Rhino69 vrs British Telecom Late Charges?

[Rhino69]

I received my telephone bill the other day showing a late payment charge for the previous bill, and after less than two weeks, I had a phone call from BT (The person spoke barely recognizable english). Surely, this is harassment?

And surely, isn't this late payment charge just as ulawful as the bank late charges?

I intend to pay my bill by cheque and deduct the late payment charge.

has anyone else done this with BT?

Most businesses are given 30, 60 or 90 days to pay their bills. Why is the private consumer penalised (Illegally) with such charges???

Rhino69

[p-dev]

Hello Rhino.

NTL are now doing the same thing. A £10 set charge for late payement.
I had a strong worded conversation with 1 of their staff, who gracefully 'let me off' this time - once I'd said stuff you & your broadband, you'll be £60+ down a month and I'll post this conversation everywhere...

A couple of days back I received a prerecorded 'courtesy' call informing me of this new charge.
It's no different to the banks ...
The odds are that deducting their 'charge' on your payment will keep your account in arrears and this will end up as yet another battle against illegal charges.

[Bradden]

So has no one tried to reclaim their charges.. I find their "reconnection" charges excessive.

I'm going to send off a letter... I'll let you know how it goes

[spikeyboy]

I have had two late payment charges from BT - i deduct each one from the amount i pay.


Not sure of the legality of this - to me it seems that same as the bank charges - plus i have not, to my knowledge, ever seen, signed or been told of these charges, as such surely it is a change in contract that they can not uphold.

Comments welcome as i am about to get another bill with yet another late payment on it (total will now be £15)

[floungewick]

HELLO

[munty030]

all companys do this charge you is you dont pay by DD & as well the then charge you if the DD is stopped
its all 1 big money making scam with bank & big company

we should stand up & fight against all these charges

[KJD]

I saw the report in the news tonight about bt charging if you do not pay their bills by direct debit.

In January of this year I finally received a credit note from bt for over 1000 pounds due to mix up on moving my business premises and them 'leaving a line behiind'. It took over 7 months to get the credit note, countless phonecalls, and my business lines being disconnected almost monthly. Imagine if I had a direct debit set up for my payments? An overcharge of that size could tip a business (or private person) over the edge...literally.

Yes, they have to notify of the charge to be taken before it is actually done, but it leaves too much to the infallibility of these big businesses, and we all know that isn't worth much these days.