Between a rock and a hard place with Plusnet

KazakhToon

Hi there,

I've just had a chat with my internet and phone provider (plusnet). 4 months ago I signed up to a 12-month renewal of my at-the-time rolling contract, and got a really good deal - £130 up front for line rental, £2.50 a month for unlimited broadband.

Now I'm kicking myself, because we're buying a place and moving in a couple of weeks. Plusnet, of course, are now in a great position - I'm locked in for another 8 months at current address. They've given me a few choices:

A) a 24 month contract extension. No engineer charges etc, move the phone number across. £2.50 remains the same until the old contract runs out at which point I'm paying £9.99 for the remaining 16 months.

an 18 month extension. Same deal as A but I lose the £2.50 rate immediately, straight to £9.99.

C) a 12-month extension, I pay £50 for the engineer to come and fit the line, and it's £9.99 a month for broadband as in B.

I suggested another option:

D) I cancel the contract and use someone else. They answered that I'd lose the prepaid line rental (around £89) and they'd charge me £80 for disconnecting. So around £169 just to leave.:(

I'm aware there's not much I can do to argue with them, since I have the 8 month commitment still outstanding. What do you reckon's the best option?

KT

JJ_Egan

The advance line rental is always going to be lost as you bought an advance package .Nothing to stop you walking away and changing provider .
What is it going to cost if you move supplier that is there charges versus what is currently on the table .You would need to add them all up including activation .
Personally it would be A then decide how you want to pay for line rental .

KazakhToon

I'm leaning more towards C, simply because I think it's best to get out of the contract asap for negotiating purposes.

Besides, joke's on them, I got an extra 15 minutes on my hokey cokey for their arsey phone call!

ferretuk

[Also posted on the PN Community Forum]

I'm sure you've worked out the relative broadband costs:

A) £179.84 for 2 years service
£179.82 for 18 months service
C) £169.88 for 12 months service
D) £169.00 for 0 months service

You don't say what is happening about the LRS in options A-C but, assuming PN are letting it run on the new line 'as is' and expire in 8 months and assuming that a phone contract needs to finish at the same time as the BB

A) 8 months remaining LRS (£0) + 12 month renewal (£132) + 4 months @ £15.95 standard rate (£63.80) = £195.80
8 months remaining LRS (£0) + 10 months @ £15.95 (£159.50) = £159.50
C) 8 months remaining LRS (£0) + 4 months @ £15.95 (£63.80) = £63.80

Therefore the total cost for the contract period is

A) 24 months £375.64 (£15.65/month)
18 months £339.32 (£18.85/month)
C) 12 months £233.68 (£19.47/month)
D) 0 months £169

If the line rental can actually be renewed for £14.99 the the costs are a little cheaper of course.

boatman

Tell them you'll keep the broadband only ;-)

mattyprice4004

boatman wrote: »

Tell them you'll keep the broadband only ;-)

And then lose the up front line rental paid? Excellent plan!

bubblegun

KazakhToon wrote: »

Hi there,

I've just had a chat with my internet and phone provider (plusnet). 4 months ago I signed up to a 12-month renewal of my at-the-time rolling contract, and got a really good deal - £130 up front for line rental, £2.50 a month for unlimited broadband.

Now I'm kicking myself, because we're buying a place and moving in a couple of weeks. Plusnet, of course, are now in a great position - I'm locked in for another 8 months at current address. They've given me a few choices:

A) a 24 month contract extension. No engineer charges etc, move the phone number across. £2.50 remains the same until the old contract runs out at which point I'm paying £9.99 for the remaining 16 months.

an 18 month extension. Same deal as A but I lose the £2.50 rate immediately, straight to £9.99.

C) a 12-month extension, I pay £50 for the engineer to come and fit the line, and it's £9.99 a month for broadband as in B.

I suggested another option:

D) I cancel the contract and use someone else. They answered that I'd lose the prepaid line rental (around £89) and they'd charge me £80 for disconnecting. So around £169 just to leave.:(

I'm aware there's not much I can do to argue with them, since I have the 8 month commitment still outstanding. What do you reckon's the best option?

KT

They cannot charge you £80 for cancelling a service they'd have only got £20 for, and even they they are only allowed to charge you their costs minus anything they will save by not having to give you the service at the old address. My guess would be £0.

I'd go option D as all you'll lose is the upfront line rental cost.

strawpanda

In my experience Plusnet has been known to hold customers to ransom, e.g. refusing to take the tag off the line of a rented house, so that the tenant could set up Broadband, until the landlord had paid off a contract in a situation similar to this one. Quite ruthless and legally suspect imho.

iammumtoone

I am under contract with plusnet, albeit not the same deal as yours.

I checked when I took out the contract and i am allowed to move once in the contract period without any penalties, maybe you should look into this further.

JJ_Egan

iammumtoone wrote: »

I am under contract with plusnet, albeit not the same deal as yours.

I checked when I took out the contract and i am allowed to move once in the contract period without any penalties, maybe you should look into this further.

Are you sure as its just cost me £68 termination fee .

frankie

when I moved with PN I'm sure the line rental cost rolled over to my new address without charge.

I renewed my BB contract to the 24 month because up until my move I had always been happy with PN (and MAAF) for donkeys years.

However, the transfer did not go smoothly and it took ages to get my phone and BB connected at my new address.

IMHO I think since PN has gotten a bigger company and has been spending loads of dosh on TV adverts, their customer service and tech service has deteriated and PN are now just like any other provider, trying to get as much revenue out of their customers as possible.