Can they seriously charge this?

sarahc1986

I've had my car on finance for 3 years with FGA (formerly Fiat). i've just called up to request a Direct Debit collection date change and have been told that doing that incurrs a charge of £25. I used to get paid the 30th with it going out on the 7th but now being paid on the 19th means keeping the money there for 3 weeks. Are they within their rights to ask for £25 to push a button and insert a new date? Naturally I refused to change it and put the phone down

ILW

Guess its up to you, pay the fee or keep the date the same. A company can charge as much as they like, its up to the customer whether they wish to purchase that service or not.

sarahc1986

Ah well looks like its staying I've changed 6 other Direct Debits and not one of the other companies has asked for any money - you'd think at the minute they'd be grateful i'm still working and paying for it.

inmypocketnottheirs

Unfortunately this appears common practice for finance companies.

~Brock~

Welcome to the Compare the Market/Meerkat/Whateveritis world :money:
Nowadays people tend to buy on price alone and the obsession with comparing headline rates and prices has forced companies to compete more fiercely for the business, but then make up for it with back end charges such as this.

Also very common in the insurance market whenever a customer wants to make a minor amendment to their policy.

RobertoMoir

I think Brock makes a good point - if we want things forever cheaper and cheaper and we're quite prepared to use comparison websites that encourage us to throw away long term business relationships to save 27p a month then either the service we're buying will be worse or we'll have to pay extra for anything other than the most basic facilities.

ILW

I couldn't agree more. In general if someone is selling the same product for a lower price, then the saving has to be made somewhere. Quite often this is in the service and back up provided. Many seem to not understand this.

brokeinyorkshire

ILW wrote: »

Guess its up to you, pay the fee or keep the date the same. A company can charge as much as they like, its up to the customer whether they wish to purchase that service or not.

What service!!???

All they do is push a couple of buttons.!!!!!!

I worked in a call centre in policy enquiries and we did not charge to amend DD dates.

Its a complete rip off!

ILW

The cost of providing the service is irrelevent. If you do not like it, use someone cheaper. It is the customers choice.

pepe2008

The Fee is probably listed in their T&Cs, if you go ahead and change the date and they charge and it ISNT in the T&Cs...then you can ask for a refund.
Some charge, some dont........some get repeat business, some dont:D

RobertoMoir

brokeinyorkshire wrote: »

What service!!???

All they do is push a couple of buttons.!!!!!!

So their time spent pushing the buttons is paid for how?
The software that provides the buttons to push is paid for how?