Good, honest broadband from Yorkshire

[#1]

We’re proud to unveil our new-look website today. All the features you’re used to are still here, but we’ve given it a bit of a spruce up so it integrates with our new marketing campaign. The first ever Plusnet TV ads will also make their debut today. We’re really excited about our ads. Click 'More' to have a look. We'd love to know what you think of them. Our new campaign shows, in a no-nonsense yet entertaining way, how a small broadband company with a proud Yorkshire heritage offers great value broadband. We summed it up as ‘Good honest broadband from Yorkshire’. Oh, and one more thing. We’ve got a new price promise that’s the cornerstone of our new campaign: We won’t be beat on price. Put simply, if you find a lower price for standalone broadband we’ll beat it hands down. If you’re already using our Plusnet Value service in one of our low cost areas, you don’t need to do anything – you’re already getting the lowest priced standalone broadband available in the UK. If you’re on an older service, take a look at the features of Plusnet Value, Extra and Pro products to see if they suit your needs. You can swap over anytime using our handy Account Change tool. Or, if you’re not in one of our low cost areas and you’ve seen standalone broadband advertised at a cheaper price – contact us using the Help Assistant and we’ll beat it. 

We’ve put together an FAQ too for any question you might have: 1.How much will the reduced price be? In our low cost areas we’ll continue to offer our Value service at £6.49 a month. Elsewhere it’s £12.99 a month (with the first 3 months at £6.49). To honour our price match commitment we’ll have a new price of £10.79 in certain exchanges. If you’re in one of these exchanges you’ll be notified in the signup process. If you’re an existing customer you’ll simply see the £10.79 price when you use our Account Change tool to change to a Value Family product. If you are already on £12.99 Value and want to see if you're on a price-matched exchange, go to https://www.plus.net/home-broadband/ and type in your details to find out pricing in your area. Contact us using the Help Assistant if you see a lower price for standalone broadband and we'll beat it. 2. Am I eligible for this? We’re committed to providing the lowest price standalone broadband at every exchange, this applies to new and existing customers. 3. What about bundle deals? This offer only applies to the standalone price of broadband. 4. I have Home Phone, does this still apply to me? Yes it does, but we’ll just price match on the broadband part of a bundle. 6. What about special offers? We’ll match any offer that is available to the general public which our staff can verify. 7. Which products will be made cheaper? Our price match offer applies to Value only. Extra and Pro will be discounted but not guaranteed cheapest. 8. I have a special retention/loyalty deal at a non-advertised price. Can you beat that? Sorry, we can only match prices offered to all customers on your exchange.

[#2]

Your page comparing broadband in my area says TalkTalk is not available! Oh but it is, and its half the price im paying you lot!

[#3]

Mark, Talk Talk don't offer standalone broadband. All of their broadband offerings are bundled with other services.

[#4]

Well done PN I like your new look and I am especially happy with free Mcfee security matching other broadband on price. I still think Plusnet need to offer customers better service by responding to customers new ideas to make it better with new innovations but I hope it will give customers a huge step towards making Plusnet world leading broadband that everyone that can be proud of.

[#5]

Bob, i see your point. But considering you require a telelphone line to receive broadband the copmarison cant really be made as 'standalone' can it?

[#6]

Poor Sheffield, wasn't it worth a mention? TV ads, sounds like a huge expense, will this mean more customers, more traffic, more problems? New website, got some stripes and stuff going off, actually missed it, will have a proper look later ;-) ......all I can say to all this, is, "oh dear".

[#7]

> Mark, Talk Talk don't offer standalone broadband. All of their > broadband offerings are bundled with other services. True, but your comparison chart made me look at how they compare (in my non-low-cost area) :- PlusNet : Line Rental £11.25 + Broadband (10GB) £12.99 = £24.24 pm Talk Talk: Line Rental £12.04 + Broadband (40GB) £ 6.99 = £19.03 pm Talk Talk: Line Rental £12.04 + Broadband (80GB) £10.99 = £23.03 pm So PlusNet is 25% of the usage for 25% *more* cost. Or, if usage allowance is even more important, Talk Talk is 80GB for a quid cheaper than PlusNet's 10GB. Hmm, I suppose I ought to switch. Any reason why not?

[#8]

@May Move, because every time somebody signs up to Talk Talk, a kitten dies! ;) On a a slightly more serious note, there are a few things to consider. Talk Talk don't do monthly contracts, some have questioned the quality of the support they offer and we've seen dubious door to door sales tactics from them in the past. As for the service itself, I'm sure it's fine unless you encounter problems. It's worth bearing in mind that usage on our products is un-metered between Midnight and 8.00am. @TicnTac, more customers? hopefully. More traffic? almost certainly, but we have the bandwidth forecasting in place to cater for that. More problems? there's no reason why there should be.

[#9]

Shouldn't that read Good, honest broadband from South Africa?

[#10]

girlfriend signed up no contract option. No upfront fees, or we was led to believe. They want £70 to break contract, yes i know no contract i said. However broadband keeps dropping which is what i will do when this no contact 12 month contract option is finished. I asked them where to £70 comes from and they said for the modem charge and activation fee. Hey guys my advice stay away from plusnet and try a company that use a uk call centre. O2 and the Post office. Got my calls with post office and get free mobile calls at weekend too.

[#11]

Hi Ian, if you opt for a monthly contract you'll be asked for the installation fee up front. If you've taken hardware you'll still be expected to cover the cost of that if you leave within the year. Same goes if you've opted for the 12 month deferred activation. We do have a UK call centre, we're based in Sheffield. If you're still having connectivity issues then post a support ticket reference and we'll see if we can chase it up.

[#12]

I was thinking the other day that the website needed a fresh look as it hadn't been changed in quite a while then as if by magic it changed! I have had past experience with a number of ISPs and this one is definately one of the best so far. Both service and support has been top notch and if you ever need it, where else would you get an ISP with 24/7 support to a 'UK' based call centre? Talktalk aren't even worth looking at as they suck everybody in with their low cost home phone/broadband deals but provide both shocking service and support. I have wasted many hours of my life that I will never get back speaking to their incompetent support staff. I just hope Plusnet don't sell out to some big group just because they can't see past the pound signs!

[#13]

> I just hope Plusnet don't sell out to some big group just because they can't see past the pound signs! I don't see that happening anytime soon Andy - Plusnet are already owned by BT! Having just pumped in a big wad of advertising / brand awareness cash, I doubt they're thinking of selling it on. I wasn't too sure about these ads at first, but a quick bit of observation last night and I say gimme this over 90% of the ads on TV. Well done Plusnet guys - it's fantastic to see a Sheffield born brand going from strength to strength and I hope it works out for ya in getting to that magic million mark. Ian

[#14]

What about telephone exchanges that have recently received LLU but OFCOM have yet to update their Market status (which actually hasn't been updated since 2008)? I'm talking my exchange (LCEAR) - now offers LLU + BT, but you still have it down as Market 1?

[#15]

Plusnet are so good i placed order on 14th August its now 2 months NO BB NO PHONE got activation date 22nd September it came and went no service got a nother date 24th September got activated lost phone and broadband now going into 3rd week with no phone or BB 10 October people said Plusnet are rubish dont go with them i wish i listend no service but being charged line rental activation and calls they cant even give me adate for bt eng visit been waiting 3 days to get a confirmed date

[#16]

I must say the website is tragically slow on Dial Up. Owing to a fault on my Plus.net ADSL service, I am currently having to use Dial Up to view the status of my ticket (which bears little resemblance to conversations with support) and add information to the ticket. It has taken 30 minutes to do this as the pages are so slow to load. My advice to anyone designing web pages, is to test them over dial up, and optimise! The one nice feature of Plus.net dial up is getting my same (ADSL) fixed IP on dial up.

[#17]

Well, so far PlusNet have refused to match the price and speed of a competitor! Basic pricing on Opal for **Broadband only** is £15 per month. That includes upto 20mb download speed, 1mb upload speed and priority traffic. I am currently a PlusNet Pro customer, paying £16.49 per month, all the same as Opal except I only recieve (at best) a 444kb upload speed. I've been told I can pay extra to double my upload speed (just slightly less than £8 per month). Perhaps TV ad money would be better spent keeping the policy promises made at PlusNet!

[#18]

But if you read the 'Broadband Promise' at the bottom of this page https://portal.plus.net/apps/price/compare/ it reads 'The price promise is on Plusnet Value Broadband versus the lowest cost standalone broadband product available from a competitor.'

[#19]

I've been with plus.net for ages and they've been great. But I'm very shocked to find out that plus.net has "proud Yorkshire" roots. Never heard that mentioned before now! Lol.

[#20]

I think the 'Won't be beat(EN) on price' campaign is a little misleading. "Our price match offer applies to Value only. Extra and Pro will be discounted but not guaranteed cheapest." I can get 40GB from Sky at £17.00 per month. I am on a legacy product paying more than this but Plusnet won't entertain it as only 'value' product is compared. The phrase "comparing apples with oranges" springs to mind as you cannot compare a 10GB (which also adds usage in 5GB chunks!) with a 40GB product as your comparison site shows. Perhaps others could offer 1GB usage for less than 'value' but would that be fair? Don't like being misled and I am afrad this poorly thought out campaign will do more harm than good.

[#21]

@Goose - I suppose your comment was aimed at 'May Move' ? @Ritchie - while you are probably correct when comparing Opal, they do require an Opal phone line (24 month contract). I thought the BB was 10 +VAT and line 13 +VAT so not sure where 15 quid price comes in. @Neil - apples v oranges, yes I agree. O2 offering with 20 GB vs PN with 10 GB. If one paid the extra 10 quid, pushes the price up quite a bit. However, can see it is awkward to match exactly what is offered, just wish the millions spent on ads (started hearing radio ads around a week ago) went into lower prices (eg 50p off per account) as word of mouth can work harder. No point pushing 'Yorkshire value' if someone has 6 months left on some Sky/ other contract, but them knowing I pay less means they will consider a swap in 6 months.

[#22]

HI Ritchie, I have replied to your ticket and will place an order to uncap your upstream. Jojo

[#23]

Hi Neil, The campaign is that we won't be beat on price, and this is true. Our comparisons are not based on usage, but also remember that we give unlimited usage from midnight to 8am and we have many customers who take advantage of this and use far more than the 40 gig offered by Sky. We only offer this on value as this is our latest product and the package you are on is no longer available for new customers. Jojo

[#24]

Hi Arthur, Looks like we've booked the engineer now, let us know if there are any problems after the visit. Jojo

[#25]

Hi mitchell20, Only Market 3 exchanges see the lowest prices. Your exchange does not meet the criteria for this. For a guide to how market areas are worked out visit http://www.plus.net/support/broadband/products/low_cost_areas.shtml#introduction Jojo

[#26]

@JoJo, thank you for replying to my ticket, have seen it and appreciate it - thank you very much. @Peter, Opal website clearly states a 'Broadband Only' product which can be used on another providers phone line, priced at £15 per month.

[#27]

..I was right wasn't I? In saying "oh dear" that is! Good, Honest, Broadband, Won't Be Beat on Price? Good, for some. Honest, sort of if you read the fine print, the if's no's not quites, not them, tend to have issues. Broadband, well at least that bit is right! Won't Be beat on Price? Well only if you stick to Plusnets' set of rules set out for that bit. It would have been far more successful in sponsoring the UK & Eire world tour of Opinicus, would have reached thousands of ADSL users, and would have meant thousands of probably knowledgable new broadband customers. Oh, and cheaper! Still have to admit, Plusnet, do have something most ISP's don't have, a personal customer service, with a dedicated team set up inside to help and support. There is no ISP that can have that to its name! Maybe a TV series, Plusnet, Inside the DCT, CH4 9pm every friday, make money and advertise at the same time! 😉 I mean, if Eddie and his trucks can do it?

[#28]

i have just signed up to plusnet, and i have been updated already 3 hours responce beat the customer service on that, they have told me that the DACS on my line need removing, and when i needed to no some info from sky broadband they never even sent a letter in all of the 3 weeks of waiting, A+ customer sales and communication

[#29]

I've been a PlusNet customer for several years now and have only has good service from them. Recently included home phone and upgraded my broadband limit and switching from BT was easy peasy. I'm sorry to hear some other customers experience problems but I'd recommend PlusNet to anyone.

[#30]

Hi Rick, We are the best for Customer Service and we have the awards to show it!. Also I am personally glad to hear that so far you are happy with our service. Don't forget we are here 24/7 for you. On a side note. I also see that our ads have crept on to YouTube. Awesome!

[#31]

Jojo - "The campaign is that we won't be beat on price, and this is true. Our comparisons are not based on usage, but also remember that we give unlimited usage from midnight to 8am and we have many customers who take advantage of this and use far more than the 40 gig offered by Sky. We only offer this on value as this is our latest product and the package you are on is no longer available for new customers." ------------------------------------------------------------------------- If the competition advertised a product at less than your prices but, for example, had 1GB usage would you be saying that was a fair comparison? I think you would be arguing exactly the same as I am but that would suit your cause. I am afraid usage during 'normal' hours cannot be excluded from any comparison as this is a big part of any costing. I would almost guarantee that the vast majority use their broadband during peak hours and is not the main reason for signups. If you are committed to 'not be beat(EN) on price" then stop picking and choosing what you compare your products with. We have enough small print from competitors to deal with but now you choose to play the same game and are very selective on what you 'allow' as a true comparison. The fact is that you are being misleading and not comparing like with like - Sky and O2 (as mentioned above) are very competitve products. Add in the 5GB block charges for peak usage and it becomes less attractive. Is this what we can expect from Plusnet really? Don't take us for fools and expect us to think for one second that this PR stunt is 'fair'. It is weighted totally in your favour as you decide what is allowed and what isn't. You seem willing to blow your trumpet about being open and honest but what about being fair?

[#32]

The ad campaign is amusing yes, and I'm pleased to see Plusnet expanding. However it does seem you might be falling into the "small-print jungle" of your competitors - as others have suggested - whilst the entire thrust of your advert claims otherwise. I prefer the direction of the "no contract" advert; being the cheapest is not a unique selling point, no contract and quality of service are! Perhaps make some mention of the customer service awards you've won, that'll really impress people. Is quality over quantity not a Yorkshire saying too?

[#33]

have a lot of referrals on two market 2 exchanges - ballynahinch (NIBNH)with 2 principal operators & downpatrick (NIDP)with 3 principal operators but yet according to plusnet they are still not classed as market 2 in their eyes.so much for plusnets price beating promise.

[#34]

@ardglass, what does Sam Knows say about the market they're on? If it's the same as what we're saying then I doubt the information is wrong - http://www.samknows.com/broadband/exchange_search Regardless, it has no bearing on the price match promise. If your referrals can find a cheaper standalone broadband package then we'll beat it on price.

[#35]

hi bob, samknows puts both exchanges as market so cant understand why plusnet say my referrals on these exchanges cant get the new market 2 pricing. cheers leo

[#36]

sorry left out the 2 - both exchanges market 2 on samknows

[#37]

Daniel (re: Yorkshire roots). Force 9 was the original ISP before Plusnet and IIRC it was actually started in Worksop which is Nottinghamshire (doubtless someone will correct me if I am wrong). With regards to the photograph (advertisement) above, if it is supposed to be a Yorkshire Terrier then someone has misled the staff. The Yorkie has erect ears. I have not quite decided what breed of dog is portrayed in the picture.

[#38]

@ardglass, as Bob said, if there are cheaper stand alone packages out there for those referrals then we will beat them. Jojo

[#39]

be warned about this company scamming customers, i reached my limit for the first time in 12 months with this company , on my phone call limit of 75 pounds , i never had an issue of this nature before , i only found out when i rung the plusnet up to ask why my phone has been turned off , when i spoke to call centre staff they informed me that it would cost me 8.94 to turn it bk on after they decided to turn it off , so i payed that and put an extra 25 quid on it as well, in the next day or so i made abotu 1 pound worth of calls, i then received my bill of 88 pounds (which his extremely high) , i then ring them up and ask them why my bills 88 pounds , they said thats ur call charges and internet bill , i then ask them to take off the 25 pounds + i payed in the last day or so , they then fob me off with the excuse that we are sorry but we charged u nearly 6 pounds to turn ur phone off and then bk on again (which they didnt inform me they were doing) then they tell me that the 25 pounds has fallen away from your account as it was on ur last bill so they kept my 25 pounds (which wasnt used for my phonebill) and then charged me again for it , i then asked them for my 25 pounds bk nd basically got told tough we cant give it bk as its not there anymore, so they have pocketed my money and then recharged me again for the same calls SCAM KEEP WELL CLEAR OF THIS COMPANY THEY ARE BEING REPORTED TO TRADING STANDARDS !!!!

[#40]

@jojopillo yes jojo, my referrals on the 2 exchanges i mentioned do have an option of cheaper standalone broadband - plusnets OWN market 2 pricing for Value(£10.79) !!! just can't understand why that in SamKnows both exchanges are marked as market 2 but on contacting plusnet support i get told they are not market 2 !! any ideas ?

[#41]

Hi Joanne, Sorry to hear you've had a bad experience. Can I just make it clear that we're certainly not in the habit of scamming people! Information about credit limits and what happens if you exceed them can be found here - http://www.plus.net/support/phone/home_phone/billing.shtml#whatCredit This is in place as a fraud prevention measure more than anything else. I must admit, I'm not sure why you had to pro-actively call us? When you exceed your credit limit any outbound calls you try making should be automatically forwarded to our call centre so that the problem can be resolved. It costs us £5.76 to have your calls diverted. It costs another £5.76 to have the diversion removed from the line. We absorb the first of these charges but the second is passed onto the customer. I'm not sure why you're under the impression that we didn't let you know about this either? We emailed you at 6.16am on 05/10/10 to warn you that you were approaching your credit limit. This email clearly explains the situation and also pays mention to the £5.76 charge. We sent a second email at 8.28am on 10/10/10 to advise that you had exceeded your credit limit. A reminder email about the same thing was also sent the day after at 6.46am. Didn't you receive any of these emails? Regarding the call costs, we have *not* charged you in duplicate and we have *not* 'kept' your £25 top-up. If you look at your call itemisation you'll see that you spent £80.23 on calls last billing period (mainly on mobiles). When you called us you made two top-ups, £8.94 on the 11th and £25 on the 13th, that comes to a total of £33.94. Deduct this from the £88.23 you spent on calls and you're left with £46.29. Check your latest invoice and you'll see that this is exactly what we're charging you for. We haven't overcharged you, we haven't witheld any of your money, and the only extra charge that's been applied is the £5.76 for the call barring/diversion that was placed on your line (and we emailed you a warning in advance of this happening). I'm sorry if the situation hasn't been made clear to you when you've spoken to us, but by my reckoning there's not a great deal here that trading standards would have any interest in. Best regards, Bob Pullen Plusnet Digital Care

[#42]

Hi ardglass, If there are no other providers on the exchange it will be market 1. We offer to beat any other broadband providers stand alone price not our own. If they are on a different plusnet package then they can always change to the cheaper one. Jojo

[#43]

@jojopillo jojo, as i said, BOTH exchanges are rated MARKET 2 on SamKnows. BALLYNAHINCH ( NIBNH ) has 2 providers - bt and talktalk. DOWNPATRICK ( NIDP ) has 3 providers - bt, talktalk and O2 so why does plusnet NOT rate them as MARKET 2 ??? Leo

[#44]

An interesting offer. But... for me to get intrested PlusNet should scrap the £25 activation fee. Anyway didn't Martin Lewis's Money Saving Expert's website say that if you already have a BT landline the £25 fee would be waived? It doesn't say that on the small print on Plus Net's website.

[#45]

@ards My exchange has BT & TT too but 'SamKnows' (or should know better) says it is market 1!!! I would like to know the answer to your question (and mine too). Seems that you only get the cheaper price if you're market 3 though. Makes me wonder what the point of Market 2 is? Is it just a marker to say 'nearly there!'?

[#46]

Hi guys, basically, regardless of whether sam knows or any other systems show it otherwise (as there are times when it not updated, if you can show that you can get cheaper broadband from a different provider at your address the we will beat it. @ardglass You said they can get value @ £10.79 Have they been offered this, Are they on older packages? Jojo

[#47]

Sorry, that should have said stand alone broadband.

[#48]

@jojopillo jojo, what i DID say is that sam knows put these 2 exchanges as market 2 but when i contacted plusnet about customers on these exchanges who are on the VALUE package, PLUSNET say thet are NOT market 2 exchanges !!! can you please explain ?? Leo

[#49]

I have been most dissappointed with the recent service from Plusnet - I logged a fault on Wednesday 6th. Was told it would take around 72 hours to fix, it still hasn't been! We've had 2 engineers out, been promised umpteen call-backs to update us - of which only one actually happened. Now I have been told because the type of fault has changed from the broadband "not working all of the time" to being an "intermitent connection" it went to be investigated by a different fault team and subsequently to the back of the queue!! I asked the guy I spoke to earlier who I could write to in the hope getting a faster resolution and was told to send it to "the Customer Services Director," I asked for their name but was told they couldn't tell me it. I found this somewhat ironic and will be intersted to find out if teh name I eventually did get given is accurate... Up until recently we have had no problems and the price is pretty good - however it is when things go wrong that you really get to see what a company is like and the value of what you are paying for; Plusnet do not come up to scratch. I will be writing letters and emails to every consumer guide, broadband comparison site and publications that I can find to voice my disappointment. I have never felt moved to write in complaint previously but just feel so frustrated I am at a loss as to what else to do. I would seriously suggest any potential customer reconsider before using Plusnet. Rant over.

[#50]

I'm not sure about the adverts. Presumably some London based ad agency convinced you that if you all pretend to wear flat caps every day people will think that it must be value for money. It's the sort of backward image of the north that only someone whose idea of Yorkshire is from Last of the Summer Wine would come up with. And you're based in the centre of Sheffield, not some generic Yorkshire countryside. It's a bit embarrassing really (I speak as a happy Plusnet customer of many years, who lives in Sheffield). It's good that BT have stumped up some marketing cash, but it does look like they want you to be Skoda to their Volkswagen. Still, at least there's no Kris Marshall.

[#51]

@ardglass, if you can tell me the 2 exchanges I can look into it. Jojo