NTL late payment fee scam

[AntiSilence]

Originally Posted by scrotnig

Whilst I fully sympathise, and I don't mean to sound harsh, however, none of this is ntl's problem and if you can't pay the bill you can't have the services.

I didn't say I couldn't pay, I couldn't quite get the payment to them on time. Which is why I asked to change the bill date. How hard is it for them to do that?

[Okonski]

I'm sdurprised nobody's noticed that Virgin's bill is usually dated one WEEK before I actually received it! (Usual billing date is 14th, invoice received 21st or 22nd). Despite my payment showing on the next month's bill as being received, a £10 late payment charge is appled. I've no intention of paying - of course - however have they stated anywhere what amount of time customers are permitted to pay without penalty? I've not seen this declared anywhere.

It has to be generated by the IT system, then printed, and then posted to you - that is why there is a difference between bill date and date received.

My bill is dated 28th of the month, I tend to receive it the first week of the following month, and the DD is taken out on the 12th of that month.

hth

[BenMcr]

The Ball park figures for the ex-ntl side of things usually work out as being, bill is printed on the 1st of the month (for instance) can take up to 10 days to be recieved by the customer, usually anywhere between 5-7 days are then give before payment is due.

So that would be 16/17 days after the bill is printed that payment is required. Anything later than that is considered a late payment.

However, because the 'Late Payment Fee' is not applied till the 28/30th day after the bill is printed, there is even a bit of extra time built into the system in case there are any problems with getting the bill or paying.

Non-Payment Restrictions are usually not done on accounts until there is an outstanding amount that has rolled over to the next billing cycle (but is does depend on the circumstances/credit limit)

[lil_phil]

It is perfectly fair to charge late payment fees, if the bill asks you to pay immediately it seems common sense to pay as soon as you can as you then owe money. 28 days is quite a long time to leave a bill for. Direct debit would reduce your admin fees and save any late payment charges, its the only way I remember to pay mine!

My understanding is that the latepayment charge is applied when the next bill is printed. as Virgin work on a 30 day billing cycle depending how you paid i'm guessing the payment hadn't been recived by them when they printed the the next bill