NBS Credit limits and extra usage charge

ejlc

Just wondering did anyone else get stung like us:

we are on three (national broadband scheme) and get charge 19.99 for 15 Gb, by direct debit.

this month we inadvertantly used an extra 2 Gb, and have been direct debited for an extra 75 euro.

Apparently three put a credit limit on your account ( in my case that is 75 euro on top of the 19.99 a month) and they can take this out of your personal bank account WITHOUT YOUR KNOWLEDGE.
I presumed that if you went over your 15 Gb limit, the internet would stop working. No such luck. It took a fairly frustartaing 30 minutes to get all this infomration from 3.

i am fuming. this happen to anyone else? any change of getting a refund? I imagine not.

E

dub45

ejlc wrote: »

Just wondering did anyone else get stung like us:

we are on three (national broadband scheme) and get charge 19.99 for 15 Gb, by direct debit.

this month we inadvertantly used an extra 2 Gb, and have been direct debited for an extra 75 euro.

Apparently three put a credit limit on your account ( in my case that is 75 euro on top of the 19.99 a month) and they can take this out of your personal bank account WITHOUT YOUR KNOWLEDGE. I presumed that if you went over your 15 Gb limit, the internet would stop working. No such luck. It took a fairly frustartaing 30 minutes to get all this infomration from 3.

i am fuming. this happen to anyone else? any change of getting a refund? I imagine not.

E

Nobody is allowed to take money out of your account without your knowledge at least in theory! It may happen but that does not mean you have not got rights or most importantly that they person/company who did it had the right to do it.

Firstly if you are paying by direct debit you are entitled to a clear 14 days notice from the company who are billing you. Did you get this?

Proper advance notice is a key component of the direct debit scheme.

Secondly (from www.ipso.ie)

If it is established that an unauthorised direct debit was charged to your account, you are guaranteed an immediate refund by your bank of the amount so charged where you notify your bank without undue delay on becoming aware of the unauthorised direct debit, and in any event no later than 13 months after the date of debiting of such direct debit to your account

You are entitled to request a refund of any variable direct debit which exceeded the amount which you could reasonably have expected, subject to you so requesting your bank within a period of 8 weeks from the date of debiting such direct debit to your account; your bank is entitled to ask you to provide factual elements relating to your request for a refund

If it is the case that you did not get notice or want any more assistance or clarification post back here.

Also is this "policy" of 3's available to customers up front?

Companies have to learn that customers are not cash machines from which withdrawals can be made at any time as they wish!

drunkmonkey

You can 0 that credit limit so the internet stops working when you use your allowance. If you are a national broadband customer your allowance is 25GB not 15GB so you used 27GB.

@dub45, all charges are in the T's & C's that nobody reads, standard across all networks when you go over your allowance, the option is there to 0 your credit limit so this can be avoided on 3.

ejlc

was just on to the bank - they say that if you sign up for a direct debit, the company are within their rights to charge you what they want - thats why most compaines want you on direct debit rather than standing order.

its pretty annoying.. you can get three to set your credit limit at zero it transpires - but presumably most people do this after they have been stung once like me!

ejlc

sorry drunkmonkey our posts gor crossed. is that true about the NBS customers having a 25 Gb limit? i wasn't aware of that - will get on to them so

drunkmonkey

Yea it was upped to 25GB about 6mts ago. You can't sign up for their 15GB or 30GB packages if your a new NBS customer you can only get the 25GB for 19.99.
While your onto them get them to 0 your credit limit this will make sure it never happens to you again. Once the 25GB is used you can't run up a big bill. If you've a phone with them you can do the same but leave yourself a little credit limit maybe 50 euro just in case of an emergency some time.

dub45

ejlc wrote: »

was just on to the bank - they say that if you sign up for a direct debit, the company are within their rights to charge you what they want - thats why most compaines want you on direct debit rather than standing order.

its pretty annoying.. you can get three to set your credit limit at zero it transpires - but presumably most people do this after they have been stung once like me!

That is absolute nonsense but sadly is typical of bank empoyee's knowledge of the direct debit system.

You should make a formal complaint to IPSO about this response.

http://www.ipso.ie/section/section/YourRightsasaPayer

A Direct Debit Guarantee is provided by your bank in the following form:

* If you authorise payment by direct debit, then
o Your direct debit originator will notify you in advance of the amounts to be debited to your account
o Your bank will accept and pay such debits, provided that your account has sufficient available funds
* If it is established that an unauthorised direct debit was charged to your account, you are guaranteed an immediate refund by your bank of the amount so charged where you notify your bank without undue delay on becoming aware of the unauthorised direct debit, and in any event no later than 13 months after the date of debiting of such direct debit to your account
* You are entitled to request a refund of any variable direct debit which exceeded the amount which you could reasonably have expected, subject to you so requesting your bank within a period of 8 weeks from the date of debiting such direct debit to your account; your bank is entitled to ask you to provide factual elements relating to your request for a refund
* You can request your bank to refuse a direct debit payment on your account up to close of business the day before the direct debit is due to be paid from your account

drunkmonkey

But they didn't do anything wrong he would have got his bill before the payment came out and he is a on a plan that charge's outside your allowance. His monthly subscription is variable. The option to change that is there but it's not enabled by default.
Signing up to mobile broadband is the exact same as taking out a phone contract.

In the general run of things especially with mobile broadband & phones having a credit limit in place is a good thing. I've seen bills from other operators that would make baby Jeebus cry as there is no credit limit.

The people who run up big phone bills on a regular basis when they join 3 complain about having a credit limit when they first hit it and can't make calls, plenty of posters giving out here they never asked for a limit as they never had one with their previous network.

My own 2cent, op got away lightly as the credit limit was in place. When subscribing to something always read the small print and know any extra charges that can be incurred.

dub45

drunkmonkey wrote: »

But they didn't do anything wrong he would have got his bill before the payment came out and he is a on a plan that charge's outside your allowance. His monthly subscription is variable. The option to change that is there but it's not enabled by default.
Signing up to mobile broadband is the exact same as taking out a phone contract.

In the general run of things especially with mobile broadband & phones having a credit limit in place is a good thing. I've seen bills from other operators that would make baby Jeebus cry as there is no credit limit.

The people who run up big phone bills on a regular basis when they join 3 complain about having a credit limit when they first hit it and can't make calls, plenty of posters giving out here they never asked for a limit as they never had one with their previous network.

My own 2cent, op got away lightly as the credit limit was in place. When subscribing to something always read the small print and know any extra charges that can be incurred.

The op hasn't confirmed that the bill was received with the 14 days notice period.

ejlc

ok just an update -

i dont get a bill before the direct debit goes out - i can view it online, but have never done so (until last night) because i (wrongly) presumed that 19.99 was all i was ever going to pay.

It transpires that even though I am receiving a signal thanks to the national broadband scheme, i wasnt registered as such, becuase my address was wrong. That has been resolved.

chances off getting refunded my 75 euro....zero

So to cut to the end of a long story CHECK YOUR CREDIT LIMIT and zero it to ensure you cant go over the usage unwittingly. thats my tuppence worth for the day.

and take a dose of valium before you get involved with three customr service.

Skyuser

I just noticed at little message logo on my Mifi modem so I checked my modems inbox to find 9 messages stating I had gone over my limit. Went to check my recent bills saw that I went over by 1.88 GB and got charged a whoppinh €95 EXTRA, making 1GB worth €50 where as I'm getting 25GB normally for €20...how does that make sense. I presumed I would be cut off If I reached my limit.
Can I challenge this with CS or should I just cancel direct debit before payment is taken?

dub45

ejlc wrote: »

ok just an update -

i dont get a bill before the direct debit goes out - i can view it online, but have never done so (until last night) because i (wrongly) presumed that 19.99 was all i was ever going to pay.

It transpires that even though I am receiving a signal thanks to the national broadband scheme, i wasnt registered as such, becuase my address was wrong. That has been resolved.

chances off getting refunded my 75 euro....zero

So to cut to the end of a long story CHECK YOUR CREDIT LIMIT and zero it to ensure you cant go over the usage unwittingly. thats my tuppence worth for the day.

and take a dose of valium before you get involved with three customr service.

I hate the idea of online billing. Nothing like a paper bill to have in your hand and check. It is just plain silly never to check a bill either on paper or on line - even the best of companies can make a mistake.

ejlc

Skyuser - looks like you are in exactly the same position as me - i doubt you will get a refund - like the previous posters have said, ring customer service and get them to change your credit limit to zero so you will just get cut off, instead of clocking up mb at 5 cent a mb.

dub45 - of course in hindisght i think its a great idea to check your bill - all i can say is ignorance is bliss, and i think MOST people would think that when they agree to a direct debit for 19.99, thats all they will pay. having never come across the concept of credit limits before, this is a very steep and expensive learning curve for me (and lots of others i presume!)

thanks for all the replies!

yuloni

This post has been deleted.

dub45

ejlc wrote: »

Skyuser - looks like you are in exactly the same position as me - i doubt you will get a refund - like the previous posters have said, ring customer service and get them to change your credit limit to zero so you will just get cut off, instead of clocking up mb at 5 cent a mb.

dub45 - of course in hindisght i think its a great idea to check your bill - all i can say is ignorance is bliss, and i think MOST people would think that when they agree to a direct debit for 19.99, thats all they will pay. having never come across the concept of credit limits before, this is a very steep and expensive learning curve for me (and lots of others i presume!)

thanks for all the replies!

Ignorance begets misery where the dd system is concerned.

Firstly I declare my interest:) I abhor the direct debit system and the more I find out about it the more I abhor it.

It is simply awful. However anyone with a direct debit on their account should remember that their account can be accessed at any time by the company who holds the direct debit. So your account can be cleared out (even by a genuine mistake) without you knowing until you go to get your money.

So if you have a direct debit or several on your account - consider do you really need to pay this way? there are plenty of other options nowadays.

And if you do want to leave it on - check regularly to make sure nothing untoward is happening. For example not too long ago a "respectable" company like Bord Gais double debited me three times in the space of 5 months. And there are no sanctions for companies who misbehave.

And also the knowledge of bank staff of the dd system is quite shockingly bad given that your branch has a huge role in the system (well thats the way it should be anyway) As far as I can see very few bank staff even know how to cancel a direct debit.

etar

Hi. This happened to me 2, I'm pretty disgusted, my question is - I am an NBS customer but only get 11 gb for 19.99. How do I get 25gb

yuloni

This post has been deleted.

watty

Only if it saves them money.

yuloni

This post has been deleted.

ejlc

I am fairly sure i got my credit limit to zero.

E

etar

I tried to get mine to zero and no chance they said 10 euro was the minimum, I am seriously cheesed off with 3, my latest bill is going to be 110 euro and every bill prior to that I have never exceeded 11Gb and this month I am 1 week into a new bill and I haven't even used 1gb however magically they claim i used 26.5 gb last month and there is no where I can query it. I am so close to just cancelling my account and my direct debit.

yuloni

This post has been deleted.

Aishae

we got ours reduced to 0 - we had to ring twice to get it done though, the first time - after we got stung and lost 125 in a direct debit (no paper bills from 3 - i have eircom mobile broadband and get paper bills from them) - they said theyd set it at 0 but when we rang again about the contract they said it hadnt been set to 0 so supposedly its been done now.

it can be hard to avoid direct debit when companies offer deals when you pay by DD - this is WHY they want you to do it by DD - some just want to ensure you pay your bills on time but others... im questioning.

yuloni

This post has been deleted.

Aishae

thanks, i think a lot of companies make it hard to really... follow this stuff these days. things are changing. but they could make the transition easier if they included a note in their welcome package or whatever 'bills are not automatically sent on paper unless requested, they will be available online to help save some trees' itd help people get used to checking their bills online

dub45

Aishae wrote: »

we got ours reduced to 0 - we had to ring twice to get it done though, the first time - after we got stung and lost 125 in a direct debit (no paper bills from 3 - i have eircom mobile broadband and get paper bills from them) - they said theyd set it at 0 but when we rang again about the contract they said it hadnt been set to 0 so supposedly its been done now.

it can be hard to avoid direct debit when companies offer deals when you pay by DD - this is WHY they want you to do it by DD - some just want to ensure you pay your bills on time but others... im questioning.

There is no bigger critic of the dd system than myself - it is an appaling system but even I have to acknowledge that it does offer some protection to the bill payer - it was never meant to offer unlimted access to a customers account.

Firstly it is worth familiarising yourself with the basics of the dd system and yoiu can do this here:

http://www.ipso.ie/section/DirectDebits

But remember you can cancel a direct debit at any time by instructing your bank to do so. that is one of the most basic features of the scheme even though many bank staff are not aware of it:rolleyes:

Secondly you are entitled to a full 14 days notice before any amount is deducted from your account. 7 days in the case of the so called direct debit plus.

This notice period is to give you time to contest any bill that you are not happy with.

The dd scheme also specifically states that disputed amounts should not be debited.

If an amount has already been debited that you are not happy with then you can make a case to your bank to have that amount refunded.

Expect resistance from your bank in relation to anything to do with the dd scheme - the ignorance of the scheme is quite shocking amongst bank staff so if you have to have dealings with your bank about dds make sure that you can quote the scheme to them. Remember it is your account and it is up to the bank to guarantee the integrity of your account at all times.

The contract between 3 (or any other company) and yourself has nothing go to do with the bank.

William Powell

A bit off topic but still on the subject of Direct Debits, I just noticed that with Bank of Ireland I can cancel a DD through 365online banking.

dub45

William Powell wrote: »

A bit off topic but still on the subject of Direct Debits, I just noticed that with Bank of Ireland I can cancel a DD through 365online banking.

I still think that it is better and safer to go along with the scheme and do it in writing and keep a copy. Also write to the company involved and ask them to ensure that all details of your bank account are removed from their system. After a dd has been cancelled they have no reason to hold it.

Always keep an eye on your bank account anyway - a cancelled dd can easily be reinstated and the banks have no way to stop it hitting your account. Quite incredible but true!:mad: