Wrong advice provided by Plusnet Advisor

[#1]

I was recommended to plusnet and called them to get the best professional advice on the package that would suit my dear elderly mother.
The account was set up on line due to waiting over 15 minutes but advice had been sorted prior from the plusnet advisors so I was happy to join them
She required internet for the grandchildren when they visited and I was advised 10GB was the best offer. We are 3- 4  weeks into the contract and have received an email to inform me that the limit has been exceeded and a £5 charge will be added to the bill.
I called Plusnet, explained the whole situation, and asked to be upgraded to the £4.99 unlimited package which should have been the more suitable package.
The advisor then tried to tie me into a 24 month contract with £4.99 for 12 months and the full price thereafter.
I refused as my mother may not even live the 24 months but the advisor was more than happy to cancel my account with the cancelation fee charged.
I highlighted that as a customer I was badly advised and this needs to be resolved and that with over 11 months left on my account I am sure as a reputable business surly the offer can be implemented to retain custom and ensure customer satisfaction.
Your advisor was not very helpful and was happy for me to cancel my account and leave.
Can anyone advise what the best way forward for me, otherwise with this type of customer care I am sure there would be other companies out there that would be more than happy to have my business. 

[#2]

I didn't know PN did 24 month contracts.
I think you have two options to avoid future excessive data charges:
1) Upgrade to unlimited (new 12 month contract) - http://www.plus.net/info2/legal/price_guide.html?source=legals
2) Set a limit on additional data to £0, so if you go over the 10GB, you don't face any charges but you connection speed slows down until the next billing period where it is reset to normal.

[#3]

Whilst 10GB per month should be more than enough for the primary user the grandchildren clearly are more demanding. As suggested you could follow the standard account upgrade path to Unlimited but that would cause the current discount to be lost. I think the 24 month tie in is a retention offer to protect the discount.
In the circumstances I suggest leaving this until the Digital Care Team are here again on Tuesday. They might be able to sort things out to your mutual satisfaction.

[#4]

Quote

I didn't know PN did 24 month contracts.

They do, yes, have been offered one.

[#5]

The 24 month retention offer makes sense if the OP's mother signed up to a special offer for the 10GB Essentials Broadband on a 12 month contract.
The normal rules for changing products are fairly simple:

Quote

Rules for current products (Plusnet Essentials and Plusnet Unlimited) With a contract - switching between products is free and won't effect the length of the contract - the contract cancellation fee will be recalculated based on the cost of the new product and the remainder of the current contract - switching to fibre optic broadband starts a new contract and is subject to the terms stated below Without a contract - switching between products is free and customers can choose whether to start a new contract - switching to fibre optic broadband starts a new contract and is subject to the terms stated below

I do think there should be a link in the "Here's the Legal Bit" to additional charges that someone on an Essentials product will face if they exceed their data limit in a month. In the Plus Net Price Guide it doesn't mention that usage includes total data transferred (downstream/upstream) and the times (peak/off peak) the usage counts towards your monthly limit. I couldn't find a link towards the 'usage guideline' and how data is calculated etc.
Another unrelated thing, at the bottom of the home page it says 2012 © Plusnet plc. Needs an update

[#6]

How can anyone advise you on how much you are going to use?,  its like advising you how many sweets you will eat in a month, how much petrol you would use in a car. 

[#7]

@scorpion, I'm just drawing your attention to an offer made on ticket 67752200.

[#8]

@scorpion
As you are now into the second month, I'm assuming you haven't exceeded this months allowance yet, but in any event, go to https://portal.plus.net/data_transfer_watch/ ; (login required) and set the Maximum extra monthly spend to £0.00. If you have already exceeded the allowance you'll probably have to set it to £5.00.
If the offer on the ticket is not the £4.99 offer price you would have got had you been correctly advised, then I would pursue a formal complaint of mis-selling.

Quote from: peterb99

How can anyone advise you on how much you are going to use?,   its like advising you how many sweets you will eat in a month, how much petrol you would use in a car.

Very simply. A properly trained adviser would be able to say that today's children like to stream video, you-tube etc. 1 hour of HD streaming can easily use between 2-3Gb of data, so it wouldn't need much to virtually use all of a 10Gb allowance. The advise given was bad. It is sad to say that it is quite evident from the posts on this forum that Plusnet have taken on far too many new customers too quickly without sufficient adequately trained advisers in Sales/Provisioning.

[#9]

I am having the same problem .The advisor told me I would not go over my 10GB limit then got bill for extra 10GB, within my first month,  rang up PN to up grade to unlimited which at time of setting up contract was£4.99 and currently still is but PN advisor told me that this price was not available as I am no longer a new customer.
Another surprising fact is that my previous usage allowance was only 5GB which I never ever exceeded and thought that with this extra allowance I would be able to download music.
Will be taking this further as not a happy customer.

[#10]

I don't blame you, get given bad advice and then refuse to do the decent thing. What time did you ring in? You need to speak to Customer Options and bend and ear or two.
Is it streaming music or dwonloading and if downloading, how are you doing it, with P2P?

[#11]

@darrell
I'm really sorry you were advised that, we'll always try and advise new customers that are unsure how much they may use but realistically we can't predict whether anyone would exceed their usage allowance or not.
Just to help avoid any further issues (as I can see that you're still on an Essentials account type) are you aware of where to go to see a usage meter on our website?
https://portal.plus.net/view_my_broadband_usage/index.php
Adam

[#12]

I think Plusnet should change his product at the current offer price. Simples.

[#13]

Quote from: Anotherone

Very simply. A properly trained adviser would be able to say that today's children like to stream video, you-tube etc. 1 hour of HD streaming can easily use between 2-3Gb of data, so it wouldn't need much to virtually use all of a 10Gb allowance. The advise given was bad.

I don't read this as being that clear cut  - How often do the grandchildren visit?  Why pay for an unlimited package if likely the high demand is only sporadic? 
It's all down to individual circumstance...

[#14]

As I've said you can use upwards of 2Gb per hour streaming HD Video, so one weekends visit could see 10Gb go, never mind the normal usage. It's naive to say a 10Gb allowance will do.

[#15]

scoprioin
If you look at my post under    Only in the uk  yoiu will no doubt agree with me  once on board your shafted.
I expect at sometime in the very near future my post will be deleted or i will be banned from posting