Dear PlusNet Community,
Allow me to share with you me experience of Plus Net, and why I would personally recommend any new customers flee and existing begin to consider wrapping up your contracts.
In December of 2019 I was making a trip abroad to Andorra, for this trip I needed an alternative SIM card as mine would not work there. I looked online and found two deals:
- 15 and about 5GB data etc, no catch besides £10 cancellation fee if I remained with them for over a month.
- (PlusNet) £10, "14 days cancellation"
Obviously I thought "Save £5 and cancel so that I don't end up with with some overpriced cancellation fee, that's a great idea.
Service whilst abroad was so-so but given I'd only paid £10 I didn't complain, but here's the catch..
On 21/12 (less than two weeks from opening my contract) I spoke to Plus Net customer service informing them of my cancellation - I had to wait over 40 mins on the phone to get through and then was stalled at every turn to try and make me stay. I remained resolute and once I had verbal confirmation from the customer service individual I thanked them and hung up. Although it had used over an hour of my life I didn't complain, after all I'd saved a few £.
Now in Feb 2020 I discovered from my credit lender that my credit score had gone down, I thought "That's odd.. I've paid my water bill, electricity bill, gas bill, Internet bill, Phone bill and Tv licence" but even so I double checked all of the above and sure enough I hadn't missed anything. Eventually I paid to get a full report only to discover these serpents had racked up 2 months of charges onto my account and hadn't closed the contract as agreed on 21/12/19.
Of course I immediately called plus net on the phone and had a very unpleasant conversation with a, quite frankly, rude individual who insisted this was my fault as he accused me of "requesting a STAC code" or something of the likes, implying I'd intended to keep the number. I was very clear that I've had another contract for over two years and had no intention of changing the number from the temp sim at any point, ever. After a lot of salt and little service he told me it had been "closed" and insisted I'd have to pay the remaining bill, I asked him how best to do so and he said he'd forward me to the billing line, before promptly hanging up (and not fwding me to the billing line).
From this point I've wasted over three hours total of my life talking to a horrendous customer service team - so instead I decide to pay online.. I try to log into my online portal and... no dice. I spend about a month (as I have a full time job, external commitments and volunteer work) trying to get access to my online account. Once I'm on it there is no available way to pay my bill online... great. so helpful.
I spoke to customer service again at some point within Feb/March, I couldn't give you the exact date and was assured details for paying the bill would be arriving through email or the post. Shock horror these never came. I moved from my rented accommodation in May 2020 - over 5 months from my initial call to cancel.
Now within the last few months my credit score has taken hit after hit because plus net would not interact with me telling me the accounts been closed or that I need to pay with no way of paying (over 3 hours spent on hold at a few points). Recently I got through to their CS team via email and guess what... same story "It's your fault not ours, you need to pay".
Since then I managed to get this paid on November of 2020, 11 months after my initial cancellation call. The balance was under £30 total, however as a direct consequence of the worlds worst customer service my partner and I are unable to get the mortgage we've been saving for for over 5 years as my credit score has fallen over 150 points. This company has quite literally done direct damage to my partner and I's personal finance, personal futures and my personal mental wellbeing at this point.
I cannot express this enough. DO NOT CHOOSE PLUSNET, it doesn't matter if they're cheap, it doesn't matter how they lie to you. RUN, run like your future happiness and wellbeing depends on it.
