Customers pay £200m for paying by cheque or cash
News brought to you by Skint Tariffs, providers of price comparison for cheap international calls. People using three of Britain's biggest telephone companies are paying £200 million extra because they are paying by cash or cheque, according to new research.
An investigation by The Daily Telegraph has revealed that Virgin charges customers who pay telephone bills in cash or by cheque £60 extra a year.
TalkTalk charges £42 and BT £28 for the privilege of paying by cheque or cash.
Ofcom, the industry regulator claims that with eight million using these methods to make payments, instead of setting up a direct debit, the telecom companies are raking in an extra £211 million a year.
Ros Fernihough, who is taking BT to court to prove the illegality of the charges, said: "The whole thing stinks. The charges that telecom companies charge their customers in no way reflect their costs. And you can be sure that, because they are huge organisations, they are charged far less than the official prices quoted by Barclays."
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