Billing notices
Morning all,
As giro states there the direct debit guarantee is in place to protect the customer, it's not there to give leverage to companies like us to cause problems for customer. As an ISP that's won awars for customer service that's in the least of our interests.
Customer's who do this are not automatically flagged as 'bad payers' we do have a failed billing process which does rely on some automattion but whether a customer is repeatedly having issues making payment for any reason human discretion is used on a case by case basis.
Just wanted to reply to this too, at the moment if we have to refund a customer via direct debit the lead time is 7 to 10 working days as it has been for a very long time. However if you request a refund via the bank as part of the direct debit guarantee it can be quicker but this is dependant largely on the bank themselves.
All feedback is being taken on board as usual here and I invite anyone with any specific concerns or issues about their billing (such as giro's multiple direct debit notifications) to shout up and I'll be more than happy to look into it.
As giro states there the direct debit guarantee is in place to protect the customer, it's not there to give leverage to companies like us to cause problems for customer. As an ISP that's won awars for customer service that's in the least of our interests.
Quote the trouble is that numerous people have tried this and the expertly PN programmed computer says, hey this person is a bad risk and cuts then off
Customer's who do this are not automatically flagged as 'bad payers' we do have a failed billing process which does rely on some automattion but whether a customer is repeatedly having issues making payment for any reason human discretion is used on a case by case basis.
Quote don't remember seeing that when I filled in my bank details. Three days is just plain daft, what happens if you are on holiday? It also says immediate refunds but people are saying they have to wait two weeks. I must to admit to hating DD after BT took £850 by mistake which I only discovered whilst on holiday and tried to draw out some spending money. Apart from mucking up our holiday it took weeks to get the money back.
Just wanted to reply to this too, at the moment if we have to refund a customer via direct debit the lead time is 7 to 10 working days as it has been for a very long time. However if you request a refund via the bank as part of the direct debit guarantee it can be quicker but this is dependant largely on the bank themselves.
All feedback is being taken on board as usual here and I invite anyone with any specific concerns or issues about their billing (such as giro's multiple direct debit notifications) to shout up and I'll be more than happy to look into it.
Hi George,
I completely agree. It is possible to tell to a degree what the precise bill will be before it's deducted by looking at the subscription amount for the account and also any line rental charges, that information is available from your account summary on the portal. The difficulty comes in the fact that there are variables involved such as any additional broadband usage above the usual included allowance and also any phone calls that need to be taken into account.
I completely agree. It is possible to tell to a degree what the precise bill will be before it's deducted by looking at the subscription amount for the account and also any line rental charges, that information is available from your account summary on the portal. The difficulty comes in the fact that there are variables involved such as any additional broadband usage above the usual included allowance and also any phone calls that need to be taken into account.
Quote from: glloyd I pay my account by credit card but I have also started paying my son's account by DD.
You should find that the advance notice to your son's account contains the amount to be billed. The advance notice for your account won't. This is due to the different processes used depending on whether your account is paid by Direct Debit or credit/debit card. If you find that this isn't the case then do let us know so that we can look into it further.
Let's assume your billing date is the 4th of each month.
When paying by Direct Debit, the notification email is actually sent on the 4th, the request for payment is submitted to our intermediary and the funds clear 3-4 days or so later. Because the email is sent on the billing date our system /knows/ how much you're due to be billed for the month prior.
For credit/debit card payers, the advance notice is sent three days *before* your billing date so the system isn't clever enough to know how much you're going to be billed - especially when you consider call/bandwidth charges and things like that that could be accrued during the interim period between the advance notice being sent and you being billed.
It's before my time but I'm almost 100% sure we built the credit/debit card billing engine before the Direct Debit stuff was done. To further complicate the situation there are two distinctly different methods of generating invoices depending on the account type you're subscribed to.
Quote It does not seem right that you cannot dispute a DD payment (or a credit card payment for that matter) before it is taken. It could put somone in a very dodgy situation if a very large amount is requested by mistake.
Just so we're all clear, the post that started this thread is due to the way we handle card payments and has nothing whatsoever to do with Direct Debit payments or the Direct Debit guarantee. You do raise a valid concern about the advance notice for card payers, however I'm pretty sure there isn't a legal obligation for us to do this?
Quote from: geofftswin Most of the problems with incorrect billings relates to the fact that everybody contacts PN to obtain the refund. This is incorrect - you should contact your bank who will deal with the refund:
Quote from: pierre_pierre the trouble is that numerous people have tried this and the expertly PN programmed computer says, hey this person is a bad risk and cuts then off
The 'expertly PN programmed computer' is by and large a human being!
If you request a Direct Debit refund via your bank then a 'Chargeback' will be generated on our system. Unless the process has changed since I last looked into it, these Chargeback requests are handled manually. Basically our Finance guys will assess the account, make a call as to whether or not we're at fault, and if we're not put the account into a failed billing state so that we can chase the customer to recover the outstanding monies.
Quote from: giro If they fail to give you adequate advance warning - a company are breaking the rules of the DD guarantee scheme and customers should notify their banks
I'm quite sure we've visited this before and we're not in breach of any banking rules.
so plusnet give customers 3days advanced notice of any differing payments the same time payment is taken
that the plusnet stipulated 3 days advance warning guarantee is no such thing
that the money is already taken
and it is in fact the time a bank needs to reflect change balances in a persons bank account
I had already drawn this conclusion
unless plusnet can post up the evidence for this tested for the purpose of a county court that it does not break the rules of the Direct Debit guarantee
otherwise
I'd be personally willing to test it should you occasion this to happen to me personally
that the plusnet stipulated 3 days advance warning guarantee is no such thing
that the money is already taken
and it is in fact the time a bank needs to reflect change balances in a persons bank account
I had already drawn this conclusion
Quote I'm quite sure we've visited this before and we're not in breach of any banking rules.
unless plusnet can post up the evidence for this tested for the purpose of a county court that it does not break the rules of the Direct Debit guarantee
otherwise
I'd be personally willing to test it should you occasion this to happen to me personally