Unexpected payment failure

Have had an email from Plusnet, informing me that they could not take payment for the princely sum of £12.71.

I feel sure this is a glitch, either at Plusnet's end, or with the banking system in general, as I have NOT changed the credit card I always use (yes, yes, I know - I refuse to have a direct debit), it has NOT expired, and I've double checked it's not close to, or indeed over my credit limit, or that I am (accidentally) in arrears - e.g. because an earlier payment failed, or I somehow forgot. Everything is perfectly in order.

I see that I can make a one-off payment manually, but before attempting this, I would like to understand what happened.

If Plusnet become aware that there was some sort of generalised problem with taking payments today - not just me - will they try again?

I don't want to pay twice.

And is there no way I can ask what's wrong, or ask them to re-try it, without hanging on the phone?

I've had the card for more than three years, and it's always been used to settle my Plusnet bill, every month, for all of that time.

It seems highly unlikely it would suddenly register as a suspicious or disputed payment, especially as it's not suddenly an unusually high bill this month.

Edit: Sheesh, they've now emailed me a second time since this morning, and have started to interfere with my browsing to present the "failed payment" message.

This is excessively heavy-handed treatment of a very slightly overdue payment of a very small amount. Not even 24 hours to find out what went wrong and sort it, before they start turning snotty?

Edited by TLM (Thu 14-Apr-16 12:57:06)

You could try checking with your bank as it may be that somehow they have flagged "unusual" activity on your account. I assume no-one in the PlusNet forums is publishing similar issues?

In reply to a post by TLM:

(yes, yes, I know - I refuse to have a direct debit)

Direct Debit is far far far safer for you than a credit card recurring authority. At any point PN can take any amount they desire from your account and there is little you can do about it. You can't even ask your bank to stop future payments. A Direct Debit has lots of rules for your safety and is very easy for you to reclaim if you feel like it, and you can terminate it whenever you like.

In reply to a post by nemeth782:

Direct Debit is far far far safer for you than a credit card recurring authority. At any point PN can take any amount they desire from your account and there is little you can do about it. You can't even ask your bank to stop future payments. A Direct Debit has lots of rules for your safety and is very easy for you to reclaim if you feel like it, and you can terminate it whenever you like.

Seconded, very strange that someone would choose a recurring authority over a direct debit. Having said that, the rules on these have been tightened up over the last couple of years and it is now possible to get them stopped through your card provider.

In reply to a post by kasg:

In reply to a post by nemeth782:

Direct Debit is far far far safer for you than a credit card recurring authority. At any point PN can take any amount they desire from your account and there is little you can do about it. You can't even ask your bank to stop future payments. A Direct Debit has lots of rules for your safety and is very easy for you to reclaim if you feel like it, and you can terminate it whenever you like.

Seconded, very strange that someone would choose a recurring authority over a direct debit. Having said that, the rules on these have been tightened up over the last couple of years and it is now possible to get them stopped through your card provider.

That's good to know. It used to be that even closing your credit card account wouldn't stop them, the credit card company would send you a bill *after the account was closed*.

In reply to a post by nemeth782:

That's good to know. It used to be that even closing your credit card account wouldn't stop them, the credit card company would send you a bill *after the account was closed*.

As is their right according to the terms we sign to get a card.

Continuous card authority is very risky and should in my view be banned in the UK as we have Direct Debit.

However in the USA they have no such thing as DD so charging credit cards is the only way to pay for services such as internet, subscription TV etc. They also have no real consumer protection law, you have to sue in court, which is expensive.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/recurring-p...

The Financial Conduct Authority has stated banks MUST cancel a continuous payment authority when asked. It also added that if further payments are taken in error after a customer asks for a cancellation, the bank must refund them.

This message is taking a while to get through to the banks.

I didn't ask opinions on Direct Debit. I don't want one, and that's it. I don't agree with them on principle. That's my right, isn't it? I only mentioned it at all, in case the type of card (it's a Mastercard) may happen to shed any light on things.

People might have been aware whether there has been any issue with cc transactions recently - either at PN, or at all.

Apparently, I am not even allowed to browse the forums whilst there's any money owing, as I just keep being bounced back to the stupid "money owing" page.

So I cannot see if anyone is reporting similar, and presumably, they couldn't anyway, unless they have multiple accounts, or ask another member to post on their behalf.

I am not impressed that Plusnet have apparently already restricted access to "some services" - namely the forums - as soon as payment failed.

Particularly unimpressed, as I've not in any way erred. It's not a case of - "Oh gosh, they're right, I completely forgot!". And it's a touch heavy over £12.70, which is not yet 12 hours overdue.

In reply to a post by TLM:

Particularly unimpressed, as I've not in any way erred. It's not a case of - "Oh gosh, they're right, I completely forgot!". And it's a touch heavy over £12.70, which is not yet 12 hours overdue.

I'm surprised they don't charge more for payment by other means than DD; many places do. The costs of doing card payments and the costs of chasing people (and putting in systems to block) are not zero. I would guess PN have moved to a "zero tolerance" mindset, which is similar to many other organisations.

I guess if you want an invoice with 30day payment terms, perhaps a business account would work better than a domestic ?