No bill until the money is taken.

[#1]

Hi,
Plusnet do not issue a bill to me until the date the money is debited.
If the amount stayed the same, this would not be an issue, but due to having a home phone, it changes.
I have to "guess" the amount that will be taken.
The direct debit guarantee says you will notify me 10 days before taking the money if there is any variation to the amount etc.
Why do plusnet not abide by the rules of the direct debit scheme?

[#2]

Do you pay by Direct Debit or card? I've always had the DD notification on billing date which is around 3 or so days before it is taken. Card payments are taken on the billing date

[#3]

That's a strange issue. I assume you are paying by "Variable Amount Direct Debit" (VADD) rather than fixed amount, which seems to bypass the 10 day rule; however, I always get two emails at the billing period end specifying the amount and date of the payment (with the actual "withdrawal" date usually occuring after the specified date).
Phil

[#4]

Yes, direct debit.
3 days is not the 10 days required by the scheme
You are right, my billing date is the 12th so my bill doesn't appear until then, I thought it was taken on that date but chat support say it is taken on the 18th or 19th.
Still not 10 days
I could just be being fussy but it annoys me when companies can't get things like this correct.
I think I will cancel my DD, and pay by card on my billing date (although I won't be paying any non-DD charges when the reason I'm not paying by DD is because PN can't comply with the scheme rules... I won't be paying at all if it means I have to wait an hour on the phone to get through to someone!!)

Edit: The poster above me is correct, I DO get an email, but not until the date the bill is generated (I have one 12/10 and 12/11, not for december yet obviously.) The payment dates move, I had 15/10, 3 days after email, and 17/11, 5 days. Still not 10 as required for a VADD.

[#5]

The 10 days isn't mandatory but is the default so cancelling the direct debit will definitely land you with the extra charge

[#6]

Where did you get the idea it was a fixed 10 days from?
From the Direct Debit website (my bold):

Quote

If there are any changes to the amount, date or frequency of your Direct Debit the organisation will notify you (normally 10 working days) in advance of your account being debited or as otherwise agreed.

[#7]

You might like to read http://www.plus.net/support/customer_service/billing/billing_guide.shtml
You may also like to consider what the T&C's say about cancelling your Direct Debit.

[#8]

So, 10 days is a suggestion to be interpreted as "whatever the merchant feels like"?
It may as well say "normally 2 hours". Why include any number if the merchant can do whatever they feel like?
I'd say 10 days is supposed to be interpreted as either "at least 10 days" or "average 10 days".
My two bills so far, are 3 days and 7 days, so both quite a bit under 10 days.
Instead of cancelling my DD, I've raised a complaint ticket asking them to either amend the system to 10 days, let me pay by debit card on the billing date with no surcharge, or send me a deadlock letter so I can go through CISAS. If they don't do either of the things I want they will eventually end up in CISAS even if it takes 8 weeks.

[#9]

Take a look at:  http://www.plus.net/support/customer_service/billing/billing_guide.shtml#whenMoneyGo
I think it's entirely reasonable to expect 10 days notice when a normally fixed amount is varied, but not in the case of variable costs such as phone bills.  Recent call data is available via the member centre so you can see (at any time) what your bill will be...

[#10]

Quote from: rtho782

I DO get an email, but not until the date the bill is generated

So what is it you are expecting?  An email sent out BEFORE the bill is generated?  What do you expect that to say?

Quote

Dear PlusNET user, As you know your billing date is the Xth day of the month, however we are writing now to tell you that as agreed we will take payment for your next bill shortly thereafter.  Regrettably right now we don't have a clue what the actual bill will be, because we don't know how much more use you will make of the phone and other variable services between now and the day we generate your bill.  All other charges will be as per the agreed contract, so at this point we both know what that will be. Just for your information, we are sending you this email now (which we agree is completely useless and a waste of your valuable time) but some customers have complained that we don't write to them until the date we generate their bills.  We reflected on this and thought we ought to try to be more proactive and write to customers more often and sooner than we have in the past. Kind regards, Billing department

[#11]

Superb!