BT charges

Tulip

new_to_this wrote: »

Hello,
This is the first time that I have ever written to anything like this so i'm sorry if this subject has already been talked about!
I have just received my quarterly bill from BT and they inform me that if i do not join the monthly direct debit scheme, they will charge me a fee of £4.50 per quarter. Has anyone else had this and can they charge you for not paying via direct debit? I am very annoyed that they are doing this, surely its up to me how i pay my bills?

Yes I got slapped the same processing fee of £4.50,Just phoned Bt today to ask them to send me out a direct debit mandate to prevent this happening again.Like you I wasnt very happy this morning,I actually felt angry.

Katie

gt94sss2

BexTech wrote: »

Or you can switch to whole bill monthly direct debit, so instead of getting a bill every quarter, you get a bill every month, and payment is taken shortly after the bill arrives for the whole amount you used in that month.

Whole bill direct debit is also available for people billed quarterly - not only for those on a monthly billing cycle.

Regards
Sunil

BexTech

gt94sss2 wrote: »

Whole bill direct debit is also available for people billed quarterly - not only for those on a monthly billing cycle.

Regards
Sunil

Yes, I think I mentioned it in the thread a few times, as BT used to try and deny whole bill monthly DD was available and often made out the only whole bill DD was quarterly.

BritBrat

Whole bill direct debit is also available for people billed quarterly - not only for those on a monthly billing cycle.

I am on monthly whole bill DD.

libra10

I also am annoyed about this £4.50 charge, as I always pay in full (by BACS) within 2/3 days of receving the bill.

Reluctanly I decided to phone yesterday (even managed to get through on BT's horrendous phone system!) and agreed to set up a direct debit to pay the bill in full on receipt.

The assistant I spoke to said the charge would go out within 10 days. The irony is that if they weren't charging extra to non DD customers, I would have paid online yesterday and the money would reach them early next week, rather than the 10 days they stated.

I would say that BT have scored a 'home goal'!

Heinz

libra10 wrote: »

I would say that BT have scored a 'home goal'!

Did they? How many times did you pay them £3 extra per quarter in the past?

BritBrat

Now you have to pay Direct Debit, why not use a cheaper service (CPS)

Don't get rid of the BT line just click "here" in Heinz signature. Make them really lose money, I have.

Total calls via BT = less than £1 so far this month.

And they lost my calling plans. I think the plans and the DD must be £5 a month lost + the calls.

stevehanks

i too am fed up with bt. i have wrote a e mail to them complaining about the £4.50 increase due to the fact that i don't pay by d/debit. they should remember who the customer is. totally :mad:

Heinz

stevehanks wrote: »

i too am fed up with bt. i have wrote a e mail to them complaining about the £4.50 increase due to the fact that i don't pay by d/debit. they should remember who the customer is. totally :mad:

Welcome to the MSE forums stevehanks.

It's not a £4.50 increase, it's £1.50.

You are obviously another BT customer who has happily been paying £1/month (£3/quarter) extra for years because you didn't pay by DD and are now annoyed because the difference has been increased by 50p/month (£1.50/quarter).

To save you trawling though the threads, the rise is 50p/month (it was £1/month and is now £1.50/month). The £4.50 figure looks more dramatic and that is why the press use it - it's really the revised extra amount - it was £3 and is now £4.50.

I take the view that there's a saving to be had - so I take it. Actually, it saves me time too! The raison d'etre of this site is money saving, after all.

For comparison, Virgin Media charges £5/month if customers don't pay by DD

Short_Legs

Any kind of surcharge for not paying by direct debit is a rip off and should be illegal. They can't go whacking people with a penalty because they choose to pay in a different manner to what suits their company. It's as simple as that. I think Martin should get on the case!