BT "Payment Processing Fee" !!!!!!?!?!

Short_Legs

Hi

Newbie here - always checking this site but only just registered to post.

Quick question:

My parents have just received their quarterly phone bill from BT and on it is a "Payment Processing Fee" of £4.50. BT say this is because they don't pay by direct debit and that from 1st May 2007 all non-direct debit customers will have to pay it. They say they have reduced line rental by £3 so in effect you are 'only' paying another £1.50 per quarter. They also say this is legal. Surely not?

BT also state that this is a fee they have always stood for their customers (yeah, right - £4.50 per quarter for millions of customers, for the past 60 years or so - all out of the goodness of their hearts - oh I feel all warm and fuzzy inside!! :rotfl: )

We are inclined to send a cheque for the bill, minus £4.50, being the cost of OUR payment processing fee...

Any ideas on whether this is legal or whether there is a way of getting around it, other than paying by direct debit, which they don't want to do.

Thanks very kindly!!

Helen

shellsuit

Nothing you can do unless you change suppliers or pay by DD I'm afraid.

This was all over the media not so long ago, I'm suprised you and/or your parents didn't realise about the charge sooner

Cardew

It really is just a rise in charges - no more than that - and had they simply stated it like that, there would have been grumbles but people would have paid.

The intent was to encourage customers to switch to DD payment but the way it has been presented has been an 'own goal'.

Gas and electricity companies often vary their tariffs to make payment by DD cheaper and get no adverse comment.

Butlers1982

They also say this is legal. Surely not?

Why not???

Butlers1982

you seem to have 2 options

Direct Debit.
With Direct Debit there's no need to worry about forgetting to pay your bill - the money is simply debited from your bank account each quarter. And, because Direct Debit customers enjoy a £3 discount, your quarterly bill could be only £11.49 (incl. VAT), if you don't exceed your call allowance.

or

Monthly Payment Plan.
We agree a fixed amount that you'll automatically pay every month from your bank account. This makes budgeting easy, because even if the number of calls goes up and down, your bill stays the same. And, if you pay this way we'll give you a £3 discount - so your quarterly bill could be just £11.49 (incl.VAT), depending on how many calls you make.

C_Ronaldo

I dont see the problem tbh, either pay by DD and not pay the processing fee or dont pay by DD and pay the processing fee

changkra

Al_Mac wrote: »

It costs them more if you don't pay by DD, so they are passing that cost on to you. Fair, no, legal, yes.

Watchdog have already stated that this fee is well out of range of the true figure.

kitekat

Pay your bill at the post office,i believe its free for B.T.customers.

Heinz

When the difference was £3, it was called a 'Direct Debit discount' but, instead of retaining that name when they increased the price by 50p/month, BT stupidly decided to rename it.

Either way, paying by DD used to get you line rental £1/month more cheaply and, now, it gets you line rental £1.50/month more cheaply.

So, paying by DD is a legal way of saving money - which, of course, is the No.1 aim of this site.

Kilty_2

Costs nothing like £4.50 to accept payments via the bank giro credit system.

My business bank account charges me £0.65 for credits paid in by that method and they supply the slips for free... I'm sure it doesn't cost BT anything like that figure (since they'll have a Corporate account not a bloody small business one!) nor does it cost them £3.85 to print a custom slip on the bill.

Cardew

Kilty wrote: »

Costs nothing like £4.50 to accept payments via the bank giro credit system.

My business bank account charges me £0.65 for credits paid in by that method and they supply the slips for free... I'm sure it doesn't cost BT anything like that figure (since they'll have a Corporate account not a bloody small business one!) nor does it cost them £3.85 to print a custom slip on the bill.

The costs of accepting payments is only a small part of the additional costs.

Think about the cash flow. Getting payments every month instead of 3 months.

Also the cost of chasing late payers is a huge overhead. Virtually all the late payers are quarterly billing customers.