Beware Primus Broadband Data Usage limit

ambrosjo

I took out a very cheap Primus package which gave me 10Gb data allowance per month. I have never ever reached this volume before, so I thought it would be enough. But suddenly got a bill for £106 when expecting around £20. Turns out I had backed up my PC to the cloud (an upload) and gone way over the limit. So fair enough, I made a mistake and have been trapped and the charge is within the T&Cs.
My gripes with Primus are-
1)They calculate your usage by adding upload and download numbers together and that's not made clear in the promotion.
2)They don't warn customers when they are approaching the limit or over it. I'm told that many other companies do.
3)The only way to check how much data you've used is to phone them, wait until you get through to a person, and ask them. How ridiculous is that ! Other companies provide on-line facilities to check how much you've used.
They told me on the phone they don't have this because they are a low cost provider. What company doesn't claim to be a low cost provider ??
I've written a complaint to Primus but got no reply.
SO BEWARE

carolchick

Snap!! Same thing happened to me but my bill was £200 plus. No warning nothing. On installation they disconnected my old number and gave me a new number which I had not asked for, after fighting for this to be reinstated had to complain to Ombudsman who are now having trouble getting any response from Primus.

Add to this the fact that every time we use the landline we lose b/band!! Again I have complained on 8 occasions since March and still nothing. am writing today to cancel line rental and just take b/band. wish I'd stayed with Virgin now

Hebblethwaite

I've just been charged more than double what I should have been by Primus this month. I've emailed them to ask for an explanation, but haven't heard back yet. I've only made about six calls this week and all of them were classed as free calls, so it must be my internet usage that's taken me over. However, that doesn't make much sense as I have a 20GB limit and only use the internet to surf/check email etc. I am probably connected for about 30 hours per week, but I don't download music or films or stream iPlayer or anything like that. I can't imagine how I could possibly have gone over a 20GB limit. My connection is password protected, so my neighbours shouldn't have access to steal it and I live alone so it's not like anyone in my house is surreptitiously downloading anything.

Might try ringing them tomorrow, since I've heard they never respond to written communication.

macman

A monthly data allowance is just what it says-it's total usage, both up and down. There are numerous free programs available to enable you to monitor your own usage.

Hebblethwaite

I downloaded Networx yesterday. So far, with about 8 hours typical use, I've used 6.70MB (uploads and downloads). Maybe my maths is wrong (I wouldn't be surprised, I'm sleepy!), but at this rate of use I've worked out that I'd have to be online for about 680 hours every day in order to use up 20GB in a month! I shall keep a close eye on it to check I don't see any sudden spikes, but hopefully Primus will have an explanation for me when they reply.

JenniWR

carolchick wrote: »

Add to this the fact that every time we use the landline we lose b/band!! Again I have complained on 8 occasions since March and still nothing. am writing today to cancel line rental and just take b/band. wish I'd stayed with Virgin now

A bit late, maybe, but that sounds like a problem with the microfilter. If you change the filter and still get nowhere, raise a fault with Primus, as it may be the line card in the telephone exchange.