Which isp won't use crummy tactics against me?

triade

I was late for payment, I made a mistake with my budgeting and my Plusnet payment didn't go through. It's been A DAY and they blocked my WiFi, the only options when I try to connect are a Plusnet website saying 'pay now' or 'I've already paid' or a phone no to phone.

This is absolutely disgusting in my opinion, to treat me like this.  I get paid tomorrow and intended to pay them immediately. Now I don't care if 'they don't know that'  or any of these excuses someone might make for them, it's been ONE DAY. I would expect a good company to at least have some form of grace period before they start doing anything at all, such as sending reminder emails etc. But interrupting my service is unacceptable to me since they will still expect me to pay them for the entire month whether I am able to use it or not

Regardless of the ins and outs of it, I feel like this is not the most customer friendly way to behave and I've had unpleasant experiences with Plusnet before so I want to find an alternative. For example, tesco mobile always treat me well and if I am late with payment, they work with me and treat me with care and understanding. I used to be with tesco broadband for ages for that reason but they got bought.

What else is available? I just want a service who understands that life happens for people and doesn't use strong arm tactics to bully their customer into paying. I don't care if Plusnet has a right to bully me, I understand how some people here think, I don't want to hear any of that, I just want to know which broadband company will be helpful and understanding if I miss a payment for whatever reason. (in this case, I simply misread my bank statement)

littleboo

I think what you're asking is, "which ISP's tolerate late payment of bills" I don't know the answer but I suspect not very many

triade

giraffe69 said:

.... I am a bit surprised that Plusnet were so quick off the mark though. .... It does sound time to move on from Plusnet (assuming you are out of minimum term). ...

sorry I didn't see these earlier posts. Thank you I appreciate your empathy here. Of course, if I hadn't paid the bill after like 14 days or something like that, then of course I would expect them to take some kind of actions.  It was the fact it had only been a single day. the payment was attempted just after midnight tuesday night. and I got paid just after midnight last night and cleared the outstanding amount as soon as I was paid. just seemed like really crappy response from them.

giraffe69 said:

.... As for your question I think most providers will cut you off if you don't pay but some will be slower and administratively less efficient.

BT, for example, say " If we don't receive payment on time, we will have to add a late payment charge to your bill or suspend your services until you clear any outstanding balance. We will also notify credit referencing agencies that you've missed payments. Sounds like they will be off your list!

I understand that would likely be the case after a reasonable period. That's what I'm asking. I don't think I'm unreasonable in expecting a short grace period of maybe a week. We are all different. some of us are fastidious and triple check everything, some others have learning disabilities such as ADHD or dyslexia etc. which make it difficult to keep track of every single payment, pending payment or purchases which haven't even appeared on the statement yet because the company is slow with their polling.

Somebody suggested Cuckoo to me and I read over their T&C and what they offer and they seem good. a £10 charge for late payment after 14 days, no indication that they mess with the connection during that period. seems fair and reasonable.

BUFF

You will pay more for Cuckoo (or similar though) - they are quoting me £29.99 for the same speed/package as I pay Plusnet £22.99 ...

Neil_Jones

triade said:

Why do you always have to be hostile? as hard as it may be to believe, but I don't come here for this kind of abuse from you and the ones like you.

you may note, i've never had any problems with tesco mobile, I did state that specifically. never any problems with british gas or the water company. what is the obvious common element with the issues I've had? plusnet. and yes I gave plusnet some chances to do better, that's because I'm a decent person, shock horror.

Yeah the water company you don't have much choice in because you can't switch provider on domestic water tariffs, so if the service is crap its a case of put up with it.

The other providers, well that's only your experience.  I can count the number of problems I've had with Plusnet on the fingers of one hand.  There is a difference between a problem being caused by the provider and the problem being caused by your good self.  From what I can see your "issues" I'm sorry to say are self inflicted.

triade said:

I'm just frustrated with how it always seems like many people on this site are so eager to jump to the defence of the company and ignore the part where the OP asks for advice or guidance, etc. The site is called money saving expert yet it's all to often the case, people are too eager to ignore the money saving part and just sat "the company is right and you're wrong". I plainly acknowledge that Plusnet are within their rights to do what they do, but at the same time, they don't have to be douchebags about it. This is a case of poor attention to customer needs, whether right or wrong. Like I pointed out with Tesco Mobile, they don't HAVE to be nice and helpful, and lenient with the missed payments, but on the rare occasions that it may happen, they make me feel safe and valued so I stay with them.

All I want from this website is some basic empathy for how I feel about what's happened, and some good advice on which company is likely to be more like tesco broadband. Why do people think that's so unreasonable?

I want to leave plusnet when my contract is up and I intend to, but nobody here has yet answered my query, who is more likely to be a more understanding and friendly company, like tesco are?

In actuality, I had one suggestion via private message, but no helpful replies in this topic.

for the record, I very rarely miss payments, and if I do, I resolve it as soon as I possibly can, probably within the week. i am not a bad person and I would appreciate not being treated like some grifter. it's highly demoralising when I'm already feeling pretty hurt and upset.

people who "are so eager to jump to the defence of the company and ignore the part where the OP asks for advice or guidance" usually do so because 6 times out of 10 the poster is at fault.  Not the provider.  But the posters don't want to hear that and there are many examples on many forums where people just throw a hissy fit because they didn't get the response they wanted.

Perhaps it might be prudent to change your billing day on the Plusnet website to two days after you get paid, assuming you get paid on the same day each month.  Then the money will be there for payment.

As regards to empathy - maybe if the provider was in the wrong you may have had some.  But technically they aren't.  The issue happened at the hand of your good self through your own budgeting failure.  If you had been with anybody else I suspect the ultimate outcome would have been the same.  The thing to remember is you pay in advance for your internet on all broadband providers, so if you don't pay for whatever reason then you lose the access.  Same as PAYG tariffs on mobile phones - no credit, no phone.

macman

While I agree that the cut-off time was unacceptably short, you are reacting to this as if it's some sort of personal vindictive campaign by PN against you. They have millions of accounts, and don't trawl through missed payments daily looking for accounts to disable in retaliation. It's simply the automated result of a badly set up IT system in a company that's a budget provider and probably under-resourced. Their CS has never been great: you get what you pay for.
If you had put your payments on DD then this issue would not arise.
The solution is in your own hands: if you don't find it acceptable, take your business elsewhere.

triade

macman said:

While I agree that the cut-off time was unacceptably short, you are reacting to this as if it's some sort of personal vindictive campaign by PN against you. They have millions of accounts, and don't trawl through missed payments daily looking for accounts to disable in retaliation. It's simply the automated result of a badly set up IT system in a company that's a budget provider and probably under-resourced. Their CS has never been great: you get what you pay for.
If you had put your payments on DD then this issue would not arise.
The solution is in your own hands: if you don't find it acceptable, take your business elsewhere.

My payments are always on direct debit, it just got returned because of an unforeseen charge that went out in the hidden pending section and it was the same value as my plusnet bill and I knew plusnet was due so I assumed that was it, then left the balance too low.

anyway, plusnet generally had good customer service from the beginning, it's why I joined them several years to a decade ago.

I know full well that it's due to their system, as the agents on the phone are usually very helpful. I don't know what it is about my language that makes you think I perceived this as a personal vendetta but That was never my intention, I can't help that, I have a learning disability.

I'm really not sure how this is relevant though, when I asked for an alternate provider after saying clearly that I want to switch. I even put it in bold.

BUFF said:

You will pay more for Cuckoo (or similar though) - they are quoting me £29.99 for the same speed/package as I pay Plusnet £22.99 ...

Yes, I'm fine with paying more for something that fits my needs.

Farway

triade said:

macman said:

While I agree that the cut-off time was unacceptably short, you are reacting to this as if it's some sort of personal vindictive campaign by PN against you. They have millions of accounts, and don't trawl through missed payments daily looking for accounts to disable in retaliation. It's simply the automated result of a badly set up IT system in a company that's a budget provider and probably under-resourced. Their CS has never been great: you get what you pay for.
If you had put your payments on DD then this issue would not arise.
The solution is in your own hands: if you don't find it acceptable, take your business elsewhere.

My payments are always on direct debit, it just got returned because of an unforeseen charge that went out in the hidden pending section and it was the same value as my plusnet bill and I knew plusnet was due so I assumed that was it, then left the balance too low.

anyway, plusnet generally had good customer service from the beginning, it's why I joined them several years to a decade ago.

I know full well that it's due to their system, as the agents on the phone are usually very helpful. I don't know what it is about my language that makes you think I perceived this as a personal vendetta but That was never my intention, I can't help that, I have a learning disability.

I'm really not sure how this is relevant though, when I asked for an alternate provider after saying clearly that I want to switch. I even put it in bold.

BUFF said:

You will pay more for Cuckoo (or similar though) - they are quoting me £29.99 for the same speed/package as I pay Plusnet £22.99 ...

Yes, I'm fine with paying more for something that fits my needs.

My bold, maybe it's time to arrange for larger automatic overdraft with your bank, you will be charged if used but should prevent bounced DDs

phillw

To be honest, I'd just go with the cheapest. Which on MSE's list is Shell. They tried to charge me for things outside of the terms, but they backed down when I challenged them.

I'm locked into vodafone right now, so I haven't paid much attention what is going on. But that £12.91 equivalent for fiber is pretty awesome compared to what was available when I signed up.