Late payment fee charge from Next. Not sure why...?

Nine_Lives

Asking on behalf of a relative. Also, apologies if in the wrong forum.

Anyway, they bought something from Next & paid in full online (they say - though i've no reason to doubt, i'm simply passing on what they've said to me).

Today they got a letter saying they have failed to make a minimum payment.
Under description it says "Previous balance = £16.24" & "service charge = £0.42".

Minimum payment to reach them by 2nd March is £10.

Apparently this is statement number 10, their credit limit is £250 (yet they have no credit card with Next. Do next even do one??).

Basically they don't understand what this charge is (yes, it's a late payment charge, but they don't understand why they've received it when they paid in full for the item online).

I don't shop at Next myself, be it in the store in person or online, so i'm not familiar with their system.

For those of you who are - do any of you have an idea why this letter has come about (aside from it being for a late payment)? If they've paid for the item in full online then how would their payment be "late"?

unholyangel

Have they checked their credit/debit card (that they used to buy it) account to see if it was actually paid?

From memory, opening an account with next is an option when ordering online. I believe theres been a few threads over the years of people who have signed up to a credit account without realising.

SuperHan

It's quite difficult to pay for something in full on the Next website unless you know what you're looking for. They default to pay by account and it's teensy writing you need to click to pay in full, after it looks like the order is complete. Also, you can get free delivery if you ask for a catalogue, and this also opens an account.

It's very possibly a mistake on the part of the relative

Nine_Lives

Sounds about right then i guess.

Very crafty on Next's behalf really.

Relative did say they'd "somehow" ended up signing up to a catalogue a couple of years ago & had to get in touch to cancel it as they weren't interested.

Ordering from Next sounds like trying to tackle a series of booby traps.

Fire_Fox

Why don't you ring Next and ask?

Nine_Lives

She checked her bank statement - there's no entry for a Next purchase. Looks like it's been bought on this credit account.

I've never bought from next so how obvious/sneaky is the buying process in terms of getting you to buy on credit rather than your card?

Obviously there'll be some that say "if you read every word on the page 10 times then you should know what you're doing", but if you're just going through the page quickly - is it still obvious that it's on credit, or not?

SuperHan

There's a cunning option that says free delivery if you order a catalogue, which I think has an asterisk to then say that means opening a Next account. Even if you don't select that, you get a page to say your order is complete and gives reference number etc, and you have to read the small print to find a link to click to pay in full.

I only noticed as it said I had to be 18+ to shop online with Next, which rang alarm bells, so I looked for why, and it was because of the default to paying by credit!

Nine_Lives

Safe to say i don't think this mistake will be getting made again.

bod1467

SuperHan wrote: »

There's a cunning option that says free delivery if you order a catalogue, which I think has an asterisk to then say that means opening a Next account. Even if you don't select that, you get a page to say your order is complete and gives reference number etc, and you have to read the small print to find a link to click to pay in full.

The missus placed an order with Next online yesterday and we noticed the exact same thing ... very sneaky. (Although it wasn't quite small print, but the Pay Now option is not obvious unless you look for it).