Home phone customers penalised for bill choices

Money News

www.moneynews.co.uk > General finance > Home phone customers penalised for bill choices

Topics

bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet

Features

bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet

Companies

bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet

Money News

bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet

Home phone customers penalised for bill choices

A new study from uSwitch.com has found that home phone customers are being penalised by their provider for things like receiving paper bills and paying by cash.

It worked out that customers could save a total of £237 million a year just by changing their way they receive and pay their telephone bills.

Paying by direct debit could save people £75 million a year, while the 13 million home-phone users who receive paper as opposed to online bills are losing £162 million annually in additional charges.

Last year BT introduced a yearly charge of £18 for anyone settling their bills by cash, cheque, credit or debit card.

Despite the fee, uSwitch.com has found that nearly one in five of its customers are still choosing to pay by one of these methods, earning the company an extra £52 million a year.

One in ten Virgin Media home phone customers are also still shelling out £60 a year to have the option of not paying by direct debit.

Steve Weller, head of communications services at the website, said that while "some would argue that the additional charges imposed on customers not wishing to pay by direct debit are an unfair penalty", other providers, such as Pipex and TalkTalk, only allow their customers to pay by direct debit.

He added that "it would be interesting to see whether the costs incurred by the companies for providing paper billing are proportionate to the excessive charges being levied on customers".

Uswitch.com announced earlier this week that home phone users could save £272 million a year by calling a new free directory enquiries number.
ADNFCR-323-ID-18488539-ADNFCR

Related News : General finance

bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet
bullet