Direct Debit Guarantee

[#1]

Hi,
I wonder if any PN staff can tell me why PN when advertising DD Guarantee on emails about setting up an account say
"* If the amounts to be paid or the payment dates change PlusNet plc will
notify you 2 working days in advance of your account being debited or as
otherwise agreed."
yet the agreement with BACS says
"If the amounts to be paid or the payment dates change, the organisation collecting the payment will notify you normally 10 working days in advance of your account being debited or as otherwise agreed"
http://www.bacs.co.uk/BACS/Consumers/Direct+Debit/Your+rights/
and the industry standard is 10 working days notice.

[#2]

Its down to the company how many days they choose but I do agree 2 days is not enough. 

Some companies say 10 working days some say 14 days the point to note is that you can demand that your bank re-credit your account immediately if an error is made. no matter what your bank says try telling you.  Its down to them to get the money back so you are protected
A few years ago I nearly got one of the big mobile phone compaines banned from using direct debits they kept issuing my bill 5 days after they had already taken the payment from my bank.
puddy

[#3]

As I do plan my banking carefully it's not really a problem but I agree that 2 days is rather a short warning period for direct debits that may be a variable amount.

[#4]

Quote from: puddy

Its down to the company how many days they choose but I do agree 2 days is not enough.  puddy

Not convinced that the company can chose, the BACS reference I gave is the industy standard and I think banks expect companies to use that, but want to hear a comment from PN as I have never seen any company try less than 10 "working" days and it is certainly something that shows how customer oriented a company is.

[#5]

if you ring bacs on tuesday they will confirm what I said.
I had a direct debit go though last month that I never signed up for, so they dont even need a signature these days either
I think compaines who take DD should all conform to the same standards so we the customer know where we are.
If you bank on line you can cancel the DD and pay by credit card but if you sign a monthly credit card you will have to ask plusnet not to take it if you want to cancel you have no rights to ask your credit card to stop payment until the credit card goes out of date
puddy

[#6]

It's a long time since I last physically signed a DD agreement but most companies do seem to send a form of written advice.
Paying by continuous authority against a credit card does have it's own set of problems when it comes to cancelling the agreement - visit forums relating to my former ISP to see how bad it can get. Only the payee can cancel the agreement but, in fairness, most are honest.
I've been cancelling some unwanted banking arrangements one of which was a credit card. I got a letter confirming that it had been cancelled but it was pointed out that any continuous authorities would still be honoured - I assume against a 2nd card I have with the same bank - fortunately I don't have any such authorities.

[#7]

Continuous credit card authorities can be nasty things - best to avoid them. But at least if they go wrong you can scrap the card and refuse to pay the bill.
Continuous debit card authorities are a potential nightmare that I would advise should NEVER be used. You give someone the right to take whatever they want whenever they want straight from your bank account, so you REALLY need to trust them! If it goes wrong you're faced with changing your bank account which can be a nightmare.
Direct Debit is much better protected; or use a Standing Order (if you still can!)

[#8]

Following the DD theme,my billing date is the 18th and now it's the 23rd and payment hasn't been taking. 

[#9]

My billing date is 11th and it left my bank account on 14th.

[#10]

Quote from: greyposter

Following the DD theme,my billing date is the 18th and now it's the 23rd and payment hasn't been taking.

My billing date is also 18th and checking DD, using online banking, shows a payment date of 25th (tomorrow) which is understandable over Easter break.
As we are dealing with variable amounts my invoice can't be prepared before 18th and then there's time for info to reach BACS through the system.

[#11]

Quote from: puddy

if you ring bacs on tuesday they will confirm what I said. I had a direct debit go though last month that I never signed up for, so they dont even need a signature these days either I think compaines who take DD should all conform to the same standards so we the customer know where we are. If you bank on line you can cancel the DD and pay by credit card but if you sign a monthly credit card you will have to ask plusnet not to take it if you want to cancel you have no rights to ask your credit card to stop payment until the credit card goes out of date puddy

Not interested in other method of payments, my question was not about them. I think that the situation is that the expected standard of the banking system is as I quoted from BACS that of 10 working days or 14 days, as you mentioned earlier.
It is not up to Plusnet, they have to justify whing to their sponsoring bank, and it is their sponsoring bank that will take this issue up with them, generated by any customer who complains, believe me, I have been there.
But would a member of staff please comment on this issue.

[#12]

Where a fixed regular monthly payment is concerned I don't see any need to receive a monthly notification and don't think this is required as part of DD guarantee eg your insurance company only advise you once a year that premium is changing.
Advance notification period only applies to variable amounts and quite possibly wouldn't affect a great many users.

[#13]

Quote from: nadger

Where a fixed regular monthly payment is concerned I don't see any need to receive a monthly notification and don't think this is required as part of DD guarantee eg your insurance company only advise you once a year that premium is changing. Advance notification period only applies to variable amounts and quite possibly wouldn't affect a great many users.

Nadger - there may be a few users like myself, on PAYG, who regularly go over the monthly limit and are automatically charged for an extra Gb. If I was half organised, I'd just change my monthly limit, but the saving is so small, I can't be bothered! In any case, as soon as I go over the limit, I get a warning to tell me I've done it. That may or may not be more than two days before the end of my monthly billing period.
I'd imagine this is what PN are talking about giving two days notice of? We're effectively on a variable monthly rate (under our own control) and PN are notifying us two days before month end what the usage (and therefore the charge) amounts to.
I can see the OP's point, however if PN were to give ten working days notice (potentially a fortnight), they would in many cases loose out on the additional monthly charge which customers incur, till the next month. £1 or £2 per customer for a month is not much, but multiply this by a large number of users, for 12 months a year, and maybe the intrest is significant. If PN are working on tight margins (as I suspect most ISP's are) the only alternative is to raise prices.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but have PN ever made a significant change in the DD amount with only two days notice? Technically they may not be 100% in line with the DD rules, but I don't imagine it's going to cause anyone great hardship. Isn't the purpose of the 10 day period really about having due notice of changes in rate or basic charges - not about preventing suppliers from collecting the proper amount on monthly charges which are variable by design?

[#14]

I am on Phone and Broadband with PN, I have never had an extra charge for Broadband, but do for the phone portion, my month end was 23rd, I got and e-mail to say coming out tomorrow 26th,  If I had used a lot of 0845 or mobile or Continental ( My son lives in Aus) I could get a large variation in my DD, so far the largest has  been £2.00

[#15]

Morning all,
The changes in the monthly billing will be down to usage that you have used in the previous month.  I've checked with Finance as to why we give two days notice and as far as they're concerned it's just the way that our billing system has always continued to operate ever since we first launched a PAYG billing system.