We've Got Mail:NTL's decision, announced before Christmas, to impose a charge of €2 on its customers who choose not to pay their bills through direct debit continues to anger readers.

Several people contacted us last week, eager to join the chorus of disapproving voices. First up was Justine Matthews who says she "wholly objects to being penalised for my choice of limiting the companies to which I give my bank details". She says she has e-mailed the National Consumer Agency to query how this is legal and is considering NTL's competitors.

Orla de Cogan says she has received a bill from NTL which includes the €2 charge "even though the website, and all its leaflets sent with the bills, say the charge will start from April 1st. She points out that if she pays her bill minus the €2 "spurious charge" she will be immediately liable to incur the €7.68 penalty NTL have also introduced for late payment "as their computer will think I have not paid the full amount".

She says she contacted ComReg to complain but was told it has no jurisdiction over NTL. "Have you any idea who I can turn to in my quest to highlight this?" she asks.

Aisling Foley, meanwhile, received two envelopes from NTL on January 14th. The first one she opened was dated January 4th and came from NTL's credit management department. It demanded that she pay the arrears of her last bill, one she had paid on December 17th. The second envelope contained a bill dated December 28th covering her service for January and February. It confirmed that NTL had received the payment of her last bill and had a payment due date of January 13th for the service until the end of February.

She wants to know what kind of a system exists where a credit control letter can be sent after a bill is paid, and their own accounting system acknowledges this?

She also wants to know how NTL expected her to pay a bill by January 13th when it arrived on January 14th. And she wants to know why she has to pay for a service in advance.

We contacted the company on behalf of our readers and asked if there was any chance they might reconsider their plan to charge people who do not pay via direct debit. We also queried the specifics of Foley's e-mail.

The short answer to our first question was no. The company is, we were told, now fully committed to its plan to add a tariff to its customers who do not use direct debits.

A spokeswoman said that NTL had "proactively informed" its customers and given a five-month lead-in time before introducing the changes to existing customers.

For new customers, the charge is incurred immediately, which may explain why the charge has already appeared on de Cogan's bill.

The spokeswoman said the decision to encourage customers to pay their bills by direct debit "stems from widespread desire and practice in industry to transition from expensive and inefficient paper based payments to an electronic based process".

She added that "given the various means by which our customers can pay their bills and in a society where 92 per cent of the population has a payment account, the introduction of direct debit would not seem to pose major difficulties for most people".

She claimed that it was a practice that was "actively encouraged by industry and Government alike and is presented as being a secure and convenient way for consumers to settle their bills".

The spokeswoman was at a loss when it came to explaining why Foley had received a bill on January 14th demanding she pay her bill by the previous day, but did suggest that the problem may have been to do with postal delays the company experienced after Christmas. She said the company would look into the specifics of her complaint.

Postage costs less in the North, on balance

Sending a package to Spain by airmail costs more than twice as much in the Republic as it does in Northern Ireland, a reader has discovered.

Peter Gerraghty from Co Meath went into his local post office recently with the intention of posting a parcel to Madrid.

It weighed in at 1700g on an old-fashioned scales and he was quoted €28 to cover the cost of sending it via airmail. "No alternative surface mail was possible," he writes.

Annoyed by the high cost of postage, he decided to take a spin across the Border to Newry to see how much it cost there.

"In the post office there it weighed in at 1568g on an electronic digital balance which, unlike the one in the South, was clearly visible.

"Airmail postage to Spain was £8.69 (€13.19). If I had wanted surface mail, it would have been about £1 cheaper," he writes.