Customer loyalty means NOTHING to PlusNet :(

[#1]

Christmas - once again you are being highly unfair and looking for conspiracy where there isn't one. If people opt out of marketing emails and do pro-actively look at the website there is little PN can do about it.
Very much like mobile and fixed line telephone providers the CS team can offer what's available to everyone new customers and old, whereas there is a specialist team  that can try and work something else out for that customer.
I too have had broadband for nine years with PN and through the marketing emails was kept a breast of the latest products and switched accordingly.

[#2]

In the UK and international corporate business to business world there are no such things as unfair competition acts or consumer protection leglislation.
Working in such an environment:
We charged as high a price for our products and services as the market would bear.
If our customers were too stupid to shop around or keep an eye on prices year by year they got charged a higher price.
We often had situations where the same product was being supplied to different customers at different prices.
Even the terms and conditions might vary depending on how saavy was the customer.
Of course it worked the other way round in respect of our suppliers who did the same to us!
Start learning the way the rest of the world works, folks.
Those who think profit making organisations are really going to send you messages to tell you that by changing to another package/product/service/supply they are going to get LESS money from you are living on a different planet.

[#3]

@x47c you are very right in your comments. It's the way most business is conducted.  A main raison d'être is to maximise profits.
However, having spoken to PN some months ago and asking them to review my package I got a pleasant surprise with a decent reduction in my monthly payment.
The OP stated that his mobile phone company contacts him when new plans are available.  Which supplier are you with?  I'm on contract with O2 and they certainly don't contact me about reducing my payments.

[#4]

I'd just like to compare this with the way, for example, Sky operate.
Sky, like PlusNet often review their product packages, they don't advise customers if they're 'paying too much' for their current package (they certainly never informed me) but the BIG difference that I encountered was when trying to change product on their website - it is quick and easy to sign up for any additions to your package but impossible to unsubscribe from parts of your existing package (PlusNet by comparison allow easy product changes online in any direction amongst the range of current products).  In order to reduce your package (costs) in any way with Sky you have to call their 'retentions' team (basically the same as PlusNet's 'options'), they will then offer you extras free for a limited period (which then become chargeable and increase your bill) and you have to be quite persistent to actually get a reduction on your package (though, in fairness, I did eventually get the reduction I wanted with a bonus half price for 6 months).  Customer Options are often able to offer 'exceptions' to the current packages / pricing, usually in return for a 12 month commitment or similar in order to persuade you to stay.
I previously had a far worse experience with NTL/Virgin who kept telling me that it was impossible to move me to a current (at the time) product with better pricing, they lost my business for telephone, internet and TV - not for failing to inform me about better value packages but for delierately lying to me in order to keep ripping me off.

[#5]

Quote from: w0wn0w

I think it is called Broadband Your Way Option 4 that I was offered to me in 2008 when all the initial "unlimited" (remember them?) options stopped once an for all.

OK, the BBYW packages were on sale between 10th April 2007 and 17th February 2009 and the basic price of BBYW4 is £29.99 - see Broadband Your Way product archive page. To get £31.49 are you paying by credit card which entails a £1.50 fee? If so that would also apply with any other product.
As you said charged hours on that product are from 8AM to midnight so no different from the current products. However traffic management in the 6PM to 10PM period on non-interactive protocols such as P2P is less restrictive on the older product (384kbps on BBYW4 vs 100kbps on Extra). Depending on how you use the connection that might or might not be significant for you. These BBYW4 figures are on the product archive page linked above, values for Extra can be seen by clicking the product strip on this page.
Are you on a Market 2 or Market 3 exchange? The price for Extra with a 60GB monthly allowance remains at £11.49 on those exchanges but increases to £17.99 after 3 months on a Market 1 exchange.
David

[#6]

Thanks for all your replies!
My mobile is on Orange. When I took it years ago it came with 15min free calls, they were increasing it gradually, making price cuts available to me automatically so now it is 90min for the same price. Can you the similarities and differences in the approach.
Market 1, 2, 2002 - I have no clue to be honest. Should I know all that? I thought it should be like: I pay, PN provides service.
Conspiracy? No... Simple business: if customer pays and pays more - don't touch anything!
P.S. Charges are piling up as we speak...

[#7]

If you ask me how the situation should have been handled to avoid complaints like mine, here is a simple and fair way.
Let's say, I am paying £31.49 for 40GB. When a new data package comes out, like £11.99 for 60GB + £1 per GB extra, a simple data recalculation is done: I get 60GB + 20GB extra based on price I pay = 80GB automatically before I consider any changes to plans. In this case I would never think that I was ripped-off. Something like my mobile company does. Don't you agree?
My usage is only web+streaming (kids) no P2P, usenet, etc. I pay by debit card, not credit - it is different, debit card payment carries no charge.

[#8]

Lets look at it very simply
This is what you get on BBYW 3
    Unlimited Email Addresses
    Broadband Phone PAYG 240 minutes included
    250MB Webspace with CGI and MySQL support
    £1 .co.uk domain available
    Host up to 5 domains for free
This is what you get on the current products
  Unlimited Email Addresses
    Broadband Phone PAYG no minutes included
  250MB Webspace with CGI and MySQL support
    £1 .co.uk domain available
    Host up to 5 domains for free
So what would a customer say if you were moved automatically to the current product and lost those
I know that if you request the move you will retain those items if you are already using them - but if you weren't you lose them and you may lose the free VOIP minutes in any case.
So a customer is moved without asking and then decides he would like to start using his webspace - answer - Tough you haven't got any as we took that away when we changed you to the new product without asking.

[#9]

Quote

When a new data package comes out, like £11.99 for 60GB + £1 per GB extra

The problem is that its not just data allowances that change with the new packages. The 'free' period can also change and traffic shaping can be very different on the new packages. Take me for instance, I was originally on the PAYG package with 2GB allowance, and changed to Value with 10GB allowance for about half the price I was paying. However there was no traffic shaping and PAYG whereas on Value , traffic shaping is considerable especially using PTP. Now I don't use PTP and so the shaping on Value didn't affect me too much, but before the transfer I needed to check and evaluate what the effect on MY usage would be!.
Hence why PlusNet don't automatically transfer people to new packages, they just inform you of them and it's up to you to evaluate and make a decision.

[#10]

[quote=w0wn0w]I pay by debit card, not credit - it is different, debit card payment carries no charge.
Just to correct a common misconception,  the charge you get on your debit card, IS NOT the equivalent of the charges that other organisations put on credit card transactions.
The additional charge is for payment by a method other than direct debit (which includes cheques etc), and the justification given was to cover the administration costs of failed payments by these other methods.

I also started with Orange on the 15min package, which as you say the cost stayed the same but the included minutes increased, but that hasn't changed for perhaps ten years.  I still receive regular updates from Orange, by text and email, telling me that I am on the best plan for my usage and that I don't need to change.  If I go to the Orange website, it is easy to find a slightly better value contract than I have now - but I can't be bothered with the hassle of a long chat to their Indian call centre where I find it impossible to make myself understood.  The other thing that Orange don't tell me, is that it would be far cheaper if I switched to a PAYG SIM card.  So Orange are not telling the whole truth,  whereas I am quite satisfied that Plusnet's emailed newsletter has always accurately kept me informed of the latest product updates when they have been released.

[#11]

Just to add - if you ticked the box under email settings which said
I would prefer not to receive electronic communications about the special offers, promotions and services available from PlusNet
Then it is your problem not Plusnet's as you have told them not to tell you about product changes etc.

[#12]

Quote from: Oldjim

Lets look at it very simply This is what you get on BBYW 3     Unlimited Email Addresses     Broadband Phone PAYG 240 minutes included     250MB Webspace with CGI and MySQL support     £1 .co.uk domain available     Host up to 5 domains for free

Broadband Phone PAYG 240 minutes included What's that?
250MB Webspace with CGI and MySQL support Hmmm... I have 4 hosting plans with a smallest 1GB @£10 p.y. + 2 resellers
£1 .co.uk domain available Never bought a domain from ISP (I own about 150 domains)
Host up to 5 domains for free 5 on 250 MB? Well, no comments
This is not a rant. I know you do spend your time trying to help and I do appreciate it.
What I want from ISP: connection, speed and data. Nothing else - just raw service. Without any latency. Without me thinking how long my kids watch BBC. I buy hosting from hosts, domains from registrars and VOIP from VOIP pros. All I want in this case is to buy connection from ISP. If it is not what PN sells, then sorry, I was wrong from the beginning as I know few companies that do exactly that. I am an Internet pro with dozens of sites and a "value added service" is not what I am after.

[#13]

As an internet pro I would have expected that you would have kept an eye on product changes either by going to the Plusnet website or by accepting emails about new products - it appears you did neither.
The Plusnet customer marketing was previously geared towards the more technically with it who would want and use the extra frills. Have a look at the section of the Forum dealing with it.
It has now changed to the user who only wants a connection and nothing much else. Either because the user is a complete novice who wouldn't know VOIP or web hosting if it dropped on their foot or because, like yourself, they get the other services from specialist companies.
For this reason the current products were introduced and they meet that requirement fairly well. The Value product serves the ordinary (all I want is emails and a bit of browsing) customer and Extra covers those who want to do a chunk of streaming with the overnight free period for downloading and the Pro option for a non throttled connection. They do not cover the - I want to download tens of GB every day user as that would be a commercial disaster as they found out when they introduced the unlimited product for a short time.

[#14]

Quote from: Oldjim

The Plusnet customer marketing was previously geared towards the more technically with it who would want and use the extra frills.

This is why I have joined.
I have checked, I didn't opt out of PN mails. I am using my domain mails and have spam filters set on high. So what you say is: if i use iPlayer for 2-3 hrs a day I should move? I don't P2P, download, etc. PN knows that, my usage is only Browsing + stream. Does it mean PN is not for me?

[#15]

You may have joined because of the extra frills but you don't use them now.
So it means that the new products are geared exactly to your needs - now why you didn't receive the emails about new products I have no idea
Unfortunately I can't check what I received as I routinely read them then delete them