Expensive mistake

[#1]

At about 11pm on the 31st May i went over my usage limit by 0.01 of a gig and by midnight was 0.06 over my 80gig allowance. I forgot to tell my daughter to stop using the net so i know its over the limit and i know that it caught up with itself thats why it jumped to 0.06 even though i dont think anyone was on the net Blah Blah my question is i have paid an extra £5 for 5 gig at about 11pm i couldnt with the best will in the world have used downloaded streamed whatever 5 gigs worth in 1 hour so is this a penalty charge or was this genuinly for 5 gig even though it would be impossible for me to use that much as my download speed never exceeds 400kbps ?

[#2]

When you go over your usage they charge £5 for 5GB more bandwidth, so you'll have paid for a further 5GB even if you didn't use this much. You can set a limit within your account to prevent you being able to exceed your standard usage. Login to your account, choose connection settings and then manage my usage. Set that as £0.00 and you'll then not be able to exceed your usage and will not end up paying for extra bandwidth.

[#3]

On what date each month does your billing cycle end?

[#4]

Set https://portal.plus.net/data_transfer_watch/ to £0 which will stop it happening again.

[#5]

Hi Guys  Thanks for the info.i will do that.  I know the concept of the 5 gig as my billing ends at the end of each calendar month but it was such a small amont over my limit and this occured at 11 pm on the 31st May. When this is added there is no allowance made for time and date etc over is over no matter what time i presume if i clicked over  .01 at 11.59pm i will still be charged the 5 gig so it seems to me more of a penalty charge than adding more bandwidth to use as it would be impossible to use any of the 5 gig. Dont get me wromg its my fault and i know it is but my point is if it is physically impossible to use this extra bandwidth then it is more of a penalty charge.

[#6]

But looking at it a different way, the alternative to adding extra bandwidth is to restrict speeds. Had you been downloading something at the time (or was about to do so) you might not have been best pleased if a speed restriction kicked in. As others have mentioned Data Transfer Watch provides users with means to choose.
If Plusnet should ignore small amounts, how much is a "small amount"? On this occasion 0.1GB would have covered you but if extra usage had reached 0.11GB should that be charged?

[#7]

An interesting concept is that I stoped using PN on the 1st of June because I managed to get my primary ISP to work at the distance from my computer to the router, but that is another story, however since then my usage stats say I have used in total since ththe 1st June is in total 2144.17KB, what I'm saying is that when you are not using the internet you are still syncing with the system and are adding usage to your allowance, perhaps PN should allow for this when you are just over your limit and not be charging you for the exta 5 Meg

[#8]

A excellent point Bryan thankyou

[#9]

tnks  for the  usuage  tip . ok im a  newbie  and  well within my  limit , but  i  will set    it  now
as  mentioned

[#10]

Quote from: spraxyt

But looking at it a different way, the alternative to adding extra bandwidth is to restrict speeds.

How about looking at it in the really simple way of traditional commerce. 
PN imposed an additional charge without asking for consent at the time. 
The charge bares little relation to the cost of supply. 
Profiteering or penalty, call it what you will, incurring the charge is not reasonably within the customers interest.

Quote

Had you been downloading something at the time (or was about to do so) you might not have been best pleased if a speed restriction kicked in.

True, but having not paid for something you want, you would expect to have to agree to pay for it before receiving it.  Such a fundamental commercial principle, the average 5 year old can understand it.  It is no more difficult to make additional bandwidth opt in as the current opt out.
So yes, PN must choose the lesser of two evils but taking money without asking for it is pretty damn evil.

Quote

If Plusnet should ignore small amounts, how much is a "small amount"? On this occasion 0.1GB would have covered you but if extra usage had reached 0.11GB should that be charged?

It is really pretty simple to decide internally what a 'reasonable' error margin might be.  Businesses do it all the time.  I would in this instance, considering the low cost of supply, suggest 25% is a reasonable amount for PN to pay for customer satisfaction and the loyalty it leads to.

[#11]

Quote from: msssltd

PN imposed an additional charge without asking for consent at the time.

Absolute tosh!
The user signed up to a package with a clearly defined usage allowance and a clearly defined charge for going over the allowance. By signing up to the package he agreed to those terms and conditions and had therefore given content to the additional charge in advance.

[#12]

I'm afraid I agree with jelv , to use a popular expression, in this case msssltd your statements are wrong, and your 25% suggestion is daft IMHO.
As to making extra bandwidth an opt-in option rather than opt-out, well obviously that is debatable. Maybe that option should be part of the Sales/Sign up journey, so EU's have that matter drawn to their attention at sign up.

[#13]

I’ve followed this thread with interest and as a user for six months and not knowing what my extra usage limit was I thought I would check, it took me 14 minutes to find out how to do it and see what the set up was, low and behold it was set up by default to no limit, I have never got close to my 10 GB limit but I can appreciate some new users can, I have altered my extra to £0 but I would suggest that new users should automatically be set by default to £0 and if they require extra they can change it to what they require subject to their requirements and budget

[#14]

I would agree with that

[#15]

Quote from: BryanP

I’ve followed this thread with interest and as a user for six months and not knowing what my extra usage limit was I thought I would check, it took me 14 minutes to find out how to do it and see what the set up was, low and behold it was set up by default to no limit, I have never got close to my 10 GB limit but I can appreciate some new users can, I have altered my extra to £0 but I would suggest that new users should automatically be set by default to £0 and if they require extra they can change it to what they require subject to their requirements and budget

It's not that I disagree with your point completely, but I don't think I am alone in saying that a lot of customers probably aren't 100% sure about the Data Transfer Cap capability, even though there is information regarding this feature on the website. If we pre-set the usage allowance so a customer could not go over, I can only imagine the amount of calls it would drive into the CSC purely because their broadband speeds have been reduced, due to hitting their 10GB usage limit.
Personally, I think doing what you have stated would suit some customers, but would most likely cause a lot of confusion - this is of course just my personal opinion.