Administration Charge from Studio

[kid]

Is it acceptable for Studio to add a ?20 administration charge for a late payment?
I did not receive the statement they say they sent me, I have never made a late payment before and as soon as I received the bill today, I phoned to explain I didn't receive the bill.
I paid the full amount (which was only ?40) but I am asking for them to remove the ?20 charge.
Do you think they will?
I was thinking about the bank charges and how their charges are considered to be excessive and I think this charge is excessive for what I owe them.
(But I would think that as I might have to pay it!)

Check all your paperwork for terms and conditions. If it is clearly stated that a late payment will incur a penalty charge of £20, then there may be nothing you can do about it. The fact that you didn't receive the statement may not be relevant as they will argue that you are aware that you have to pay monthly (or however long it is).

However, I would have thought that, as you are a good customer, they would waive it in the interests of customer relations.

Who are Studio anyway?

Found this on their website. says the same in the book too.
Please Note: you are responsible for payments of all goods and services supplied. Should you fail to make a payment or pay less than the minimum amount due by the specified date and we or someone acting for us have to remind you to make such payment, we reserve the right to charge you an administration charge each time that we have to remind you, and the amount of any other losses and reasonable costs we incur as a result of your default. These will include (but are not limited to) the costs of tracing you, notifying you of your default and enforcing payment of any amount due.

Agree that £20 is excessive but it is in black and white.

You could write and challenge the amount and ask them to provide evidence of the costs they have incurred. Presumably just sending you the next statement with the charge added would only cost them about 2p .

I've had this with them once before. You have to be fierce with them and they may take the charge off your account. They are very quick to stick these on your account if you aren't careful.

Ring them/email them and demand to speak to a manager/cedit dept and be fierce with them!

They have to prove good service, they have to prove you received the first bill.

The burden of proof is the obligation on a party to establish the facts in issue in a case to the required degree of certainty (the standard of proof) in order to prove their case.

The general rule is that ?he who asserts must prove?, i.e., the burden rests with the plaintiff (the party bringing the action).

I have emailed them, just have to sit back and wait for a reply. If they won't remove the fine, I will have to phone them to pay and have a moan at the same time. I wouldn't buy from them again if I have to pay it, even though they do have some good bargains. I wonder if some of their prices are so cheap then from making money in other ways (ie: penalty charges!)

I remember when i order from them a couple of years ago, and when the bill finally was sent it had 2 late payment charges on it, so i phoned them explained the situation to them and they told me to take it up with Royal Mail

Well I will wait and see what they say, if they email back. Hopefully I won't have to waste my phonebill on calling them again!

I had this too The bill came at the same time as stomach bugs and our boiler dying so we were living with my mum.... bill got put on the table by DH and I didn't spot it... then got the next one with the £20 charge.

Was fuming but was all my own fault

It is so annoying.esp if the postman puts the bill in the wrong door/address.or you only have their word for it that it was posted,this time of year a lot of post can go missing.Sad but true.

This happened to me last month

I called them & give off!!! Said I was busy & I think they shoud send out reminders the way BT & NIE do.. she said they don't do that. I was so cross.. I talked very loudly & used some words to make her see she wasn't dealing with an idiot. In the end she said she still had to take the £20 admin fee but as a gesture of goodwill she would send me out a voucher worth £30 off my next order

I sent the email stating something along the lines that I thought they should remove the charge otherwise I would not shop with them again. I got a reply eventually saying all charges have been removed but that I am responsible for sending payment on time, even if a statement doesn't arrive.