If I had given slightly wrong card details (as is distinctly possible in this case) I'd be far happier knowing my bank would refuse the request with no further information. To give a reason would give a fraudster trying to extract money from my card a better idea of what to try next!

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

I'm sure the DPA prevents a Credit Card issuer telling PlusNet the reason for refusal, so there is no more detail that PN could give him in that respect. It is up to the card-holder to take the matter up with the issuer.

Edit - Having checked with PN that the details they have are correct.

I would agree that the info that PN would receive from the CC Company is minimal, but it is still useful to try to obtain that limited info.

IIRC, PN "might" have been advised that it had been "Declined" or "Not-recognised" (or other possibilities) - even that provides a basis of discussion with the CC Company!

Anyway, regardless (& assuming that his CC was declined by his own CC Company), I would definitely be discussing the situation with my CC Company!

In reply to a post by WWWombat:

the answer to the current situation was given on day 1 on the other thread, near 2 weeks ago:

https://www.plus.net/apps/paymentdetails/manage/ :-

"You have card details stored for your account. This isn't your primary payment method, however:"

So your suggestion wasn't ignored as you presumably think. I believe I acknowledged you helpful suggestion, if not, I apologise.

My point all along was that plusnet say one thing on their website and another on here and/or their "question" system.

In reply to a post by WWWombat:

follow, a way that PN does support.

https://portal.plus.net/support/customer_service/bil... :-

"You can then choose to try again with your normal payment method"

https://portal.plus.net/apps/paymentdetails/manage

"Current payment Method
You are currently paying by Direct Debit:"

https://www.plus.net/apps/paymentdetails/manage/

"If we can't take your normal Direct Debit we'll use these details for payment"

So what, in your understanding, are Plusnet saying?

Was I wrong to read Plusnet's website as a guide to what they did?

In reply to a post by WWWombat:

You have to be a (near-) teenager, I guess Or the parent of one

I am neither but I understood.

As I've already posted a few times.

Your *usual* payment was the original direct debit, which is cancelled. Therefore we cannot take payment from it.

We've tried to take payment by the card a few times but this did not go through.

I see you called in and spoke to someone last night and we've now managed to take the payment with the details you provided him.

As per one of our comments earlier in one of the multiple other threads, I've added a discount to your next month bill to cover the £1.50 non-dd charge that you've paid this month.

That's an end to this saga.

Edited by chrisparr (Thu 20-Jun-13 08:12:19)

In reply to a post by hk11:

My point all along was that plusnet say one thing on their website and another on here and/or their "question" system.

A situation that I recognise from an experience that I had with PN (just over a year ago).

In reply to a post by hk11:

So what, in your understanding, are Plusnet saying?

Was I wrong to read Plusnet's website as a guide to what they did?

No, you are right to read the website in the first instance, and right to resort to posting here in the second instance. There is no problem with that.

My initial understanding, on day one and from reading the website, would be the same as yours, and my actions would likely have been the same - although I'd have chosen to post on Plusnet's own community forum rather than here.

Where everything went wrong was in not listening to, or acting on, what was being said on here, both in generic advice, and the advice being given by one of PN's head honcho support guys.

I suspect that the root cause was that you continued to prefer what the website said, rather than adapting to the information provided by @chrisparr.

So it is probably best to understand a few points
- The website can get out of date, as procedures change, but historic webpages don't, or where webpages try to be fairly generic, but can't respond to an individual's tricky situation

[In your case, some confusion came about because of what different parties - you, PN and the website - believed about the "current" direct debit.]

- The support guys answering tickets will have a standard level of training to do the job, and should be more up-to-date than the website. They may be able to take into account your own individual situation, and be able to apply a known trick to deal with it, but they may not.

- The "Digital care team" - the guys who post on the forum (both their own community one and here) - tend to be the better support guys, who generally can offer the best advice, most up-to-date advice, and the most focused advice on your personal situation and account details, and have more remit to take personal ownership.

The easiest route to the solution, once you posted here, would have been to forget the website, forget the questions/tickets, and to focus solely on acting on what Chris said/asked.

Yes, there were inconsistencies. Those can be focused on after the initial problem has been solved.

It will be interesting to see if we get an admission from hk11 as to why Plusnet's previous attempts to take payment by card failed!

I'm guessing that as there is no apology in the post by Chris it wasn't Plusnet's fault.

Edited by jelv (Thu 20-Jun-13 10:03:09)

In reply to a post by chrisparr:

We've tried to take payment by the card a few times but this did not go through.

Have just come back from seeing the manager at my bank and he is going to look into it. He did quite correctly point out the problem must be your end as other merchants were getting authority: I'd just paid my latest bill.

In reply to a post by chrisparr:

I see you called in and spoke to someone last night and we've now managed to take the payment with the details you provided him.

The same details entered on your system when I put my card details on and again to your operative on Fri 14-Jun-13 22:29:01!

In reply to a post by chrisparr:

As per one of our comments earlier in one of the multiple other threads, I've added a discount to your next month bill to cover the £1.50 non-dd charge that you've paid this month.

Thank you.