Plusnet - watch changing DD

malc_b

Changed Plusnet DD to new bank on 26 Nov. Last DD was taken on 10 Nov. New DD has failed because Plusnet say there wasn't enough time and due date was 4th (so why was last month taken on 10th?). Did Plusnet take money from old bank? Did they resubmit to new bank? No they just email to say I had to pay via debit card or and by the way

THERE IS A £1.50 charge to pay

And what happened when I complained? It was explained that this was my fault for changing the DD at the wrong time. And this is customer service is it? IMO the fault lies with plusnet who could have used the old DD or could have blocked changing DD with a message say too close to payment date, or could have held off changing DD and used the old one until the new was valid. I've seen all of these approaches with other companies. I've never, until now, seen a company charge me for THEIR mistake!

brewerdave

Happened to me as well -I switched 13 DDs and the ONLY one I had a problem with,was PN!!
If you post the issue on their own forums ,you MAY be lucky and get your £1.50 back as a credit.

malc_b

PN have offered to waive the 1.50 if I pay by Friday.

FYI this is PN's explanation. My invoice date is 4th and always has been but DD is not on the 4th it just gets triggered on 4th. DD takes 5-7 days (where do PN bank then? Outer Mongolia? Everyone else seems to have a DD that is a fixed date.).

If you change your DD then you need to allow 5-7 working days for it become active AND another 5-7 working days because the invoice date is 5-7 days in front of the DD. In other words don't change your DD less than 14 working days before it normally is taken. If you change DD in that period then when the invoice date comes around, 5-7 working days before the normally DD date, PN's system will say you don't have a valid DD and thus will charge your debit card with an extra £1.50 fee.

Or put it another way, in a typical 21 working day month you have just a 7 working day window in which it is safe to change your DD and 14 day window where it is unsafe. So the majority of the time it is risky. A bit like the rhythm method if you ask me! No wonder it catches people out.

Of course it could be argued that if you changed the DD PN could give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that there will be a valid DD by the time their DD arrives. Or maybe just bank somewhere closer than Outer Mongolia where invoice date and DD date coincide.

masonic

I had exactly the same issue and after they initially refused to refund the charge. Once I posted on their forum it was refunded within minutes.

I suppose I can take it that they didn't heed my suggestion to include a warning about possible charges before asking the user to confirm the change.

brewerdave

Still doesn't explain why every other public/private body I have DDs with, operate on 21st century timescales whilst PN are stuck in the 19th century:rotfl:

malc_b

masonic wrote: »

I suppose I can take it that they didn't heed my suggestion to include a warning about possible charges before asking the user to confirm the change.

There is a warning, BUT, this says 5-7 you must allow 5-7 working days. For PN you must allow 10-14 working days to the DD date, and the DD date is what most people would think of as the "date". So the warning is inaccurate.

Also, I don't see that the warning is strong enough, nor should it be down to the customer. I've changed DDs many times and this is the first time it has ended up in a fee. Most companies are smart enough to use the old DD or just to take the delay taking the new DD.

One, I think EDF, when I tried to change the DD on their web site didn't allow access to the change DD page and said it was too close to DD date, please try again after DD. That's fair enough IMO and quite simple to implement. PN say the DD rules forbid this but clearly EDF don't think so and there is nothing to stop you phoning the company to change DD and make payment if you really have to. Or cancelling the current DD at your bank.

Plusnet_company_representative

Hi there,

Have we been able to sort this out for you?

If you'd like me to take a look at what's going on please let me know a ticket number from your account. You should be able to find one of these in an email from us or by logging into http://contactus.plus.net

malc_b

Plusnet_company_representative wrote: »

Hi there,

Have we been able to sort this out for you?

If you'd like me to take a look at what's going on please let me know a ticket number from your account. You should be able to find one of these in an email from us or by logging into http://contactus.plus.net

There is a ticket raised. I thought it was sorted as the ticket said you would refund the 1.50 and I had up to 12/12/14 to make payment. That date was in the title. BUT, what I had not noticed is the right at the bottom it said 12/12/14 7:00 am. So I missed your schedule while considering, do I use the internet enough and more importantly do I want continue with a company like PN who blame and charge their customers for what is clearly a fault in their systems.

Plusnet_company_representative

To be honest, 7am sounds like the time the ticket would have come off hold on our side rather than a deadline for payment. I'm still happy to look into this if you can give me a way to identify your account?

Chris

malc_b

So, Plusnet have decided that they will cancel the 1.50 charge, not just refund it, so the account now is back to owing 9.99. However, even though there is an active DD on the account Plusnet seem incapable of using this and instead want a card added to the account or someone to phone and pay with a card.

Latest missive is a threat letter from Plusnet accounts saying account deactivated (lucky then that I have another way of getting the email saying this then!) and that if I don't phone (and wait in the current 15min queue) to make payment by card then this will be sent to a debit collection agency.

Plusnet - there is a valid DD. Use it. This all stems from Plusnet's incompetence in handling DDs. Customers should not have to go out of their way to make payment when a DD EXISTS.

I would have put this in an email to Plusnet but they helpful email their customers from an email address that does not allow replies! Why is that not a surprise? For an internet company they seem lacking in how to use the internet.