British Telecom have been pushing people for years now to sign up for Direct Debit, charging extra if you don't sign up.
However, if they wanted to keep their costs down then they could start closer to home.
I got my latest Business Invoice dated 24th January. This week I got a "red reminder". When I checked my records I had paid them via Internet Banking on 4th February.
The BT Accounts Department is only open until 5pm Mon-Fri. When I had time to phone them, they were able to confirm that the funds had been credited to my BT Account on 11th Feb.
So : although the Originating & Recipient Bank Sort Codes are registered with APACS for 'Faster Payments', it takes British Telecom a week to apply funds.
In the meantime they incur the costs of postage of the red reminder, the cost of the 0800 call from me, and the costs of running their Callcentre. Spot the scope for process improvement!