Plusnet Billing Crisis
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Neil_Jones wrote: »Well I can see my bills, email notifications and so on and I don't have any issues.
This may be one of those things that only affects certain users. It certainly hasn't affected me.
Yes I know some people have access and some don't. Personally I have tried Google Chrome, Firefox and Microsoft Edge on Windows and Safari, Google Chrome, Firefox and Tor on Apple MacBook and I get the same result every time. Therefore I am taking the view that Plusnet have locked my account thereby preventing my access to my account and I will be entering the complaints procedure culminating in arbitration if Plusnet is unable to fix the problem when I phone support today.
Watch this space.
Phoned Plusnet support who was helpful but could not fix the problem. They changed my password and then using the new password replicated the problem, set up a security question, escalated the problem by passing it on to another team and confirmed by email that a question had been set up in my account which will be updated. The overall finding of Plusnet support at this time is "it's obviously something to do with the account". Well you know, we already know that!0 -
Surely time for MoneySavingExpert to do an article on this debacle?
Given the length of the thread in the Plusnet community support forum, issues are widespread, ongoing, not been acknowledged by the company and with no sign of a resolution.
Yes, I too have been impacted; no ability to view bills or access account details, Direct debits not collected, etc.0 -
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Send a tweet to Martin and lets see if you get a response0
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I look after two Plusnet accounts (one for myself & one for an elderly relative). Both accounts are on different packages but both were overcharged in September. The over-charges were refunded a couple of weeks after complaining. Billing on both accounts was then suspended. So neither account has been correctly billed since August.
I have two friends with Plusnet accounts - one has been charged correctly the other has been over-charged.
So my own small sample would suggest a very high error rate. However, piecing together information from the Plusnet customer forums and other sources I think the true figure is rather less - perhaps 10% of the customer base (so 100,000 customers affected).
As of today Plusnet are still unable to give a date when the billing problems will be resolved but they admit is a serious problem. They also refuse to reveal their plans for processing the missing bills. Given the numbers involved it seems unlikely they will write them off but will they produce one consolidated bill or will they generate the missing bills one at a time over a period of time?
For any existing customers who have not already checked I would take a look at your bank statements to see if you have been billed in recent months and if so whether any agreed discounts have been applied.
To anyone thinking of joining Plusnet I would say that I have found their customer service staff to be very good once you get through to them and they will arrange a refund if you have been over-charged. So if you are happy to monitor your bills & bank statements carefully & prepared to engage with Customer Services then you should be ok. But if that sounds like too much hassle and you just want to sign up & forget about it, then I would avoid them for now.0 -
Well seems likely PlusNet have quietly remediated their billing system to some extent.
Can now access account details and view bills online, (never bothered to waste time with support when I couldn't), so resolution was entirely on their backend systems.
Still some issues with printing bills, but saving them first then printing from Adobe Acrobat does the trick.0 -
The posts in this thread, and on the Plusnet community forum, paint a very worrying picture of Plusnet's incompetence.
It is clear that there are multiple failures. Some who have posted here complain of not being able to access the relevant pages or details on the Plusnet Member Centre site - or finding certain pages blank, or not being able to print things out. These are website-management IT problems.
Others have complained about not having received invoices for months, or of getting duplicate invoices or charges. This is a billing-system problem.
Yet more customers are finding that the bills they do get are incorrect, that Direct Debits are being taken for the wrong - and excessive - amounts, that account tariffs and contracts are not being updated, and that discounts (eg for referrals) are not being correctly applied. I'm in this last category. These are accounting problems.
No doubt there are some customers who are unaffected, or simply haven't noticed any problems. But it seems clear that - as another post has commented - this is a systemic failure of TSB proportions. It has now been unresolved for more than two months. And the longer it goes on, the bigger the mess, the larger the backlog, and the more challenging the task of rectifying errors, recalculating bills, and delivering refunds.
Plusnet (at a senior and public level) have been totally silent. The unfortunate staff who field the Customer Service complaints and respond to forum posts admit that there are accounting issues but can only say that "tickets will be raised", "problems have been noted", and "the matter has been referred to Billing/IT/whoever" or "escalated to the relevant department". All this is useless and no reassurance.
The major issues with Plusnet's systems are unacceptable. In other situations - such as the banks - Chief Executives have spoken out. Explanations and apologies have been offered. Heads have rolled. Compensation has been paid and fees or charges waived.
In Plusnet's case, the response so far has been silence, evasion, and empty assurances that the problem is being addressed. Not good enough.
OfCom complaints are one channel for action. But like others on this forum, I think it is time for MSE and Martin Lewis to stand up, speak up and point out the scale of this problem publicly. It may be that only the pressure of serious adverse publicity will galvanise Plusnet into effective action. Let's see MSE step up to the plate - and soon....0 -
@br1anstorm
I very much doubt Martin Lewis reads these forums at all.
Probably better to use Twitter and tweet him publicly to see if he will engage.0 -
Er - strange though it may seem, not everyone uses Twitter. I'm one of many who find it shallow and irritating.
But seriously Martin Lewis, MSE, and the Moneysupermarket organisation that now owns this site and manages the MSE brand and output, have a team of administrators, moderators, staff members and investigators. If these people are not monitoring current consumer-related issues such as this, what are they doing......?0
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