Another monthly Direct Debit ripoff - BT

[Ozzie Osmond]

Watch out if you're looking at monthly direct debit with BT.

I have 2 telephone lines which resulted in total bills of £516 last year, including £36 for BT's "payment processing" fees. In order to avoid future payment processing fees and save £36 I've just paid the accounts up to date and started a monthly Direct Debit. The minimum BT would accept it £48.50 per month.

My old annual cost £516

New annual cost without fees £480 (a useful saving)

BTs actual "take" through the Direct Debit = 12 x £48.50 = £582 a year

So instead of £36 saving I get an increase of £64 p.a!!!!!!!

Nice one BT..... (Needless to say this is NOT going to happen)

[oOTomOo]

Except your account will end up in credit at the end of the year, presuming the same usage and if you cancel you'll get money back, or they will reduce your dd later in the year..

[southendpier]

oOTomOo said:

Except your account will end up in credit at the end of the year, presuming the same usage and if you cancel you'll get money back, or they will reduce your dd later in the year..

Or like EDF you will keep £700 quid credit AND up the DD.

Theiving s.

[ooo000ooo]

You can phone up and amend the monthly DD at any time once it's set up. If your account is in credit by a certain amount (1.5 times your monthly/quarterly payments - can't remember the exact details) the system will automactically reassess your payments and refund the credit to your bank account.

[Ozzie Osmond]

I've come across these abuses before, as have many others, and the one thing that's clear is the Regulators have completely failed to get to grips with the problem.

There's not much point achieving a small saving way off down the line if you're being completely shafted on cash flow.

[ooo000ooo]

you could always change to a whole bill direct debit?
I'd imagine the regulators aren't interested because there's been no issues with the DD monthly payment plan scheme. It's covered by the direct debit guarantee scheme as well. It's been running for nearly 20 years with very few complaints. You monthly DD may require a bit of tweaking to get the amount right but the system does a reasonable job of looking after it without human intervention.

[southendpier]

ooo000ooo said:

you could always change to a whole bill direct debit?
I'd imagine the regulators aren't interested because there's been no issues with the DD monthly payment plan scheme. It's covered by the direct debit guarantee scheme as well. It's been running for nearly 20 years with very few complaints. You monthly DD may require a bit of tweaking to get the amount right but the system does a reasonable job of looking after it without human intervention.

I would disagree with this, often the increases on my DD have been over 40%. This is out of order and when you call to complain someone in a help centre goes oooh yes that is a little high and puts it back down.

Not good enough. How many people just accept what the computer says? The accounts are supposed to be credited back automatically but I have never noted this.

[Neil H]

southendpier said:

oOTomOo said:

Except your account will end up in credit at the end of the year, presuming the same usage and if you cancel you'll get money back, or they will reduce your dd later in the year..

Or like EDF you will keep £700 quid credit AND up the DD.

Theiving s.

This is precisely why I've fought off all of EDF's repeated attempts to get me on DD. Every other month I get a phone call and mailout telling me the 'benefits' - the benefits seem to consist of them debiting me for more than they're owed, in order to increase their cash liquidity. No doubt to cover for those who don't pay.

My reply is always the same; "fk off, you insidious s".

[ooo000ooo]

southendpier said:

I would disagree with this, often the increases on my DD have been over 40%. This is out of order and when you call to complain someone in a help centre goes oooh yes that is a little high and puts it back down.

Not good enough. How many people just accept what the computer says? The accounts are supposed to be credited back automatically but I have never noted this.

I'm not sure if you're talking specifically about BT or other companies. When i used to deal with it regularly, a one off large bill may have triggered an unexpected reassessment but there would be a note on the bill prior to the increase advising that the payments would increase giving you plenty of time to make a call and either make a one off payment to offset the debit on the account or change the monthly DD amount to a lower amount than recommended but one that would still clear the debit.
We always advised people to keep an eye on their bill and contact us to change the amount as waiting for the computer to do it could mean paying too much or too little for a longer period of time.
The computer always err's on the side of caution hence the amount the OP was initially recommended (and usually based on the account history), humans make better guess's as they know auntie mabel was in australia last month but is back home again now.
The accounts are credited automatically, i spent many years of looking at these things and i've never seen one that didn't do it.

[Simpo Two]

ooo000ooo said:

You can phone up and amend the monthly DD at any time once it's set up.

You can also move the whole shooting match to another supplier like TalkTalk.

Amazingly even I fell for the BT cash grab and bailed out.

[cqueen]

Simpo Two said:

ooo000ooo said:

You can phone up and amend the monthly DD at any time once it's set up.

You can also move the whole shooting match to another supplier like TalkTalk.

Amazingly even I fell for the BT cash grab and bailed out.

I wonder what % of customers BT have lost due to their piss take of a billing system. As soon as I joined BT I had a 3 month advance bill land on my door, screwing me over for the month. So from day 1 I had already decided I would not be continue with them. Many many people I know say similar things about them.

[off_again]

Currently in credit with BT to the tune of 101 quid. Quite how you can be in credit for something that you pay for direct usage month after and fixed quarterly in advance is beyond me. So I suggest to them that I wont pay anything for three months then - they say no, but I should continue paying the same amount...

Muppets

[GT Kodiak]

Are you sure it doesn't work out like the TV liecense DD?

You pay for 12 months in 10 months and then have 2 months "off"?

[sixspeed]

Cancel the DD, let the next few bills come out of your "credit" until they start chasing you for payment of a negative balance.

Then tell them to feck off and go elsewhere.

[Oakey]

You have to laugh... "Payment Processing Fees" or to put it better "st we're supposed to do as a business"

[Simpo Two]

GT Kodiak said:

Are you sure it doesn't work out like the TV liecense DD?

You pay for 12 months in 10 months and then have 2 months "off"?

No, with BT for pay for 12 months and only get 10

It took three letters to the MD and nine months to get my money back.

And as for the 5-page BT bills

With TalkTalk you get Calls, Duration, Cost per call, Total. None of this '13 days divided by 9 months in advance, minus 37 days at £7.12 plus 16 days at £7.56 in arrears, less £10 plus £13.86' crap