*Resolved* - Could someone clarify if this NOW payment is legit?

DarrenLee02

I was hoping someone who understands billing could assist a little. I've been with NOW phone + broadband for ages, but switched to Virgin for faster broadband. The switchover was July 7th and I got an email from NOW confirming the switch and the end of the contract, no end of contract fees as I was with them on a rolling basis. I had a regualr bill on 3rd July for £32 which is what I was paying, switchover 7th July, and my card was charged by NOW on 21st August for £27.87.
Is this payment due them or am I being erroneously charged? I get mixed up how these places charge in advance or in arrears etc, I get muddled. If someone could clarify it would be much appreciated. I don't want to stutter on the phone making an eejit of myself if it's a correct charge.

iniltous

Paying for the full month of the switch and getting a partial refund for they days after the switch is pretty normal because the Now  billing date is unlikely to coincide with the day you moved to Virgin , but in your case this seems to be a Now charge for the month after that  …( if your  billing date is the 21st of the month , then getting charged on the 21 July and then getting some of that refunded for the days after 7th July is expected but not also getting billed on the 21 August ) 

If you hadn’t had notification from Now stating the switch date and that no termination charges were due I’d have suspected that Virgin hadn’t used the switching process at all and simply provided their services alongside the Now service , so Now continued to supply service , they are different networks so both would work alongside each other, in that case Now are blameless, but you did seem to get notification so Virgin must have at least contacted Now about this , unfortunately it could be either company that has messed up .

You need to prepare for the blame game , Now will doubtless blame Virgin and Virgin will blame Now , but  basically to stop future charges from Now you need call Now to advise Now to cease your service immediately if it isn’t already done , chances are you will have a notice period to serve , so possibly yet another month payment if Now  say Virgin haven’t used the OTS switching service correctly and as far as they are concerned you are still a Now customer because of this Virgin error .

FWIW  I’m not saying that’s what happened , it’s impossible to know , but it’s likely it is what Now will  say , because you have no way to know for sure who is telling the truth Virgin or Now , you may have to suck up these extra payments for the Now service you had but didn’t use .

What did you do with your Now connection once the Virgin one was installed (as stated different networks) did you notice the Now service was still working after the supposed switch over date , or did  you switch off the Now equipment so had no way to know if Now were still supplying service or not because you were not trying to use it …if Now asked  for their equipment back , that is proof  they ‘knew’ you had stopped your contract with them , if they never did ask for the kit back  , suggests Virgin messed up , you may be able to use that information to try and get a refund from either Now or Virgin 

DarrenLee02

I have the email from Now confirming end of service and no end of contract fee. I can confirm the service was turned off, I lazily left the Now hub plugged in and had noticed that the connection led had dropped off.

I hope it's just the billing period thing, because the charge (£27) is only a fiver short of a full month, but then I don't know what date they are going by.

I just saw Now appear in my credit card statement and thought !!!!!!. I'll have to call them, with what you've said that will help me get the 'story' straight.

Cheers for that.