Plusnet miss billing / miss selling the credit aspect of the phoneline charges again?

wbowindy

Thank you all for your replys, there have been some interesting and informative things thrown up, but Plusnet still don't seem to be clear about their billing process on a one year contract at £18.95 per month (it was a discounted contract)

Neil_Jones

wbowindy said:

Thank you all for your replys, there have been some interesting and informative things thrown up, but Plusnet still don't seem to be clear about their billing process on a one year contract at £18.95 per month (it was a discounted contract)

The £18.95 is probably for your broadband/internet, and will almost certainly not include landline calls which for a package costs extra - if you don't pay that it's be pay as you use.

But the details are on the website: https://www.plus.net/help/phone/ - admittedly its not entirely clear sometimes how it works, but its not hidden behind anything so... and we must bear in mind mobiles have largely taken over in this area, so I would say that if the bulk of broadband cases the landline is only used to deliver the internet.

Easiest way to think of it is as a cap.  Ie you can't spend more than £55 a month on calls, or (in your case) £73.95 a month.  But like I say if you're making more than £12 worth of calls upgrade to an all inclusive calls package and then its just a case of paying for anything not included in that package.

wbowindy

Update to Plusnet charges: Call barring was put on my phone again yesterday, because the £123.78 charge appeared on the invoicing section (this had already been removed from the bill) and as it is linked to an automated call barring system my phoneline was put into call barring. After calling today, Plusnet have told me they will remove the call barring from my phoneline and any charge for call barring.

wbowindy

Neil_Jones said:

wbowindy said:

Thank you all for your replys, there have been some interesting and informative things thrown up, but Plusnet still don't seem to be clear about their billing process on a one year contract at £18.95 per month (it was a discounted contract)

The £18.95 is probably for your broadband/internet, and will almost certainly not include landline calls which for a package costs extra - if you don't pay that it's be pay as you use.

But the details are on the website: https://www.plus.net/help/phone/ - admittedly its not entirely clear sometimes how it works, but its not hidden behind anything so... and we must bear in mind mobiles have largely taken over in this area, so I would say that if the bulk of broadband cases the landline is only used to deliver the internet.

Easiest way to think of it is as a cap.  Ie you can't spend more than £55 a month on calls, or (in your case) £73.95 a month.  But like I say if you're making more than £12 worth of calls upgrade to an all inclusive calls package and then its just a case of paying for anything not included in that package.

Thank you for your explanation Neil. The problem was with the billing department, initially my monthly bill when I joined Plusnet, showed any itemised calls on my bill, (the itemised calls dissappeared from my bill for three months after I had been told I had a credit available, which was "in with the phoneline") No itemised calls were billed and nothing appearing on unbilled calls for the three months,in January/February/March 2023 during which time I believed I had a credit on my line as had been stated by the customer services agent in December. If the system changed during the time after I opened my account in June 2022, I was unaware of it, and when speaking with the customer services agent in December 2022 I was not given the impression that "the credit in with the phoneline" would be charged, so when no itemised calls or unbilled calls appeared on my bill for the three months of Jan/Feb/March 2023 I was not concerned.

wbowindy

Hi All, final resolution to Plusnet Billing/Misinformation during phone calls to customer services: This email was sent from Michael Newton.

Dear Mrs Hersey,

I called this morning to discuss your complaint. As promised I have listened to calls from November and December, as well as the calls earlier on when the complaint was raised and the day before.

The call in November was as I'd expect, they ensured that your number on the system was corrected and gave correct advise that you should start being billed for calls from that date (28th November)

You called back on the 27th December because you were still not being billed for calls. The agent looked into this and confirmed there was nothing wrong on the account and advised you're only charged for premium rates and international calls. This information was incorrect because only if you have a call plan does that count. I am sorry for the misleading information.

You also discussed the credit limit, which caused confusion. The name itself is a confusion, it should be referred to as a cap instead of a credit. The end of the conversation it was clear you thought that the credit limit covered your calls and wasn't acting as a cap. Once again I am sorry for this and for the impact it's had.

When you spoke to a colleague in the billing team she advised that we have used the credit limit for years which is true, but as a cap not as free credit to make calls. The description on the call wasn't very clear what the credit limit is for which caused further confusion once again. I am sorry once more Mrs Hersey for that.

The calls themselves that have been added to your account are in fact calls you made, however, they were from previous months and that was an error on our system. I can assure you that is not how we do billing, and that is not what my colleague meant.

As you know we have removed the calls from your bill because the error was not your fault, you should have been billed for them when you made them, not months later on a £120+ bill. We don't work like that and I feel the fact we removed the calls from your balance shows this.

I will feedback the misinformation you've been provided, I will also feed back your experience with this complaint. My feedback will also go to the billing team to report the error on the system. This will have already been done, but it's best to be sure. I will also feedback on the wording we use to describe our cap. It can cause confusion and I am sure you're not alone in that. Our mobile team calls it a smart cap, we could adopt that for broadband too.

You mentioned on Friday you don't want any compensation, and I respect that so I won't offer you any. I will add a credit for the £5.76 we charged for your for the call bar, this is not compensation but something you are owed. if we are not charging you for the calls we shouldn't charge you for the call barring fee either.

My investigation and feedback will be a resolution to the complaint, there is nothing further that can be done our end.

Kind regards,

Michael Newton

wbowindy

My email reply to Mr Newton:

Dear Mr Newton,

Thank you for your email and phone call this morning, I am relieved that somebody finally listened to the Phone calls to Plusnet in November and December and we have now reached a resolution. Thank you for the call barring refund and as previously mentioned I will be changing my Broadband account in June. I have been in touch with Direct Save and they will be handling the switch process.

Thanks for your intervention and offer of compensation, as we discussed it is not necessary to give me compensation, but I would ask that you sort out your billing team and change the name of the "Credit" to something which is less confusing, as you have already suggested.

Sincerely,

Alison Hersey.

And Finally Esther!!!

Dear Mrs Hersey,

Thank you for your response, I have added the credit to your account for the call barring charge.

I have also passed on all the feedback I collated for it to be looked at by management and moved to the right areas. Thank you again for your patience, I am so sorry the case had to come to my level, should have been resolved well before now.

I am sorry to see you go, but respect your decision. All the best with your new provider moving forward, you take care. The complaint will close today, but if you need to get in touch over the next 28 days, you have my details to do so.

Thank you again for your patience Mrs Hersey and providing me the time to investigate.

We believe we've now fully resolved your issue. I'd like to thank you for your patience whilst we've dealt with it.

Kind regards,

Michael Newton

wbowindy

Final words from me:

At least it is all in writing here on the MSE Forum and if this happens to anybody else they can find some relevant information here when reading through the discussion, should they wish to do so. Thanks to all who posted comments and suggestions. Wbowindy 👍