Why I have left Plusnet

[#1]

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@billnotben wrote:

Something plusnet don't seem to get is that they are no longer alone and are now just one of several in the basement. All swapping many of the same customers back and forth with "great" offers for new customers all subsidised by old customers.

Who's going to drop the ball first and make an honest and fair try to retain old customers.

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They can't give the new customer prices to existing customers because the great offers for new customers are at loss making or otherwise unsustainable low prices. It'll be like asking "When are people going to stop expecting such unrealistic low prices?".

[#2]

Until  someone realizes that quantity is NOT better than quality NOWT will change .

instead of offering the same as everyone else , they should look at what people want NOT what marketing tells them !! 

[#3]

When Lee Strafford engineered the sale of PN to BT, there was a lot of head-scratching on why BT would want PN and what BT would do with it. At the time, PN wasn’t a natural fit.

I never knew the real answer. But now things are getting clearer: I can see on the horizon PN Home accounts being folded into BT Internet and Business accounts into BT Connect.

There will then be no need to sort out the lack of TLS security for email or to fix webmail: business users will be moved to a restricted Microsoft O365 Exchange Server service and home users to white-labelled Critical Path (which will be compared unfavourably with Microsoft's new and still free outlook.com service)  

Billing will shift to mainstream BT billing.

The knowledgeable support staff will see the writing on the wall and the adverts’ Mr Cheeky Chappie will acquire an estuary accent.

Present PN senior management will get lots of BT Brownie points because such a move will provide further economies of scale.

I am just extrapolating PN's present trends. Perhaps someone else can draw different conclusions from them.

[#4]

BT would lose the ability to bounce users between BT & Plusnet in search of saving a couple of quid.

There would emerge a swarm of small players for BT to play against.

At present Plusnet holds most of them at bay.

Impossible to say what the profitability of Plusnet is at present.

[#5]

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@ejs wrote:

They can't give the new customer prices to existing customers because the great offers for new customers are at loss making or otherwise unsustainable low prices.

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I was told by plusnet, on both chat and phone, that it was not allowed/illegal to provide a service at a loss which is why they couldn't offer anything like a similar price of a new customer.

So by their own logic we have a new customer - free router, free connection charge, low price = profit

Old customer - already has router, already connected, same price as a new customer = loss

Something doesn't seem to add up.

[#6]

Except:-

• New customer - cut price deals, hardware, router etc - but spread over a very long contract period = a very small profit.
• Old customer - not on a contract has a contract period of one month (no contract), so only what they can charge you = small profit.

I'm assuming that Plusnet has big outgoings for things like customer support. Not sure that is quite valid.

[#7]

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@VileReynard wrote:

• Old customer - not on a contract has a contract period of one month

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I was thinking more along the lines of a direct comparison to the "special contracts" they offer some old customers.

[#8]

With Ofcom's Sharon White having just made it abundantly clear to Gavin Patterson that cash-cow BTOR (shortly to lose its BT prefix) should be fed better and milked more equitably, the pressure will come on other BT businesses  to improve earnings. With BTOR’s revenue streams having to be even more transparent*, it would (to me) be inconceivable that BT would ignore the chance to hoover up as many domestic and rate-tart customers as they can just shy of being referred to the Competition and Markets Authority. If the latter did get a look in, BT could strongly hint at victimisation ("You took OR and now you want us to shed BT customers as well").

I have had a PN business account since 2004. One attraction was timely and knowledgeable service. Another was the ‘package’ of Internet connection, email and webspace (with active pages as well as simple HTML/Jscript). In practice, email service development stopped ages ago, and the only website offering to new customers is to businesses only and then just ‘home pages’ which effectively makes it pointless (even a Contact page form or hit counter or database update needs PHP or similar). And although short of IPv4 address space, offering IPv6 (except for limited trials) simply hasn't happened.  

My sympathy lies with PN’s many experienced and knowledgeable staff who have to defend inaction, while the cause lies with PN’s BT management who wish to take the business in a different direction.  

And my suggestion is that PN’s customers and potential customers read the runes: if the apparent direction in price and service suits them, excellent. If not, the remedy is equally clear.   

* - when the UK finally Brexits, I could see Ofcom telling Patterson that separation hasn't worked and that BT and OR must divorce. Such timing would avoid foot-dragging appeals to the EU courts

[#9]

The like/thanks count on the initial post in this topic keeps ticking along (now up to 61) and still no response from Plusnet.

I wonder if it's like the Government petitions (they have to be debated in Parliament if a petition passes 100,000 signatories) and we'll get a response when it passes 100 likes.

[#10]

what response are you wanting though?
you've already left so they don't need offer you apologies or anything.

[#11]

Jelv's well-reasoned original post clearly struck a chord with many of us who have applauded and empathized with him on the issues which he clearly went to so much trouble to describe.  Whilst Plusnet may now see Jelv as a lost cause, I would have expected Plusnet to have some regard for those of us who identified with him, but continue to "hang in there", - and maybe value our custom sufficiently to want to give us some reassurances / answers.

[#12]

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@chenks76 wrote:
what response are you wanting though?
you've already left so they don't need offer you apologies or anything.

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There is a need for an ISP who offers a competent technical service at a reasonable price. Plusnet used to be that. I can afford to pay more to ensure I get the level of service I need, but that doesn't stop me trying to get Plusnet to improve for the good of the wider community. When I stop working I may decide the extra cost is no longer warranted and be looking at a price/service level compromise. It would be great if Plusnet got it's act together by that time, but I can't see any indications that that will happen.

[#13]

How many customers do you expect such an ISP to have, and how would their prices compare to the lowest on the market?

[#14]

If they build it, we will come !

[#15]

I expect the vast majority of people will either be sticking with their current provider because they don't switch, or switching to the cheapest provider at the end of their contract. The few wanting a more technically competent provider will be switching to a necessarily slightly more expensive and smaller provider.

I'm sure everyone wants the best service at the lowest price, but it's a case of getting what you pay for.