Renewal quote - minimum speed reduced

[#1]

At  the start of my current contract i was given the following estimates and guarantee

At peak times, we estimate that you'll get the following speeds on your line:

Download 24-36mb

Upload 4-6mb

Minimum Guaranteed Speed: 20.5mb

Current line speed: 33.8mb

When I log in to my account, the MSG has reduced to 16.7mb

If I renew I have to take a 18.5% drop in minimum guaranteed speeds and 16.7 -38.9% drop in estimated speeds

Does this mean Plusnet are not meeting the terms agreed to when I took out my contract?

Should I raise a fault on this basis?

out of interest, why does Plusnet have access to Openreach data that other ISPs dont? Your fellow BT Group ISPs offer higher estimates and MSG.

it does appear the drop in speeds given in the contract renewal are simply so that you don't have to investigate faults.

If I stayed with Plusnet, it looks can I can expect my speed to reduced to zero in a few years and all Plusnet has to do is give a reduced MSG, to avoid having to do anything!

[#2]

I'd politely disagree there - in that I don't believe I played down the significance of your minimum guaranteed speed, we instead discussed the difference between your expected speeds, and the MGS. To clarify, it wasn't made clear on the call, we'll raise a fault if your connection is intermittent, if you have no connection at all, and if the speeds on your line are lower than those you were told to expect - NOT your MGS.

Your MGS is significant in that, if it cannot be provided for 30 days, contractually, you're able to leave with no early termination fees. In your case, an agent had incorrectly closed down your query as your speeds were still above those which were guaranteed, again, this was the incorrect thing to do.

I can fully understand our customers concerns about us changing the way in which expected, and minimum guaranteed speeds are now being calculated, and can empathise with their questions as to why and how we're changing these mid contract, and are offering new contracts with the new speed estimates, which are generally lower, compared to previous contracts.

I understand your comment about not raising as many speed faults, though I think it's a two way sword. The new way in which speeds are being estimated is more accurate, meaning we'll be setting better expectations with our customers in regards to what speeds their line is likely to achieve, thus resulting in fewer speed issues being raised.

As has pointed out on this thread, we're not changing the way / threshold in which faults are going to be raised, so if your speeds drop below those you were told to expect, we're still on hand to investigate and get these faults raised for you.

Moderator's note by Mike (Mav): Edited for typos.

[#3]

@adam945

OK maybe playing it down was the wrong description of what you said, but the main point about MGS from my perspective is that PN have reduced it during the contract, which in this thread anoush says shouldn't happen. I have raised this several times, including with you, but no one thinks it is important enough to put it back to the original contract value (30.9 MBps)

On the other issue discussed in your phone calls, you led me to believe that towards the end of my contract I would be offered a renewal deal equivalent to new customer deals, as Plusnet's way of honouring the commitment to OFCOM that I raised.

Today I received an email which contained the following

 

If this is what you meant by Plusnet honouring that commitment, I am very disappointed, and I am sure that it is not what OFCOM intended.

[#4]

So it looks like Plusnet are pushing the boundaries in relation to contract law!

I guess in my case it’s because they don’t want me to renew. Changing the speed estimates and MSG in the last month of the contract, means their is no point in arguing and I will just leave for another ISP.

It’s obviously too expensive for Plusnet to abide by the law and OFCOM Rules. I wonder if based on the number of faults I have raised I am no longer economically viable as a customer.

I wasn’t looking to move ISPs, but it seems I have no choice if I want to keep my current speeds.

I will make a point of not choosing a BT Group ISP.

[#5]

Thanks for getting back to us.

@markroxxy123

I'm sorry to see your minimum guaranteed speed has dropped during your contract. I tried to call you today but there was no answer. As I've explained, this shouldn't change for the length of your contract. I can see though it has done which would be due to a system error.

When looking at whether we're able to waive termination fees due to a speed fault, we'll always look at the minimum guaranteed speed agreed at the start of your contract. In this case, it's 20.5mbps.

Speed estimates however can change as they're the expectations of a line.

I'll try calling you tomorrow, if there's a good time between 8am and 4:30pm let me know.

[edit]

I'd like to note though if you renew with us even though the minimum guaranteed & speed estimates will be lower on the new contract, this doesn't automatically mean your speed will drop as no changes will be made on your actual line.

@dejjones

I can see @adam945 has ownership of your complaint and he'll call you back as soon as he can to discuss further.

Moderator's note by Dick (Strat): Personal information removed from a public forum (to an area that staff can see).

[#6]

Whilst investigating and solving speed issues on my broadband my MGS was reduced from 30.9 to 29.2 MBps.

Members of Plusnet staff have confirmed that this was a mistake and it should not have happened, but despite my pointing it out several times, it has not been corrected.

Could someone please sort this out.

[#7]

I'm really sorry for the ongoing issues you're having with this @dejjones

This post would have been best posted on the original thread to prevent duplicate responses. Nonetheless, we aren't able to change this on our end, saying that though, as @Gandalf has already mentioned, we'll be looking at the original MGS on your contract when raising faults etc

[#8]

adam945 So you weren't able to change it back to what it should be, but someone was able to reduce it again, now down to 27.7 MBps  When can I expect the next change next week?, tomorrow?

This really does look like a complete disregard for the meaning of the word contract.

Current values:-

Values on 14/11/21

Values on 09/04/21

[#9]

Again @dejjones, @Gandalf has already pointed out that this is a system issue on our end, in that anyone's MGS should not be changed while their in contract. We're not able to amend this manually, but if any faults are raised / queried, well be referring back to the original expected and guaranteed speeds that were mentioned at the beginning of your contract.

[#10]

@adam945

Thanks for the explanation; I had not appreciated you were referring  to Gandalfs comment on markroxxy123's problem.

So do I understand that a software system fault is generating false figures on the "Your Broadband Service" page?

Does it apply to all the figures or just the MGS figure, because I see that my "Estimated Download Range" figure has also changed.

[#11]

Thanks for your response @dejjones

The same priciple applies here, if customers were told to expect certain speeds when initiating their contract, we'll use these as the threshold if any faults need to be investigated.

[#12]

@adam945

Thanks for the text and email this evening

So if I was to renew  would the speeds now quoted be the ones to expect on a new contract?

What is the explanation for the figures changing twice in a few days?

[#13]

you have to watch out for this, i just renewed my contract to take advantage of the better price and Plusnet dropped my MGS from 65.5mbps to 57.5mbps as part of the renewal

Who knows why it needed to be changed in the first place.

[#14]

Hello @dejjones

Again these are observed speeds, and provide a more accurate reflection of the speeds that your line is expected to achieve. But correct, if you renew now, your expected and minimum guaranteed speeds will be calculated with the new method we've introduced.

@alaxton

We've now changed the way that we calculate our expected and minimum guaranteed speeds, further information can be found here.

[#15]

@adam945

Making a change like this without any notification, that I am aware of, really has confused and upset so many people.

As I mentioned elsewhere, I can't understand how and why you are using "observed speeds". Last week my "observed speed" was 32.9 Mbps, today it is 39.9 Mbps, does this mean my figures are about to go up again?