Late Fee on advanced payment

Yvos

Hi all, Apologies if this has been covered once before but I have a question about a late payment fee from virgin.

while I was on holiday due to an issue at my bank they paid my direct debit to virgin and then immediatly returned it. Virgin then have issued a late payment fee of £7.50.

My question is how this can be right or even legal as whenever you take a service or make a change with Virgin they bill you for two months meaning your account is always paid a month in advance. The late fee is to cover the last month but the account (which is now been settled bar the late fee) is/was effectivley paid up until the end of the next billing period so a "late fee" should only be applied if 2 months had been missed.

Does anyone have any ideas on this?

[Deleted User]

I think the "issue" at your bank needs to be addressed.

techquest

Are you talking about Mobile or TV BB & Home Phone or your bank?

This is what Virgin say on the site:

We know there are sometimes extenuating circumstances however. That’s why this fee won’t be charged until we have sent a notification and given you an opportunity to rectify the situation before the fee is finalised.

pmduk

Has the direct debit been dishonoured previously?

Yvos

The issue was that multiple DD and multiple incomings happened all on the same day but the incomings came in after the DD's so technically the account had no money but it was for around 30 mins or so looking at it.
The bank say the late fee is down to Virgin not them so wont reimburse.

Yvos

No it hasn't I used to pay each month but changed to DD a few moths ago.

Yvos

Its broadband, I was on holiday at the time so didn't see the problem until I returned but as far as I see it I paid them 2 months at the inception so a late fee should'nt be charged as they already have had the money for the next month. They said they billed me for the current month which was paid last month due to the advance payment.

That's why I wonder if it is even legal, if you get a gas bill you pay for the previous three months or month etc and if you pay late then I can understand a fee, but when I pay in advance then how can I possibly be paying late if as they say the bill is for the current month.

[Deleted User]

Yvos wrote: »

Its broadband, I was on holiday at the time so didn't see the problem until I returned but as far as I see it I paid them 2 months at the inception so a late fee should'nt be charged as they already have had the money for the next month. They said they billed me for the current month which was paid last month due to the advance payment.

That's why I wonder if it is even legal, if you get a gas bill you pay for the previous three months or month etc and if you pay late then I can understand a fee, but when I pay in advance then how can I possibly be paying late if as they say the bill is for the current month.

Because you agreed to the T&C's which state this, the bank certainly aren't responsible either BTW.

onomatopoeia99

Yvos wrote: »

The issue was that multiple DD and multiple incomings happened all on the same day but the incomings came in after the DD's so technically the account had no money but it was for around 30 mins or so looking at it.
The bank say the late fee is down to Virgin not them so wont reimburse.

Ultimately the fault, I mean "issue", is yours. You should have had enough money in the account at the start of the day to cover all the DDs due that day, not rely on incoming payments to arrive before the DDs were processed as there is no way of guaranteeing that.

The bank have done nothing wrong - they cannot know that a deposit is going to arrive in 30 minutes time when they refuse a DD payment due to insufficient funds.

[Deleted User]

onomatopoeia99 wrote: »

The bank have done nothing wrong - they cannot know that a deposit is going to arrive in 30 minutes time when they refuse a DD payment due to insufficient funds.

Indeed, and they would be unlikely to "bounce" a Direct Debit unless this was a repeat occurrence.

As I said earlier in the thread, the OP needs to keep a tighter reign on his finances. The issue is not with Virgin's T&Cs which require the advance payment to be paid by a certain date.

pmduk

It's almost certainly not a late fee, more likely a fee to cover their costs in covering a dishonoured direct debit. There's a difference.