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Ordered dog food, paid for it via standing order – the customer still gets a debt collection. Alone she is powerless.
A woman from the canton of Obwalden orders dog food several times from the online shop Barf and More. She pays the bills – a total of 585 francs – via standing order, which runs through the payment processor Powerpay.
The customer has moved several times, which she reported to Post, Barf and More and Powerpay. Nevertheless, Powerpay sends her three invoices: address search fees, 16 francs – every time. Strange, she thinks, but she still pays the bills.
Reminders and debt collection despite paid invoices
Suddenly she receives one reminder after another. She contacts Powerpay several times by phone and later by email. The customer service replies to her that she has no outstanding invoices and is not at any dunning level. The woman finds this irritating, but trusts Powerpay and therefore does not pay the required reminder fees.
A few weeks later she received a debt collection agency notice for 660 francs. She contacts Powerpay for the umpteenth time. Only after intensive research does an employee find out that a second account exists in her name.
Fault lies with Powerpay
The first account was created when the customer ordered food for the first time. A second account was generated when the woman provided Powerpay with her new billing address. The system therefore recorded her as two people – and because she had not paid the bills from this second account, she was first sent a reminder and then acted upon. The case is now with the debt collection agency.
No help from Powerpay
Although the error is not the fault of the customer, Powerpay writes: “A subsequent withdrawal is not possible because you have received our invoices from us regularly and yet no payment was made on time. The file […] is therefore closed for us, as we no longer bear the risk of non-payment and are therefore no longer the creditor of this claim.”
The woman tries to clarify the case with the debt collection agency – unsuccessfully. Nothing could be done, she had to contact Barf and More. They refer them to Powerpay – they have nothing to do with payment processing. And Powerpay sends them to the collection agency again.
The woman is desperate and turns to the SRF consumer magazine “Espresso”. Barf and More says customer satisfaction is important and they will ask Powerpay to resolve the case as quickly as possible.
A few days later, Powerpay “Espresso” replied that there had been a confusion when merging the customer’s two addresses and that they would like to apologize for that. “We have taken all necessary measures and withdrawn the case from debt collection, rebooked the outstanding payment and canceled the outstanding additional claims.”
Frequent criticism of Powerpay
“Espresso” has reported on Powerpay several times in recent years: incomprehensible invoices, high administration and reminder fees that occur just a few days after a payment has not been made.
The Foundation for Consumer Protection SKS also repeatedly receives reports about invoices from Powerpay, says managing director Sara Stalder. It’s best to look at the terms and conditions before placing an order in an online shop and see how the payment works – via the online shop or a payment processor like Powerpay – so you can decide whether you really want to do this.