Orange Billing problems

LisaB85

My bill date is the 12th of the month, it is usually £30. However the last billing period I went over by £10 so on the 10th May I paid £10 via my online account using my debit card so I didn't forget it would be more.

My ebill says

Balance brought forward from last statement £30.00
Payment received -thanks very much £40.00
Total charges for this statement £40.00
Amount due £30.00
Thank you for electing to pay by Direct Debit. This month's charges ONLY will be debited from your nominated bank account on or after 28 May 2012.

Today I checked my bank account online and it is -£40 as they are holding £40 for the DD due!! (the date says 28th on my online bank)

Called 150 and to be honest I don't have a clue what the Indian bloke was on about he mentioned they hadn't received the money yet and to call my bank, cancel DD etc and that they payment hadn't been recognised.

All I can find on the orange website is this -


Card payments can help if you're expecting a higher-than-normal bill or if you have a previous outstanding balance on your account. But if you normally pay by Direct Debit, there are some things you need to know before you make an extra payment:


Card payments don't replace any Direct Debit already being processed
On the top of all your bills you'll find your bill date. It's important because, while any payment before that date will lower your Direct Debit for that month, any payment you make after that bill date will go towards the month afterwards instead. It doesn't mean you've been double charged, but to avoid any confusion the best time to make a card payment is after your Direct Debit payment collection date, and before your bill date.


So I paid £10 on 10th May 2 days before my billing date and my bill says amount due is £30.

So does anyone have any idea of what they hell is going on and what I should do?

Got no help from the call centre as not sure what the guy even knew what he was on about really.

Naf

Your problem is that Orange's systems (along with many other companies) process your bill amount across to the DD request the moment your bill is produced. In this case on the 12th, your bill was produced, the billing system saw £40 and passed this across to DD. remember, your card payment still akes 3-5 days for Orange to actually apply it to your balance so it wouldn't have been properly credited until at least the 13th (14th in this case because 13th was the Sunday).
So NOW your bill says £30 due, because the card payment has been credited, but DD has not yet been taken. So they'll take £40 I'm afraid, and leave you £10 in credit in your Orange bill. You could claim the DD back through your bank as soon as its taken, then pay the £30 manually, if it's going to cause a major problem for you.

OneADay

Why make the £10 payment yourself? If you make payment like that, they can charge a small fee (£1.50 - £2.50 just for not doing it via the direct debit).

Direct debit are usually processed 3 days before due date by banks I think. Especially when falling over bank holidays, weekends.

Talk to the bank if you want to stop the direct debit this month but then you would need to make another payment yourself for £30 to Orange.

chanz4

Orange dont charge for adhoc payments, if a dd is setup. the other posters are correct about the billing cycle/dd

LisaB85

Naf wrote: »

Your problem is that Orange's systems (along with many other companies) process your bill amount across to the DD request the moment your bill is produced. In this case on the 12th, your bill was produced, the billing system saw £40 and passed this across to DD. remember, your card payment still akes 3-5 days for Orange to actually apply it to your balance so it wouldn't have been properly credited until at least the 13th (14th in this case because 13th was the Sunday).
So NOW your bill says £30 due, because the card payment has been credited, but DD has not yet been taken. So they'll take £40 I'm afraid, and leave you £10 in credit in your Orange bill. You could claim the DD back through your bank as soon as its taken, then pay the £30 manually, if it's going to cause a major problem for you.

Ah yes the 10th was a Thursday and don't think it showed the £10 on my Orange account until I checked the bill on the 14th and it said -£10 then so would be after my billing date. It is the first time I've made an additional payment so was a bit confused.

I don't know why the guy on the phone couldn't explain that himself instead of going on about cancelling DD etc but think I will check my balance on Orange in the next week.