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

Mr_McGoo

It's only when you leave BT that you find out how truly dreadful they are....constant overcharging, scams, systematic billing "errors" always in their favour, lousy/non-existent customer service, and now this "payment processing fee".

VOTE WITH YOUR FEET!

There are plenty of good phone service providers out there, who pay BT Wholesale for the line and charge rent, at a lower price rental than BT's little scam of making you pay for "Option 1" as the minimum rental charge.

Several of these suppliers have a package including rent, good quality/speed broadband, and the equivalent of BT Option 1 phone service, for under £20. The better ones have reasonable to fair customer service (NB not all). And they don't have "Payment Processing Charges".

They will take over your service from BT without hassle. I did that about 2 years ago and it changed my life for the better! Now I never, ever, have to deal with BT.

(NB, stay away from Pipex! )

relay

Bamber19 wrote: »

Did they need to?

If they are claiming you are getting some kind of service for the extra £5, then yes they do. I already pay a service charge afterall.

relay

chuckley wrote: »

this isnt new... if u dont pay by DD u are charged an 'admin fee', you are told this BEFORE taking out said service.

people complain way too much these days!

And multi million pound big businesses hide behind the words 'admin fee' way too much these days. Funny how they aren't actually able to tell you what the admin fee is for when you ask for a written invoice.

Why do you think that might be? Big companies taking the 'P' by any chance? Why don't DD customers have to pay an 'admin fee' when they signed exactly the same contract as non DD customers?

wantmemoney

the standard letter from BT

Thank you for your correspondence. Every single customer is important to us and we take your views seriously.
.........
.........
We have introduced these changes because it costs more to accept non-Direct Debit payments from customers. This is not just because of the cost of taking the payments, but because on average customers are more likely to forget to pay or not pay, and this leaves us with bad debt of around £100 million a year.
..........
..........
Yours sincerely

pp
Gillian Lewis
Head of Complaint Management, Customer Services

It has nothing to do with any 'admin' / 'processing' charge. BT are charging all non direct debit payers a penalty (surcharge) calculated at £1.50/month. It has nothing to do with any processing cost for the method of payment.
BT have decided all their bad debt associated with non payment and late payment of bills should be shared amongst people who don't pay by direct debit.

It's a con that Ofcom are allowing them to get away with. BT already charge a £7.50 late payment penalty that covers their cost of late payment.
Ofcom already allows them to factor in 'bad debt' into their retail prices.

It appears to be an unjustified penalty charge designed to force customers on to direct debit.

journ

I'm with BT and the reason i don't pay by DD anymore is because they would never take the payment on the right date so i told them i will pay by another way , And there is a charge for not paying by DD

iQueen

I can't remember signing a contract when I joined BT, in the 1970s, but if I did, it didn't mention DDs!

I shall be contacting BT about this 'processing charge', because I regard it as a penalty. I pay my bill online, which, as others have said, probably doesn't cost BT £4.50 a quarter.

When I take my car in to be repaired, the invoice itemises the parts', labour charges, and VAT, separately. It does not mention the admin charges for the two office staff! Similarly, when I buy something from a shop or Amazon, or pay Council Tax, there is no separate charge for admin - all overheads are included in the price.

There is an argument for charging separately for different products or services, but it is ridiculous to charge for separate business expenses. The supermarket itemises my till receipt, but doesn't mention the refrigeration, transport, cleaning, security costs etc! How long will it be before we get a new surcharge to cover the cost of heating the BT offices??? :rotfl:I wonder if they would like to itemise 'profit' on our next bills??

gbhxu

Doesn't the £4.50 fee for non direct debit payers fall under the Unfair Terms In Consumer Contract regulations?

As I see it, I have a contract with BT to provide me with a telephone line and phone calls.

I do not have a contract with BT Payment Services Ltd regarding payments.

I'll be paying my bill again without the £4.50 charge.

Can I charge BT for having one of its' poles in my garden?

dinglebert

gbhxu wrote: »

Can I charge BT for having one of its' poles in my garden?

Yes as far as I can remember. You won't get much however. We did an investigation into this as my mother has one in her backgarden which was originally a council propery. Discovered that BT were paying council for this. Came to a head when they needed to do some work on the pole and destroyed some well established plants while doing it. unfortunately my mother didn't want to take it further. I would have enjoyed doing it though.

AlanMC_2

I've recently joined BT. Not by choice - I was with another phone company until BT disconnected my line in error when new neighbours moved in next door. The only way I could get my phone back was through BT. They tried to charge £124.99 to reconnect my line. After 18 days without a phone, and two months fighting them, they finally waived the fee. (I still incurred a £12 charge, apparently, for not paying the remainder of disputed bill in time.)

Anyway, I queried this "payment processing fee". They told me, quite clearly, that this £4.50 was the fee my bank charged them for paying by debit card. They said they were just passing that charge on to me.

I do not believe my bank charges BT £4.50 for accepting payment by debit card (I heard it was about 50p), but I intend to ask them to confirm this tomorrow.

If BT has lied to me, then isn't this a case of fraud? How can recoup £4.50 which they claim they've been charged by my bank, if my bank didn't charge that amount.

Clearly I don't want to pay by direct debit. If I do, what's to stop them disconnecting me and then charging another £124.99 to reconnect me? They've done it once already.

Mr_McGoo

Can I charge BT for having one of its' poles in my garden?

Go for it. We did and they paid, not a lot but it was a small victory.

It will depend, to some extent at least, on how the legalities were dealt with when the pole was first put there. The word Wayleave will come up sooner or later. Read up on that.

The best way to get the ball rolling is to send an invoice to BT for, say, the last 5 years for a reasonable but significant sum, say £150 per year. If they ignore it, after 30 days send a statement with a "We'll send the account to our colllection agency in 14 days if still unpaid" letter. Then send them another invoice, including a 5% price rise, for 2008, payable by 30th March. Add a "Payment Processing Fee" of 10%, justified by the fact that they have delayed paying the first invoice (see BT justification for this charge).

After 30 days, send the account to a collection agency. At this point BT may react, probably denying liability. Let the agency continue to process the case as normal, but, if BT respond in that way, write back saying that you are prepared to consider their case if they can support it with valid documentation within 7 days, otherwise the debt collection must take its course and seek a CCJ against BT.

After that play it by ear. Enjoy.

AlanMC; As a Barclaycard Merchant with a very small turnover until a few months ago, I paid less than 1% for payments by any Debit Card, and BT with a huge turnover will be paying a lot less than I did. Credit cards were 2-3% or so, apart from Amex, which was very high. So yes, if BT tell you that £4.50 is the charge they pay for a debit card payment, they are lying unless your quarterly bill is well over £500.