Help with Plus Net

kenr

I am with PN and have been for a few years. I moved my phone over as well this year.
I phoned last week for a mac number to move to the PO as they were cheaper that I was paying to PN.
PN offered my a deal saying I would pay £x for 12 months, then 3 days later I get an email saying the phone cost will be rising by £1 on 6/12. Now I cannot get a straight answer from them as to whether they will honour the deal they offered me last week or whether it was just flannel.
Does this statement of 12 months at a fixed cost in anyway constitute a contract?

Plusnet_company_representative

Hi kenr,

I'm sorry about the timing there, but the deal that was offered would have been on the broadband price and not the line rental. The wholesale price for line rental is rising and as a result we're not the only provider that's raising the price on that.

I hope the offer we made for you is still cheaper overall?

To answer your question, the price agreement made isn't a contract and you won't be held to term for any broadband fees more than the ten day notice period.

Hope that helps explain, and once again I'm sorry for the bad timing there.

Kind regards,

Matt Taylor
Customer Support

bod1467

Note: If you WERE in a contract then the line rental increase would trigger the get-out clause and allow you to terminate your contract with no cessation charges, as the increase would be to your material detriment.

spheric

Plusnet cheat on contracts... Instead of a fixed-term contract with a break fee, they leave you on a rolling contract, and say "If you stay with us x length of time, we'll waive the installation/modem/whatever" costs at the end of the x length of time.

This leaves customers tied in, without burdening plusnet with any obligations on keeping the same terms, as they would have with a "proper" contract.

cajef

spheric wrote: »

Plusnet cheat on contracts...

How are they cheating, the customer has the choice on sign up of paying the activation fee and for a router if they need one (many people already have a router), in which case they can cancel the contract at any time with 10 days notice and no cancellation fee, or they can defer the payment for twelve months in which case after that period there is no cancellation charge and the router becomes theirs.

spheric

cajef wrote: »

How are they cheating...?

I absolutely agree that customers can opt to pay up front... That's exactly what I did! I wanted absolute freedom to move.

The reason I'm irked by the practice is two-fold:

Firstly, the wording creates a significant imbalance in the rights of the provider and the consumer. Plusnet are free to break their obligations without penalty, whereas the consumer (that has chosen to take the tie-in) is penalised if they choose to break theirs. Essentially, consumers get all of the restrictions of a normal contract (i.e. they get charged to leave) and none of the protection (a change in terms can't be forced on to a normal contract retroactively, without letting the customer cancel). Consumer contracts are supposed to strike a fair balance between the rights of the company and the consumer, and I feel this steps too far.

The second reason is that a lot of Plusnet's advertising material (and some of the small print, although not the actual detailed T&Cs) refer to free activation as being "subject to a 12 month contract" - I detailed above how the contract differs to a "normal" one, with the contract essentially tying in the consumer and not Plusnet.

The worst-case scenario with the plusnet terms are what we're seeing in this thread. Plusnet breaking their obligations, and still being able to charge the customer to leave.

If you think about it, this is a fantastic bit of footwork by the solicitors who drew up the terms and conditions...

cajef

Sorry I don't see it that way, but everyone is entitled to their opinion.

totallybonkers

bod1467 wrote: »

Note: If you WERE in a contract then the line rental increase would trigger the get-out clause and allow you to terminate your contract with no cessation charges, as the increase would be to your material detriment.

Sorry to butt in-I'm currently moving house to a property with no landline and want to swap from BT but they want to charge me £45 for the priveldge as my contract is not up until May 12. If I hold on to the price increases could I cancel for free using the above theory? I love how they don't advertise things like this when you ask. Thanks in advance

Plusnet_company_representative

Hi totallybonkers,

It sounds more like that's part of the charges involved with ceasing and reproviding the line rather than any kind of contract (unless it's for hardware, but if you're keeping your account open throughout the move we shouldn't be charging you for that). Unfortunately a house move involves cancelling one line and providing another, which does have associated costs.

If you could advise of a ticket ID or similar I'd be happy to check your account and give a breakdown of those costs if you wish?

@spheric - In the case where anyone is offered a cheaper deal to stay we don't hold them to any contracts on the broadband side of things, even if there is a discount it's still only a ten day notice period (though as you say, if new hardware is opted for on the deferred cost basis that will be a separate 12 month contract).

With regard to the change in fees, legally we have to give 30 days' notice on this which we've done. If customers do choose to leave over this they can do so with no penalty - though any fees that have been deferred (hardware, activation etc) will still have to be paid.

Red_Doe

I've been with Plusnet for about three years now and generally have no complaints whatsoever. But the rising costs...
I raised a ticket ages ago now and asked if there was a cheaper deal including line rental, broadband and phone calls, that we could have within Plusnet and got absolutely nothing back from them.
Although I'm on the 60G package (heavy net users here and I have my business online) I find the extra £5 per gig over the limit excessive too. I keep seeing ads with other companies that say basic broadband and phone calls from around £4 and wonder if it's for real.