Re: [bitfolk] Direct Debit limits

Hi, If you currently pay by Direct Debit authorization then you are probably aware that we use GoCardless for this. If you don't then the rest of this email is probably not of interest to you. The way it works right now is that you create an account with GoCardless by giving them your bank details, and that sets up a Direct Debit instruction between your bank and them. Then, you authorize BitFolk's payment plan which asks GoCardless to allow up to a certain amount during a certain time period. GoCardless enforces the limits of that plan. That works fine, but the problem comes when you order an upgrade that makes your plan more expensive. At the moment we need to cancel your payment plan and ask you to authorize a new one. It's not a big deal but it is perhaps not the best user experience. When you pay other companies by Direct Debit they get to take whatever they want, so you're not asked to re-authorize when, for example, your council tax or gas bill goes up. GoCardless have had a feature request open for a long time that asks them to implement a way for users to authorize a new limit (or perhaps for the customer to indicate that they're not bothered). They have now closed this request and advise that if merchants want to charge varying amounts then the merchant should ask the customer to authorize a limit that is higher than any payment that would ever be normally requested, e.g. £5,000 per month. The question that immediately sprung to mind here was, "isn't my customer going to be a bit disturbed by being asked to authorize a payment plan that allows up to £5k to be taken out of their bank account?" Their answer to this was to add an option so that payment plans don't have visible (to the customer) limits any more. As I say, that is generally how Direct Debits work: you authorize the instruction and you're trusting the organisation to only take when they are actually owed. If they screw up and take too much, you can dispute it with your bank and it immediately gets reversed. There isn't normally a middle man verifying payment requests. If this was how GoCardless had worked from the beginning then I wouldn't have an issue, but the fact is that everyone currently with a Direct Debit authorization to BitFolk knows they have a limit on it that (barring GoCardless making a mistake) only allows the exact amount to be taken. Would you have a problem with that limit being removed? I'd be interested to get feedback from those currently using Direct Debit to pay. Feel free to let me know off-list if you prefer. It's been nearly a year of using GoCardless and there haven't been any issues of taking too much money. I would be comfortable with setting all future authorizations to have no limit on them, as I think the improvement to user experience of just being able to order an upgrade is worth it. If there is a massive outcry I won't do it though. I may also consider making it an option (defaulting to no limit), though there is a danger of confusing people with too many options.