Plusnet order problems - where do I stand?

will-w

Good afternoon all

I'm a little bit confused and could do with some advice.

Last Friday I called the Plusnet sales line and put an order in for line rental and broadband for our new house.

During the call I had our monthly bill confirmed a number of times at £17.23 (for line rental, evening/weekend calls and broadband).
I also made a point of stating that we won't be moving in until the 28th so I don't want the line active until then - I was told that it takes 3 to 4 days for this to become active so I thought nothing of it.

A little while later I received a voicemail from the salesman stating that there had been a mess-up with the numbers and that my monthly cost is actually £20.48, as I live in a 'Tier 1' area.

I called them today to query the cost rise and ended up speaking to a rather delightful young man who didn't seem remotely interested in helping me.

After a 10 minute call (to an 0845 number) they have said they can put a bar on the line until I move in but this will cost me £5 to do. The previous tenants move out on Thursday so it could be abused before I arrive.

They are refusing to reimburse me the extra weeks line rental; even though I'm not there and didn't want the service until the 28th.

And to top it all they are refusing to even discuss the possibility of matching the price I was given over the phone when placing the order - I thought there was some law against misrepresenting information, especially for distance selling?

At the end of the call the Plusnet man said that they were going to listen to the original call and assess what they would do, if anything. He said that as my Broadband has not yet been set up I could cancel this but not the phone as it's already working.

Now I know in the grand scheme of things we're only talking about £3.25 a month, but over a year that equates to 2/3 of a weekly shop!

Sorry if I've been ranting, I'm just a little annoyed about it all

Thanks in advance,
Will

AndysDad

I guess the difference of £3.25/month is the difference between halfprice BB and full price.I paid a years line rental in advance at £114 and pay £3.25/month for BB (1st 12 months only).I've also heard that their prices are due to increase in November.

will-w

UPDATE: I never did get my call returned (3rd time now). I called tonight, spoke to a polite and apologetic lady who said she'd go speak to the man I spoke to yesterday and bang on 5:30 (their closing time) she hung up on me..

I thought Plusnet were suppose to have award winning customer service!?!

AndysDad: The £3.25 is the difference between broadband for 'normal' people and broadband for the area we are going to live in... Apparently it is more expensive, although they can't give a reason why.

jhp

will-w wrote: »

UPDATE: I never did get my call returned (3rd time now). I called tonight, spoke to a polite and apologetic lady who said she'd go speak to the man I spoke to yesterday and bang on 5:30 (their closing time) she hung up on me..

I thought Plusnet were suppose to have award winning customer service!?!

AndysDad: The £3.25 is the difference between broadband for 'normal' people and broadband for the area we are going to live in... Apparently it is more expensive, although they can't give a reason why.

Residential Support is open 24/7. Residential Sales until 19.00 hours.

They explain on there site "Why are your prices shown as 'from'?
80% of UK homes can get our lowest priced service, available in 'low cost' telephone exchange areas. If you don't live in a 'low cost area' then you'll pay a bit more. You see exactly what price you'll pay for broadband and phone by clicking 'check availability'."

will-w

jhp wrote: »

Residential Support is open 24/7. Residential Sales until 19.00 hours.

The 'Customer Options' line that I am constantly put through to closes at 17:30.

jhp wrote: »

They explain on there site "Why are your prices shown as 'from'?
80% of UK homes can get our lowest priced service, available in 'low cost' telephone exchange areas. If you don't live in a 'low cost area' then you'll pay a bit more. You see exactly what price you'll pay for broadband and phone by clicking 'check availability'."

It does indeed state that but when I placed the order the price was confirmed to me 3 times.

The price on the website is also different from the price they say it should be.

Will

macman

You pay more because BT Wholesale charge their resellers a higher rate on Market 1 exchanges. Why they didn't pick this up based on a postcode check is unclear, but a simple check online would have estabished the price you would pay before that. I'm baffled as to why anyone would sign up over the phone, that loses you any available online discounts, plus the cashbacks as well.
Trying to order a line before you actually move in is always problematic, as no provider can control the actual date that BT OR does the actual connection.
If however you were quoted a firm price based on an accurate postcode, then you must have a strong case for claiming mis-selling, and should request that they honour the quoted price for the minimum term, or release you from the contract without penalty.