Terrible service - non receipt of refund for incorrect charges

[#1]

Hi, I am at my wit's end. My broadband was due for renewal. On 13th July 2022, I contacted the customer service, and as the renewal date was that day he advised me to take a new deal and if I found a better one I could cancel within 14 days with no cancellation fees. I did this. Later the same evening I found a better deal which I went for. I received a letter dated 13th July 2022 from plusnet to say sorry you are leaving. Over the next couple of days I was in contact with plusnet customer services who tried to offer me a better deal. I decided to continue with my new provider who would be going live on 27th July 2022. I asked to make sure that the new router would not be sent out. I was assured that it wouldn't be. A couple of days later a router turned up! I found out how to return it to them - unopened which I did as well as my old router.
On 25 August, I checked my banking app expecting a refund for a partial month. I find to my horror that a payment of £201.31 had been taken from plusnet. Upon investigation, it was for an early exit fee. I immediately telephoned plusnet who were very sorry for the error and it would be refunded to my bank account within 3-5 working days. On 5th September 2022, I contacted them again as no payment had been received. I was apologised to and told that it was not possible to return it to my bank it would be a cheque, and that it had been issued. Also they were refunding me £25 for inconvenience. I received a cheque for £25 but not the £201.31. Some days later I receive another cheque for £25. I left several messages on my support ticket with no reply to any of them. I telephoned again on 30th September 2022 to ask where the cheque was and what was the second £25 cheque for. I was told the second cheque was for an charge in error ie the cancellation charge. I was apologised to again and assured that the cheque for £201.31 would arrive in 3-5 working days.
Today 7th October 2022 - still no cheque.
The service from Plusnet is diabolical. Has anybody else had difficulties like this? How did you manage to get it resolved? The ombudsman is my next port of call but I have to wait for another two weeks.
I hope somebody here can help

[#2]

Moderator's note(s):

Thread moved from Everything Else to My Account/Billing.

[#3]

@Lindsay66  This is an absolute mess, why not raise a formal complaint.

https://www.plus.net/help/legal/complaints-code-of-practice/?_ga=2.56800682.1893364535.1665173369-58... 

[#4]

Hi @Lindsay66,

I am very sorry to read about your experience. I've taken a look over the account today and raised a response via the following support ticket, here. 

[#5]

Thank you for your reply. I will believe it when the cheque arrives. The error was "confirmed" for the first time on 25th August where a refund was promised. Forgive me for not having any faith that this time will be any different.

[#6]

Morning. Alex isn't in the office at the moment, so I've picked this up for you. 

I can confirm our back-office billing team have picked this request up first thing Sunday morning and issued a cheque for the full remaining amount, as per the ticket they've left logged Here so you should receive this within 14 days at the latest.

I'm really sorry for the bad experience you've had. Alex will follow things up with you via the support ticket Here as promised.

[#7]

Good afternoon
Firstly, I finally received the cheque for £201.31, thank you.
However, all is not well. Upon depositing the three cheques, one of the £25 cheques was invalid! Although both had different dates, they had the same cheque number.
I would be grateful if a valid cheque is sent out on receipt of this message. I will try to attach a copy of the cheques in question.
Many thanks in advance.

[#8]

Hey @Lindsay66,

I'm sorry to hear that's happened. I've logged a new support ticket on the account regarding this, which can be accessed here. Once you've had a chance to send the attachments over, please let me know by updating this thread and I'll get back to you as soon as possible

[#9]

I thought I had sent the attachment. It was very difficult to do. If you haven't seen it. Please could you give me instructions on how to do it so you can see it.
Thank you

[#10]

Hi
I attached the photo through the link you left for the ticket yesterday - 4th November 2022. 🙂

[#11]

Thanks for confirming that @Lindsay66, I've updated the ticket this evening

[#12]

Hi
Can you please give me an update. It has been a week or more since I sent the photo of the duplicate cheques

Moderator's note by Mike (Mav): Previous post removed as just bumping threads is against the Forum Rules.

[#13]

I have seen the response from the non plusnet community team, saying the cheque was sent in error. The following is my reply, perhaps you can help. You record all telephone conversations so you will see that it was said and confirmed on several occasions, that both £25 cheques were valid.
Hi
I do not accept that the cheque was sent in error. I asked your staff on several occasions whether both the cheques for £25 were due. One was for the error in charging me for early cancellation. The second, I was informed was reimbursement for the part month from where NOW TV took over and goodwill making it up to the £25 for the inconvenience.
Plusnet, why do you say one thing and renege on your promises.

[#14]

Hi @Lindsay66,

Thank you for getting back in touch and I apologise for any inconvenience that this might have caused. I've had a look over the case again today and logged a further response on the account, via the open support ticket.

[#15]

Hi AJ
Thank you for your reply. I am extremely disappointed, not particularly for the £25, more for the fact that plusnet clearly trains their staff to misinform customers. For almost the whole of this debacle it means that the billing and customer service team lie. When the customer service team tells me they have spoken to the billing team and that the cheques are all valid, either they are being lied to by the billing team to say it's valid or the customer service team lie to the customer to get them off the phone.
However, saying that, there will be money owing to me for the part month, from paying the month in advance and now broadband taking over on the 27th.
I await that refund with bated breath