Scam Warning.

[AlanHo]

I am the Neighbourhood Watch Coordinator for our road and am in regular contact with the local police.

I received this information from the police today and thought it may be worth posting here as well as including in my weekly newsletter to the residents in our lane.......

A number of rsidents in the area have received telephone calls stating that their direct debit payment to BT has not gone through and offering them the facility to pay the amount owing over the telephone using their credit or debit card - otherwise the phone will be cut off.

This is notify you of the scam, BT will never contact you by telephone and ask for money, they would always contact you by letter re any monies owing or disconnection issues. If you should receive a call and you are not sure if it is from BT then hang up the phone and dial 1471. If the call was from BT a message on the phone would say the company had just called, but if the message said "number withheld" it would not be from BT.

Anyone who thinks they have been the victim of these calls should report it to Consumer Direct on 08454 040506 or visit www.consumerdirect.gov.uk for advice.

If you receive such a call, simply tell the caller to send an invoice and proof that the sum is owed, and put the phone down.

Please share this message with all your scheme members and as many people as you can.

[Gandalph]

I am the Neighbourhood Watch Coordinator for our road and am in regular contact with the local police.

I received this information from the police today and thought it may be worth posting here as well as including in my weekly newsletter to the residents in our lane.......

A number of rsidents in the area have received telephone calls stating that their direct debit payment to BT has not gone through and offering them the facility to pay the amount owing over the telephone using their credit or debit card - otherwise the phone will be cut off.

This is notify you of the scam, BT will never contact you by telephone and ask for money, they would always contact you by letter re any monies owing or disconnection issues. If you should receive a call and you are not sure if it is from BT then hang up the phone and dial 1471. If the call was from BT a message on the phone would say the company had just called, but if the message said "number withheld" it would not be from BT.

Anyone who thinks they have been the victim of these calls should report it to Consumer Direct on 08454 040506 or visit www.consumerdirect.gov.uk for advice.

If you receive such a call, simply tell the caller to send an invoice and proof that the sum is owed, and put the phone down.

Please share this message with all your scheme members and as many people as you can.

This is one of the reasons I have not got standing orders made out for any of our utility bills. I pay them all by cash when they are due. With the exclusion of BT and Scottish Power. I just pay £10.00 each per week at the post office and that takes care of the quarterly bill with them.

[andsome]

A good warning Alan. However, I must disagree with Gandalph, Direct debit saves me a lot of hassle, and spreads payments nicely rather than getting big bills. :D

[AlanHo]

A good warning Alan. However, I must disagree with Gandalph, Direct debit saves me a lot of hassle, and spreads payments nicely rather than getting big bills. :D

I too pay all my bills by direct debit. As you sday, it saves a lot of hassle. With gas/electricity it allows me to spread costs evenly over the year. The Post Office is a non runner for me - they have closed the two local post offices and I would need to go into the town centre.

[CurlyWhirly]

I'm also a fan of Direct Debit having used it for a decade or more with no hassles.

[Gandalph]

A good warning Alan. However, I must disagree with Gandalph, Direct debit saves me a lot of hassle, and spreads payments nicely rather than getting big bills. :D

Perhaps the Right Honourable Gentleman has misunderstood my post Mr. Speaker. :D

I get Water rates in March each year. Water, Waste water and Sewage, £230,00 I just call in to the local Council Office and pay it in cash when I'm passing. I get our Television Licence in October which I just send a cheque for and that covers that. The Telephone and Electricity, I have prepayment cards for and I just pay Ten Pounds each per week which keeps me ahead of any quarterly bill that may arise. :D

(Half turns from his podium, sits down then smashes Chancellor of the Exchequer in the mush for making a mess of his initial speech) :lol:

[catgate]

So who benefits financialy from Direct Debit??? and how???

[andsome]

So who benefits financialy from Direct Debit??? and how???

The company benefits because they don't have to send notices to late payers. I personally benefit because payments are split into equal portions, thus avoiding large bills. also I don't have the hassle of going out somewhere to pay each and every bill. Gas, electricity, both four time a year, council tax, telephone and TV bill to Virgin, several insurances. etc etc etc. :D

[catgate]

I have a friend who pays everything possible by direct debit and is most attracted to this idea of getting back overpayment money annually from various "monthly/quarterly" extractions from his account. He look upon it as a series of "savings" accounts.

He has not yet accepted the fact that he is allowing the various utilities to draw interest on the excess money they have taken out of his bank account, nor has he thought about the number of jobs that have been saved by the companies involved........and he is a lifelong Labour man.

[AlanHo]

It has worked out the other way for me. I changed utility suppliers in January 2007. At that time of the year utility consumption is higher than average. Hence my monthly direct debit lags behind actual usage until autumn time when it gradually catches up. Hence I am using British Gas' money for at least half the year. They make no interest out of me.

Regarding job creation - British Gas are doing their best. Although I have both gas and electricity from them the meters are never read at the same time. Different guys visit to do it.

[andsome]

As Alan has pointed out it is roundabouts and swings. At some times in the year they owe me money, at others I owe them. They never want any owings to be paid as a lump sum, but instead they adjust to debits to suit. Take into account also as already pointed out the sheer convenience. No worries about having to run off to different places to pay out lump sums. We even make transfers to savings accounts each month. No running off to the bank to stand in a queue. GET WITH IT. :D

[catgate]

It is all smoke and mirrors. There is not a utility company in the country, nor banks for that matter, that does not suffer from the profit motive. Any way that can be used to relieve the punter of his money will be utilised....they get special dispensation from the government, via donations to parties in round about ways. Much of this utility money finds its way into OS banking or even the national banking system of the foreign owners of most of our utilities and banks.

What is not generally known is the potential for "legal" meter fiddling by these companies.

The Gas Regulations, when I looked into it some few years ago, stipulated that meters must be accurate to plus or minus 5%. Modern meter manufacture can, and must, make meters to a very much tighter tolerance than that. If it did not most chemical plants would blow up.

Information I gained led me to the conclusion that modern meters, now not utilising pig bladders and gutta percha, were made to tighter tolerances....plus or minus 2 degrees around a suitable centre point, giving 6 % "room for manoeuvre".

I would expect the electricity meters to be similarly old tech..

[andsome]

None of which has anything to do with the convenience of direct debit. I have never experienced any difficulties whatsoever with using the scheme. It is extremely convenient as stated previously, and by others. You meter will still be recording usage whether you pay by direct debit or not. :D

[catgate]

None of which has anything to do with the convenience of direct debit.

There is a more convenient and quicker way of getting rid of your pension.

All you need to do is go on to the street corner and open out you wallet and say to each passer by,"Here, Help yourself."

[andsome]

Sorry, no disrespect but that is rubbish. I don't know anyone who has had any bother with direct debit whatsoever. It certainly saves me and millions of others from the pain of large winter fuel bills etc. Payment is spread equally over the year, and is thus relatively painless. You carry on in the dark ages if you wish, but I, as do very many others much prefer the convenience of direct debit. :D

[CurlyWhirly]

There is a more convenient and quicker way of getting rid of your pension.

All you need to do is go on to the street corner and open out you wallet and say to each passer by,"Here, Help yourself."

That's why the Direct Debit Guarantee was set up.

I would never go back to paying my bills by cheque or cash and much prefer Direct Debit.