BT 'Payment Processing Fee'

normanmark

jhp wrote: »

"Simon Popplewell, defending BT, said: "If she doesn't like it, she doesn't have to take her telephone service from BT."

Thats the bottom line really, unlike 10 years ago she's not forced to use BT for her telephony service & if she didn't like the charges then she was free to move elsewhere.

Her point about a bank account was laughable really. Who these days do not have access to a bank account?!

topherxp

gilfachboy wrote: »

what a shame, complain to your MP like i have done, you can find your MP's website and e-mail him/her. the £4-50 per quarter is a rip off because the line rental is payed in advance

No Offence mate but, are you a muppet?

The charge is for processing of payment, so doesn't matter if the rental is billed in advance or in arrears.

I pay by DD and like the fact that I don't pay more on my bill for processing someone else's payment. How much it actually costs to process is another debate though?

As for this women considering an appeal, she must be made of money as she will have to pick up the bill for the court case as she lost and she is doing it over £4.50. (I have just read that she is a solicitor, so obviously the legal bills will be lower)

BritBrat

topherxp wrote: »

I pay by DD and like the fact that I don't pay more on my bill for processing someone else's payment. How much it actually costs to process is another debate though?

I think the argument should have been why one processing procedure costs £1.50 and the same procedure costs £4.50 for a three month bill.

It's still only one processing procedure but costing three times as much.

deklan99

BritBrat wrote: »

I think the argument should have been why one processing procedure costs £1.50 and the same procedure costs £4.50 for a three month bill.

It's still only one processing procedure but costing three times as much.

Or another way of looking at it is why one processing procedure for a quarterly bill costs £4.50 and the same transaction for a monthly bill only costs £1.50.
Reckon that's a discount from BT of £36 per year.:D

topherxp

BritBrat wrote: »

I think the argument should have been why one processing procedure costs £1.50 and the same procedure costs £4.50 for a three month bill.

It's still only one processing procedure but costing three times as much.

BT use a different company called BT Payment Services Ltd who charge £1.50 per person per month to manage payments and collection of non direct debit customers

BritBrat

Well they lose money on me.

Yes I signed up to direct debit but kept paying as I have done for ages using online banking, so far they have used the direct debit once since last May as I was a bit late paying online. That put me in credit for the next month and the next bill was 2p so I paid the 2p online the next time.

They used to charge me £1.50 a month but now I save £1.50 a month.

smcaul

topherxp wrote: »

No Offence mate but, are you a muppet?

Probably no more so then you are pal.

BT stopped giving you a discount for paying by DD, it then also put in the £4.50 charge, so making a double gain. So it has effected you as a DD customer almost as much as it effected those of us who do not pay by DD.

I pay by direct transfer, BT incur no additional cost by me doing this, I am contesting that the charge they impose of £4.50 is for a service, they are not providing me with a service as no costs are incurred by the way I pay therefore they are not entitled to the £4.50. Still with them looking at it at the moment, but I will happily let them take me to court over the charges.

xenosys

I'm afraid not. Customers who were on direct debit used to pay £11.00 per month for BT Line Rental (now the additional 50p per month is given if you view your bills online and don't receive a hard copy), and non-direct customers paid £12.00 per month before the PPF was introduced. So in essence, non-direct customers are actually only losing out here by £1.50 per quarter here, but BT have advertised the change so poorly that customer's fail to see this.

jhp

smcaul wrote: »

BT stopped giving you a discount for paying by DD

Since when ?

Heinz

jhp wrote: »

Since when ?

It's semantics.

It used to be a £1/month discount on the line rental for paying by DD but, when they increased it to £1.50, they changed it (a VAT-ruse, I think) so you got a reduced line rental but an increased charge if you did not pay by DD.

From a customer point of view, it amounts to the same thing (I still pay £10.50/month for my line rental, just like I did before) but many people interpreted it as being the ammunition they appeared to want to have a pop.

However, from an MSE standpoint, Martin's advice is still pay by DD to save money AFAIAA.