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Good honest broadband ?? Is it?

Discopants
Newbie
Posts: 2
Registered: ‎26-09-2014

Good honest broadband ?? Is it?

I've had some technical broadband issues today, with my broadband dropping, so I started to do some troubleshooting and had to call the support number.
30 minutes on hold I eventually get through to a very pleasant chap who advises me on further troubleshooting. During my time on hold I'm looking through my plusnet emails and happen to notice that my billing from January through to august this year seems very steep for someone with unlimited broadband and calls package with a yearly prepaid line rental deal. 22 to 23 quid a month  Cheesy
My bill for September was only £7.50
I queried if I had been charged line rental for those 8 months and low and behold I was  :on. The nice plusnet chap says that this is a known issue with some prepaid line rental customers.
Well the nice chap has refunded me nearly 120 quid today. But I can't help but think it would have been much more responsible of plusnet , once knowing of this issue to run some checks on accounts with prepaid line rental and refunding people. It comes across as strange that the issue was corrected only this month and yet no one reached out to me and said I had been overcharged.
The support guy today was excellent, however I have come away with a bad taste in my mouth regarding the integrity of plusnet on the whole.
I have 2 months left on my current contract with plusnet and this issue has me seriously doubting if I should be retaining plusnet's services after this date Embarrassed
I would advise any yearly line rental package customers to check their billing.
Discopants
8 REPLIES 8
Mav
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 22,711
Thanks: 4,874
Fixes: 518
Registered: ‎06-04-2007

Re: Good honest broadband ?? Is it?

Mistakes can and do happen and, in many cases, are genuine.
What I do not understand is when customers/service users fail to regularly check their bills and bank statements so that any errors can be rectified early on.
Every month I check the validity of all bills and then check the amount actually taken by Direct Debit. Doesn't take long to do and saves bigger headaches further down the line.

Forum Moderator and Customer
Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear - Mark Twain
He who feared he would not succeed sat still

picbits
Rising Star
Posts: 3,435
Thanks: 23
Registered: ‎18-01-2013

Re: Good honest broadband ?? Is it?

Welcome to the strange world of a genuinely honest ISP with a genuinely flaky billing system.
Plusnet staff have always been honest on the forums about what happens when they make a mistake but it does still happen - their billing systems seem rather inflexible at times and I'd urge you to make sure you double check for the refund. If it doesn't appear, it won't be because of malicious reasons, it will be because of a genuine mistake.
For every customer who comes on here with an issue or billing mistake I'd guess there are a thousand out there with no problems - I vaguely remember there are around 700,000 Plusnet customers at the moment (I could be wrong) so mistakes will happen.
You'll also notice that any stuff posted on the forum, good or bad stays visible to both members and the Public which is also good as potential customers can read through what goes on and make an informed decision (as I did) as to the suitability of Plusnet for their needs.
Not a perfect ISP by any stretch but one of the better ones which is why I'm still with them and haven't felt the need to go elsewhere even though my contract was up a few months ago Smiley
P.s. Welcome to the forum Smiley
Mayfly
All Star
Posts: 1,562
Thanks: 419
Fixes: 1
Registered: ‎04-06-2009

Re: Good honest broadband ?? Is it?

I must admit don't always check my bill but do know what I expect to pay per month. I know how much my inclusive calls are any extras I have and my BB costs and as long as I'm within a couple of quid of that that's fine.
gary42
Grafter
Posts: 94
Registered: ‎09-07-2012

Re: Good honest broadband ?? Is it?

This happened to me around 18 months ago now. I was also told at the time that it was a known issue.
I had to request a refund every month for around 6 months until it got sorted.
Crazy that the problem still isn't fixed.
Discopants
Newbie
Posts: 2
Registered: ‎26-09-2014

Re: Good honest broadband ?? Is it?

This isn't my line of business, but this is either some sort of billing software glitch or it's human error in setting up my billing whenI renewed my contract.
If it's the former why isn't it sorted out after it's been a known issue for so long.
If it's the latter, then it's been corrected after 8 months of errors, but no notification still appears mighty strange to me....
We lead very busy lives with demanding jobs and a young family, I pay all my bills like this for the past 18 years and I've not had an issue before.
I will certainly be more vigilant in future on these things.  Wink
picbits
Rising Star
Posts: 3,435
Thanks: 23
Registered: ‎18-01-2013

Re: Good honest broadband ?? Is it?

I suspect it is probably both human error and a billing system glitch - yes it shouldn't happen in this technological day and age but something you'll get used to with Plusnet is that nothing seems to happen quickly  Grin
I'm not slating them - they may not be the most efficient company for getting things fixed but they do generally get there eventually and I still feel they are one of the better ISP's out there Smiley
petecov44
Grafter
Posts: 576
Registered: ‎29-05-2014

Re: Good honest broadband ?? Is it?

Yes it's human error, the error of the customer.
Nothing to say PN had to refund that it was "goodwill" only Id imagine. I did this many many times in my time there.
The truth is PN don't have the time or resources to look at every customer's account and notify them of billing problems or a better deal. The customer has full access 24/7 to their billing if they say they can't check they are being a Billy Bull.
Cruise85
Grafter
Posts: 105
Registered: ‎05-08-2014

Re: Good honest broadband ?? Is it?

Hi Guys
In regards to the problems that have been encountered with the line rental saver, I accept that due to an issue with the billing system, this can be very frustrating.
Our billing team hope to have resolved this issue, but as previously stated, problems can occur, and we will always do our best to try and resolve them as soon as possible and with the minimal amount of inconvenience.