Courtesy call from NTL - £10 fine if your late paying your bill !

[theNomad]

Damn whats with this company i've been with them 10+ years never once been cut off or had trouble other than the times they've had monthly caps.

Since about April I've had nothing but trouble, cut off a week cause I paid my bill the day after I should have done, and they couldnt confirm my payment due to me paying via paypoint card.

Had trouble last month over being billed for Premiership plus. Had my phone calls turned to incoming only due to my bill going over £100, even though every other year since sky have had pay-per-view football you've had to phone up to say you wanted it, this year for some odd reason they just did it automaticly.

Then today got a automated phone call saying any late payment of the bill will mean they charge us a £10 fine. (is this actually legal to charge people fines for services being paid late). Its not like I pay late every month I guess around 3-4 times in 10 years, I mean everyone has hard times finding money, just a little tight right now putting money aside to get school uniforms for 4 kids.

All this payment crap alongside the cost going up and me repeatedly trying to get my cable TV reception upto scratch for months (the local kids play near the outside green cab box on end of our street, which causes my tv to freeze). As pushed me to my limits and left me angry at NT-hell

[dev]

firstly with paying late, to me if its a day late or a year late, its still a late payment. If they let people off with being a day late, people would start wanting 2 days etc. Afaik, with a late payment you can be fined, kicked off, whatever ntl want to do as long as you've been told of the consequences (which you did).

secondly, with the premiership plus, wasn't last year dont automatically? I do know for a fact that for after the season ended, pplus showed a message saying details about next year would follow on the channel. Sure enough they did, and it mentioned that it would be added automatically again. To me having ntl do pplus automatically every year is just like them doing the tv package automatically every month. I'm sure its easier for you and cheaper as there is no phone call to make now.

phone them and tell them that you're not happy with the £10 charge, my sister did and they dropped it this time. Worth a try, all they can say is yes or no.

[Russ]

Originally Posted by dev

firstly with paying late, to me if its a day late or a year late, its still a late payment. If they let people off with being a day late, people would start wanting 2 days etc. Afaik, with a late payment you can be fined, kicked off, whatever ntl want to do as long as you've been told of the consequences (which you did).

So I suppose when ntl get things wrong and installers don't turn up or refunds don't materialise, that's different?

Anyone can make a mistake.

Originally Posted by Russ D

So I suppose when ntl get things wrong and installers don't turn up or refunds don't materialise, that's different?

Anyone can make a mistake.

I honestly think you should be able to charge NTL for a missed appointment. If they can charge you then you should be able to charge them.

[Toto]

Originally Posted by theNomad

Damn whats with this company i've been with them 10+ years never once been cut off or had trouble other than the times they've had monthly caps.

Since about April I've had nothing but trouble, cut off a week cause I paid my bill the day after I should have done, and they couldnt confirm my payment due to me paying via paypoint card.

Had trouble last month over being billed for Premiership plus. Had my phone calls turned to incoming only due to my bill going over £100, even though every other year since sky have had pay-per-view football you've had to phone up to say you wanted it, this year for some odd reason they just did it automaticly.

Then today got a automated phone call saying any late payment of the bill will mean they charge us a £10 fine. (is this actually legal to charge people fines for services being paid late). Its not like I pay late every month I guess around 3-4 times in 10 years, I mean everyone has hard times finding money, just a little tight right now putting money aside to get school uniforms for 4 kids.

All this payment crap alongside the cost going up and me repeatedly trying to get my cable TV reception upto scratch for months (the local kids play near the outside green cab box on end of our street, which causes my tv to freeze). As pushed me to my limits and left me angry at NT-hell

BTW, that automated phone message usually doesn't kick in until you are about 21 days late.

Do yourself a favour, pay the bill, then got on a DD, it may make things easier for you.

[snooky]

My mum got a courtesy call about her bill payment being late, but she was only 3 days late in paying it, NOT 21 days. She rang them and told them she had paid it via phone banking and they didn't charge her.

[bigbruce]

I spent half an hour last Friday discussing this very topic with NTL. The automated messages states that you will be charged £10 if you are 28 days late paying your bill. This is a lie. They do not take it from the payment due date as you expect from the way they phrase things, but from the invoice date which is 14 days earlier.

Having had a big discussion with a supervisor over this and coming to an arrangement (credit of £20), I paid my bill via online banking as I was speaking to the lady. I was assured I would not be disconnected as I was paying for the current bill which I had yet to receive.

Today I tried to make a phone call around 8:30pm and my phone is disconnected and my TV is terrestrial only.

Aaaaaarrrrrrgggggghhhhh.

I guess they wanted their £20 back.

[totalwar]

Paying by DD no good from my experience anyway.Been without with internet for 4 weeks.Because NTL didn't take payment from my bank.Checked with my bank they said there was no problem with my DD and NTL had not taken any money from my account.Have a another DD for tv and telephone that been going though ok.Was told that two weeks ago that payment would be taken from bank and nothing happen.Been with my bank for for over 10 years and this is the first time there been any problems and I know it's not from my bank end.In the end had to make a card payment to get them to switch it back on.Had no warning e-mail no phone call nothing just got cut off.

[lostandconfused]

the late payment fee is added onto an account if there is a balance outstadning when the next bill is produced.

the money has to have reached ntl ny this time, not pay by paypoint the day before as it can take 3-5 days to clear.

If it is the first time that you have recieved a late payment fee, generally it will be credited back to you.

However if you have recieved one in the past you are cleary aware of how and why you get them and how to avoid them, so you get no sympathey from me.

[Toto]

Originally Posted by bigbruce

I spent half an hour last Friday discussing this very topic with NTL. The automated messages states that you will be charged £10 if you are 28 days late paying your bill. This is a lie. They do not take it from the payment due date as you expect from the way they phrase things, but from the invoice date which is 14 days earlier.

Standard practice I'm afraid, my CC bill payment time is not calculated from the date I receive the bill, but rather the date of the statement, which usually arrives 5 days after the invoice/statement date.

Annoying I know, but still standard practice.

[popper]

Originally Posted by lostandconfused

the late payment fee is added onto an account if there is a balance outstanding when the next bill is produced.

the money has to have reached ntl ny this time, not pay by paypoint the day before as it can take 3-5 days to clear.

If it is the first time that you have recieved a late payment fee, generally it will be credited back to you.

However if you have recieved one in the past you are cleary aware of how and why you get them and how to avoid them, so you get no sympathey from me.

lost,are you saying your making it personal and using your common sense in your department to punish the guilty?.

[bigbruce]

I wouldn't mind, but they have a Payment Due date on the invoice which as far as I am concerned is the date at which the start of the late payment should begin. That is when the money is due. It says so. It is written in plain English. If I pay the money before the due date I have paid early, if I pay after I am paying late. Therefore 28 days late is 28 days after the Payment Due Date.

[Toto]

Originally Posted by bigbruce

I wouldn't mind, but they have a Payment Due date on the invoice which as far as I am concerned is the date at which the start of the late payment should begin. That is when the money is due. It says so. It is written in plain English. If I pay the money before the due date I have paid early, if I pay after I am paying late. Therefore 28 days late is 28 days after the Payment Due Date.

Payment due date is the date of the invoice. As far as I am aware ntl will allow 21 days, that is to say the money has to clear against your account within that time.

[lostandconfused]

Originally Posted by popper

lost,are you saying your making it personal and using your common sense in your department to punish the guilty?.

no what im saying is that if a payment is late, no matter if its a day or a month it is late and will incur a late payment fee.

however when it is clearly the first instance and there are no notes in the account saying that it has been credited (and i will always clearly note that i have credited a late payment fee) then in that instance as a good will gesture i would credit it back.

so its not personal, if a customer is aware of the late payment and they know how to avoid it then you cant complain when one is added on the account if you have paid late.