I have been following the exchange of correspondence appearing in The Times and was particularly impressed by the response of Vanessa McDonald from Go plc (January 5).

... it would create a win-win situation...- George Cardona Schranz, St Julians

I do not fault Ms McDonald’s arguments, however, she, possibly quite conveniently, missed pointing out that the migration from settlement in cash and/or by cheque to direct debit will also be highly rewarding – financially – to her employer. This is because direct debit mandates would eliminate the lion’s share of the administrative and labour costs to process the bill payments, freeing personnel for other duties as well as minimising debt collection and subsequent litigation costs.

Furthermore, should there be a mistake in the bill and the customer is overcharged, it could be an uphill task for the customer to obtain an immediate reimbursement. In all probability, the overcharged amount would be retained by the service provider and offset against future bills.

I believe that, in this day and age, Go plc has the technology in place to ascertain which of its customers settle their bills promptly, the extent of their loyalty and resulting profitability from these customers. Rather than applying additional charges or urging correspondents to reconsider the advantages of direct debit mandate, why doesn’t Go discriminate and, while refraining from selling services to new (and, therefore, untested) customers except with direct debit mandate, reward their long-standing customers with a discount for prompt payment? Undoubtedly, it would create a win-win situation with a tangible benefit to Go as well as to the loyal customers!