Misled by Plusnet's sales advisor

[#1]

Hello all,
I ordered Plusnet Fibre Broadband last month just days before BT's big BT Sport announcement. It made me quickly shop around after a number of year's loyalty with Plusnet.
Originally I thought I had been quoted by Plusnet £26.99 a month for their new package, but a few days later their website said £19.99 a month. I had little to refer to about monthly costs because Plusnet do not send e-mails with the cost agreed, nor do they write to you with the price quote. So as I was shopping around I rang about 5 days later asking them how much I was paying and whether it was £26.99 or £19.99. My order was not to be processed for another week.
I spoke to the sales update department saying I was still shopping around following BT's announcement and depending on the price I may still cancel my order. He said he couldn't see the specific price I had been quoted but could not see why I wouldn't be paying £19.99 as he had not heard of a £26.99 figure before. Happy with this I hung up and stuck with them and thought little more of it.
Now my first bill has come through at £31.99. £5 for an add-on package I was told would be removed on my new order, and £26.99 for the broadband package!
When I call Plusnet tonight the advisor said he would remove the £5 monthly add-on (but wouldn't apologise or refund for the mistake) and said I had agreed £26.99 at the time of my order and had no notes on the system about the subsequent call. I have made a complaint, particularly as no figure was provided in writing by e-mail or post, nor on their account pages of the website until the order was complete, and the sales department misled me on my second call.
Do I have a leg to stand on now I'm properly into my contract and had likely agreed a price different to the one quoted a second time? It's really put me off Plusnet, their customer service has gone downhill.

[#2]

Hi Jonathan,
We haven't actually missold you.
Because you are in what is referred to as a market 1 area, our costs are higher and subsequently we charge our customers more in those areas. You are being charged exactly what we charge all customers for that product in that type of area. The headline price is for customers in market 2+3 which equates to about 90% of the population.  We do state the costs for market 1 areas during the sign up pages.
I've refunded the £5 charge.

[#3]

But surely the sales department should have known what market area he was in and advised him accordingly?
And why is there no record of his call?

[#4]

Quote from: James

Hi Jonathan, We haven't actually missold you. Because you are in what is referred to as a market 1 area, our costs are higher and subsequently we charge our customers more in those areas. You are being charged exactly what we charge all customers for that product in that type of area. The headline price is for customers in market 2+3 which equates to about 90% of the population.  We do state the costs for market 1 areas during the sign up pages. I've refunded the £5 charge.

You have missold me because when I rang to query the price a second time I explained if it was £26.99 I was going to cancel my order. Your sales team told me they didn't know what this £26.99 figure was and from looking online it would be £19.99. At no point have you given me the figure in writing. If you had told me it was £26.99 I would now be with BT.
Do you have this second call available to listen back to? Could you advise how to raise this further - an Ombudsman?

[#5]

The highest point of escalation is basically the person typing this message.
I'm happy to take your word for it without needing to listen to the call - I think someone has basically neglected your market area and I'm really sorry they didn't allow you to cancel the order.  I can either discount your broadband down to £19.99 for the remainder of your contract or you can leave free of charge.

[#6]

Thank you James. I am happy to pay £19.99 seeing as it the price I thought I was paying.
My one piece of feedback would be that Plusnet should send everyone the figure in an email or by post so there can be no confusion (this wasn't listed on my account). If I had that I wouldn't have needed to make a second call, and we would all know where we are.
jim:quote

[#7]

Thanks - That's all sorted now.
We're looking at including that information in a welcome letter we'll be sending to all new signups.
Having said that, you *should* have received an email with that information.

[#8]

Ah - My mistake.  I didn't realise this was a product change, I thought it was a new sign up.

[#9]

James, We've frequently raised the issue of the lack of a product change confirmation email on here. It should also include the price.

[#10]

Yes, it would benefit us all. It's one word against another otherwise.

[#11]

Yep, noted.

[#12]

Quote from: jelv

James, We've frequently raised the issue of the lack of a product change confirmation email on here. It should also include the price.

Yes, yes it should.
It's on Bob's workstack to write this email, so I'll prod him when he's back from holiday.

[#13]

Quote from: James

Yep, noted.

Ah!  But will it be actioned James    The "noted" queue looks a bit full.
M