Disastrous Experience with PLUSNET = BEWARE!

RandolphR

I signed up to Plusnet after seeing it on MMT. What followed was an absolute disaster which resulted in my bills trebling (£25.00 top ups in less than 3 weeks) and speeds of internet back to the stone age.

When I signed up I was asked if I had a router ( but not the specific router needed) which resulted in 30 hour loss of internet on changeover date from previous provider. Eventually told that I must have PLUSNET router. I then paid £50.00 for a router from PC world and got back onto PLUSNET about setting up. The operator guided me through the set up incuding linking me to an unsecured line.
I questioned the repeated top -up bills and was told that it was all down to my usage (which had not changed). Repeated telephone calls and lengthy waits listening to garbage musac - only to be told the same thing.
5 Days ago finally the PLUSNET operator discovered the line was unsecured and that 'I' would have to pay the cost as it was my equipment.
So after less than a month of a nightmare experience with PLUSNET my internet/phone bill has trebled. It has the slowest speed I can ever recall on using and for the 4 days I have no internet service at all.

Phone calls to PLUSNET result " We have a 15- 25 minute waiting response to calls..." which adds further to my escalation bill.
I have got through to cancel today and was told I must pay for the absolute shambolic product and even worse services.

BEWARE PLUSNET

kwikbreaks

RandolphR wrote: »

The operator guided me through the set up incuding linking me to an unsecured line.

What do you mean by that?

If, as I suspect, it means you left the WiFi unsecured and one of your neighbours used it for some heavy downloading then that is hardly the fault of Plusnet. They were more helpful than many ISPs would be by talking you through the setup of a router they didn't supply to get you connected.

RandolphR

You suspect wrong -

alanwsg

Well explain it then.
What do you mean by an "unsecured line" ?

Gordon_Hose

What's an "unsecure line" then?

Plusnet_company_representative

Hi there,

I'm sorry you've had such a bad experience, I hope I can clear some things up here.

(£25.00 top ups in less than 3 weeks)

I assume by this you mean extra usage charges? These are charged along with your broadband subscription, on your usual billing date. Alternatively do you mean top ups to home phone credit (if you also took your phone line rental from us)?

Given the following I suspect you mean usage charges, though apologies if not.

When I signed up I was asked if I had a router ( but not the specific router needed) which resulted in 30 hour loss of internet on changeover date from previous provider. Eventually told that I must have PLUSNET router.

I'm not sure what you mean there, if you had broadband from a previous provider you should have a modem or router that would work fine with our service (though there are some older models that don't work with the new, faster ADSL2+) - I'm sorry that you were told that you had to have a Plusnet supplied modem though I assume this misinformation was corrected as you were able to purchase your own?

I then paid £50.00 for a router from PC world and got back onto PLUSNET about setting up. The operator guided me through the set up incuding linking me to an unsecured line.

That's the same price as our own router, for which you would have been able to defer the cost if you wished. This would also have been linked to our TR69 automatic setup service, and is supplied with the wireless already secured with a WPA2 password.
ETA: Apologies, our own router is £40 plus £5.99 postage and packing, and the £40 is the cost that can be deferred if required.

I'm not sure what you mean by an 'unsecured line' - do you mean the wireless connection? From what you've said it sounds likely, especially given the extra usage charges and slow speeds - the most likely cause of which is someone else logging onto your wireless and using the connection heavily.

I questioned the repeated top -up bills and was told that it was all down to my usage (which had not changed).

Is there any way you could advise of a ticket ID so I can investigate this for you? If usage charges were being added to your account without the amount changing on the view my usage page then we need to investigate this as a problem as soon as possible, so if you could advise we'd be very grateful.

5 Days ago finally the PLUSNET operator discovered the line was unsecured and that 'I' would have to pay the cost as it was my equipment.

This definitely sounds like extra usage charges, unfortunately it is down to the owner of the router to ensure that it is secured as they are liable for all usage charges. If that is the case then as I said above the slow speeds are very likely to have been caused by someone logging onto an unsecured wireless connection and using the majority of the bandwidth.

I'm sorry it's been such a frustrating experience and would be grateful if I could look into these issues further and see if there's anything we can do for you? All we need is a ticket ID from your account, if that would be alright. If I've assumed anything incorrectly in the above please let me know and I'll try to advise further.

victor2

RandolphR wrote: »

You suspect wrong -

We're all curious about that as it appears we suspect the same thing.

kwikbreaks

victor2 wrote: »

We're all curious about that as it appears we suspect the same thing.

... and I don't see anybody lambasting PlusNet either which was presumably the reason this was posted.

RandolphR

Thank you for taking the time to reply.

1. When signing up by telephone I was asked do you have a router to which I answered 'yes' referring to the one I had from the ISP. There was no mention of the router being specific to Plusnet.
2. When the changeover date arrived and I was unable to access the internet I made a number of telephone calls to plusnet which resulted in the realisation that it must be a specific Plusnet router.
3. I was advised that a router could be sent but it would take some days. As it was already a Saturday and I had been caused a lot of inconvenience workwise with the home internet -I decided to go out and buy one.
4. On the return with the router I phoned technical support for setting up the router (which I understand is a perfectly reasonable customer request)
5. I was then followed the instructions of the technical support to install the router and get to connect to the internet connection. (at the time I did find it odd that I was told to leave the yellow cable (phone) attached to the PC wher it remainded for the whole period of 3 weeks )
6. Shortly afterwards I received the first £5.00 top up bill which I though unusual, as on signing up I said I was looking for price savings.
7. After £5.00 top-up number 2 - despite not making any more than usual internet use - I again phone Plusnet and eventually get through and am basically told by the operator that it is my problem because it what I must be using. I explain about my use - only to be met with the same response.
8. The internet service continues to be extremely slow with problems linking up and I received another 3 x £5.00 top ups.

9.Another lengthy wait before eventually getting through again this time to express my disatisfaction I am told a number of things including that cancellation would cost £80 and should ring teh cancellations department.
10. At my 3rd attempt today I get through to cancellations and and am given the template regrets etc..

Thus ends my experience and association with Plusnet. These days I notice a growing contempt for the word of customers - and also their basic expectations - yet we are continually told about world class service, space age technology and the remarkable product - along with large portions of self congratulations.

What it eventually boils down to is a half baked operation - and before posters start to dismiss this a perennial gripe they obviously have not suffered the frustrating experience that I and my family have when making the simple consumer choice of buying a product which is expected to provide an improved untility service in our household.

WelshPaul

So what's an "unsecure line" then?

kwikbreaks

Maybe it was on dialup???? That would tie in with the bit about the phone line being connected to the PC and the slow speeds.