I have free Cable TV through Virgin Media (used to be NTL). I used to have broadband and phone with NTL but switched to BT.
Basically, with Virgin media, I just use the free cable TV services (BBC3, BBC4, UK Gold) e.t.c.
Today I got a bill for £5.00. So I rang up Virgin Media (and after about 7 different automatic options) I get through to a human being. He says that the £5.00 Charge is for the fact that I don’t have direct debit set up. I used to have direct debit, but, canceled it when I stopped having to pay for it.
But, the fact I didn’t have to pay anything, didn’t register with the computer (sorry, the computer says no - For those who like Catherine Tate)
The poor tech guy was a bit confused. Anyway I suggested setting up a direct debit to pay £0.00 a month. This worked fine and now I no longer have to pay the £5.00 charge for not setting up a direct debit to pay nothing 
If you have a good story about stupid bill or bank charges feel free to leave it as a comment.
1 comment so far ↓
[...] I don’t blame the individual operators, they have probably been given little training. But, often when you ring about an issue they don’t know what they are talking about. They say one thing and then you get billed for something else. For example, when I got charged £5 for not paying by direct debit (even though my account was £0) we decided to set up a direct debit to pay £0 per month. However, on the next bill I see £16 a month charged. Unfortunately I was away so was unable to challenge it. When I ring the call centre they just say that I must have agreed to pay £16, even though I was told something else. (see stupid bill charges) [...]
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