ntl late payment charges

chi-chi

Hi
ntl have just charged me £10 for late payment of my bill. (Oversight on my part - stupidly busy with work, thought I'd paid it). There has been much recent publicity about unlawful bank charges. Are these ntl charges also unlawful? If so, can I do anything about it or have they got me by the short and curlies? Has anyone else got any experience of this?
Thanks
Stephanie

ahrimaniac

£10 seems excessive, but you didn't pay your bill at the end of the day.

Heinz

Might be worth a grovelling call to them - if that included a request for Direct Debit mandate forms, it could be successful.

ahrimaniac

And of course, trot out the usual 'My cat got married and my father fell over a teacup' maelstrom of woe - usually works for me

Good luck!

davsidipp

10 late charges are a newish thing with ntl the other sting with them is you are not direct debit they charge you 4 pounds a month what a con.what annoyed me most recently was i complained the broadband was not working they said an engineer would come out but if i missed the appointment they would charge me 10 pounds.the irony of it all is the chap turned up 4hours early should i have charged him 10 pounds for being early nice money earner ntl!

jockettuk

i would image its in there T&C now.. i would get on the phone and argue it out with them as it was a once off you never know threaten to leave and go elsewere if they going to charge you that amount.... they used to just cut you off at one point mabey they now charge you a fee rather than a reconnection fee..

i always paid by DD and i recently moved house and disconnected all my services Other half still with them so technically still with ntl... ntl sent to my old address my bill for 11p lol

chi-chi

thanks guys - they charge you £4 a month if you don't have DD??! I never knew that, they kept quiet about that one.

Yes I can phone them and do the "cat got married routine" tale of woe, what I want to know is, are these punitive charges unlawful in the same way banks have been doing?

Jockettuck, they didn't used to cut you off without warning - they used to phone and leave a message to say your bill was late, advising you to pay it soon which was great, much better than reminder letters. Now this seems to have stopped and they just whop a tenner on.

davsidipp, it's apalling they would charge you ten pounds for a missed appointment!!! and the engineer came 4 hours early! These people are breathtakingly outrageous. I wonder if BT are better or worse? Is it worth changing?

ahrimaniac

BT charge £5 for late payment, but give plenty of warning.
They also charge only £1 extra a month if you don't pay by Direct Debit, unlike NTL's £4.