Autumn Price increase FAQ's

[#1]

Exactly, a penalty.
I'm being FORCED to stay.
This can't be legal.

[#2]

Your LRS will be the same price until end of your five months remaining. Then the price cost of LRS will increasing. But, I believe u allow to leave without a penalty fee after LRS have expired. But, If u move away from PLusnet, then your broadband will go up (£2.50 extra) can't win.
I think Ofcom need to look into this exspecially LRS. I probably can't be bothered to renewal LRS in future knowing if I can leave early then I will lose all the LRS saving cost.
Plusnet have told me the contract is only on broadband (FTTC) not the phone service.

[#3]

Quote from: goldenfibre

I believe your remaining five months left of LRS will be non-refunded and can leave without a penalty fee! But, you will lose five months of LRS cost!

adslmax, ofcom dont state a "penalty fee" they state "penalty".

[#4]

Quote from: Devonian

I'm being FORCED to stay.

No one is forcing you to stay - you can leave without penalty.
LRS is a non-refundable, upfront payment, as stated in the T&Cs when you signed up. This is not a penalty because you agreed to it.

[#5]

Quote from: AndyH

Quote from: Devonian I'm being FORCED to stay. No one is forcing you to stay - you can leave without penalty. LRS is a non-refundable, upfront payment, as stated in the T&Cs when you signed up. This is not a penalty because you agreed to it.

But andy people also agreed when not signing up to LRS, there is no difference in that respect.  Basically plusnet make it clear signing up to LRS a customer agrees to a large penalty for early cancellation for a lower price.  However the penalty part of the contract is illegal under ofcom legislation when call costs increase above inflation.
As a reminder contract's do not overule legislation.
If I Signed a contract authorising someone to shoot me in the head you think that person would escape a conviction?

[#6]

Quote from: chrcoluk

However the penalty part of the contract is illegal under ofcom legislation when call costs increase above inflation.

Where is that? I've never seen that.
OFCOM don't define LRS as a penalty - it's just an upfront cost for 12 months line rental. A penalty would be an additional cost that is forced on a consumer who wants to leave within the term of a contract.

[#7]

Nobody has ever had the courage and/or the deep pockets to go to court over a non-refundable LRS, either with Plusnet or with BT who operate the same system.  Perhaps somebody needs to bring a test case?  Maybe they could seek backing from a consumer group to help cover the costs?  But unless you are prepared to do that yourself then mooting that a non-refundable LRS is not legal is all talk and no trousers.       

[#8]

Quote from: AndyH

Quote from: chrcoluk However the penalty part of the contract is illegal under ofcom legislation when call costs increase above inflation. Where is that? I've never seen that. OFCOM don't define LRS as a penalty - it's just an upfront cost for 12 months line rental. A penalty would be an additional cost that is forced on a consumer who wants to leave within the term of a contract.

Have ofcom specifically defined what a penalty is?
please point me to the where this is thanks.
The documents I read and the call I had to them simply said the consumer has to prove detrimental changes.  Or if the customer signed up after june 2014 they dont even have to prove it, the isp has to automatically give them an opt out.
A penalty would include either charges paid up front not been refunded or charged for rest of contract after the opt out.
If a customer who has 6 months of LRS left, leaves plusnet via the opt out and signs up somewhere else, for that 6 months they have paid 2 lots of line rental and is that not a additional cost? because to me it is.

[#9]

It's common sense - an upfront payment cannot be a penalty because you are agreeing to that upfront cost. If you don't agree with it and view it as a penalty, then don't pay it.
A penalty in this scenario is an additional charge, placed on a consumer, to leave a contract within its term. In Plusnet lingo, a penalty is defined as the "Early Termination Charges". With LRS, you do not have a penalty charge because you can leave at any point within the term of the contract without additional cost. There are no Early Termination Charges to leave LRS, so it cannot be to your detriment.
The only issue I see is the call packages - I'm still not 100% sure if these are going up for current LRS customers or not?

[#10]

There are examples of LRS, or it's remainder, being refunded. I'm one of them.
If a customer kicks up enough fuss it might be possible. In my case agreed discounts were not being applied to the account and I was being charged line rental in spite of already paying LRS.
I maintained they were in breach of the agreed contract and I wanted "out" without penalty including LRS remainder. My contract was "written off", no early leaving penalty and LRS refunded.
I did stay because of the devil you know etc.. The alternatives, at the time, still are, BT and LLU were not providers I would wish to go with. However...........
 

[#11]

thanks for your very useful input newagetraveller.
andy as already explained by others those on LRS are subject to the higher call charges and higher fee's for caller display etc.  These are detrimental changes to the contract meaning opt-out within 30 days of been informed is legally required.
To comply with ofcom, plusnet have to not penalise the customer for early termination, that includes any so called pre agreements for non refunds, legislation overules contracts.
I am not sure why you trying to suggest a customer not been refunded is not a penalty, it clearly is, they are then paying line rental for months of unused service, that is a very clear definite penalty.  The fact it's an upfront payment vs a cancellation fee is irrelevant.

[#12]

Exactly.
I paid when I did on the understanding I was to be charged a certain amount for the duration.
Plusnet have now broken the agreement (again) and are withholding the advanced payment I made to either FORCE me to stay, or FORCE me to pay a penalty if I leave.
I reckon Plusnet would make a good bank.

[#13]

Just noticed your 01/02/03 calls are now actually more expensive than BT themselves!

[#14]

Use 18185 

[#15]

Quote from: chrcoluk

To comply with ofcom, plusnet have to not penalise the customer for early termination, that includes any so called pre agreements for non refunds, legislation overules contracts. I am not sure why you trying to suggest a customer not been refunded is not a penalty, it clearly is, they are then paying line rental for months of unused service, that is a very clear definite penalty.  The fact it's an upfront payment vs a cancellation fee is irrelevant.

You are completely wrong - ring OFCOM and they will tell you. There are no penalties for leaving LRS within the term of the contract - you may be unhappy that the remaining months of LRS are not refunded, but this is not a penalty, it is something that you agreed to when you paid the upfront cost.
Remember BT did this early this year for millions of customers and OFCOM did not say it was a breach of the code.

Quote from: Devonian

I paid when I did on the understanding I was to be charged a certain amount for the duration.

Then your understanding was incorrect:

Quote

Sometimes, we will need to change the charges and the Terms and Conditions of the service. We will publish details of all changes online at http://www.plus.net. We will also let you know about a price increase or a change to the Terms and Conditions that we believe is likely to cause you material disadvantage at least one month before it happens. We will let you know about other price changes and changes to the Terms and Conditions via email to the contact email address on the account and by adding a service note to your account. Account Service Notes can be viewed at http://contactus.plus.net/ For changes we need to make to meet legal and regulatory requirements, we may not be able to meet the timescale detailed in paragraph 50. We will let you know about these changes as soon as we can. If we have made a change which is to your material disadvantage then if you decide to end our agreement with us early then, you will not have to pay a charge for doing so unless there are any charges or payments we have deferred or the Price guide says otherwise. However, once we have told you about such a change, you must let us know within 30 days of us notifying you of the change if you want to end the agreement by giving us notice in accordance with paragraph 45. Only the services that are directly affected by the changes we make can be ended without paying an early termination charge for that service and this agreement will continue to apply to any other services that are not affected by those changes.