Now asking for DD, Why ?

icestar2 · 16-04-2008, 16:07

Hi,

I recently had a cable modem installed as my internet was going through the set-top box. When I phoned about the replacement I ask would everything stay the same and I could continue to pay by Paypoint. I was told yes this is fine everything will remain the same. Well it's not. . . . This morning I got a letter telling me they were trying to setup-DD on my account. (They have this info from couple years back when I used DD) I phoned VM this morning and was told by a man that no you must now pay for your BB by DD. Wana know why . . . . . Because I have a modem now ! Well as you can amagine I am not happy. I was told I can continue to pay via Paypoint when getting it changed so whats going on. Are there any VM pep's here that can please help me out. This has to be wrong right ? they cant force you to start paying by DD rather than Paypoint just because you have a modem ?

Any help would be great as I am worried my service may be cancelled or they have created a second account or sumthin to charge for BB.

Thanks

Ice

EDIT** sorry for all the spelling mistake I didnt check it before posting.

NoKnowledge · 16-04-2008, 16:13

Quote:

if you pay by any other method other than Direct Debit, Virgin Media Payments will charge a monthly £5 charge for the payment handling services it provides to you.

http://allyours.virginmedia.com/html...er.html#paying

icestar2 · 16-04-2008, 16:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by NoKnowledge

http://allyours.virginmedia.com/html...er.html#paying

Thanks but I know that as I have been paying by paypoint for years now. Thats not a problem.

BenMcr · 16-04-2008, 22:46

From next month it will change back.

At the moment (till the 5th May) some of the cable modems are billed on a seperate system, that was only designed to take either a D/D or Card Payment

icestar2 · 16-04-2008, 23:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by BenMcr

From next month it will change back.

At the moment (till the 5th May) some of the cable modems are billed on a seperate system, that was only designed to take either a D/D or Card Payment

Hmmm well thats gonna be a problem then. The account there trying to set it up onto is no longer in use I closed it down last year.

Also why is this ? I am still the same customer still getting the same service. I have not changed BB speed or anything just had a modem replacment.

They are going to have to sort something out with me as I dont have an account I can set-up the DD on at moment.

I asked them if everything would stay the same and could I still pay with paypoint and was told yes its was fine. Not Happy with blatent lies !

BenMcr · 16-04-2008, 23:23

It is a hang over from ntl. They had a system that they had built in house that originally did the dial-up internet services for customers. Because it was dial up it was designed to be d/d or card payment only, as no ISP ever paper billed for monthly dial up and PAYG didn't need any bill at all.

They also had about 101 different billing systems (run by people like IBM) for TV and phone (and for some areas STB broadband) for all the companies they had bought.

So they went, "wouldn't it be a good idea to take all those other billing systems and put them on our internet billing system". This was around the same time as cable modem broadband started so they added that onto the dial-up internet system, still with the d/d or card payment only requirement.

However, they only got a 3rd of the way through it and then found out it couldn't really cope so they stopped the move. What this meant was some customers were billed on one (older) system for TV and phone, and on the (Newer) system for cable modem broadband.

When the merge between ntl and telewest happened, Telewest had already completed a migration of the whole of their company onto a single system, so a decision was made to migrate ex-ntl onto the same system (as it could handle all 3 services and could cope with new services like the V+ and Talk Anywhere). So this is what they did.

However because the migration was basically done in reverse of the one ntl attempted, the dial up and cable modem broadband are now the last ones to be changed

icestar2 · 16-04-2008, 23:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by BenMcr

It is a hang over from ntl. They had a system that they had built in house that originally did the dial-up internet services for customers. Because it was dial up it was designed to be d/d or card payment only, as no ISP ever paper billed for monthly dial up and PAYG didn't need any bill at all.

They also had about 101 different billing systems (run by people like IBM) for TV and phone (and for some areas STB broadband) for all the companies they had bought.

So they went, "wouldn't it be a good idea to take all those other billing systems and put them on our internet billing system". This was around the same time as cable modem broadband started so they added that onto the dial-up internet system, still with the d/d or card payment only requirement.

However, they only got a 3rd of the way through it and then found out it couldn't really cope so they stopped the move. What this meant was some customers were billed on one (older) system for TV and phone, and on the (Newer) system for cable modem broadband.

When the merge between ntl and telewest happened, Telewest had already completed a migration of the whole of their company onto a single system, so a decision was made to migrate ex-ntl onto the same system (as it could handle all 3 services and could cope with new services like the V+ and Talk Anywhere). So this is what they did.

However because the migration was basically done in reverse of the one ntl attempted, the dial up and cable modem broadband are now the last ones to be changed

Thanks for the reply. Any idea what this is going to mean for me then ? Am I now going to lose my BB for a month because they lied to me ? I buy and sell alot online. losing my BB for a month aint gonna be good for me. I hope they can sort something out or am gonna be F****ed I guess.

BenMcr · 16-04-2008, 23:47

As it usually took at least two months (or longer) before any restriction due to an outstanding balance was done, if your cable modem is active now, you should be fine.

The ntl system is being taken offline for good on Friday 24th

icestar2 · 17-04-2008, 00:02

Thank's - Dont like the idea of waiting for it to run over cause looks like am choosing not to pay my bill but if this is the only way I guess I got no choice. Will phone VM tomorrow and hopefully they will understand.