Legal Query

feldy1

Can anyone give me your thoughts/advice,

Is it legal for a company to charge you £5 over &
above the cost of your bill, if you do not pay by
direct debit?

Virgin Media have started doing this, & I think
it is unfair for them to charge this as some people
do not have bank accounts. And if so, why should
they be charged more for the same service as
other customers who pay by direct debit.

Thanks,
My direct e-mail: - [EMAIL="general3@blueyonder.co.uk"]general3@blueyonder.co.uk[/EMAIL]

dmg24

As long as they advise you in advance, it is legal.

Caz3121

they say the £5 is a handling fee for processing the payment. they do not charge it for direct debit payments

http://www.virginmedia.com/myvirginmedia/billing/payments-faqs.php

zenmaster

No. It's against every law of the land.

You'd better phone the police quickly or they might get away.

soolin

Wasn't this taken to court a few years back? I really seem to remember it in the news and it was decided that it was quite legal?

I'll see if I can turn anything up on a Google search.

toffe

usually they term this as a standard fee payable by all (important wording as it dispells any claims of discrimination) which is discounted for anyone who pays by direct debit.

therefore its actually a discount for customers paying by direct debit instead of a penalty for those not doing so.

if you read the terms and conditions you'll probably find it worded more like that.

but there is more work involved in processing payments manually and so charging a minimal fee such as £5 would hardley be classed as excessive and so no matter how it's worded the charge is perfectly legal.

pursestring

When British Telecom introduced a processing fee there was a lot of argument about the legality. To make it legal BT have set up a separate company which charges and collects the payment processing fees (see http://bt.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/9855 ). Virgin Media follows the same pattern.