very poor customer service

[#1]

Here's the experience I've had the past few weeks.
Having a few projects coming up I  recognised i was likely to go over my 40gb (restrictive) limit. So i decided to request a regrade. As I'm already on the same family of packages I thought this should be easy, stress free and quick.  Sadly I've been let down on all.
I put in my request and was given a date. It would take 4 WEEKS to change the package.  4 WEEKS for someone there to change the QoS setting for my account.
I contacted support to ask why this was and was told it was because I requested it one day after my billing date. Apparently if I'd of done it the day before the billing date it would of gone through with no issue.  Apparently its not in their computing skills to calculate the billing differences.
As my month goes by I approach my limit and my only option according to Customer Services is to pay extra this month when I exceed the limit.
I forewarned  that i would go over, and even tried to change my package. And Plusnets attitude ? Its to delay the regrade and then charge me even more.
I've requested my case be escalated and that's yet to happen even a week later.
I'm very disappointed by supports responses and suggestions.  I would have expected a good customer support to of recognised that its Plusnet holding up the order, and then to of suggested refunding any charges incurred. That would of been acceptable to me. However that wasn't even offered and when I've suggested it, its been actively refused !  Some customer support that is!
And to rub salt in, every day I see their adverts of what great customer support there's supposed to be.
When i tried calling them... the 0345 number just gave Busy and the 0800 took 3x 20 min attempts to get through. Only to be told the same things verbally. They 'understood' but couldn't help.
Disgraceful and poor customer support.

[#2]

Hey there,
Sorry to hear that the recent transactions with customer support haven't gone as smoothly as you'd expect.
There is an option to set a "Data Transfer Watch" to prevent further charges, you can apply that here: https://portal.plus.net/data_transfer_watch/
The current billing system is notorious for having it's "off days" - It's not the best in the world, this means that basic functionality is available. All account changes are carried out on the following billing dates. Whether it be Broadband or Phone. This is the same for all customers.
Hopefully, Plusnet support will be able to sort something out for you.
Cheers,
Matt

[#3]

Hi Matt,
Thanks for a fast reply (much faster than Customer Support...).
I've just received my notification for hitting my limit. I now have to try and squeeze 5Gb into my remaining month, and I'm being charged extra. Monitoring my usage isn't the issue. Because I do that anyway is what made me forsee that I would need a higher bandwidth usage.
This is despite me requesting the package change 3 weeks ago.  I guess the major issues here are two things:
1) Plus.net can't provide a simple tariff change mid-month.  I find it really hard to understand why this is.  I'm not changing anything major, no new equipment, no DSL -> Fibre change. Just a simple billing change and QoS change.
2) Customer services can't see the issue here and then act with any customer good-will at all.  In this situation I'd expect Plus.net to recognise its own limitations (which they do), and then treat the customer accordingly.  In this case they just seem to want to charge me extra without giving any consideration to the fact that its their own delayed process that's causing me to have to pay for the extra usage.  If they'd of completed the re-grade in a reasonable time (I would say 3 weeks is more than reasonable), then I wouldn't be getting this extra charge.  And that's the part I find very unfair.

[#4]

I suspect it's more than "just a billing change".
Someone will have to modify the billing software to cater for mid month changes and this will include some new section which will apportion the amount charged pre-and post changeover as far as charging is concerned - so you would end up with a 'special' payment for the month which has two different charging rates in it - which again would mean the DDebit has to be modified twice  - for the special month and than again for the new rate.
Then there is apportioning Gigabytes used again pre and post change mid month which would all get very complex as people do not use GB at a regular rate each day.
Then you need to guard against the smart arrse customers who think they can swap to the other package for one month mid month if it looks like they are going over the limit for that month and then immediately at the end of the month swap back to the standard package.
Because doing this would be cheaper than paying the penalty rate of going over limit
So you would need to block this somehow...........
In the end I suppose it boils down to cost of doing all the modifications to the software to allow this (and getting it certified/approved/audited) all of which is simply passed on to customers as higher prices vs for how many customers is this a 'major outrage'.

[#5]

Hi x47c,
Thanks for the reply.  I can understand it getting more complex, but, this isn't something new.  Amazon have no problems in charging customers for any purchase no matter what the amounts or day of the month...  Adding the differential amount onto a DD could be done as an additional charge to the same DD account. Admittedly I'm not an expert in DD's, but I don't see the issue there.
And when you change contracts you sign up for a new lock-in period, so people can't switch back-and-forth monthly anyway.
I'm just really annoyed that it takes 4 weeks for such a simple package change, and that Plus.net shows no appreciation of that to its customer when I call to complain. They're just interested in charging me £5 extra.

[#6]

Hi there,
I've just taken a look over this and can see that this has now hopefully been resolved for you.
If that's not the case please let me know.

[#7]

Hi Chris,
Yes I was just coming on here to say the same myself.  My thanks to those involved who got the upgrade pushed through.  I'm hoping that PlusNet will be upgrading its systems one day so that everyone can benefit from quicker-than-a-billing-period upgrades. Its a shame I had to shout as loud and high as I did.
Thanks
Adrian