VAT Increase & Price Changes - January 2011

[#1]

I hope she doesn't mind that you have reduced the free period quite drastically

[#2]

What do you mean Jim? I am getting worried

[#3]

Quote from: Oddball

Quote from: artmo A charge of £1.50 is a total rip off and nothing more than profiteering.  I agree. I was expecting the vat rise to herald a range of profiteering manoeuvres from all and sundry. Good old BT plusnet has not let me down on my suspicions. I am not prepared to pay £1.50 card fee for my payment.

That's coming from BT.
For many years now, BT have implemented that same fee to force people to pay their line rentals and call packages by Direct Debit (and yes, some people object to be forced to pay by direct debit  because they want to have a choice without being penalised for it.)
And now BT is spreading that rip off practice onto Plusnet.
I wish I knew how much it really costs to process a transaction by cards, I am pretty sure it doesn't cost £1.50.

[#4]

@Jim If you mean the free overnight usage? She has never taken advantage of that really, I had a good look Into how much she uses a month before making a change for her and It barely hit's 10GB a month.

[#5]

Quote from: Oldjim

He has already - you can retain the 300 included minutes by switching to the old anytime package but only before it's removal After that you are stuffed .....

Thanks Oldjim. I hadn't noticed that. Looks like the cost of the 300 minutes is £1-50 / month.

[#6]

I think its rather cheeky enforcing a 1.50 fee if you wont pay by direct debit when plusnet do not give adequit notice of the direct debit and how much hoops you have to jump through to get a mistake refunded as well as waiting so long for the refund.

[#7]

Hello -
I'm embarrassed because I think I might have misunderstood something.  An email came (as I understood it) saying that talk anytime £5 pm was being discontinued and (by clicking on a link) I thought it was being placed by a new £3.50 pm talk anytime service (first three months free) from January 2011
I clicked to accept the (as I thought) new arrangement of £3.50 pm free for the first three months because my present talk anytime package would be discontinued and I didn't want to be left without this very useful service.  Then a notice came up which I wasn't able to save saying something about my new package being processed. It sounded as if I didn't already have talk anytime but I do have it.
I looked at the email again - and it says that the £5 talk anytime will be continuing.  I have raised a ticket because I'm embarrassed and don't know what I have "clicked" to agree to.  I'm now troubled in case my current talk anytime package is stopped pending this other arrangement being "processed."  I'm afraid it's a bit confusing and beyond me.
Until the ticket is replied to can any one please throw some light on this, please?  There seem to be so many questions and I am confused.  I understand about the line rental going up but - the talk any time arrangement is troubling me.
Any helpful replies will be very much appreciated - pendiung the reply to my ticket.
Many thanks indeed.

[#8]

Exactly.

[#9]

@Jim I get what you mean now, Why on earth did I think Premium was Unlimited, Too late to be doing these maths for me

[#10]

Not chuffed with the £5 charge on the unlimited legacy product - you obviously don't reward loyalty - and I am sure many will leave PlusNet.....you used to be outstanding in your heyday, excellent service, great product, good customer reviews.
So what did you do
You went downhill on customer services.
You have been advertising as the Broadband from Yorkshire - got everyone to sign up to your "then" good packages.
And then you stuff everyone when you announce price rises.
Not very professional.
Can you compete with https://www.bethere.co.uk/web/beportal/bebroadband
I don't think so. For roughly the same price you can get unlimited broadband and you get £40 through quidco....
Maybe you should quickly rethink what you are offering your loyal customers as you will suddenly realise that you will lose market share as quickly as you gained it. 

[#11]

Very odd! I just received this email and there is NO mention of the NEW Anytime option sans Included International calls:

Hello.
Important information about your Plusnet service.
We're writing to remind you that the government is increasing VAT to 20% from 4th January 2011. The great news is, we're freezing your broadband price until 2012. So what you pay for your Value service will stay the same. Champion.
Your Talk Anytime service will stay at £5 a month too, so it's still great value for calling landlines and 0845 / 0870 numbers, as well as giving you 300 minutes of inclusive international calls to our top 20 destinations each month.*
From January our charge for line rental will change to £11.99 a month. We'll no longer offer a 25% discount on our call rates to mobiles and off-peak hours are changing to 7pm - 7am.
Call prices are changing too, so please take a look at our updated call tariff for this important information.
If you pay your bill by credit or debit card, we're introducing a £1.50 processing fee from 1st February. This is to cover the extra cost of processing card payments. But there's no fee if you pay by Direct Debit. And your payments will be safe and secure, backed up by the direct Debit guarantee. To check your payment method, just visit the Member Centre. It's really easy to set up a Direct Debit if you need one, you can do it all online.
One last thing, we're pleased to announce that all customer enquiries are now handled in Sheffield. So if you do need to call, it's friendly folk in Yorkshire who are there to help 24/7.
If you'd like any more info on the changes we're making, have a read of the FAQ we've put together for you.
All the best,

Nick Rawlings
Commercial & Marketing Director, Plusnet

I now unashamedly make this comparison with TalkTalk 
                          PlusNet       BT     BT Annual TalkTalk LLU
Contract                   10 day       12 Month Rolling       18 Month
Line Rental               11.99     13.29           9.99         12.04
Incl Anytime Calls     3.50       4.99             4.99           4.00
International               1.50       4.99             4.99           2.00
Caller ID                     0.99       0.00             0.00           0.00
Basic Broadband       12.99     13.99           13.99           6.99

Total                       30.97     37.26           33.96         25.03

[#12]

For me, (making only a few calls and virtually none in the daytime)
my long term plan of getting my phone from BT and broadband from Plusnet
is probably optimal.

[#13]

One word.  OUTRAGEOUS.
How the the hell do PN justify a 30% price hike for the unlimited product.
How can you have the gall to have the slogan " Our Broadband wont be beaten on price"
OK - Sky Broadband Unlimited - £15  BEAT THAT.

[#14]

Hi
Does the £1.50 surcharge apply to irregular top-ups via Credit ot Debit cards ? - They could be seen as recurring charges !

[#15]

Are there any advantages to staying with the 'old' Anytime tariff as opposed to switching to the New Anytime or is it entirely advantageous to switch to the New one? Where can I see a comparison between the two please?