12 March 2007
Telecommunication companies are under the spotlight this week for over-charging their TV, phone and broadband customers who pay their bills via cheque, rather than by Direct Debit.
BT and Virgin Media are among those named by the report on the BBC, which found that from May 1st, BT customers who choose to pay by cheque will face an increased charge of £4.50 a quarter.
Virgin Media meanwhile, currently charges cheque or cash paying customers an additional £5 to cover "administration fees".
One major concern is for the welfare of the companies' elderly customers who would struggle to set up a Direct Debit.
Don Wood, a concerned resident of Lincolnshire, told the BBC: "In my village many old people don't have bank accounts. They rely on the small post office."
Suspicions that the charges are just another way for the companies to squeeze money out of its customers were reinforced by the fact that neither Virgin Media, nor BT could explain how they arrived at their respective penalty fees.
A spokeswoman for Virgin Media told the BBC that the charges were put in place to meet their administration costs, but admitted that "some of it will be an incentive as well to encourage people to move to Direct Debit".
BT meanwhile said that its charges were "fair and reasonable" and were "amongst the lowest such charges", adding that the figures were derived from the charges made by its own bank, its in-house processing costs and also the charge made by post offices, which also accept BT bill payments.
Regulator Ofcom has so far done nothing about the charges, but told the BBC that if it received a deluge of complaints, it would look into the matter again.
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