Reply to: Rip off BACS CHAPS

[tarbera]

Cost prices

Hi,

Some bright spark at Lorien has decided to make you wait 12 days to get paid and then if you want paid quicker they charge you £25 for BACS and £50 for a CHAPS.
Now CHAPS doest cost more than £30. So yeah rip off if they all start doing this we're in trouble. IS there somebody I can complain to about this practice?

Regards,

Keith

as others have said its their time not the banks charges

Actual cost of a CHAPS is about £6 to a bank (anything from that to £30 for a customer)
BACS to customer in about 0.01 p, Faster payment 10 times that of about 1/10th of 1p

[craig1]

ok but if you refuse to pay the fee for BACS what are they going to do?

Send a carrier pigeon with a cheque attached to the leg?

But seriously charging for CHAPS is fine but charging for BACS is taking the mick surely?

It's a charge for an out-of-process BACS payment. Most AP teams, including in non-agency companies, have a set payment run process that's fairly well streamlined to do a payment run once every week, month, fortnight or whatever. If you want a payment outside of that process then it will take someone's time to get the payment checked and authorised separately, typed into their payment system then many companies have a second authoriser for out-of-process payments to stop theft and misuse. Charging £30 for this just so someone can get their money a few days early is actually quite cheap.

[tractor]

...

The reason they do it is to discourage you from going out of process, it's not to make money, it's designed to be punitive so as to put you off.

If you are in the situation where you need the cash for the first invoice because you have been out of contract for a while, then there is a cost to it - it's not unknown and if you take advantage of it, accept that you have to pay.

It's about being in business.

[quackhandle]

Hi,

Some bright spark at Lorien has decided to make you wait 12 days to get paid and then if you want paid quicker they charge you £25 for BACS and £50 for a CHAPS.
Now CHAPS doest cost more than £30. So yeah rip off if they all start doing this we're in trouble. IS there somebody I can complain to about this practice?

Regards,

Keith

£50? I used to work in the CHAPS dept for Natwest many moons ago, it was £17 then. But then you'd have corporate clients moving large amounts every day so they got it cheaper.

12 days, I'd be happy with that.

qh

[jmo21]

ok but if you refuse to pay the fee for BACS what are they going to do?

Send a carrier pigeon with a cheque attached to the leg?

But seriously charging for CHAPS is fine but charging for BACS is taking the mick surely?

As others have said it is actually the fee for paying early, doing the legwork to short cut their process/timelines.

It's not as easy as someone just logging onto their online banking and clicking a few buttons.

[speling bee]

if you cant wait 12 days to get an invoice cleared you may be in the wrong business!

YACNCOTBAC.

z

[original PM]

ok but if you refuse to pay the fee for BACS what are they going to do?

Send a carrier pigeon with a cheque attached to the leg?

But seriously charging for CHAPS is fine but charging for BACS is taking the mick surely?

[Underscore Pt2]

If you cant wait 12 days to get an invoice cleared you may be in the wrong job!

[tractor]

..

Or even worse, charge our "actual value"

My clients always get exceptional value, I don't know about yours......

[TheFaQQer]

IS there somebody I can complain to about this practice?

Call Lorien and complain - they should have a dedicated complaints manager who can hear your complaint and handle it. Make sure you explain to them how you are unhappy with the contract that you agreed and what a disgrace it is.

Good luck.

[SimonMac]

Can you imagine if we were forced to only charge 'cost price' for our services? We'd be up in arms

Or even worse, charge our "actual value"

[Bunk]

It's actually quite a reasonable charge. You're paying for their time in doing something they shouldn't have to do that's outside of their normal process.

Can you imagine if we were forced to only charge 'cost price' for our services? We'd be up in arms

[craig1]

It's actually quite a reasonable charge. You're paying for their time in doing something they shouldn't have to do that's outside of their normal process.

[Batcher]

12 working days after invoice has been in place at Lorien for at least a couple of years.

It's not bad considering most businesses will have 30 day payment terms and sometimes its 60 days or more after invoicing that you get the money.

It's part of the risk you take by being in business. Just make sure you keep enough in your business account for cash flow.

[tractor]

..

Hi,

Some bright spark at Lorien has decided to make you wait 12 days to get paid and then if you want paid quicker they charge you £25 for BACS and £50 for a CHAPS.
Now CHAPS doest cost more than £30. So yeah rip off if they all start doing this we're in trouble. IS there somebody I can complain to about this practice?

Regards,

Keith

Not really, you knew what the arrangements were when you took the contract. 12 working days to payment is ok as far as it goes, some are better, some are worse. IME Lorien are OK, they always pay on time and they honour contracts - certainly did in my case.

Yes, the BACS and the CHAPS charges are a joke but no one makes you use the service.