Claranet (clara.net) says it wants to help the environment by reducing the number of paper invoices and cheques. I am not comfortable with giving it my credit card details but have been told the only way to avoid the £10 charge is to do this. Is this legal?
Liz Stevens
I am not a lawyer, but BT won a case against Dennis Andrews, a Nottinghamshire pensioner who disputed its similar £4.50 charge. It looks as though Claranet is simply following what a lot of companies are doing. Apparently, there was an item on the BBC's Watchdog programme, but this seems to have had more to do with whether the charges were reasonable, not their existence – and £10 does not sound reasonable to me. There's a copy of the protest letter on the Penalty Charges Forum but the Watchdog link no longer works and Google can't find the original.
Ultimately, the most effective response is for you to switch suppliers, so tell Claranet that's what you plan to do. If that doesn't get their attention, nothing will.
In any case, Money Saving Expert warns against putting any recurring payments on a debit or credit card, because "you can't cancel them. Only the company you're paying can do that!" Instead, offer to pay by standing order or by direct debit.
