whilst this may have been true when people only had the phone or counters, with BACS and Internet Banking, this is simply not the case and not a valid excuse anymore. I pay my VM bill online on their website, the process is just as automated and it doesn't cost VM a penny more than DD does.

bookworm1363

anniehanlon wrote: »

I dont agree, an amount of dd can only be taken out with your permission.
Power companies write to customers telling them x amount of £s is going out in DD, its up to the customer to tell them 'oh no it blumming isn't.

Why should it be? What kind of a business model is that, where you have to check that they don't make a mistake when billing you? As far as I am concerned as a consumer, I pay them the right amount and they provide the service, which includes billing me accurately.

As for the naive assumption that an amount of DD can only be taken out with your permission, welcome to the real world. What do you think will happen in most cases? I can tell you: the company's automated system will carry on taking exactly the wrong amount, leaving you with weeks of headache trying to get them to rectify their mistake.

VM are notorious for messing up bills and not making things right for months, so trusting them with handling my money is not an option, full stop.