Pricing/Terms changes - October 2013

[#1]

Received my email two of days ago and, after reading it, I have a couple questions:
(Apologies if either of these have been asked and replied to before but this is a long thread and now difficult to browse through to pick out all relevant information)
1. My billing is from 9th-8th of each month. Does that mean I will be billed pro-rata in September's bill for 1st -8th October or will the pro-rat part be added to October's bill?
2. I have a loyalty discount in place. I assume this will not be affected in anyway?
Thanks in advance.

[#2]

Checking back at the last change
The call plan charge increase will happen on your first billing date after the 1st October and it will be the full amount with no pro-rata - this is because the call plan charge is paid monthly in advance.
I don't know about actual call charges as this is a bit more complicated - is it based on the date of the call or on the date Plusnet are notified of the call. Either way calls after the 1st of October should be charged at the new rate but not the ones before that
Loyalty discount won't be affected however I suspect that the discount will continue as the same reduction from the new price not the same price

[#3]

Right, I have now received my email relating to this latest price hike. These leaves me with the following questions:
1. I am on the legacy Home Phone Anytime tariff, which gives me 240 minutes per month of anytime calls. I can't find any reference to this on the email, so what will be the effect on my monthly bill?
2. I am told that if I don't cancel within 14 days I may be liable to 'additional charges'. What are these and where have they come from? Should I just cancel and be done with it before anything else creeps out the woodwork?
The only thing that keeps me with PlusNet is the support I receive from this forum, which I agree should be award winning, but there is a limit!

[#4]

Quote from: baldrick

2. I am told that if I don't cancel within 14 days I may be liable to 'additional charges'. What are these and where have they come from? Should I just cancel and be done with it before anything else creeps out the woodwork?

My reading of that is if you decide to leave after the 14 days then you may be liable to pay for any outstanding payments left till the end of your contract. My understanding is that any deferred fees are still payable even if you give notice within the 14 days or have I misunderstood that part?

[#5]

Quote from: technonath

I don't use my landline at all,  so no point in moving it. If I could get broadband without a landline i would. I will be calling in the morning for my MAC code.

Re broadband without a landline -it's not as simple as it looks
You need to think about it like this:
There are 3 components to your telecommunication service
a) Payment as rent, maintenance, upgrades,repair etc on the physical line to your address and the equipment serving it.
b) Payment for receiving a voice service on the line
c) Payment for receiving a data (ie broadband) service on the line.
Now in the UK we lump items (a) and (b) together and pay for item (c) as a seperate item.
This makes the combined a+b sum seem very expensive when actually part of what you pay - the (a) component is going towards your broaband charges.
If you prefer we could lump items (a) and (c) together. and have item (b) as a separate item
Then we would all be paying a simply vast amount for our broadband and the seperately charged voice service would be only a few pounds more per month.

[#6]

Well I tried &  tried & tried to get through to cancel, but just sat in the queue endlessly on hold. I can only assume this is due to a mass exodus of other dissatisfied customers, who don't like being forced to change phone provider.

[#7]

PlusNet used to referred to as "Budget ISP" I think maybe a new title will have to be thought up.

[#8]

Quote from: x47c

There are 3 components to your telecommunication service

I wonder how true this really is. BT Retail do a Broadband by WiFi contract (£15 per month 18 months) which allows you to just pay for the data connection (no landline needed). I concede that somebody else has to pay for the line rental and that the speeds and reliability are not as good as having your own land line but from my house there are two BT-Wifi connections available and one I measured the other night was giving 1Mb/s download and about 0.3Mbps upload. While that is poor compared to fibre connections, there are none around us and we are far enough out into the country for my landline to only deliver 4Mbps reliably. Therefore,  it is not as bad as it may sound. It would not need to be a lot faster for me to cancel my landline and use the mobile phones we already own for all voice.
My daughter, who lives more in the town centre and has more WifI to choose from, is already doing just that - though she did not have a landline in the first place, so it is an easier choice.
With 4G on its way and Three already planning to include 4G as a normal part of the contract rather than a separately charged add-on, BT and its last mile monopoly may be in for a few shocks. I for one will not be sorry about that.
And Plusnet will need to start caring a bit more about loyal, long term customers if it is to retain any. Cheapness has been its only virtue for some time now.

[#9]

Quote from: x47c

Now in the UK we lump items (a) and (b) together and pay for item (c) as a separate item. This makes the combined a+b sum seem very expensive when actually part of what you pay - the (a) component is going towards your broadband charges. If you prefer we could lump items (a) and (c) together. and have item (b) as a separate item

No, I'd prefer items (a), (b) & (c) to be charged for individually so that customers can choose to take either line+voice, line+broadband or line+voice+broadband as they see fit...

Quote from: x47c

Then we would all be paying a simply vast amount for our broadband and the separately charged voice service would be only a few pounds more per month.

Exactly - Clearly 'bundles' would exist that mean that (a+b)+c or (a+c)+b would be less than a+b+c but why should those of us that don't need a voice service pay for inclusive calls that we don't need?  The 'few pounds more per month' adds up!

[#10]

Quote from: The

Still no email received and time is moving on. Only stumbled across this potential price rise by chance so not receiving email still is poor customer service.

There's a record of the email being sent attached to your account. I'll have somebody check the actual mailing tool to see if we can work out what's happened. In the meantime you can read a copy of the message by searching through the tickets raised against your account.

Quote from: technonath

I will be calling in the morning for my MAC code.

Sorry to see you go

Quote from: baldrick

1. I am on the legacy Home Phone Anytime tariff, which gives me 240 minutes per month of anytime calls. I can't find any reference to this on the email, so what will be the effect on my monthly bill?

I can see you asked this question of our support team and they've advised you that the cost of your subscription won't be changing. I'll double check that and get back to you because I'm not 100% sure about this if I'm honest.

Quote from: Mav

Quote from: baldrick 2. I am told that if I don't cancel within 14 days I may be liable to 'additional charges'. What are these and where have they come from? Should I just cancel and be done with it before anything else creeps out the woodwork? My reading of that is if you decide to leave after the 14 days then you may be liable to pay for any outstanding payments left till the end of your contract. My understanding is that any deferred fees are still payable even if you give notice within the 14 days or have I misunderstood that part?

It's referring to the early termination fees that may be applicable if you don't exercise your right to leave within the notice period. A customer doing this wouldn't be expected to pay any deferred charges.

[#11]

Quote from: Bob

Quote from: The Still no email received and time is moving on. Only stumbled across this potential price rise by chance so not receiving email still is poor customer service. There's a record of the email being sent attached to your account. I'll have somebody check the actual mailing tool to see if we can work out what's happened. In the meantime you can read a copy of the message by searching through the tickets raised against your account.

Don't know what went wrong but checked the service notice and no where does it state exactly how I will be affected - just general terms about products that I may or may not have.
Seems like there may be a problem with emailing tool as others reporting only receiving emails recently and it's now September.
Still waiting for the email to arrive with specifics for how it will affect me that I still haven't received so can another one be sent but with exactly how my account will be affected?
Without being directly emailed is there any legal binding of the terms and conditions and what notice is required before they come into effect?

[#12]

Quote from: The

Don't know what went wrong but checked the service notice and no where does it state exactly how I will be affected - just general terms about products that I may or may not have.

It seems pretty specific to me?

Quote

If you currently pay for 12 months line rental in advance, we'll send you a reminder before your Line Rental Saver expires, with details on how to renew. The renewal charge will be £137.88 equivalent to £11.49 a month after 1 October 2013

Quote

Talk Anytime £4.50 (50p more)

Quote

We're also making some changes to our call charges. You can see the new prices, as well as more information about the other changes that may affect you here.

Quote from: The

Seems like there may be a problem with emailing tool as others reporting only receiving emails recently and it's now September.

All emails have been sent.

Quote from: The

Still waiting for the email to arrive with specifics for how it will affect me that I still haven't received so can another one be sent but with exactly how my account will be affected?

I asked for the data to be checked and have been informed by those responsible for the mailing that they've sent messages to the handful of people who've queried it on this thread, yourself included. Worth noting that it will have gone to your contact/gmail address and not to your postmaster address.
The email content is the same as what's written on the service notice. I'll forward an html copy to you that might be a bit easier to interpret.
In summary, your Line Rental Saver renewal charge is increasing, the cost of your Anytime call plan is increasing and some of our call charging is changing.

Quote from: Bob

Quote from: baldrick 1. I am on the legacy Home Phone Anytime tariff, which gives me 240 minutes per month of anytime calls. I can't find any reference to this on the email, so what will be the effect on my monthly bill? I can see you asked this question of our support team and they've advised you that the cost of your subscription won't be changing. I'll double check that and get back to you because I'm not 100% sure about this if I'm honest.

Have spoke with our Marketing folk and they've assured me that your line rental *will* be increasing. I'll update your support ticket and have a word with the person that advised you incorrectly.

[#13]

Well, I've been cut off today.  It's been fun.
Does anyone know what to do with the BT modem and the Plusnet router?  Does someone come and pick them up?
Thanks
Pete

[#14]

When i moved from adsl2 to vdsl i was told there would be no increases in the pipeline for the considerable future.
I see that's not the case. 
Oh well. I'll be staying as PN are not under the piracy/freedom of speech court orders and aside from the inrease i'm happy with plusnet
But on speaking to a friend who's also with PN I can see where the current promotions are bloody insulting to some.
you're offering broadband for 2.99 a bloody month for 9 months to customers
and £12.99 for fttc for 9months. Add this with the new advert. Maybe you chose the wrong time to burn customers and say you're the best.
#justsayin
P.s. Bob Pullen, nice to see you in you're native home (remember my username from another forum?)

[#15]

Quote

Quote from: Bob Pullen on 02/09/2013, 13:38 Quote from: baldrick on 31/08/2013, 13:57 1. I am on the legacy Home Phone Anytime tariff, which gives me 240 minutes per month of anytime calls. I can't find any reference to this on the email, so what will be the effect on my monthly bill? I can see you asked this question of our support team and they've advised you that the cost of your subscription won't be changing. I'll double check that and get back to you because I'm not 100% sure about this if I'm honest. Have spoke with our Marketing folk and they've assured me that your line rental *will* be increasing. I'll update your support ticket and have a word with the person that advised you incorrectly

Thanks Bob, I knew I could get some sense from the PN staff who monitor this forum. As I can't think of anything polite, I'll not comment on what I think of PN's ticket based 'award winning' support except to say that this sort of incompetence could easily have been the final straw!