Affinity Water Unpaid Direct Debit Charges

mumzie12345

Has anyone else experienced these huge £11 unpaid direct debit charges from Affinity water.  i have just helped my son with his bills and released that he has been getting charged £11 every month or more for unpaid direct debits.  I think this is outrageous and far to high for an unpaid direct debit charge, when they haven't even had to reset up the direct debit each time. In fact all they have done is to place my son, who is already on benefits and struggling into more debt.

You can avoid this charge by cancelling your direct debit and when you receive your bill, call the company and set up a payment plan over 6 months.  Do not do direct debit with affinity water!

They must be raking in the money

Can you - MSE help as there are probably so many more people in the country experiencing these large £11 charges

mumzie12345

Apparently Account Adjustments means this is a charge.  But when you look at the account adjustment it doesn't state its a charge. Honestly how are we supposed to know this stuff when its so unclear

MattMattMattUK

mumzie12345 said:

Has anyone else experienced these huge £11 unpaid direct debit charges from Affinity water.  i have just helped my son with his bills and released that he has been getting charged £11 every month or more for unpaid direct debits.  I think this is outrageous and far to high for an unpaid direct debit charge, when they haven't even had to reset up the direct debit each time. In fact all they have done is to place my son, who is already on benefits and struggling into more debt.

Huge is pushing it, that is fairly standard for a missed Direct Debit (when the supplier's good will has been exhausted), I imagine the bank were also charging for bounced Direct Debit payments.

mumzie12345 said:

You can avoid this charge by cancelling your direct debit and when you receive your bill, call the company and set up a payment plan over 6 months.  Do not do direct debit with affinity water!

You can also avoid this by paying the Direct Debit in the first place, nothing wrong with Direct Debits with Affinity Water, the problem is letting one reputedly bounce, which would be a problem with any supplier.

mumzie12345 said:

They must be raking in the money

Their costs, fees, bills etc. are all regulated, they are not "raking in the money", they make an average net margin of around 3%.

mumzie12345 said:

Can you - MSE help as there are probably so many more people in the country experiencing these large £11 charges

MSE do not take on specific campaigns/complaints from the forum, some people may experience this, but I would hazard a guess that it is not nearly a big an issue as you suspect, largely because people would cancel the Direct Debit rather than let it bounce repeatedly. 

As you mention that he is living on benefits it may be wise to check on EntitledTo to make sure he is claiming all he is eligible for. Affinity also have a scheme which can help those struggling to pay their bills, including debt support (which can includes write-offs and grants) and a low income tariff for those on certain benefits. 

https://www.affinitywater.co.uk/billing/struggling-to-pay

MSE_James

MattMattMattUK said:
MSE do not take on specific campaigns/complaints from the forum

For the record that's not the case - we often follow up things that have been raised on the forum, and part of my role is spotting things on the forum that our news and campaigns colleagues might be interested in - however you're correct that these are usually things where a large number of people are affected, or have the potential to be. 

Altior

On the numbers in the image, the DD is almost double what the actual costs are anyway. The account had circa £80 credit in March before the cancelled DD charge. The bills are around £80 for 6 months, but the DD is £23 pcm so £138 over 6 months being asked for. It only needs to be circa £13 pcm on the usage in the data (unless the costs have hiked, which is possible!).

mumzie12345

MattMattMattUK (sorry not sure how to use forum to respond) Thank you great advice. Personally I don't think companies should make money off of unpaid direct debits and should cover their costs, only. I agree he should have paid his d/d but he suffers with his mental health and also struggles with payments. When you look at a bill and they say account adjustment, not charge. Then how are you supposed to understand what is going on, when its not clear in the first place. I also had to ask the lady what on-earth was going on and she explained it. Then I truly feel they are taking advantage and are not being clear on their statement that it was a charge. If he new he would have done something about it.

Altior

It's not that clear to be fair, although the fee is levied at the same date as the bounced payment.

I would be surprised if there is no notification that correlates with this, either from the supplier or the bank. It also states that details of the AA are on the bill. So it should be itemised on next month's bill, one would assume.  

It might be worth your son raising this with the appropriate service team, taking a non combative approach and asking for some goodwill/discretion in regard to a misunderstanding of the charges (noting that the DD seems higher than it needed to be).

born_again

He should be getting messages from bank if he has mobile/internet banking set up. Advising that funds need to be placed into account to cover the DD.
If, due to lack of funds, a message goes out & you have till around lunchtime to add funds to cover the DD, before it is returned unpaid to company. 

They do not need to set up DD each time one is returned unpaid. The DD is still active. It is just the bank account does not have funds to cover the payment due.

Veteransaver

I think it's a bit scandalous to charge for a missed DD, the bank charge you too anyway.
I'd cancel the direct debit. I never use direct debits unless I have to, for that reason. One mistake or pay being late and you can be hit with loads of charges from your bank, and now it seems your utility company.