Setanta Sports battles for survival: how to protect your payments

exeterben

rich_shot2003 wrote: »

Could it really go off the air?

I have a feeling they will be saved somehow

I agree. Someone will step in with the dosh or some other sort of deal will be worked out.

Artofdookie

London June 10th 2:00pm

LONDON -- Setanta Sports Holdings Ltd.'s board is holding further talks to refinance the business and prevent the privately held sports broadcaster from being tipped into administration, people familiar with the matter said Wednesday.
News of the board's discussions comes amid press reports that Setanta's founders, Leonard Ryan and Michael O'Rourke, are planning a rescue bid for the company.
Messrs. Ryan and O'Rourke are said to be seeking financing worth between £40 million ($65.3 million) and £100 million to fund the bid, which would see them buy out Setanta's main investors -- Goldman Sachs Group, venture-capital fund Balderton Capital, private-equity firm Doughty Hanson and hedge fund Montrica.
One person familiar with the matter said Setanta's fortunes were looking "marginally brighter" Wednesday.
Financial services firm Deloitte is set to step in as administrator if the refinancing talks fail.
Meanwhile, BT PLC Wednesday suspended new sign-ups to Setanta via its digital TV service. BT offers Setanta Sports as part of its BT Vision IPTV service. BT Vision said it is closely monitoring the situation and is in constant dialogue with Setanta.
The suspension of BT's Setanta subscription comes a day after Setanta itself stopped taking new subscriptions.

Nickal

I have been told several times that if you simply cancel a DD with your bank and then the company involved try to take money out of your account using this DD again that the banks will charge you an admin fee for each time they have to decline a payment? Is this true? Although I have given Setanta my months written notice I have no faith in them actually cancelling my account and DD so would not be surprised if they still try to take money out.

lulu_53

Kavanne wrote: »

Nope, cancelling your card doesn't work

Sorry, I dont understand, why wouldnt it work? Surely if its not a current card they couldnt use it to take a payment.

lulu_53

scotsbob wrote: »

But they can only do that with your authorisation and approval, why agree to something you hate???

Setanta didnt make me aware that this was a recurring payment. In fact I have only picked up on it through querying it with my bank, as I had never heard of them before. I will keep an eagle eye in future. At least with DD you have some control. I would still prefer to go back to standing orders, these gave you much more control over your money.

lulu_53

Nickal wrote: »

I have been told several times that if you simply cancel a DD with your bank and then the company involved try to take money out of your account using this DD again that the banks will charge you an admin fee for each time they have to decline a payment? Is this true? Although I have given Setanta my months written notice I have no faith in them actually cancelling my account and DD so would not be surprised if they still try to take money out.

When I cancelled my subscription by email, I asked for confirmation and they did respond, confirming the cancellation (although I am not confident that they will honor it!). They did quote an alternative email and phone, which might be of use to you. See below.
If you have any other queries then please do not hesitate to contact our Customer Services team on 08712 00 33 22 or email us on [EMAIL="customerservices@setanta.com"][email protected][/EMAIL].

norbet

lulu_53 wrote: »

Sorry, I dont understand, why wouldnt it work? Surely if its not a current card they couldnt use it to take a payment.

Yeah I'm puzzled too - I've had companies suspend my service because my card has expired and they could not take payment. If you (cleared your balance) and cancelled a card I'm not sure how they would be able to continue to take payment?

Timotheus

Phoned up, changed my payment from CC to direct debit.

I feel a lot more at ease knowing that I can now cancel my direct debit if they happen to switch off any day now.

It took 2 mins and they were extremely helpful.

Their customer service might not get much praise but personally I thought they were very helpful, especially on a day when they were probably at one of their busiest dealing with customer problems.

macman

Timotheus wrote: »

Phoned up, changed my payment from CC to direct debit.

I feel a lot more at ease knowing that I can now cancel my direct debit if they happen to switch off any day now.

It took 2 mins and they were extremely helpful.

Their customer service might not get much praise but personally I thought they were very helpful, especially on a day when they were probably at one of their busiest dealing with customer problems.

Possibly because there's no work needed taking subscriptions any more!

aswellstud

Nickal wrote: »

I have been told several times that if you simply cancel a DD with your bank and then the company involved try to take money out of your account using this DD again that the banks will charge you an admin fee for each time they have to decline a payment? Is this true? Although I have given Setanta my months written notice I have no faith in them actually cancelling my account and DD so would not be surprised if they still try to take money out.

The only way your bank would charge you is if u had the direct debit still set up and they tried to take money from your account and u didnt have enough cash....then they could charge you.