Plusnet price hike - cancellation problems

inglorius

Was wondering if anyone else have had similar experiences with Plusnet trying to switch provider after they announced a price rise on their line rental recently.

Read about their price hikes recently on moneysavingexpert news website, phoned them up this evening and told them I wish to cancel without prejudice as they had recently announced a price rise together with their appalling customer service (45 min wait this morning, 30 mins tonight to get to talk to someone).

Chap on the phone said was going to check my details and came back with the information that Plusnet allegedly had sent a message to my account notifying me of this price rise and that the message said I had 30 days to cancel my contract without penalty from receipt of this message. I said that I had been on holiday and only intermittently checked my account anyway and was told that it was my fault I had not picked the message up and acted upon it therefore Plusnet were going to hit me with cancellation fees accordingly.

Needless to say I was not best pleased, I stated that I was contracted to pay a certain amount of line rental every month and if Plusnet varied this amount to my detriment then the contract was invalid, I am now trying to progress this through their complaints team but even if I do have to pay the cancellation fees I will be happy to be rid of Plusnet if this is how they treat their customers. Any advice or comments gratefully received.

kwikbreaks

Sounds par for the course to me. When I was with VM they always used email with a 30 day from notice term to advise of price changes.

inglorius

kwikbreaks wrote: »

Sounds par for the course to me. When I was with VM they always used email with a 30 day from notice term to advise of price changes.

Am sure it is standard practice, I find it reprehensible that during peak holiday season Plusnet expect you to be checking your account every 5 minutes - effectively they have given me 30 days to act upon a message that was sent to my account during my holidays and now am being told that as I missed this opportunity I cannot cancel my contract due to their price rise without penalty - if they have altered the terms of their contract then surely the original contract is not valid.

brewerdave

Are you sure that you are out of the notice period? Just checked my email and it was dated 31st July -so I'm still within my 30 days. If you can't find your email, look at your closed questions in the Help Assistant when logged into the Plusnet member's control panel:- eg for a date range from May til now
https://www.plus.net/wizard/?p=search&view_by=custom&from=01%2F05%2F14&to=14%2F08%2F14&x=27&y=11

inglorius

brewerdave wrote: »

Are you sure that you are out of the notice period? Just checked my email and it was dated 31st July -so I'm still within my 30 days. If you can't find your email, look at your closed questions in the Help Assistant when logged into the Plusnet member's control panel:- eg for a date range from May til now
https://www.plus.net/wizard/?p=search&view_by=custom&from=01%2F05%2F14&to=14%2F08%2F14&x=27&y=11

When I spoke to Plusnet last night they said that they sent a message on the 14th July so was 4 days over their permitted 30 days. Havent checked this information as yet my gripe is that I have been on holiday and check my Plusnet account on a monthly basis hence why I havent picked up their message and now am being penalised for it

brewerdave

Just a further comment on your initial post - I have personal experience of HORRANGE (now EE) and (via a son in law) TalkTalk -I can assure you that they are both much worse than Plusnet in terms of their Customer "disservices"!!

macman

When you take your holiday is not really relevant. 30 days notice is 30 days-if they started making exclusions based on holidays/illness/work committments etc, then everyone would claim 'special case' on that basis.
You can't draft a contract based on '30 days notice is required unless you are on holiday'.

sinizterguy

If they gave you 30 days notice, they gave you sufficient time.

Your holiday as macman mentioned is irrelevant.

You don't have to check messages every 5 minutes, once in 30 days is sufficient.

It would be the same if it was sent out in the post and you didn't open your mail.

Best check if you're actually out of the 30 day notice. If you're, then tough.

kwikbreaks

On the plus side they did send it to an account you read. I've seen cases in the past where ISPs have sent it just to their provided email account even when the customer has registered the one the actually use.

The other thing to consider is that they all seem to be on a round of line rental price hikes. You might sign up somewhere only to be notified a few weeks later that there is an increase in the offing.

I had an even worse one with VM. Notified of increase. called in to confirm I could leave penalty free. Ordered FTTC. Got it installed. Called in to cancel (still within the 30 days). They said the email was a mistake and my account wouldn't be having a rise as it had one two months previously - precisely why I got fed up and canceled and why I was still in a minimum term - I'd phoned in about the increase and negotiated a cut instead. Anyhow they wanted to charge me early termination. I had to complain to the CEO office who instead waived the 30 day notice as I'd been messed about.

vini_1983

Left plusnet last year at the same time. Very irregular internet connection, had engineers 3 times and luckily they increased the price and I left plusnet immediately