companies requiring Direct Debit only.

the watchman

Hi,
My neighbour who has no computer or internet and seems to hate banks (I'm sure she not alone) has ask me to put this out there.

She's fed up with not being able to get various services from a number of companies because she does not want to pay by Direct Debit.

She feels that it is quite unfair and is quite frustrated with the situation and wanted to know how others felt about this situation.

Thanks for reading.

seamus

It's a company's perogative in reality to decide whether or not to accept various payment methods.

At the end of the day, if the customer doesn't want to pay by DD, then they have the option of going elsewhere and its the company's loss.

I feel that it's unfair of primary utilities to require this - electricity/gas for example - and in such cases AFAIK all primary utilities do allow for non-DD payments, but often with a deposit upfront.

I personally love direct debits because there's never any fear of forgetting to pay a bill, but I can understand how some people dislike allowing such access to their money.

keithclancy

seamus wrote: »

It's a company's perogative in reality to decide whether or not to accept various payment methods.

At the end of the day, if the customer doesn't want to pay by DD, then they have the option of going elsewhere and its the company's loss.

I feel that it's unfair of primary utilities to require this - electricity/gas for example - and in such cases AFAIK all primary utilities do allow for non-DD payments, but often with a deposit upfront.

I personally love direct debits because there's never any fear of forgetting to pay a bill, but I can understand how some people dislike allowing such access to their money.

Mainly its becuase companies regularly screw up and take alot longer to give your money back than it does to take it from your account.

So I prefer to try them out first and if they dont screw up in the first year i switch to direct debit then

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

As Seamus said, companies have a choice in how they accept payment. I don't think fairness comes in to it. It's cheaper on them (and by extension all of us) to operate via direct debit. Payments are on time and generally it greatly reduces the instances of non-payment.

I love direct debits myself and in 30 years have never had a single problem with any of them.

jor el

keithclancy wrote: »

Mainly its becuase companies regularly screw up and take alot longer to give your money back than it does to take it from your account.

I wouldn't say it happens regularly. I have about 8 active direct debits on my account right now, and have had many more, all with different companies and with varying destination banks. The only one that ever screwed up was BT Ireland, but I had already cancelled my direct debit (with Bank of Ireland) and BT were unable to reinstate it.

In the main, direct debits are very good. The lack of knowledge about how they are supposed to work, and how a bank should react if something goes wrong, is quite unacceptable, even among bank staff. All bank staff should be fully versed in the operation of direct debits, as it's an intricate and every day part of their job. Many do know, but there are always some who simply don't. The banks themselves should also have strict policies in place for how they are operated, but it seems to be very hit and miss.

At the end of the day, you have to pay your bill anyway, so why not with a direct debit?

DanWall

I absolutely refuse to go DD, I will not give control of my payments to someone else, myself and my son have had problems in the past.
There was a guy came to our door representing a company offering broadband 8mbs and telephone over a wireless link to our house, It looked a good system but he wanted DD or my debit card details at the door, both of which I would not do, I offered to pay electronically by open 24 which he declined, so I told him to feed back to his company he was losing business because of this.

whippet

DanWall wrote: »

I absolutely refuse to go DD, I will not give control of my payments to someone else, myself and my son have had problems in the past.
There was a guy came to our door representing a company offering broadband 8mbs and telephone over a wireless link to our house, It looked a good system but he wanted DD or my debit card details at the door, both of which I would not do, I offered to pay electronically by open 24 which he declined, so I told him to feed back to his company he was losing business because of this.

i'd never give anyone my acc details unless I approached them first.

Between myself and my wife we have about 20 active direct debits from everything to savings accounts, utilities, charities etc .... I would say I have questioned one payment in the last five years and even at that there was nothing wrong.

Companies will choose DD as it is much cheaper to collect money this way than waiting for people to pay. The business they loose will be much less than the savings made for Bad Debts, late payments and staffing costs the other way round

dudara

Moved to Banking & Insurance & Pensions

dudara

Personally, I have no problems with DD. From a personal view, it means that bills will be paid and I don't have to remember them. Froma company's POV, it gives them some security on being able to collect their receipts in a regular and timely manner (very important factors in maintaining cashflow in a business).

TBH - DDs don't go wrong very often. I've never hd a problem with one.

Also remember that the DD is an agreement between you and the company. You can cancel it at any stage you like with the bank. But you will still be in contract to the provider and under obligation to fulfill your contractual obligations.

Rebel1977

they can go wrong but if caught in time you dont have a problem with them, they are great for paying phone/gas/esb bills etc. It's the way forward for paying bills along with internet banking, day will come when cheques will be completely gone.

NuMarvel

If your neighbour is worried about keeping tabs on her account, is telephone banking an option? She would at least be able to check what her balance is, and if it's less than she expected she can check with her branch of the customer service staff.

dohouch

My Vodafone Direct Debit runs on my credit card, at least that way I know the money will always be there, and I won't incur additional charges because of "insufficient funds"

Rebel1977

dohouch wrote: »

My Vodafone Direct Debit runs on my credit card, at least that way I know the money will always be there, and I won't incur additional charges because of "insufficient funds"

That's a good point but I had trouble before in cancelling a direct debit on my credit card