Is BT late payment charge legal?

oldnick

I pay my BT bill monthly, and used to pay just before the next bill was due.

About a year ago they started issuing a reminder and adding £5 to the bill if it wasn't paid within 5 days.

Since then the time allowed has reduced and reduced.

I am on benefit and have been paying every 4 weeks for the last 6 months.

You used to be asked to pay within 10 days then reminder came out on 14 days after the bill so you had 19 days to pay.

Two months ago it changed to 7 days to pay reminder after 10 days so even though my payment was 4 weeks after the previous one it attracted £5 penalty.

I am told that the reduction in time to pay is because of my late payment record and that if another 3 payments aren't made by the due date then the £5 penalty will be added on the due date ie seven days after the bill is issued.

Including my broadband my bill is around £45 a month so this is more than a 10% penalty. Is this legal?

I don't appear to be able to switch to anyone as I don't have a bank account to do direct debits.

telecomsavings

Yes it is perfectly legal and most service providers are taking up this option.

Have you considered NTL,Telewest or White Cable?

You do not need a bank account for that. You can pay by Cash at the paypoint,post office or by postal order. Or even with someone elses Debit card.

It really depends on where you live, the company sites will have a post code checker of where you can check to see if they pass your property.

Telewest:

3-for-£30 offer: Includes 2MB Broadband,Starter TV packages and a phone line with free weekend calls to landlines. This is the link: http://www.telewest.co.uk/websales/product.do?id=8580

Or if its just Broadband and phone your after then they can offer this for around £25. Currently, its free installation and there is £10 one off discount for ordering online.

NTL:

Or if you are in an NTL area, they offer the same services at similar prices: http://www.home.ntl.com/icat/valuepacks

White Cable:

This covers the North West of England,Scotland and the Isle of White, https://www.whitecablenorth.com

Hope this helps.

Note: Telewest only charge the late payment admin fee after 1 week of the next month where you haven't paid, they will telephone you before they do this to give you time to pay. You can pay installments by keeping a bill or statement and taking it to a paypoint or payzone outlet and letting the retailer scan the bar code, so by the end of the month, you would of paid most of the bill off.

If you are not able to get the above services, then I would suggest TalkTalk, however, the service isn't very good so becareful! If you are a British Gas customer, you can also get a discount as TalkTalk and British Gas are working together.

Here are some useful telephone numbers too:

NTL: 0500-500-500
Telewest: 0800-953-5387
White Cable: 0800-070-6150
TalkTalk: 0800-049-1010

For legal issues and regualtions, I would suggest you contact Ofcom on 020-7981-3040 between 9am and 5.30pm monday to friday.

normanmark

or you could just pay the bill when its due & save yourself the hassle?

telecomsavings

When you are on a low income like the original post says, and you have to keep phoning inland revenue and the job centre on 0845 numbers, you end up with big bills, furthermore, the UK goverment is encouraging people to use the internet and Digital TV. People on low income have to pay for it as well as more important bills so the BT bill probably gets left out because of this. When I moved to Telewest, this problem ended!

hurrah

telecomsavings wrote:

This covers the North West of England,Scotland and the Isle of White, https://www.whitecablenorth.com

I think you mean http://www.wightcablenorth.com/

Its the Isle of Wight not White.

Edinburghlass_2

In fact it covers 3 small towns in Scotland and 3 in England, hardly nationwide coverage :rolleyes:

gt94sss2

As others have said BT's late payment charge is legal.

BT's T&C state that:

'A charge for late payment may be raised when a Customer fails to settle their bill within 10 calendar days, (for Customers that are billed quarterly), or 7 calendar days, (for Customers that are billed monthly), of the date of the Red Reminder.'

Can I suggest that you investigate changing to quarterly billing (if that would help) or consider something like Monthly Payment Plan where BT agree to take a fixed monthly amount each month. (I don't know if you need a bank account with a direct debit facility for this option though if you do the FSA publish a list of banks who offer 'basic bank' accounts which you are likely to qualify for)

Regards
Sunil

telecomsavings

Sorry for the spelling error!

You never know, someone might live in a Wight Cable area!

I'm certain it covers Southern Glasgow,Morecomb,Carlisle,Lancaster and few towns in Scotland, but these are quite large towns. Wight Cable north passes around 48,000 homes and many homes on the isle of wight.

Wight Cable North is also looking off-net services and expanding the existing cable network. Currently, Wight Cable on the isle of wight offers wireless services to those who cannot reach the cable network, this is a good way of economising and competing against SKY and BT as well as Top up tv and quite a very good innitiative. Maybe NTLTelewest could do that for new developments where NTLTelewest franchises are but were the cable network does not pass the new homes.

mobilegossip

telecomsavings wrote:

Wight Cable north passes around 48,000 homes and many homes on the isle of wight.

Wight Cable North doesnt operate on Isle of Wight. It provides services to Residential and Business Customers in the West of Scotland, Irvine , Troon and Kilmarnock . In the North West of England, Carlisle, Lancaster and Morecambe

Wight Cable 2005 ltd supply Isle of Wight .See https://www.wightcable.com

telecomsavings

But its part of the same group though.

Wight Cable 2005 acquired OMNE Communications in 2004 and renamed it Wight Cable North so that people don't get confused.

telecomsavings

gt94sss2 wrote:

As others have said BT's late payment charge is legal.

BT's T&C state that:

'A charge for late payment may be raised when a Customer fails to settle their bill within 10 calendar days, (for Customers that are billed quarterly), or 7 calendar days, (for Customers that are billed monthly), of the date of the Red Reminder.'

Can I suggest that you investigate changing to quarterly billing (if that would help) or consider something like Monthly Payment Plan where BT agree to take a fixed monthly amount each month. (I don't know if you need a bank account with a direct debit facility for this option though if you do the FSA publish a list of banks who offer 'basic bank' accounts which you are likely to qualify for)

Regards
Sunil

Well BT have this brown payment card where you can pay in installments towards your bill, you could ask for the BT Payment Card. Alternatively, there is BT pay and call which is a prepayment telephone service, however, you have to use BT Yahoo Surftime dial up or Wanadoo/Orange Hometime dial up as Broadband is not allowed.