Virgin Media Bill

silverback18

Hi all, can anyone tell me if Virgin Media can charge an additional £5 a month purely because I do not pay by direct debit, that is what they are doing, they put it down as payment handling charge, I had this before with GMAC but they were ordered to pay all the money back as they were not allowed to discriminate just because someone paid by card rather than DD, surely the same applies to Virgin Media

visidigi

they are allowed - card payments have a % fee to be paid, it costs the business more to take a card payment than a DD - same for the airlines, holiday companies etc etc.

silverback18

But how come GMAC were ordered to repay the charge they were making for non DD payments, I thought credit cards had a % charge but not debit cards, I pay by debit card

robt_2

Don't ALL utilities do this? Not sure why you single out Virgin Media?

visidigi

silverback18 wrote: »

But how come GMAC were ordered to repay the charge they were making for non DD payments, I thought credit cards had a % charge but not debit cards, I pay by debit card

ALL cards charge a fee for processing a payment. Debit and credit, just to varying amounts.

DD is a more streamlined process requiring less staff and systems to process payments.

No idea on GMAC, I would imagine there was a specific failure of them to disclose or implement that caused the refunds.

BT is even worse than VM - they charge for way more than VM do.

Buzby

The OFT looked into this and decreed there was nothing wrong, providing the consumer is made aware of the the issue prior to signing up, and as they comply, you've agreed to the charge. I agree, it is unreasonable to unload the collection cost onto the consumer as this should form the basis of their basic charges. The real reason, of course to force those who are happy to give anyone access to their bank accounts to feel good at getting a reduction, whilst all the time knowing they can dip in and take what they want and when they want. In my mind, this is a recipe for disaster sooner or later, with you doing all the work when it goes horribly wrong.

kwikbreaks

Buzby wrote: »

In my mind, this is a recipe for disaster sooner or later, with you doing all the work when it goes horribly wrong.

I've been using DDs for about 40 years for just about every bill and have never once had a problem. I did once have an issue with an ISP that used CC continual debit instead but sorted that too eventually without too much of a problem (the threat of a small claims court action seemed to do the trick).

Of course ymmv.

iniltous

visidigi wrote: »

ALL cards charge a fee for processing a payment. Debit and credit, just to varying amounts.

DD is a more streamlined process requiring less staff and systems to process payments.

No idea on GMAC, I would imagine there was a specific failure of them to disclose or implement that caused the refunds.

BT is even worse than VM - they charge for way more than VM do.

wrong....BT charge £1.80/month...£5.40 a quarter, or about a third of what VM charge

visidigi

errrm - I never said they charge way more in monetary terms - I said they charge in more ways - please specifically read what I wrote (and I am talking about all services compared).

robt_2

In the context of the post, it is quite clearly in monetary terms (to me).

jb66

People who pay with cheaper methods should get cheaper services, seems fair to me