PlusNet!charging monthly after paying up front

phillw

I switched to PlusNet last month and paid upfront for the year.

Today I received an email telling me that they were going to take a direct debit for 17.99, when I looked online it showed a new bill for this month for line rental.

After half an hour on hold I was told that because I made the payment online it hadn't been applied to my account as line rental, but as an up front charge. They admitted their mistake but said they can't cancel the payment going through and they aren't able to put through a credit until the money has cleared, in case it doesn't go through. They did give me the option of trying to get my bank to reject the payment, which seemed like even more hassle. He did say that if I did then they wouldn't chase me for the money, how nice of them.

I haven't ruled out just cancelling the direct debit and sorting it out when they can figure out how to bill customers. They are getting a new billing system in the new year.

Anyway, I'm sure I'm not the only person here who switched to them when they were offering £80 cash back and then paid up front. So you may want to check if my case was an isolated incident.

oldagetraveller

"They are getting a new billing system in the new year."
They've been getting a new billing system for many years now!
I had similar happen 5 years ago and just had to wait until the DD had been taken then wait for the refund. It happened three more times in the three months after the initial error and again I was refunded.
Don't cancel the DD whatever you do, it could cause you even more hassle.
You were lucky having to wait only half an hour. The call waiting times have spiralled to ridiculous levels.

teddysmum

oldagetraveller wrote: »

You were lucky having to wait only half an hour. The call waiting times have spiralled to ridiculous levels.

Not to mention the awful experience of having to listen to just two 'tunes' played over and over while you leave the phone on speaker.


I wonder if it's a ploy to get you to give up on complaint calls. The issues with my broadband have much reduced, but there are still niggles (at least one down a day, only for seconds but enough to cost me two surveys which could not be reconnected (Value Opinions)and would have paid out £5 on completion), but I can't bear to wait.


Online has a trick of putting you in a queue then cutting you off , if you are working on something else while waiting for the response ping.

brewerdave

"Getting a new billing system in the New Year" -:rotfl:

It is a regular complaint on Plusnet forums, that Advance line rental is not applied correctly resulting in monthly line rental being charged -also agreed discounted broadband deals not being correctly processed.
The PN direct debit "system" is also unfit for purpose -try changing bank account details -it takes PN longer than any other company I've dealt with to changeover and yet ANOTHER regular complaint is inadequate notice of direct debit amounts.:(

If I hadn't got such a good deal I would have left them this Summer.

boatman

I had the same thing about 18 months ago, just keep an eye on your bill to make sure they credit it back. I do wonder if they do it in the hope that some people don't notice. I left and they cancelled the phone line rental but kept trying to charge for broadband, again, I'm not alone looking at their forum.