Our new Plusnet haggling guide- please share your feedback

br1anstorm

ask66 wrote: »

I can understand your reluctance to move away from Plusnet, but I think when you are speaking to retentions, you should say that you WILL leave if you can't get a good deal. I would call again, tell them you have heard that they are authorised to price match selected competitors' deals, and if they say no, get their name and ask to speak to a manager. If all else fails, and the best deal you can get is way more expensive the competition, then I'd probably switch as long as the competition is a big name and not Talk Talk. I wouldn't have thought there would be any problem at all switching to John Lewis - as you say it is run by Plusnet, and John Lewis seems like a company that prides itself on top customer service.

Would be good to hear how you get on!

ask66

Well, for those who might be interested, I followed up with Plusnet - and they proved a bit more flexible second time round.

Their best offer had been renewal of my present service, on a 12-month contract: line rental paid for a year in advance (=£16.49 per month), unlimited standard broadband at £3.50 pm, call-anytime phone plan at £7.00 pm). Net monthly cost £26.99.

I pointed out that this wasn't exactly competitive with the best alternative deal, a 12-month contract with Now Broadband at £18 pm. More to the point, I said that it was more expensive than the John Lewis offer which Plusnet themselves provided, at £20 pm for line rental plus broadband, and only £5 for the call-anytime phone plan, monthly cost £25.

After putting me on hold to consult his managers, the Plusnet chap came back with a better offer: line rental paid for a year in advance as before (= £16.49 pm), and then broadband plus call-anytime phone for £7 pm. Net monthly cost £23.49 - which is a bit better than the John Lewis deal.

In the negotiation I deliberately focused only on the contracted monthly cost. John Lewis offers a £40 gift card to new subscribers which would take their net annual cost down to £260. But it so happens that with Plusnet I already get, and would continue to benefit from, an ongoing 'referrals' discount of £2.50 pm or £30 per year anyway, which is worth hanging on to and means my real net cost with Plusnet will be £20.99 pm or £251.88 per year.

Massively better than the expensive default uncontracted arrangement I had been on with Plusnet for the past several years which had been costing me £34.48 pm (£413.76 per year). Better than John Lewis, even if not quite as cheap as Now's £18 pm (£216 per year).

But I decided to stick with the devil I know, and avoid the hassle of switching. Also, although it's not a cost-issue (and I did not mention this when negotiating) , I have long used the Plusnet email address as one of my main email accounts so I am reluctant to lose this - which would happen if I switched.

So there we are - and I suppose I have to go through it all again in 12 months' time!

ask66

br1anstorm wrote: »

Well, for those who might be interested, I followed up with Plusnet - and they proved a bit more flexible second time round.
...
So there we are - and I suppose I have to go through it all again in 12 months' time!

That's great to hear, and yes, you will have to go through it all again in 12 months! Like you, I'm mostly satisfied with Plusnet and have chosen to stay with them for many years - but I don't expect to pay over the odds. My only further tip would be to change your email account, as soon as possible, to one that isn't linked to your ISP. That way, if in a year's time you aren't offered an acceptable deal, you can just walk away without risking your email service. Out of interest, I've always been very happy with gmail.

ask66

br1anstorm

ask66 wrote: »

........My only further tip would be to change your email account, as soon as possible, to one that isn't linked to your ISP. That way, if in a year's time you aren't offered an acceptable deal, you can just walk away without risking your email service. Out of interest, I've always been very happy with gmail.

ask66

Yes indeed, that's one side-effect of the recent discussion which I have taken firmly on board. In fact as well as my Plusnet email I already have Yahoo, GMail, GMX, Mail.com and Zoho webmail accounts (used for various different purposes).

The area I'm unfamiliar with, but now plan to explore - better late than never - is getting my own domain-name. I don't need it for any business purposes nor to create a website, but if it provides reliable and permanent email management it might be worth doing.

smallblueplanet

Our area has not long had fibre enabled and as my BB contract with PlusNet had nearly run out I thought I'd shop around.
Sky are doing Fibre & Anytime calls for £27/month plus £19.95 set up

So I checked the upgrade route on my PlusNet account. This seemed to show Fibre BB & Anytime calls for £23.99/month - but I'd seen anyother poster say that it was because my line rental had been paid up front and so wasn't included. I rang up and got through to PlusNet retentions where they confirmed that the 'account price' didn't include line rental!

Anyway after a bit of haggling and quoting Sky prices I got a fixed price (on fibre BB & phone line, but not call package) for 12 months for £27/month. I got them to send out the router free too! Not bad as we are in the countryside and although the comparison sites say we have lots of choice, we don't as we are off-net.

Just waiting on email confirmation...edit:

A breakdown of your monthly bill is as follows:

Unlimited Fibre broadband service: £8.01 per month for 12 months then £15.99 per month
Line rental: £18.99 per month
Unlimited UK & Mobile call plan: £0.00 per month for 12 months then £8.00 per month
Total £27.00 per month on a new 12 month contract

schiff

Has anyone got an e-mail address to Plusnet CS that works?

I tried with support@plus.net and got this:

"Thank you for your email. Unfortunately we don't pick up any emails sent to this address. That's because emails can easily be lost, misdirected or even deleted and we think it's better if this doesn't happen."

Translated: please don't bother contacting us by e-mail. Just phone.

Hearing problems on the phone

Anthorn

schiff wrote: »

Has anyone got an e-mail address to Plusnet CS that works?

I tried with support@plus.net and got this:

"Thank you for your email. Unfortunately we don't pick up any emails sent to this address. That's because emails can easily be lost, misdirected or even deleted and we think it's better if this doesn't happen."

Translated: please don't bother contacting us by e-mail. Just phone.

Hearing problems on the phone

Try logging in and then looking for a contact link. I can't do it because all I get is blank white pages with the Plusnet header after logging in and it's been like that for some time now.

molerat

schiff wrote: »

Has anyone got an e-mail address to Plusnet CS that works?

I tried with [EMAIL="support@plus.net"]support@plus.net[/EMAIL] and got this:

"Thank you for your email. Unfortunately we don't pick up any emails sent to this address. That's because emails can easily be lost, misdirected or even deleted and we think it's better if this doesn't happen."

Translated: please don't bother contacting us by e-mail. Just phone.

Hearing problems on the phone

No e-mail so if you can't use the phone either via the community pages, open a question in your member centre or on line chat through the contact us link.

schiff

molerat wrote: »

No e-mail so if you can't use the phone either via the community pages, open a question in your member centre or on line chat through the contact us link.

TY. I'm going to have to phone. I've tried Live Chat many times over the years but never once found it available.

Their advertising motto: We'll do you proud.

As if.

molerat

schiff wrote: »

TY. I'm going to have to phone. I've tried Live Chat many times over the years but never once found it available.

Their advertising motto: We'll do you proud.

As if.

What about the other 2 options ?

schiff

TY, it worked out well. The link for the normal BB enquiry got the same reply I'm used to, but I put in something important (changing what I am contracted for) and got live chat immediately. After explaining my problem I was transferred to the right department. They have made a mess of my DD, this was sorted out quickly, I asked for some modest compensation as the same thing had happened on my other account and was given something more than modest.