Downgrade account costs £79.57

[#1]

I have just gone through the motions of downgrading my account from premier to value.
I stopped when I discovered that there was a one-off charge  of £79.57 to do this......
I am part-way through a 12 month agreement ( £3 pm off) on the premier account - but can anyone explain this charge?

Slightly different question the 'value product' is available at  £5.99 on some exchanges but costs more on others.
I am on an expensive exchange  it will   cost me £11.99 after 3 months.   If I do transfer to the  'value product'  and my exchange does become a 'cheaper' exchange do I have to pay yet another fee to move to a £5.99 tariff?
I have been a plusnet customer for a long time - is all of this fair???

[#2]

Hi there,
I've replied to the ticket on your account.

[#3]

Matt - thanks that was more than fair . I have responded to the ticket....
can anyone answer the rest of the question or point me to a link that will ?
"Slightly different question the 'value product' is available at  £5.99 on some exchanges but costs more on others.
I am on an expensive exchange  it will  cost me £11.99 after 3 months.  If I do transfer to the  'value product'  and my exchange does become a 'cheaper' exchange do I have to pay yet another fee to move to a £5.99 tariff?"
I have just retired so need to conserve money     

[#4]

You pay the same fee for the duration of the contract, although you would have the option to recontract if you wished to. You would pay the newer price on the new contract.
Hope that helps,

[#5]

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"Slightly different question the 'value product' is available at  £5.99 on some exchanges but costs more on others".

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How do you work out when/if your exchange will end up cheaper?  i.e. cost £5.99 and not £11.99

Thanks
Allan

[#6]

run this program http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/adslchecker.php
look at the bottom of the result and it will say market 1,2 or 3.  to get the low cost you want to be in market 3

[#7]

Thanks for this -  how unfair the systems is - only if there is competition do BT have to lower the cost !!! 
I noticed on talk - talk website that they say e.g. the Dumfries exchange will be freed up for them in Jan next year? Is this some sort of estimate of talk-talk's - or is there an estimate somewhere of when exchanges will convert?
adie:quote

[#8]

The actual criteria for a Market 3 exchange:

Quote from: OfCom

Market 3 – those areas covered by exchanges where there are 4 or more wholesale operators. This market covers 64.4% of U.K premises.

Taken from http://www.ofcom.org.uk/media/news/2007/11/nr_20071115
You can see more detail about this on http://www.samknows.com especially if you do an exchange search.

[#9]

Quote from: orbrey

The actual criteria for a Market 3 exchange: Quote from: OfCom Market 3 – those areas covered by exchanges where there are 4 or more wholesale operators. This market covers 64.4% of U.K premises.

The main criteria is a minimum of 10000 subscribers.  My own exchange has AOL, O2/Be, Orange, Talk-Talk and Tiscali but with 8500 customers we're stuck in a Market 2 area.

[#10]

Quote from: pd

The main criteria is a minimum of 10000 subscribers.

My exchange has 9,523!

[#11]

Shall we build a few of those stylish new city blocks of flats then ? 

[#12]

You could ask to have a few extra lines installed

[#13]

Quote from: dfstrottersfan

only if there is competition do BT have to lower the cost !!!

I think you'll find that is 100% the wrong way round.
i.e. only if there is competition are BT allowed to lower the cost 
You're having at go at the wrong people (surprisingly) 

[#14]

Plusnet is a wholly owned subsidiary of BT Group Plc - the same company that owns BT retail and a load of other companies.