Timescale information for a new to broadband (and Plusnet phone) customer
Hi there.
Today I helped a friend sign up for broadband for the first time, and transfer their landline to Plusnet at the same time. (Username: jemima2009)
On the phone, I was told that it would take 5 to 7 days for the broadband to be activated, and the router would be sent out 48 hours before this activation. Then 7 to 9 days after the broadband had been activated, the home landline would be transferred over to Plusnet (including cancelling the service and anytime package with BT for us).
However the current portal home page https://portal.plus.net/index_portal.html for this account says:
which I don't think is clear - it might mean that the phone service transfer will take 2-3 weeks AFTER the broadband activation.
(Screenshot showing this.)
Then I've had another thought too. My friends have paid the year's (eve&w/e) line rental up front, plus the first £3.24/month Value broadband, plus the £4.99 p&p for the router. I was told on the phone that all this money would be taken at once, today. But the current portal home page says under the "Your phone order" heading:
Which suggests to me that the year's line rental shouldn't be charged until the phone service is provided by Plusnet. And anyway, it doesn't seem fair to charge for line rental when the phone service isn't active for 2-3 weeks.
I don't know whether it's the wording on the webpage (that only appears for new customers) that needs clarifying, whether there is genuinely something unfair going on, or whether I've been given incorrect information on the phone. Please would someone clarify the timescales of service activations & money being taken from cards/accounts.
Thanks.
Today I helped a friend sign up for broadband for the first time, and transfer their landline to Plusnet at the same time. (Username: jemima2009)
On the phone, I was told that it would take 5 to 7 days for the broadband to be activated, and the router would be sent out 48 hours before this activation. Then 7 to 9 days after the broadband had been activated, the home landline would be transferred over to Plusnet (including cancelling the service and anytime package with BT for us).
However the current portal home page https://portal.plus.net/index_portal.html for this account says:
Quote Once your broadband service is active, we'll arrange to switch your phone service from your current provider. This will take 2-3 weeks.
which I don't think is clear - it might mean that the phone service transfer will take 2-3 weeks AFTER the broadband activation.
Then I've had another thought too. My friends have paid the year's (eve&w/e) line rental up front, plus the first £3.24/month Value broadband, plus the £4.99 p&p for the router. I was told on the phone that all this money would be taken at once, today. But the current portal home page says under the "Your phone order" heading:
(See above screenshot.)
Quote Your phone order
<...>
We'll take your first monthly payment 1 month after your service becomes active.
Which suggests to me that the year's line rental shouldn't be charged until the phone service is provided by Plusnet. And anyway, it doesn't seem fair to charge for line rental when the phone service isn't active for 2-3 weeks.
I don't know whether it's the wording on the webpage (that only appears for new customers) that needs clarifying, whether there is genuinely something unfair going on, or whether I've been given incorrect information on the phone. Please would someone clarify the timescales of service activations & money being taken from cards/accounts.
Thanks.
HI guys,
Ok, just to clarify a few things. We always take the first months' broadband as part of the initial fee, but the 2nd month isn't taken until the broadband has been active for one month. No charges are made for phone line rental until the phone service goes active.
As for the discrepancy with the lead time, from what you say it looks like the initial response was borne out of a presumption that the line was on the BT network, when in fact the previous provider was a full LLU provider. The reason behind that is that as we provide broadband over the BT network only, where there is a line that is currently on the BT network we can just place a broadband order which takes 7 days - we then bring the phone over later. If the line is not on the BT network (LLU) then we have to wait for the phone to be active before we place the broadband order. So it looks like your friend was actually on LLU.
Hope that explains things a bit better.
Jojo
Ok, just to clarify a few things. We always take the first months' broadband as part of the initial fee, but the 2nd month isn't taken until the broadband has been active for one month. No charges are made for phone line rental until the phone service goes active.
As for the discrepancy with the lead time, from what you say it looks like the initial response was borne out of a presumption that the line was on the BT network, when in fact the previous provider was a full LLU provider. The reason behind that is that as we provide broadband over the BT network only, where there is a line that is currently on the BT network we can just place a broadband order which takes 7 days - we then bring the phone over later. If the line is not on the BT network (LLU) then we have to wait for the phone to be active before we place the broadband order. So it looks like your friend was actually on LLU.
Hope that explains things a bit better.
Jojo
Quote Also Invoice no. 31866665 shows that line rental saver for £113.88 has already been taken and paid for
Sorry, it does vary with line rental saver. If that's taken at the point of signup it should be charged against the first bill, if an existing customer opts for it we take the payment on the next billing date.
Quote the person I spoke to on the phone needs to be trained to give better information,
As per your post that I replied to this morning I'll pass some feedback on about that. I believe that the initial experience of a new customer should be smooth and intuitive without them having to do the leg work to find out what's happening with their order.
Quote I think you may not have read my original post fully, and may have conflated this thread with the other thread I started which you replied
Apologies, you're right it looks like I might have done that, do point out if there's any other points I've missed and I'll make sure they get addressed.
Quote JoJo said above that the current phone provider is a full-LLU provider, which would explain why the current portal home pages says it will be 2 to 3 weeks before the Plusnet phone is active. (It would normally be 7 to 9 days after broadband activation for Plusnet phone activation when transferred from BT or BT-based non-LLU providers.) But as I said above, I've seen the BT Anytime phone bill, and as far as I know BT are never full-LLU providers.
That's definitely rightBT have never provided full LLU, however we're not in any doubt that the current service is full LLU so you may want to check with BT as your service may not be with them at present. Either way the phone order will be on the 2 to 3 week timescale I'm afraid.
Quote I still don't know what should be happening when!
As mentioned we're looking at 2 to 3 weeks for the line install and a further 7 for broadband, the initial charge has been taken and subscription should be billed for upon activation.
hope that helps, let me know if there's anything else I can help with there.
Quote Who is this other provider?
We don't know which is why I'm advising that you contact BT.
Quote Who do I need to contact at BT?
Your friends should have the relevant contact details for that.
With regards to payments there's only been one single invoice for an initial payment which refers to the first month of subscription, the activation fee and postage and packing for your friend's hardware, I can't honestly see any issues with anything else you've mentioned there.
Quote says first subscription payment taken now, but as it's already been taken at (2), what does this mean?
The wording of taken now could also be taken as the fee has already been taken which is what that seems to refer to.
Quote 7) One month after Home Phone being active, the first monthly payment is taken.
One calendar month (i.e. the same date each month), four weeks (28 days), or 20 working days?
a billing month, so that would be done on their next invoice date, that usually means 30 days, of course if your friend has taken LRS that won't apply.
Quote 9) What does the current portal home page mean by "first monthly payment" at (7) in this case anyway? As my friends have taken Line Rental Saver, there isn't a regular monthly payment to take for phone. But on the webpage, that sentence is in the "Your phone order" paragraph. But if it meant broadband, then it can't be the "first" because this has already been taken at (2) (or maybe it should be (5)).
Again, tt refers to both but that information will be displayed just the same whether someone takes LRS or not so they won't be paying the LRS payment and line rental together.
So to recap so far we've billed for Line rental saver, router postage and packing and the first month of broadband subscription. One month on from activation they should be billed for the next month of subscription (broadband only) and any excess data or call charges that may be applicable from the usage on their first month.
I hope that clears it up for you.
Hi Adam.
full-LLU or BT
I spent half an hour on the phone with BT on Saturday, bashing my head against the brick wall that is BT call centres as you suggested.
They kept insisting that it was a BT line, with the Anytime call package supplied by BT, and that it couldn't be anything else as all the customer details and the account number matched up. I then rang Plusnet and was told that it was a BT line, and BT were the current provider, and the transfer was going ahead without a problem - they couldn't understand why you had said otherwise. 
Perhaps you and JoJo failed to take note of the account username this is in regard to, which I put in my original post in this thread? If so, I hope you haven't initiated phone service transfer from a different account that I have communicated with you about! 
Phone activation timescale - told different things
They also said that the quoted 2 to 3 weeks on the current portal home page for phone activation is correct for a transfer from BT (as well as for a transfer from a full-LLU provider), so JoJo was wrong to say:
It would be 2 to 3 weeks, regardless of whether it was a transfer from a LLU provider or straight from BT. And my original phone contact at Plusnet CSC was wrong to quote 7 to 9 days for phone activation as well.
Your responses, with my corrections as strikethroughs and bolds
I see you get this right later on, in the recap at the bottom...
But the phone won't be active till 2 to 3 weeks after broadband activation, so when you say "their first month" in regard to call charges, do you mean the 1 or 2 weeks from when the phone service is active till the end of your "30-day billing month starting from broadband activation"?
Am I right in thinking that your "30-day billing month" does start from broadband activation?
Even for charges relating to the phone service?
Even for Line Rental Saver, meaning one is paying for phone service without receiving any?
And what do you mean by "usually means 30 days" - as in the 30-day billing month? Do you mean calendar month - September, April, June, and November have 31 days, and February has 28 or 29, but the rest have 30 - so the numerical date is always the same for billing? If so, is there an exception on weekends and bank holidays, and if so, what is it?
Conclusion
So, all in all, every Plusnet person and every Plusnet webpage has either got something wrong or isn't as clear as they should be. Would you like me to point all these mistakes out?
I would still like clarification on all these points please, ideally in the form of a list of dates and events and charges. Thank you.
full-LLU or BT
Quote from: snozboz
Quote from: _Adam_Walker_ we're not in any doubt that the current service is full LLU so you may want to check with BT as your service may not be with them at present.
This is worrying. My friends are paying BT for BT Anytime on the phone number I supplied when signing up to Plusnet Home Phone, so how is another provider (full-LLU) involved?!
I spent half an hour on the phone with BT on Saturday, bashing my head against the brick wall that is BT call centres as you suggested.
They kept insisting that it was a BT line, with the Anytime call package supplied by BT, and that it couldn't be anything else as all the customer details and the account number matched up. I then rang Plusnet and was told that it was a BT line, and BT were the current provider, and the transfer was going ahead without a problem - they couldn't understand why you had said otherwise. Perhaps you and JoJo failed to take note of the account username this is in regard to, which I put in my original post in this thread? If so, I hope you haven't initiated phone service transfer from a different account that I have communicated with you about! Phone activation timescale - told different things
They also said that the quoted 2 to 3 weeks on the current portal home page for phone activation is correct for a transfer from BT (as well as for a transfer from a full-LLU provider), so JoJo was wrong to say:
Quote from: Joanne As for the discrepancy with the lead time, from what you say it looks like the initial response was borne out of a presumption that the line was on the BT network, when in fact the previous provider was a full LLU provider
It would be 2 to 3 weeks, regardless of whether it was a transfer from a LLU provider or straight from BT. And my original phone contact at Plusnet CSC was wrong to quote 7 to 9 days for phone activation as well.
Your responses, with my corrections as strikethroughs and bolds
Quote from: _Adam_Walker_ With regards to payments there's only been one single invoice for an initial payment which refers to the first month of subscription for broadband, plus the discount for the first 12 months, the activation feethe line rental saver and postage and packing for your friend's hardware
I see you get this right later on, in the recap at the bottom...
Quote from: _Adam_Walker_ So to recap so far we've billed for Line rental saver, router postage and packing and the first month of broadband subscription. One month on from activation of broadband, presumably, they should be billed for the next month of subscription (broadband only) and any excess data or call charges that may be applicable from the usage on their first month.
But the phone won't be active till 2 to 3 weeks after broadband activation, so when you say "their first month" in regard to call charges, do you mean the 1 or 2 weeks from when the phone service is active till the end of your "30-day billing month starting from broadband activation"?
Am I right in thinking that your "30-day billing month" does start from broadband activation?
Even for charges relating to the phone service?
Even for Line Rental Saver, meaning one is paying for phone service without receiving any?
And what do you mean by "usually means 30 days" - as in the 30-day billing month? Do you mean calendar month - September, April, June, and November have 31 days, and February has 28 or 29, but the rest have 30 - so the numerical date is always the same for billing? If so, is there an exception on weekends and bank holidays, and if so, what is it?
Conclusion
So, all in all, every Plusnet person and every Plusnet webpage has either got something wrong or isn't as clear as they should be. Would you like me to point all these mistakes out?
I would still like clarification on all these points please, ideally in the form of a list of dates and events and charges. Thank you.
I thought I'd already done what I can to clarify things to be honest. Happy to give you a list of dates and charges, literally the only thing I mentioned which isn't right is the mention of an activation fee (I meant to say initial fee) However I can't do that on here because it relates to another person's account which is why I've not been able to go into specific details.
If you can raise a ticket from the account in question and reply back here I'll make sure we give you what your asking for.
The two billing dates are alligned so you'd only pay for a part month
Correct
Can you clarify that question please?
Yes, however as mentioned the billing dates are aligned when the phone service is activated to take that into account.
As for 30 days, it means 30 days 24 hours x 30, literally
As mentioned, drop us a ticket on the right account stating exactly what you're after and I'll make sure you get a correct reply.
If you can raise a ticket from the account in question and reply back here I'll make sure we give you what your asking for.
Quote But the phone won't be active till 2 to 3 weeks after broadband activation, so when you say "their first month" in regard to call charges, do you mean the 1 or 2 weeks from when the phone service is active till the end of your "30-day billing month starting from broadband activation"?
The two billing dates are alligned so you'd only pay for a part month
Quote Am I right in thinking that your "30-day billing month" does start from broadband activation?
Correct
Quote Even for charges relating to the phone service?
Can you clarify that question please?
Quote Even for Line Rental Saver, meaning one is paying for phone service without receiving any?
Yes, however as mentioned the billing dates are aligned when the phone service is activated to take that into account.
As for 30 days, it means 30 days 24 hours x 30, literally
As mentioned, drop us a ticket on the right account stating exactly what you're after and I'll make sure you get a correct reply.