Primus Saver Rate Increase! - Legal?

ckpager

1) I just today received an e-mail from Primus Saver stating that from 1 April their landline rental is going up by £1.20 per month (from £5.99 to £7.19), so the moneysaver link is no longer correct:
main MSE website -> /phones/home-phone-calls#plinerentalsaver

2) Is it not outrageous that the Primus T&Cs say that (i) we are under contract for 12 months; but (ii) they can raise their rates any time they like, and we are still stuck with them (at the new, higher rates) until our contract expires? Surely this cannot be legal ?!

essexmate

Yes it is legal for them to raise the price at any time as long as they give you notice.

If you read the email again, it also states "As a result of the price changes indicated above, you may exit your contract with Primus Saver without penalty, so long as you provide us with notice of your intention to terminate your service subscription within 30 days of the date of this notification."

So you can break your contract without penalty if you so wish.

At £7.19, your line rental is probably still the best deal you can possible get anyway.

mrh

Looking at their price increases, if you take Caller Display (which I guess most people do these days), they are very close in price to the Post Office 12 month in advance deal - £10/month.

£5.99 + £2.50 (Caller Display) £1.20 increase = £9.69.

Don't think I trust Primus not to do this again in a few month time...

~Chameleon~

Just received the email and my Primus bill will now be £14.09 per month with the latest increase :mad:

How are you both paying so little for your service?

Mine has doubled over the past few years and I want out!! Who's the next cheapest for line rental only? I never make calls. there isn't even a phone plugged into the landline, it's purely there for broadband access.

Smiley_Dan

The trouble with landlines is that moving provider will break your broadband. As such, this is (yet another) anti competitive market.

~Chameleon~

Smiley_Dan wrote: »

The trouble with landlines is that moving provider will break your broadband. As such, this is (yet another) anti competitive market.

I'm sure it didn't when I moved from BT to Primus. I'll certainly look into that though, although I'd be happy to change BB provider too as they've recently been bought out and the new service is showing cracks already.

I think I might look for a landline/BB bundle. What a minefield, been quite a few years since I last had to do any research in this area *sigh*

jhp

They currently charge a number of different amounts for line rental depending where you signed up ,length of contract,etc
http://www.primussaver.co.uk/pricing-phone-only.html


Full Increase Details are here.

http://www.primussaver.co.uk/pricing-notifications.html


Dont forget if your going to leave them you only have 30 days from when they told you about increase to leave penalty free.

matthewh

Too late for me to ring them tonight as they are closed.

Does anyone know if I serve the 30 days notice do I get back any outstanding line rental pre-payment?

OldGreyFox

matthewh wrote: »

Too late for me to ring them tonight as they are closed.

Does anyone know if I serve the 30 days notice do I get back any outstanding line rental pre-payment?

It says

"Line rental increase excludes customers paying for their line rental in advance and those customers that joined Primus Saver on or after 1st December 2013."

matthewh

Yes, but I want to leave them and use this as an excuse to exercise 30 day notice right as also stated in email, due to increased call charges.

Wanted to know if they will then refund line rental as service is cut short.

Thanks

KnowWhen2FoldEm

matthewh wrote: »

Yes, but I want to leave them and use this as an excuse to exercise 30 day notice right as also stated in email, due to increased call charges.

Wanted to know if they will then refund line rental as service is cut short.

Thanks

Just finished a frustrating call to their helpdesk which seemed to suggest

(a) I'm going to be charged the increase even though I prepaid a month ago

(b) no refund will be paid if I leave within the 12-month prepaid period.

As this appears to contradict

(a) their assurance that prepayers won't be billed for the price hikes

(b) their claim we can leave "without penalty"

I've emailed them for urgent clarification on those points.