Warning! BT increase charges for non direct debit payers

luvpeckham

Hi Bextec

Interstign argument, but flawed as they are now saying it is a payment processing fee, something that I didn't sign up to pay and as such don't agree with.

in terms of who I am with now, the issue for me is not how I pay (DD is fine by me) but the fact that BT choose to peanlise me for payign by cheque, which I have done with NO payment processing fees attached for the last 14 years.

The reason I choose to move was down to BT's high costs associated in providing the basic services and also their choice to peanise me for keepign my existing payment options. :mad:

luvpeckham

Hi Bextec

Intersting argument, but flawed as they are now saying it is a payment processing fee, something that I didn't sign up to pay and as such don't agree with.

in terms of who I am with now, the issue for me is not how I pay (DD is fine by me) but the fact that BT choose to peanlise me for payign by cheque, which I have done with NO payment processing fees attached for the last 14 years.

The reason I choose to move was down to BT's high costs associated in providing the basic services and also their choice to penalise me for keeping my existing payment options. :mad:

BexTech

luvpeckham wrote: »

in terms of who I am with now, the issue for me is not how I pay (DD is fine by me) but the fact that BT choose to peanlise me for payign by cheque, which I have done with NO payment processing fees attached for the last 14 years.

The reason I choose to move was down to BT's high costs associated in providing the basic services and also their choice to peanise me for keepign my existing payment options. :mad:

...but for most of those 14 years you were paying £3 per quarter extra for not paying by DD, then later £4.50.

You were paying £3 per quarter for paying by cheque, they just didn't detail it, they just inflated your line rental instead.

Your line rental was £12 per month, where as paying by DD was £11 per month.

They then changed that so that everyone had a line rental of £11, but if you didn't pay by DD then you paid £1.50 extra.

So for almost all of those 14 years you were happily paying £1 per month extra for paying by cheque.

luvpeckham

Your argument doesn't cut it for me, especially as they now include it as a PAYMENT PROCESSING OPTION and maybe for part of the 14 years they did offer a discount for Direct Debit, but there is no way that they have offered that for 14 years.... (in fact I would say that for at least 10 of those 14 years they didn't offer any form of discount.)

Personally I don't agree with the charge, don't think it is fair or ethical to charge people for choosing how they pay and more importantly didn't sign any contract with BT accepting the charge.

BexTech

I can confirm for at least 11 years they did offer a discount for paying by DD.

Virgin Media charge £5 per month if you don't pay by Direct Debit.

Sky charge £4 per month if you don't pay by Direct Debit.

Other phone providers simply don't accept customers unless you pay by Direct Debit.

I'm not saying these costs are fair, just that there's always been a higher rate for those that don't pay by Direct Debit when Direct Debits were introduced.

But you can't really argue against the charges if you are then moving to a provider that only accepts customers if they pay by Direct Debit and don't give paying by cheque as an option, as for the last 14 years you could have paid by Direct Debit.

April2

Occasionally, BexTech, you just have to accept the old proverb ...........

BexTech

April2 wrote: »

Occasionally, BexTech, you just have to accept the old proverb ...........

True. :cool:

luvpeckham

BexTech wrote: »

But you can't really argue against the charges if you are then moving to a provider that only accepts customers if they pay by Direct Debit and don't give paying by cheque as an option, as for the last 14 years you could have paid by Direct Debit.

Like I said, I am not objecting to how I pay, rather the fact that they are waving the flag of Payment Processing Fee in my face. something that I didn't agree to, nor sign up to and personally disagree with. Moving to a provider who only accepts Direct Debit is my choice and not one that I am imposed on by my former provider. By having the option to receive the same (poor) service but pay more for it (PPF) or moving away to someone who offered a better overall package for less is my choice and one I am happy with, but being told that if I stayed and maintained my payment options then I would pay a charge of £4.50 a quarter is not something I am happy with.

it's not a case of being so blind that I can not see, it is a case of getting !!!!ed off with being taken for a ride. after all, if you (where you still can) pay be cash, cheque or card in a supermarket, do they impose a payment processing fee on top of your bill, do they discount it if you pay by a method that doesn't involve as much processing for them or do they just accept that everyone should be treated the same.

I guess at the end of the day, I made the choice to move away from BT for the unfair way they treated me, however I also choose to still withold the two lots of £4.50 charges for something that I didn't agree to use (payment processing fee)

Will be interesting to see what BT do next.

BexTech

luvpeckham wrote: »

Will be interesting to see what BT do next.

Send the debt to a debt collection agency, who will add on their charges.

Make note on your credit file of missed payments.

Just seems stupid for 2 months payments, yet you paid them for 14 years previous.

gt94sss2

luvpeckham wrote: »

Like I said, I am not objecting to how I pay, rather the fact that they are waving the flag of Payment Processing Fee in my face. something that I didn't agree to, nor sign up to and personally disagree with.

BT wrote to all its customers informing them of the change to their tariffs well before it happened.

As you continued to use BT you are deemed to have legally accepted the change to your terms and conditions.

The same applies when any company informs you of a change to their T&C or pricing..

This situation is not the same as those the banks face re: unlawful or penalty charges.

Regards
Sunil