Unfair charges banned

[darthlinux]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7268721.stm

Could news for non direct debit customers

[Stuart C]

Not necessarily:

Ofcom's proposed rules do not outlaw such extra charges altogether.

Instead, it says they must be "prominent and transparent" so that customers can easily make up their own minds about the true overall cost of buying a telephone service.

When I signed up, NTL made it quite clear that I'd pay extra if I didn't pay by direct debit (although they did dress it up as a £5 reduction for paying by direct debit).

[darthlinux]

i could see this happening as I have had loads of calls in the past 2 1/2 years at telewest/virgin where customer have complained and even disconnected

[Stuart C]

I have to admit, I am not arguing that what happened to me happened to everyone, and I was quite Anal and insisted on reading *all* the small print before I signed up.

[darthlinux]

I really dont agree with the charge but never had to endure the charges as I perfer to pay by direct debit

[webcrawler2050]

But the question is, what do they consider as "unfair"??

[darthlinux]

Sure it does the only thinkg I see unfair is the non dd charge £5
things like £10 late payment charge and failed payment charge I dont see as unfair unless vm caused the issue then customer services can credit these charges back

[webcrawler2050]

Hmm I would say "unfair" is things like paying to pay wish cash - surly they'd welcome cash, I know its slighty more difficult to track but.. maybe its easier.. maybe.

[lostandconfused]

I used to think that the non DD charge was unfair, until i found out that a basic bank account with no overdraft etc is available to every person in the UK and isnt dependant on their credit rating.
Clearly paying by any other means is going to cost more (not to say it costs £5 though) So it is an avoidable charge

[HuaNeng]

Oh.my god ,I believe this is one professional Cables relevant forum. sounds I came to the wrong place

[danielf]

Originally Posted by webcrawler2050

But the question is, what do they consider as "unfair"??

I would guess that the amount charged must accurately reflect the increased cost to the company. So, VM will have to show that processing a non-DD payment actually costs them £5 more than processing a DD payment.

[webcrawler2050]

Yeah I guess so..

Oh.my god ,I believe this is one professional Cables relevant forum. sounds I came to the wrong place

Whats this about?

[PeteTheMusicGuy]

Originally Posted by webcrawler2050

Yeah I guess so..

Whats this about?

Who Knows

[grabbi]

So what does this actually mean?

Non-DD customers will still be charged SOMETHING, for having a Phone service!?

I might just get rid of that phone. Its costs too much money, and I could just top up my mobile phone...

But it is quite easy for them to justiify the charges. Taken from a post I made before on the subject.:
Taken from paypoints website:
What commission do you pay?
PayPoint agents earn variable commission rates from 0.5% to 45% per transaction. We will give you more details with your application

If a customers bill is £100 and paypoint take a cut of 5% then it's quite easy for them to justify the £5 charge. Are you saying that because someone wants to pay by this method the extra cost should be passed on to all of us, Do you think thats fair on the people that do pay by DD.

What about all these companies that give a discount for paying by direct debit. Are you claiming this is illegal as well because it basically amounts to the same thing. Also if this is the case why did Telewest go to the trouble of changing from a discount to a charge a few years ago. All they would need to do is put everyones prices up by £5 and then start offering a £5 discount to the people that pay by DD again.