Charged double for going over contract

[#1]

Hi

I have recently returned from a trip abroad. On going through my bank statements I have seen that you are taking over £50 a month from my account without my consent, for the last six months. On calling your company I was spoken to in an extremely unhelpful way by a telephone assistant who also refused to put me through to any one more senior. I explained to her that I had not received any email from you to say that the account was going out of contract. I enquired as to why I was not sent another email, called or my wifi cut off after you had received no reply from me. I still am unable to find any email from your company to inform me of going out of contract.  Having been a very loyal and long standing customer of Plus Net I'm beyond disgusted that your company have helped themselves to double the existing offer online, citing the fact that you have sen me on email which was never received. I therefor would like a refund of the excess amount credited back to my account please. After a prolonged call with the telephone assistant, she begrudgingly raised a complaint from which I have had no reply or feedback from. I am left feeling extremely unhappy with Plusnet and feel that it is scamming people at a very hard time in the economy out of hard earned money without their consent. Thanks Jessica

[#2]

@JESSICAS Although I can understand a little of how you feel, I suspect you don't have things quite right. When you take out a contract, it clearly states that the agreed price is valid for a set period, after which you will be charged the out of contract/headline price. To be honest, it is really up to you to keep track of when contracts expire, although most suppliers will advise you - if PN have your correct contact email, I am surprised you haven't had the notification, it is sent automatically, IIRC about a month/six weeks prior to the end.

They do not call you - there are not enough staff to have them manually checking when a customers contract finishes and trying to contact them individually, and your connection is not closed - a bit like power suppliers, they don't cut you off, merely, as they have here, move you to the standard price, to avoid a break in service, which can mean you are without broadband.

[#3]

Moderator's note:
Thread moved from Broadband to My Account/Billing

[#4]

Hi thanks for your reply. As I

Hi John 

Thanks for your reply which interestingly is the exact same as the person I spoke to on the phone. As I did not receive any email and have gone right back to search I don't know how Im supposed to have been notified. In any business surely you have enough staff to send a further email over six months if a loyal and long standing customer has not responded to that. I see on Trust Pilot that again and again your company does this to unsuspecting people. Why is no reminder sent ? What gives you the right to charge your consumer double the going rate advertised on your website for brand new customers? Actually as the contract is a two year period somehow it was not on my calendar as is the case on many of your unsuspecting customers. It seems to me that in an instance like this your unscrupulous company takes the opportunity to help themselves to as much money as they like from your own account, which to me appears as scamming. Id really like to know how you would feel if someone did this to you or a family member ? Also where is evidence of me being notified and me recieving the email ?

Thanks 

Moderators Note: Removed excessive whitespace

[#5]

@JESSICAS Firstly - I am not a PN staff member, merely a member of this forum. I don't know why, as you claim, you were 'not informed', but I do know that the system sends out the notification - automatically. Is your contact email correct on your account.?

As to the rest of your reply - I repeat - I am not Plusnet staff.

[#6]

---

@JESSICAS wrote:

Also where is evidence of me being notified and me recieving the email ?

---

@JESSICAS 

You might be able to check whether any emails were sent out to you by checking closed tickets on your account.

The link below will should take you to a page showing closed tickets on your account from 1/10/23 to date.

You'll need to log in.

Change the dates if you want to look further back.

Link removed.

Replaced with  https://portal.plus.net/wizard/?p=search&view_by=30days

Where you'll need to put your own dates in, sorry.

PS - I'm also NOT a PN staff member (despite my username).

[#7]

@JESSICAS 

The majority of members trying to help in these fora are not staff. Those that are staff are signified by the words "Plusnet Help Team" under their avatar. They are currently stretched and don't visit as often as we all would like.

I would do as RobPN suggested above. Once you've located the relevant ticket you could try ringing the Customer Options Team on 0800 013 2632 selecting option 1 then option 2 (If you are thinking of leaving). This is usually answered quite quickly. Explain your dilemma and see what my be offered in respect of a goodwill gesture and/or a new contract at a lower price.

[#8]

@JESSICAS 

I am not a Plusnet staffer. I was a longstanding Plusnet customer until very recently.

I know from personal experience that Plusnet do send out emails about 4 - 6 weeks before the end of contract date (these contain offers for renewal of contracts as well as reffiring the out of contract price) but cannot explain why you have not received such an email unless Plusnet do not hold your correct email address - do you get other emails from them such as notification of your monthly bill being available to view,. annual price increases etc.? Of course, some emails do go astray "in the ether" and if the one re end of contract was one that disappeared then that is just bad luck.

However, your contract details and duration, including out of contract costs, are set out (both in tickets on your account and by email) when you take out the contract and the basic information (products, costs - within contract and thereafter - and duration) is set out on the Home page of your Plusnet Member Centre and is thus available to you at any time provided you visit that site. In addition, assuming you pay heed to your bills, I would expect that you should have noticed this issue on the first bill that included any out of contract period and not let it carry on for six months.

Yes, it could be argued that Plusnet do have a duty to keep customers informed of price increases etc., but you, as a customer, have to be responsible and should be keeping an eye on things.

[#9]

Hiya @JESSICAS 

I'm really sorry for the undue stress it's causing you and I would like to look over this for you. 

I have sent you a private message, please can you send me your account username in reply to it.  

[#10]

Hi ok thanks I have done that