Our new Plusnet haggling guide- please share your feedback

slb2008

We have 36MB fibre with Plusnet.

We were considering leaving after they raised prices. They offered a deal with line rental saver and £3.01 for the fibre. Total cost £19.50 per month. This is on a 12 month contract and does not depend on me remembering to apply for a voucher at exactly the right time.

The person I spoke to says they match offers from competitors but not affiliate deals, so could not get an exact match for the MSE Vodafone offer.

ask66

I've just renewed with PN for another year. They wouldn't match their new customer deal - to get these you'd probably need to switch provider every year.

I was told that they won't match any competitors' offers accessed via price comparison/affiliate sites, but they may match offers available on competitors' own sites. And that they won't match TalkTalk as due to poor ratings they don't consider them a competitor.

I was advised to search the internet for offers available (other than TalkTalk!) and go back to them with the information. Apparently they have a regularly updated 'list' for staff showing who they are matching at any given time. If they offer to do a match, it's only valid for 48 hours.

After doing this, I was able to get broadband (not fibre) free for 12 months alongside Line Rental Saver (a year's phone line £198 paid in advance = £16.50 a month).

Unfortunately loyalty doesn't pay in this market - it would be great if it did - but that seems to be the way it is.

JJ_Egan

> they won't match TalkTalk as due to poor ratings they don't consider them a competitor>


Circa 2018 TT are getting much better ratings and PN much worse ratings .


Loyalty will pay when sites like mse stop and customers forego shopping around for the best deal .

G6JPG

I'm saddened to see MSE people saying "I got free broadband" or similar. Unless you're really buying line rental and broadband from different suppliers, which is unlikely (PlusNet "charge you more for your Broadband if you're not buying LR from us"). And also, I'd expect MSE people to do the pay up front for a year's LR as that's a clear saving.

So what you should be looking at is the total cost for the year, for what you want - at a minimum, line rental plus broadband; add to that any call package and extras. DON'T let them con you with "free broadband" or other such claims. (This applies to all providers of course, not just PN.)

FWIW, I'm on LR, B, evenings and weekends, and caller display - for which I paid £197.88 last year, and have been quoted £233.7x this year; since that's an 18% increase:(, and inflation (even the proper RPI, not the CPI) is 3.x%, I'll certainly be looking round; I've got plenty of time before 14/11.

teddysmum

Broadband charge is easy enough to calculate, as the line rental at higher monthly rate is the same as for phone only customers, so subtract the line cost from the 'all in cost'. If you pay upfront then divide the discount between 12 months.


Plusnets 'free broadband' turned out to be a £9.99 discount, as we found when broadband went up by £1 and those of us on 'free' had to pay an extra pound.


Also, (I haven't checked the latest bill layout) PlusNet did/do show how your charge is made up of line, internet and other items.

carpy

looking for advice;

my Line rental saver expires 21/12/18 but my broadband contract is until 19/6/19.

i don't really want to commit to another 12 months of Line rental saver but equally don't want to pay the full £18.99/month from 21/12/18 to 19/6/19!

what would be my best options? anyone else had similar and what do you do?

many thanks

Lungboy

ask66 wrote: »

I've just renewed with PN for another year. They wouldn't match their new customer deal - to get these you'd probably need to switch provider every year.

For some reason, I can upgrade normal BB to Fibre and it'll cost £15.99 a month for the 34mb version. That's significantly cheaper than the new customer deal and it includes a fibre router and line rental too. Am I missing something here?

molerat

Lungboy wrote: »

For some reason, I can upgrade normal BB to Fibre and it'll cost £15.99 a month for the 34mb version. That's significantly cheaper than the new customer deal and it includes a fibre router and line rental too. Am I missing something here?

Yes, LINE RENTAL. The cost is £15.99 PLUS line rental. Very confusing, made the same mistake, you need to read the T&Cs carefully. Mentioned TalkTalk "£18.34 equivalent" which retentions said is actually £22.50 plus charges less voucher and would not match but would match the £22.50 upgrade to 34Mb which is £20 equivalent with line rental saver on a 12mth contract.

Lungboy

molerat wrote: »

Yes, LINE RENTAL. The cost is £15.99 PLUS line rental. Very confusing, made the same mistake, you need to read the T&Cs carefully. Mentioned TalkTalk "£18.34 equivalent" which retentions said is actually £22.50 plus charges less voucher and would not match but would match the £22.50 upgrade to 34Mb which is £20 equivalent with line rental saver on a 12mth contract.

I thought that that would be it but as part of the online upgrade process it asks you to choose line rental options and it has a basic option that seems to have a zero cost.

molerat

Lungboy wrote: »

I thought that that would be it but as part of the online upgrade process it asks you to choose line rental options and it has a basic option that seems to have a zero cost.

Exactly why I said it was very confusing. I had doubts so I phoned them up and asked. If you look at the pricing structures (several times) you eventually figure out the facts and find that this £15.99 is the normal non discounted fibre price. They use a lot of "as long as you have a phone service from us" which of course is the line rental bit ! The OFCOM ruling on advertised pricing has not helped this confusion.