VAT Increase & Price Changes - January 2011

[#1]

Quick Question.....
on value, so BB costs unchanged. Also on evening and weekends, dosnt seem clear if the 0845/0870 numbers are still free, evenings and weekends. The FAQ just mentions anytime.

[#2]

It is covered here http://www.plus.net/residential/bundles.shtml#compare2 which are the new products

[#3]

Quote from: grudkin

I personally don't understand why so many people have a gripe with these changes!

Because it's going to cost me £1.50 extra a month to pay for my broadband using the same card payment method I've used at no extra charge for the last 7 years, that's why.
Maybe if I had a PN phone line this might cancel things out somewhat but I personally have absolutely no intention what so ever of letting PN get anywhere near my landline.

Back to the card fee - if it does cost PN to process every card transaction as they are claiming, then why are they NOT applying this same fee it to 'one-off' and other transactions?  Taken from the FAQ section:

Quote

The surcharge will only apply to recurring subscription payments and *not* one-off payments, like activation/cancellation fees and hardware expenses.

There must be plenty of these types of transactions, so why wont PN be charging a fee for these as well????

[#4]

I would never use a card to pay for a service!
Direct Debit gives me control!
I had the misfortune of being over charged for over a year after I left Tiscali back in 2006, had I been paying by card I would have lost over £170 over the space of a year! but I had the foresight to cancel the Direct Debit so they got nothing as they didn't have my card details  
I really hope Ofcom do fine Tiscali for what they have been doing, It wont fix all the problems I had with Tiscali chasing me for money I didn't owe but it will sure make other companies sit up and take notice!
As far as the surcharge goes it is a small charge compared to the £5 surcharge levied by Virgin Media for example!

[#5]

I moved my landline from BT to avoid their 7pm to 7am 'evening' time change. I was faced with 3 choices, pay £5 per month for daytime calls I didn't use to avoid paying for calls between 6 and 7pm. Or pay through the nose for calls made during that hour.  Or leave BT with their ever increasing call prices  obfuscation of charges.
I did think at the time that it was only a matter of time until Plusnet and other phone companies made the 'if you can't beat them join them' change.  This has been proved to be right.  Plusnet of course are just passing on the wholesale rates from BT.
It looks like I am now faced with the same decision with Plusnet.  Pay for daytime calls to avoid the hour of pain between 6 and 7pm, at least it is ONLY £3.50 this time, or move elsewhere. Inertia and the difficulty of finding an evenings and weekend package may keep me here.
Is it possible to change to the current Anytime package now, then switch in January to the new Anytime to avoid the window between the 4th January and my billing date when I will have to pay through the nose for early evening calls?
I want to ask what makes telecomms companies think they are exempt from the general ecomomic climate and can increase charges by such huge amounts? Lots of workers have had pay freezes and reductions over the past few years.  I have had both.  I come on here and see increases of 30% passed off with little thought for their customers.  Is it no wonder why the press talk of the death of the landline?

[#6]

Let me try again. Hi, I'm on Unlimited with no phone. Plusnet sent me an email saying it was going up by £5 a month, 30% increase! They suggest I go onto 'Extra'. Will this Extra be cheaper than staying on Unlimited? Thanks. Maybe a member of staff can let me know. Thanks.

[#7]

Work it out yourself - http://www.plus.net/
If you use less than 60GB per month then yes.

[#8]

Plusnet, I get the impression that a major reason for the card payment surcharge is the very significant administrative costs when payments fail. You've reported that 12% of card payments fail (that is a lot higher than I would have expected).
Within the 12%, how many of those are 'repeat offenders'? If it is a lot had you considered insisting that those people move to DD?
Had you considered making a surcharge for a failed payment (where it wasn't Plusnet's fault)?

[#9]

Quote from: Lynda

Everybody's different......my total package has gone up 36% after one month of joining up !! Lynda~

That's not possible.  Unlimited was removed a long time ago and replaced with the current 60Gb package which isn't having a price increase.  If you've only been with PN a month then nothing will change for you as you'll not be on the Unlimited package.

[#10]

Well,  the line rental has gone up and for me to retain the 300 international minutes I signed up to a month ago means I have to pay an extra £5 a month on top of that increase to retain my original service.
Lynda~

[#11]

I am not on one of the current packages, but I get the impression that the Evening and Weekend didnt have the continental calls, and that the Talk anytime will not change for existing customers, the only loosers are those who sign up after 4th Jan who will have the £5 reduced to £3.5 but loose the 300 mins
at least thats what it says on the sign up page  https://portal.plus.net/residential/bundles.shtml

[#12]

It did until they changed the signup page - if you go back to the first page of the thread you will see Bob confirmed that

[#13]

Quote from: jelv

Plusnet, I get the impression that a major reason for the card payment surcharge is the very significant administrative costs when payments fail. You've reported that 12% of card payments fail (that is a lot higher than I would have expected). Within the 12%, how many of those are 'repeat offenders'? If it is a lot had you considered insisting that those people move to DD? Had you considered making a surcharge for a failed payment (where it wasn't Plusnet's fault)?

Excellent idea.
Or maybe give a choice between paying by Direct Debit or Standing Order. I don't think that people are changing packages often enough to need a Direct Debit, as they will pay the same amount for at least a few months. And with a standing order, the customer is in control of what's going off their accounts.
This is why I am making a fuss about the £1.50 charge : No choice (or, more exactly,  you are punished/pay more for making the wrong choice), punishment fee too high (profiteering), and unfair (to people who have paid for years by card without fail).

[#14]

Standing order would be fine for payments that were fixed a long way ahead - can't remember when I last paid that way.
To me it's a storm in a teacup as one has an easy option on how to not pay the £1.50 surcharge.
On the Thinkbroadband forums I've seen too many people have problems when paying by CCA to even consider it as an option.

[#15]

Quote from: Oldjim

Work it out yourself - http://www.plus.net/ If you use less than 60GB per month then yes.

I wasn't talking to you charmless.
Why don't we just close the forum down and everyone can work everything out themselves and you can go back to sucking your werthers originals.