MSE News: TalkTalk and Plusnet customers to be hit by price hikes

Makeandsave

I am wondering if AOL will follow?

alinwales

Ideally no one should be on a full price contract with TT.. there is normally an introductory offer that reduces the first contract term, and then speak to 'Customer Loyalty' (which is their name for retentions) and negotiate a new deal,.. half price essentials, £2 loyalty discount etc.
And get a payg mobile for daytime calls as they're cheaper (assuming you go with a no frills operator like asda, ikea tesco etc, or 3 now)
I had a 18 mth contract that started with £2 discount for entire term and had to call back each 6 months to get the half price essentials. The £2 didn't go through, so that was added as an upfront £36 credit, but 6 months later they put me onto a 12mth contract with the £2 applied again (this time it worked) and the half price essentials. So over the 18 months (I am halfway through now) I pay £171 rental (prorata) and £-1.50 for essentials, so just under £9.42 a month.

[Deleted User]

My TalkTalk contract is up in October anyway and then I'm moving to EE broadband. I only use landline for broadband so not bothered about how many free mins or what the call charges are.

bendaw

You're missing the point.
I was leaving Plusnet to go to Sky and only stayed with them because of the agreed deal.
Plusnet have not disagreed that I have the contract but simply say they will not honour it.
I have lost money because the Sky deal is no longer available to me.
Why should they get away with this, it's surely fraud and breach of contract, maybe also of Consumer legislation.
To allow businesses get away with this kind of behaviour without challenge only encourages them to escalate their shoddy pratices

alinwales

Hang on a sec, do these charges even apply to people with contracts? I've not read naything that say they do.
Presumably call costs will go up, as that is not part of a contract, nor is the price of boosts. But as for Essentials... if you're paying 6.50 or 3.25 or whatever for a fixed period of time under contract, then surely that will remain, its just those with lapsed contracts (who WILL be paying 6.50) that it will affect?

2010

I`m with TT and my contracts up on 1/10/13.
I pay my line rental upfront at £114 a year (£9-50 a month).
I would still think the upfront payment will carry on, so no big increase there.
As said previously the bb and phone essentials package should be £6-50 a month but nobody really pays that much.
Still great value even after the increase compared to anyone else.

bendaw

Plusnet made a contract fixed for two years in April knowing that they would renege on it because there was going to be an increase within a couple of weeks that I would be forced to pay

Info taken from Plusnet site

1. What changes are we making to Home Phone prices?

The following changes apply to Plusnet Home Phone packages taken (and not changed) before May 8th 2013.

This covers Talk Evenings and Weekends, Talk Anytime and Talk Anytime International call plans.

Line rental

Line rental (currently £13.99 a month) will increase by £1.00 to £14.99 a month.

Line Rental Saver for call plans with £14.99 a month line rental will be £137.88 (equivalent monthly price of £11.49 per month). This means that if you purchase or renew your Line Rental Saver after 1st October 2013, your annual price will be £137.88.

Call plans

The price of our Talk Anytime call plan (currently £4.00 a month) will increase by 50p to £4.50 a month.

The price of our Talk Anytime International call plan (currently £6.00 a month) will increase by 50p to £6.50 a month.

Call charges

Call set up fees (where applicable) will increase to 13.87p
The price of chargeable calls to 01, 02, 03, 0845 and 0870 numbers will change to 8.41p per minute at all times
The price of calls to UK mobiles will change to 12p per minute at all times
[Top]
2. What changes are we making to Value and Extra prices?

We will be introducing a surcharge of £1.50 on all Value and Extra broadband only and Value and Extra fibre optic broadband only products (where line rental and calling plans are not held with Plusnet).

3. What changes are we making to terms and conditions?

The following changes apply to all Plusnet residential customers.

Cancellation notice period
The notice period you need to give before leaving us will change to 14 days.

Cessation charge
The broadband cessation charge will increase from £25 to £30.

2010

Anybody with TT and is on 12 months upfront line rental payment due in October, should make a payment BEFORE 29th Sept. to get it at the existing £114 pre increase price.;)

thommy

alinwales wrote: »

Hang on a sec, do these charges even apply to people with contracts? I've not read naything that say they do.
Presumably call costs will go up, as that is not part of a contract, nor is the price of boosts. But as for Essentials... if you're paying 6.50 or 3.25 or whatever for a fixed period of time under contract, then surely that will remain, its just those with lapsed contracts (who WILL be paying 6.50) that it will affect?

Yes, all prices hikes will affect anyone, in contract, or not. That is why you have the option of calling them and saying you want to leave as the hikes are to your detriment. You have 30 days from the announcement to do this.

Plusnet_company_representative

Hi there,

alanq wrote: »

I don't know about TalkTalk but for Plusnet:

Until October 1st £125.88 (equivalent to £10.49 per month).
From October 1st £137.88 (equivalent to £11.49 per month)

Note that for anyone taking Line Rental Saver (as opposed to renewing an existing LRS) since May 8th it includes no calls whatsoever. LRS used to include free evening and weekend calls. Customers renewing LRS since May 8th keep these.

Not 100% accurate ...

Any new customer or anybody who signed up/changed package after May 8th is charged £131.88 if they take out a new Line Rental Saver contract. This does *not* feature any inclusive calls without paying for an additional call package.

Existing customers currently paying £13.99 for their line rental are charged £137.88 if they take out a new Line Rental Saver contract (or renew an existing one) after October 1st. This *does* feature inclusive evening and weekend calls.

NittyGritty wrote: »

currently with plusnet, with anytime calls, (goes up 50p a month) currently have line rental saver, good job i guess, paid up till dec, does anyone know if the line rental saver is auto renewed?

You can renew up to three months prior to the date the existing contract expires. If you renew before October 1st you can do this at the current price of £125.88, after it's £137.88. You'll continue to benefit from included evening & weekend calls either way.

Froglet wrote: »

i am fairly certain you would not get any rebate if you left them.

Under most circumstances you wouldn't.

bendaw wrote: »

I was persuaded to enter a new 2 year fixed price contract in April, just 4 months ago, yet Plusnet have reneged on this and said they didn't know of this proposed increase at that time so they can increase my charges.
Is this breach of contract?
Would anyone care to discuss making a group legal challenge for breach of contract?

Whoah, hold your horses. Have you actually received an email from us yet? Bear in mind that the last of them won't go out until the end of the month. This is from the email:

"If, as a result of the changes in this email, you decide to terminate your affected service(s), you may do so without incurring the Early Termination Charge(s) that may otherwise be payable. If you wish to exercise this right you must contact us within 10 days of receiving this notification. You will still be liable for service charges up to the date of termination."

NittyGritty wrote: »

never known plusnet to have 2 year contracts? unless its to do with fibre?

Some re-contracting offers are for 24 months. Some of our business accounts have 24 month contracts too (although the business side of things isn't affected by these changes).

Best regards,

Bob Pullen