Fasthosts £24 'debt recovery fee'

rhodrid

Hi,

I have been charged £20+vat (£23.50) for missing a payment of £4.69 on a hosting account I have with Fasthosts. The reason I missed it was that I received a new card from my bank making the card they had invalid.

They did send me an email to notify me that I missed the payment, which I missed initially. When I did see it and went to pay they sent me another email saying that they are going to charge me £20+vat for being 7 days overdue.

I cleared the amount owed within 9 working days of it becoming overdue so it's not like I was a month overdue.

It seems to me that this is similar to the bank charges, that the amount charged is far greater than what it costs them to notify me.

So my question is this can I claim this charge back in small claims court? And if I do start proceedings what happens if I loose? will it end up costing me $$$.

Many Thanks

Rhodri

Voyager2002

For a start, it seems clear that the missed payment was the fault of your bank. So show them all the fast-host correspondence and ask them to cover the fee.

If you challenge the fee in court, you are looking at a court fee of around fifty pounds.

rhodrid

Thanks Voyager2002, I'm not sure it's really my banks fault as it was a replacement card as my old one expired. Fasthosts say that it's my fault for not updating them.

But are they really entitled to charge me so much? They seem to be a fairly big company and I can't see how it would cost the £20 to email me and be without £4.69 for 9 working days.

dmg24

Is the late payment charge in their t & c's? If so, then yes, I am afraid that they are entitled to charge it. Have you tried a very nice and friendly phone call, see if they are willing to waive it on this one occasion?