Confused with PLUSNET renewal - have I done wrong thing?

TomsMom

Not sure if it's my senior brain or I'm just not processing this information correctly. I would appreciate any thoughts.

I changed my phone and broadband package to Plusnet last year after a dreadful experience with Virgin following my husband passing away.

I am in a Market 1 area, no cable where I live so ADSL. Got a deal with Plusnet for 50% off the normal price of £12.99 so £6.49 with the first 3 months at £3.24. I paid their 12 months line rental saver upfront.

21 February 2012 - ordered Plusnet phone & broadband package
21 February 2012 - Initial charge including line rental taken £122.11
13 March 2012 - Phone line changed to Plusnet
21 March 2012 - Broadband went live

13 April/May/June - £3.24 taken by DD for broadband
13 July/Aug/Sept/Oct/Nov/Dec/Jan 2013 - £6.50 taken by DD for broadband

I had an email reminder last week that Line Rental Saver Renewal is due on 12 March so this got me looking into renewing package or looking elsewhere. I thought that by enquiring at the end of the month I had a better chance of a deal if people are trying to hit their targets.

Have checked on Broadband Choices and Plusnet is still the best deal for me, then BT who I don't want to go with.

I rang Plusnet yesterday to discuss renewing my contract and was told as I was in Market 1 area the price would be £12.99. I said I was looking for a better deal and was put through to Customer Options.

When I mentioned the BT deal Customer Options offered me £6.99 for 12 months or £8.66 for 24 months and continuing with the 12 month line rental saver, which I am happy to do. Looking to the future I was thinking that in another 12 months time I may not get a good deal and thought fixing at £8.66 for 24 months is probably the better option. It would also save me the hassle of having to try and haggle again for a deal - something I'm not comfortable with as my late husband always used to do that sort of thing.

I've been told that my DD will change from 13 February to £8.66. I questioned this as I thought if the phone line isn't due for renewal until 12 March then the broadband would be the same date, or at least the same month. I was told because the order was placed 21 February 2012 then the renewal is February.

On checking the DDs only 10 have been taken - April 2012 to January 2013 inclusive so I thought renewal would be once the 12th DD had been taken.

The initial charge of £122.11 included the 12 months line rental, p+p of £4.99 for their router and maybe something else, I can't remember what the line rental was then, it has increased now.

Sorry it's a lot of information, hope it's clear.

Does it sound right? Have I lost out on one or two months of my present contract at £6.49. My brain is a bit scrambled over this at the moment.

AndysDad

I'm also with Plusnet but my BB and Line rental saver started on the same date.I think the line rental saver should give you 12 months irrespective when your BB starts.Yes line rental saver has gone up by £1/month.

TomsMom

AndysDad wrote: »

I'm also with Plusnet but my BB and Line rental saver started on the same date.I think the line rental saver should give you 12 months irrespective when your BB starts.Yes line rental saver has gone up by £1/month.

Thanks AndysDad, that helps with the line rental saver amount. The new amount is equivalent to £10.49 per month, so the old one would have been £9.49 or £113.88 upfront?????

So £122.11 minus £113.88 leaves £8.23, minus p+p for router of £4.99 leaves £3.24. So it looks as though the initial payment was for line rental saver, p+p for router and one month's broadband at £3.24. So if I add that broadband payment to what I know has been taken by DD, then I have made 11 payments.

I know I will get 12 months for the line rental saver as I have to go online to renew that by 12 March. I know that the DDs for the broadband are taken in advance. I'm just confused as to why I was told the broadband will renew on 13 February rather than on the anniversary of when it went live of 21 March. As the DDs are set to be taken on the 13th of every month I would have thought the renewal date for the broadband would be 13 March, so leaving both the phone and broadband renewal dates the same as when originally taken out.

So I seem to be missing out on one month of the originally agreed contract at £6.49 and it's separating the renewals of the line rental and the broadband, which could possibly cause a problem if I wanted to change providers in the future.

Am I thinking straight? Am I right? Is it worth trying to sort this out? Strewth, my brain hurts .

AndysDad

TomsMom wrote: »

Thanks AndysDad, that helps with the line rental saver amount. The new amount is equivalent to £10.49 per month, so the old one would have been £9.49 or £113.88 upfront?????

So £122.11 minus £113.88 leaves £8.23, minus p+p for router of £4.99 leaves £3.24. So it looks as though the initial payment was for line rental saver, p+p for router and one month's broadband at £3.24. So if I add that broadband payment to what I know has been taken by DD, then I have made 11 payments.

I know I will get 12 months for the line rental saver as I have to go online to renew that by 12 March. I know that the DDs for the broadband are taken in advance. I'm just confused as to why I was told the broadband will renew on 13 February rather than on the anniversary of when it went live of 21 March. As the DDs are set to be taken on the 13th of every month I would have thought the renewal date for the broadband would be 13 March, so leaving both the phone and broadband renewal dates the same as when originally taken out.

So I seem to be missing out on one month of the originally agreed contract at £6.49 and it's separating the renewals of the line rental and the broadband, which could possibly cause a problem if I wanted to change providers in the future.

Am I thinking straight? Am I right? Is it worth trying to sort this out? Strewth, my brain hurts .

Personally I would give them a ring (They always seem to be very helpful) to clarify how the charges work out.They may charge you pro-rata for the 1st minth of the new BB contract.

TomsMom

AndysDad wrote: »

Personally I would give them a ring (They always seem to be very helpful) to clarify how the charges work out.They may charge you pro-rata for the 1st minth of the new BB contract.

I've sent them a message through their Help Assistant. They were supposed to send me an email but put one of these messages on my account confirming the details, so I've replied to that outlining how I understand it. Hopefully it can be sorted that way, if not I will ring them.

JenniWR

it does sound as though you've 'lost' two months at the cheaper price, probably due to a delay in your phone going live. Phone and broadband contracts are not always (or even necessarily) concurrent, so it's always worth checking.

Note that the LRS is something you can add yourself at any time by going to https://www.plus.net/rentalsaver, and need not form a part of the contract. Personally, I'd renew LRS, and then call to renegotiate the broadband deal once the twelfth payment has been taken (before 21st March).

ADSL contracts over 12 months seem to be a fairly new thing from Plusnet (released at the same time as their new range of products?), but if the deal is good, it's worth locking in! The 24-month deal sounds good - remember that Plusnet have no obligation to give you the £6.49 price either now or next year. Wholesale broadband costs around £5.88/month - more in a market 1 area - so they will be losing money on your broadband deal.

TomsMom

JenniWR wrote: »

it does sound as though you've 'lost' two months at the cheaper price, probably due to a delay in your phone going live. Phone and broadband contracts are not always (or even necessarily) concurrent, so it's always worth checking.

Note that the LRS is something you can add yourself at any time by going to https://www.plus.net/rentalsaver, and need not form a part of the contract. Personally, I'd renew LRS, and then call to renegotiate the broadband deal once the twelfth payment has been taken (before 21st March).

ADSL contracts over 12 months seem to be a fairly new thing from Plusnet (released at the same time as their new range of products?), but if the deal is good, it's worth locking in! The 24-month deal sounds good - remember that Plusnet have no obligation to give you the £6.49 price either now or next year. Wholesale broadband costs around £5.88/month - more in a market 1 area - so they will be losing money on your broadband deal.

I will be renewing the LRS, I've had an email reminder with the link and I've diarised it for March. I don't want to risk doing it any earlier in case I "lose" any months on that.

My message on the Help Assistant part of their site, following on from their confirmation of the new contract starting on 13 February, remains unanswered at the moment. If I don't get an answer by Monday I will ring them.

DDs have always been taken on 13th of the month. I was told the DD will be at the new price from 13 February so I wont be able to wait until the 12th payment at the old rate has been taken to re-negotiate because, as it stands at the moment, the contract has already been changed.

TomsMom

I still haven't received a reply on the online Help Assistant so I rang today.

Apparently, my original Value broadband at £6.49 p.m. was not a "contract" (which I thought it was) so when I rang on 31st January and agreed the Essentials £8.66 - 24 month contract it had to be started at the next billing date (13th February). Apparently that offer price ends this week (doesn't it always!) and then the price will go up so if I delay the changeover until the March billing date I wont be able to have the same price.

The line rental is not a contract so I'm paid up till March as I took the saver deal of paying a year upfront. If I wanted to change provider after this two year contract finishes I could go and get a phone/broadband package elsewhere but because I've paid 12 months upfront to get a discount then I would lose the last month. Obviously I could try and find a good broadband only package and still keep line rental with Plusnet.

So, looks like I'm not able to get my 12th month at £6.49 but am starting the new contract at £8.66 straight away. Not a big deal, I'm having to pay just over £2 extra for one month, but it just seems strange that it apparently wasn't a contract for the first 12 months.

Fortyfoot

When I went with them a few years ago I had my own router and was told there would not be any exit charges.

WRONG

They said I had to pay about £60 if I remember right. The broadband was terrible, it just got worse as time went on. I would not use them again. Not very efficient in my opinion.

Fortyfoot

TomsMom

Fortyfoot wrote: »

When I went with them a few years ago I had my own router and was told there would not be any exit charges.

WRONG

They said I had to pay about £60 if I remember right. The broadband was terrible, it just got worse as time went on. I would not use them again. Not very efficient in my opinion.

Fortyfoot

I suppose we can all only speak as we find. I can tell you a real horror story about Virgin and how I was treated when my husband passed away but other people are happy with them and have had no trouble.

I have had no trouble at all with my Plusnet broadband since I've been with them but from what I understand because of the area I'm in it's a re-sold BT product so I don't know of that makes a difference.

Up until now I've found them OK on the phone, but I've had very little reason to contact them until now. There has been a long wait to get through to a human and the message played says it's because of weather conditions and difficulty of staff getting in.

I've now had a message on the Help Assistant from one person that said

I have cancelled the change to your new package so you can get the last month of the old deal you were on. We will monitor for this billing date and then re-arrange the change to the new deal as agreed.

An internal message was posted

Please monitor for the next invoice. Once generated please re-arrange the change to the package you agreed as EU would like to get the last month on the deal. Thanks.

Then another message two minutes later from a different person in Customer Options (the one who offered this new contract) saying

The offer you were given actually expires on 07/02/2013 after this date we cannot offer the same deal we agreed.

So I am totally confused. I don't know if the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing as there's messages from two different people.

I have posted a question asking them to confirm if I still have the offer and when it will start but I will ring them again tomorrow as Customer Options is only open until 5.30pm and no-one else can apparently deal with it.