Warning! BT increase charges for non direct debit payers

Mary_Hartnell

Have you ever been into your bank and said "this debit is not correct recall the money"?

I have but you more or less have to throw a strop and demand to see the manager before the jobsworth behind the counter will take you seriously.

wantmemoney

normanmark wrote:

What other payment method will refund you anything that has been overcharged on the bill from your own bank??

paying by cheque puts you in total control.

study the bill
if they 'overcharge' don't overpay. the issue with refunds then simply do not arise.

bountiful

'ignorance'? - rather an emotive word to use here where people are making real efforts to overcome debt problems which have not been incurred by their being 'ingnorant' but because of genuinely below-the-cost-of-living incomes - direct debits are terrifying if you cannot keep a buffer-balance in the bank - failed direct debits, due to lack of funds are crippling if you are already low on funds.

albertross_2

It's not the direct debit that is volatile, it's the phone usage. If anything, direct debits help to stop people getting behind with payments in the first place.

btw. If you are snowballing, first Goal should be the OD, it has a higher apr than the credit cards.

BexTech

albertross wrote: »

It's not the direct debit that is volatile, it's the phone usage. If anything, direct debits help to stop people getting behind with payments in the first place.

It might also help if people learn some budgeting and money management skills and stopped living beyond their means.

normanmark

Mary_Hartnell wrote: »

Have you ever been into your bank and said "this debit is not correct recall the money"?

I have but you more or less have to throw a strop and demand to see the manager before the jobsworth behind the counter will take you seriously.

Yep done it numerous times without any problem.

normanmark

BexTech wrote: »

It might also help if people learn some budgeting and money management skills and stopped living beyond their means.

Bingo. Thats the bottom line in all honesty.

wantmemoney

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1022020/British-Telecom-pay-1-75million-centre-fraud.html
26th May 2008
British Telecom has paid £1.75million in compensation for cheating taxpayers in a call-centre fraud.
Over six years its staff made more than a million "false" calls to ensure performance targets were met under a £1billion-plus contract to handle calls from Ministry of Defence bases.

not the type of company I want any where near my bank account

IanRK

Why are so many people here so quick to put down those who believe this charge to be unjustified?
I have been with BT for decades, they used to reward those who paid quarterly and on time with a £7.50 refund, in reality that has now become a £4.50 charge. Have they become that much more inefficient since then?
As one who has had money taken from my account from a DD payment I object to this "secure" method being imposed on me by stealth. I have never missed a payment deadline on any bill and do not need a lecture on home economics thank you very much. I implore any one else who feels this way to sign the number10 petition mentioned previously.
There is no way that this charge can be justified no matter how you twist it that "it used to be this..etc.". Most companies have got better at billing so you would logically expect costs to come down wouldn't you?
And as for other companies being dearer that is totally irrelevent to this case and smacks more of a spam attack by BT employees.
I wanted 5lb (sue me) of bananas from a shop and they said that would be £4.50 I said next door only charged £4.00. They said why didn't you buy from them so I said they had none in. He said when we have none they are only £3.50.

IanRK

I have had direct debit payments taken out by mistake on 3 occasions by 2 different companies. They are therefore not foolproof and I object to having to do all the leg work to prove some faceless minion in some office somewhere made an error. Companies are very quick to take money but painfully slow at handing it back.
I got my money back eventually but it put me off DD payments.
What's so stubborn about avoiding a system that is not reliable?
I pay my charity contributions by DD as I can control what goes out and when, to me that is the best use of the DD system.