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Charge for changing bank account for direct debit

weldav31
Newbie
Posts: 2
Registered: ‎22-07-2013

Charge for changing bank account for direct debit

I change on line my Bank to pay PlusNet my direct debit & was then sent an email advising I would be charged £1.50 having received no indication of this charge when I did it.
So I called PlusNet & was on the phone for a long time speaking to a customer advisor who was only interested in trying to justify the charge.
I ended up saying if the £1.50 charge was deducted from my account I would move to another provider.
As I was then charged I called plusnet to say I required a MAC authorisation code to change my provider & was to you have got a years contract which I cannot recall being advised of when spoke to the PlusNet sales.
How can you Justify these secret charges that us poor sods (otherwise known as customers) end up getting deducted from their bank account?
16 REPLIES 16
Mattz0r
Rising Star
Posts: 620
Fixes: 1
Registered: ‎21-07-2010

Re: Charge for changing bank account for direct debit

Hello,
It's an automatic charge added by the system if there isn't an active direct debit in place.
You mentioned that you changed to pay by direct debit? - Did you update your bank details to a different account?
If so, the original DD is cancelled and a new one is setup, during this period there isn't an active DD, hence the system adding the charge.
If your DD activates before your next invoice, the charge will then be removed from the account. If the DD activates after your invoice date, then you can simply contact support by raising a ticket and request the charge be removed, because you were changing your DD details over.
Hope this helps,
Matt
KevinG
Rising Star
Posts: 998
Thanks: 7
Fixes: 1
Registered: ‎05-11-2008

Re: Charge for changing bank account for direct debit

Sounds like customer support need educating then. They should have explained all this.
orbrey
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 10,540
Registered: ‎18-07-2007

Re: Charge for changing bank account for direct debit

I think they would have, if given a chance - it looks like the OP made the change without advising us.
Don't get me wrong, that's not a problem at all however the reason the charge has arisen is because the change was taking place over the billing date so we couldn't take the fee from the DD as usual. If it'd been done during the month it would all have been set up before we took the payment though.
@weldav31, I'll add some information to a ticket on your account that I hope will help, and am sorry about this situation.
jelv
Seasoned Hero
Posts: 26,785
Thanks: 971
Fixes: 10
Registered: ‎10-04-2007

Re: Charge for changing bank account for direct debit

Matt, Please could you point me to the information on the website which advises users to avoid changing DD details around the billing date because of this issue?
jelv (a.k.a Spoon Whittler)
   Why I have left Plusnet (warning: long post!)   
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Mobile: iD mobile (£4/month)
weldav31
Newbie
Posts: 2
Registered: ‎22-07-2013

Re: Charge for changing bank account for direct debit

I spent about 10 minutes on the phone trying to get the £1.50 back & no one wanted to know until I asked for my MAC code
I also believe I was told their was told originally that there was no minimum contract & now I am told its a year
Alex
Community Veteran
Posts: 5,500
Thanks: 921
Fixes: 13
Registered: ‎05-04-2007

Re: Charge for changing bank account for direct debit

I had a similar problem with a credit card where full payment came out via DD.
I had lost the card a few days before payment was due, so the replacement had a different card number. They tried to take payment with the new reference, which failed since the new DD hadn't been set up yet.
Got hit with a late payment charge, which they refunded after I complained. Still would have been recorded on my credit history though.
I've had DD's fail before due to them being claimed with an incorrect reference, so while companies claim they're the best way to pay (since they're cheapest for them), I don't tend to agree.
orbrey
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 10,540
Registered: ‎18-07-2007

Re: Charge for changing bank account for direct debit

Hi weldav31,
Sorry to hear that, and I'll make sure that's fed back. In our defence though, you did request the MAC before you started this thread so there was no way for us in the forums here to look into things before that. Still, I hope the comment I added to your ticket has helped.
orbrey
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 10,540
Registered: ‎18-07-2007

Re: Charge for changing bank account for direct debit

Quote from: jelv
Matt, Please could you point me to the information on the website which advises users to avoid changing DD details around the billing date because of this issue I don't believe this information is on the portal anywhere, could you make sure it's added please?

Sure, we've had a chat about it here and will get a task raised for the web team to get some information put on the Update Payment Details page - unless you think it'd be better placed somewhere else?
jelv
Seasoned Hero
Posts: 26,785
Thanks: 971
Fixes: 10
Registered: ‎10-04-2007

Re: Charge for changing bank account for direct debit

It's not that long since we had a similar issue (that time I think the user was cut off for non-payment) - is there not a task running already?
The update payments page would be good.
jelv (a.k.a Spoon Whittler)
   Why I have left Plusnet (warning: long post!)   
Broadband: Andrews & Arnold Home::1 (FTTC 80/20)
Line rental: Pulse 8 Home Line Rental (£14.40/month)
Mobile: iD mobile (£4/month)
Strat
Community Veteran
Posts: 31,320
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Registered: ‎14-04-2007

Re: Charge for changing bank account for direct debit

I've just updated card details on my account.
Thankfully I'm well past my invoice date but when I was changing the details I never gave a thought to any possible implications.
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orbrey
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 10,540
Registered: ‎18-07-2007

Re: Charge for changing bank account for direct debit

@Jelv - Not sure on that one, if there was I don't remember raising it myself. I'll have a nosey through and check.
davidj66
Aspiring Pro
Posts: 746
Thanks: 56
Fixes: 4
Registered: ‎04-09-2008

Re: Charge for changing bank account for direct debit

I'm in the process of switching my bank account using the new bank's switching service -therefore I'm not sure if I'll have any control over the date that the DD will change from bank A to bank B -it COULD be at or near the Plusnet billing date - surely the bank should/will inform Plusnet tho'? Undecided
adamwalker
Plusnet Help Team
Plusnet Help Team
Posts: 16,871
Thanks: 882
Fixes: 221
Registered: ‎27-04-2007

Re: Charge for changing bank account for direct debit

Quote
surely the bank should/will inform Plusnet tho

I'm not sure how they would, I've not seen that happen in my time here so if you'll pardon the awful pun I wouldn't bank on it Smiley
The bank should keep your direct debit set to the same date as those dates were determined by new mandates being set up whereas I believe a different process is followed when switching between banks.
Adam
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 Adam Walker
 Plusnet Help Team
acr
Rising Star
Posts: 266
Thanks: 31
Fixes: 1
Registered: ‎06-04-2007

Re: Charge for changing bank account for direct debit

My understanding is that when switching banks the customer chooses the transfer date. Once this date is reached each Direct Debit originator is electronically advised of the new account details and must update their own systems with the new bank details. If the Direct Debit originator uses the old bank details then this will be automatically forwarded to the new bank for a period of (under the new system) 13 months.
So, under the new transfer system starting in September, in the case of Plusnet trying to use the old bank account details after the switch has taken place then this should not matter because the debit will be automatically be forwarded to the new bank account. The only potential problem that I can see for a customer using the bank switching service is that Plusnet fail to update their systems so that on the 14th month after transfer the DD will fail.