Penalties for not paying by direct debit

[caro]

There was an item on Watchdog on Monday about phone and utility companies charging customers extra if they don't pay by direct debit.

Clearly this is a penalty, which as we all know is not on. BBC Watchdog have produced a template to write to the companies involved, including addresses, which is shown below. There is also a link to the item on the BBC website for those who want to see it there.

[YOUR ADDRESS]

[ADDRESS OF COMPANY – list of company addresses are below]



Dear Sir or Madam,

I am writing to complain about your penalty charge for customers who do not pay by direct debit.

This charge is unfair as it does not reflect the true cost of processing my payment. It is simply a method of increasing your revenue. You will be aware that the law states very clearly that a penalty charge is unlawful and as such not payable, and request that you provide me with evidence to the contrary if you refute this.

In the absence of such evidence, any charges made against my account will be met with a demand for repayment and subsequently a claim through the county court should you ignore it.

Yours faithfully,




[YOUR NAME]



Phone company addresses:
BT
Customer Services
BT plc
Correspondence Centre
Durham DH98 1BT

VIRGIN MEDIA
Virgin Media - Watchdog Complaints
Matrix Court
Llansamlet
Swansea SA7 9BB

Talk Talk (mobile)
TalkTalk Telecom Limited
Customer Care
1 Portal Way
London W3 6RS

3
3 Customer Services
Hutchison 3G UK Ltd
PO Box No 333
Glasgow G2 9AG
Email: customer.services@3mail.c om

O2
Complaints Review Service
Arlington Business Centre
Millshaw Park Lane
Leeds LS11 0NE
Email: pressoffice@02.com

T-Mobile
6 Camberwell Way
Doxford
Sunderland SR3 3XN
Email: custrel@t-mobile.co.uk

Vodafone
Vodafone Customer Care,
Vodafone House,
The Connection,
Newbury,
Berkshire RG14 2FN

Orange
Orange Executive Office
Senhouse Road
Lingfield Way
Darlington
County Durham DL1 4YG
Email: executive.office@orange-ftgroup.com

Utility company addresses:
British Gas
House Contact Centre
PO Box 50
Leeds LS1 1LE
Powergen
PO Box 7750
Nottingham NG1 6WR

Npower
PO Box 93
Peterlee SR8 2XX

EDF Energy Customer Service Team
EDF Energy Customer Service Team
Freepost 3814
London WC1V 6AJ

BBC - Consumer - TV and radio - Penalty charges

[Odd Fellow]

I found the BBC letter a little soft and re-wrote it.

It's available as a downloadable template: please use it as you see fit: BT Direct Debit Charges - Template Letter for BT's Unfair Charges

[UG-GR]

I've just received a recent mobile bill from T-Mobile to discover that they too have put a £3 charge on there for not paying by direct debit.

I find this totally ridiculous and restricts customer freedom of choice. Could you imagine if suddenly everyone was suddenly surcharged by any company that issued an invoice for services, simply because they didnt pay by direct debit?

Actually I dont remember being offered a choice of payment, nor the notification of a charge if I refused to pay by DD. I've paid my bills upon invoice for about 6 years now.

Rip off Britain or what?

[kennyparkroad]

thing is, what can be done about it if we refuse?

[jayboi2005]

i hope something because i have paid them £3 more for 9 months!

[j.barton1]

Hi, Ive just sent my lba to tmob to reclaim the non dd fee, heres the link
http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk...e-one2one.html

jenny

[bidstermeister]

Those who've seen my "been naughty" thread will know that Virgin Media have agreed to give me a monthly credit of £5 due to me having a major complaint with them recently. It's simply a case of "don't ask, don't get"...

So use the letter template and kick some botty...

[maybelline]

Virgin have just restated that if I should arrange to pay by DD in order to avoid charges, I have sent the letter not only suggesting this charge is a penalty but asking for the penalties to date to be refunded, - imagine going to buy your groceries or buy a book online or your garage bill and being told you must pay by DD or pay more than the profit they already work into the services on offer!??

[chez2509]

I sent Orange the template letter over a week ago and have had no response....any ideas on this one please folks?
Regards Cherry

[maybelline]

when claiming unlawful penalty charges from banks, the claims have been for six years and sometimes pre six years, is there any reason why those phone companies that have been applying non DD charges for some time should not repay this penalty charge, whent the OFT published their findings on this, most folk expected the money back, I feel the same about any other unlawful penalty charges.

[topjet]

not sure if im in right thread,last month i set up a dd with virgin media now i changed banks tried phoning no succses,i was put through to a india call center couldnt speak english ,today i get a bil with charges so what do i do from hear.

b.t.w this mon 26 -3 i sent a letter asking for a dd form after this bill im moving to some 1 else ..

[lazybones]

Hi Caro

Did you see the other template letter?

The one to send to the TV licence people

Naughty old Watchdog

[Odd Fellow]

I am in receipt of a letter from BT (yesterday) that's in response to a complaint I made on the 19th March about BT's proposed penalty if you don't pay by direct debit.

Has anyone else had this letter? I assume it's a standard one.

Thank you for your correspondence. Every single customer is important to us and we take your views seriously.

I am glad that you have written because there has been a lot of confusion about what we are planning and l am grateful for the opportunity to put the record straight.
It is true that from May 1; BT is introducing a fee for customers who do not pay their bills by Direct Debit or Monthly Payment Plan. This is not a penalty charge but a discrete fee for methods of payment which cost us more to process.

In summary; the effect on any individual customer will be either 50p up or 50p down a month. Let me explain why. The £4.50 a quarter increase will be offset by a £3 a quarter cut in line rental for non-Direct Debit customers so the net effect is £1.50 a quarter or 50p a month. Non-Direct Debit customers with both phone and broadband from BT will see a cut of 50p a month, because broadband pricing is going down by £3 a quarter.

BT's fee for non-Direct Debit payments is amongst the lowest around. For example, Virgin Media charge £5 a -month. Many companies, such as Gar phone Warehouse, will only accept customers who agree to pay by Direct Debit.

I also want to reassure you that the fee will not apply to customers on BT's special rates for low income and vulnerable customers, such as In Contact Plus, the Light User Scheme and Pay & Call.

We have introduced these changes because it costs more to accept non-Direct Debit payments from customers. This is not just because of the cost of taking the payments, but because on average customers are more likely to forget to pay or not pay, and this leaves us with bad debt of around £100 million a year.

At BT; we are committed to offering our customers a wide choice of ways to pay their bills; 23 at the last count: Whilst we encourage choice of payment, it is worth pointing out that Direct Debit has benefits for customers. It saves time and is convenient. It means that your BT bill is one less thing to worry about.

If you choose to pay by Direct Debit, we try to give you ten days from the time of receiving the bill before processing the Direct Debit payment giving you plenty of time to ask questions, and we tell you on the bill when the amount will be taken from your account. There is also a Direct Debit Guarantee which protects you and your money. If any error is made by BT or your bank or building society, you are guaranteed a full and immediate refund from your branch of the amount paid.

We will also waive the non-Direct Debit fee if you choose to switch to Direct Debit or Monthly Payment Plan after receiving your first biII after May 1st.
_
If you do not have a bank account, but would like to take advantage of Direct Debit or Monthly Payment Plan, a basic bank account is now available to almost everyone in the UK through the Post Office or many high street banks. You can contact the Financial Services Authority for a list of current basic bank account providers.

I hope this lengthy explanation has been useful. As I said at the outset, we do value your custom however you decide to pay your bill. We are also committed to offering our customers great value which is the reason last summer we announced over £200m of price cuts and from June 1 we are extending our special offer of free evening and weekend calls as a 'thank you' to our loyal customers.

Yours sincerely



pp
Gillian Lewis
Head of Complaint Management, Customer Services

What's most annoying is that Gillian Lewis couldn't even be bothered to sign the letter herself - it's PPed from someone else. What's worse than that is that it's a scanned signature! Jeeeeez, why can't they scan Ms Lewis' signature?

[kennyparkroad]

what kinda of response can you put to that?

[cumbria123]

has anyone taken them to court yet for this, or threatened it.

[j.barton1]

Hi, I am just about to file a court claim with tmobile, I have sent the letters and they havent even responded to one. I am waiting till the end of the week before i file with MCOL.
Jenny

[elliesnan]

l have had the same letter as Odd Fellow so where do we go from here?