Can a company force me to pay by Direct Debit?

ecom

won't mention the company's name but I'm being told that I cant use a specific service unless I sign up to direct debit.

Are companies allowed to do demand this, or do they have to offer alternative methods of payment?

daheff

yes...its their terms of service. they are not obliged to provide the service to you..but if they do they want you to pay a particular way.



what would be unfair is if they tried to charge you more to pay in a particular way (eg by cash)

Gillo

Chances are as the recession looms, more companies will make customers sign up for direct debit as it means they have a better chance of getting paid.

jor el

daheff wrote: »

what would be unfair is if they tried to charge you more to pay in a particular way (eg by cash)

Unfair, but not illegal. Many companies charge a fee for not paying by direct debit (or offer a discount to those who do pay by direct debit).

Max Power1

They are under no obligation to provide you with their goods/service - and afaik they are not restricted as to how they want to be paid either.. Morale of the story is, if you arent happy, take your'e business elsewhere.

casiof91w

just sign up cancel the dd and pay by cheque or call in pay by laser....dd's are easier to process than a load of cheques being sent in and processed....they want your service they wont mind

Gillo

Not entirely true

When you sign up for a service, you sign up agreeing to their terms and conditions, so you are agreeing to pay by DD. If you don't keep your side of the agreement they would be within their rights not to keep their side either and could cancel the service.

OP, what have you got against DD, to me it's by far the handiest option. Most companies in my experience let you set the date for the DD, I normally just come clean with them and say look I get paid on the 25th I want the DD for the 26th or 27th, so I know I'll have the money to pay you.

ecom

Gillo wrote: »

Not entirely true

OP, what have you got against DD, to me it's by far the handiest option.

in theory yes it is the handiest option but having been stung (badly!!) by a well known company in the past who continued to take large amounts of money from my account unauthorised (which took me months of hassle and grief to get back from them), as a rule I dont do Direct Debit!

pay all my bills online manually. keeps me in full control

mobby

Chorus Charge €3 per bill if you dont pay by DD :mad:

eightyfish

ecom wrote: »

in theory yes it is the handiest option but having been stung (badly!!) by a well known company in the past who continued to take large amounts of money from my account unauthorised (which took me months of hassle and grief to get back from them), as a rule I dont do Direct Debit!

pay all my bills online manually. keeps me in full control

Agree completely.

With DD you're trusting the company themselves to decide how much you owe them and remove it from your account. I've also been stung by a certain broadband provider. Never again.

Elessar

mobby wrote: »

Chorus Charge €3 per bill if you dont pay by DD :mad:

:mad: Yep, don't get me started about Chorus/NTL/UPC.

At least I have full control over my money without DD. I'll never use Direct Debit for anything again unless I have no option. BT took an unholy amount of money from my account one month, without my permission because of an incorrect charge.

Using Direct Debit is essentially giving a company permission to take as much as they like from your bank account as often as they like. Never again.

calex71

I only trust one person to have access to my money ...... ME

Internet banking much better option all round for me personally.

Slice

eightyfish wrote: »

Agree completely.

With DD you're trusting the company themselves to decide how much you owe them and remove it from your account. I've also been stung by a certain broadband provider. Never again.

In fairness, they send you a bill beforehand which gives you a good idea of what they intend charging you for. Plus, if you dispute the bill they're obliged to not present it for DD.

Guy:Incognito

Plus, once your contract or dealings are up with a company, it only takes 10 seconda on internet banking to cancel the DD. That puts an end to them beign able to take anything.

eightyfish

Slice wrote: »

In fairness, they send you a bill beforehand which gives you a good idea of what they intend charging you for. Plus, if you dispute the bill they're obliged to not present it for DD.

In my experience, by the time you actually get the bill it's too late. Also I'd rather opt-in to bills than opt-out if there is a problem with them.

daheff

what about asking the company can you pay by standing charge? It works similiarily to a DD except you dictate the amount paid every month. If you are buying a product/service that will not vary every month then you could (if they agree) pay this way. The only issue is that you would be charged by your bank for this. Also if amounts change you need to cancel current std charge and set up a new one

Guy:Incognito

eightyfish wrote: »

In my experience, by the time you actually get the bill it's too late. .

Too late for what? Any bills I have come a couple of weeks before they go out.

My Vodafoen bill goes around the 7th of the month. I get my bill in or around the 20th of the previous month.

My upc bill arives in the first week of the month for a 24th payment.

PeteK*

mobby wrote: »

Chorus Charge €3 per bill if you dont pay by DD :mad:

Sky charge €5

Nody

I'd expect to see this type of charge more honestly, not only do you have the whole cost of printing, envelope, postage, putting in a mail etc. but also the other side of allocating the money that comes in.

I worked in the cash collection/allocation in a company a few years ago and the number of payments I've seen coming in listed as X EUR, Message: John as they where paid over a counter was insane. You then had to try to find out who was this John (we only dealt with companies so John might not even be listed and with our surname to top it of!) and what was he paying exactly. Now compare that with a DD where the system knows it will receieve X EUR on date Y for invoice Z you have a very easy automatic allocation done. Of course for that to work properly you should also have powerful regulation in place which is enforced to avoid abuse (as done in the UK).

wmpdd3

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/ombudsman-news/27/27-directdebit-guarantee.htm

Only if we had the protection given in the UK would I consider paying by D.D.

Most costs imposed for not paying by D.D can be avoided by paying even €1 extra a month so your always in credit.

Slice

wmpdd3 wrote: »

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/ombudsman-news/27/27-directdebit-guarantee.htm

Only if we had the protection given in the UK would I consider paying by D.D.

Most costs imposed for not paying by D.D can be avoided by paying even €1 extra a month so your always in credit.

Similar rules apply here as in the UK:
http://www.ipso.ie/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=35&Itemid=172

Nody

Slice wrote: »

Similar rules apply here as in the UK:
http://www.ipso.ie/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=35&Itemid=172

Rules yes, enforcement no.

Slice

Nody wrote: »

Rules yes, enforcement no.

How are the rules enforced any more in the UK than they are here?? Is this based on anecdotal evidence gleamed from Boards.ie? ...An Irish discussion forum?

padocon

Oh I always thought they had to accept cash (legal tender)

Nody

Slice wrote: »

How are the rules enforced any more in the UK than they are here?? Is this based on anecdotal evidence gleamed from Boards.ie? ...An Irish discussion forum?

Not a single fine has ever been issued in Ireland and we have banks who say they can't cancel a direct debits and allow cash to be taken after the direct debit is suppose to have been canceled. Now try to do that in the UK and enjoy your penalties or heck, ask a company to do a DD with less then 10 days notice.

Slice

Nody wrote: »

Not a single fine has ever been issued in Ireland and we have banks who say they can't cancel a direct debits and allow cash to be taken after the direct debit is suppose to have been canceled. Now try to do that in the UK and enjoy your penalties or heck, ask a company to do a DD with less then 10 days notice.

That's completely disingenuous. Just because no fines have been issued doesn't mean that complaints aren't upheld, they are and I've dealt with them

eightyfish

Stekelly wrote: »

Too late for what? Any bills I have come a couple of weeks before they go out.

Stuff like this has happened to me. Not just NTL/UPC; life assurance company just took money out of my joint account with no notice last week.