topic Re: Boring billing issues in My Account/Billing

Boring billing issues

jv1 — Wed, 11 May 2022 12:36:27 GMT

Afternoon,

Prior to the recent price increase I was paying £24.55 a month.

The increase email states it will rise by £2.28 a month.

My last bill, that went across the month of the update was £27.63

The next bill I have just been advised of is £38.22

Note there are no extra calls or anything on these bills, just the basic service costs.

My maths says I should be paying £26.83 a month, not £27.63 and definitely not £38.22.

I'd open a support call to save everyone else having to read this but that's not how you operate.

Last bill

Re: Boring billing issues

Townman — Wed, 11 May 2022 16:41:15 GMT

The £27.63 will include a "correction" against the previous bill, covering the period 31st March to you billing date, previously paid at the pre-increase price.

2022 Billing increases

Users have found the first bill following the price changes on 31st March 2022 odd because the brief summary presented at the top of the bill is just that - a summary. It does not reflect the important details of each line as fully described on subsequent pages. The first bill after the price rise, has for each chargeable item and their associated discounts...

A refund for the charges already paid on the previous bill (at the old rate) for the period from 31st March to the billing date
A re-charge in arrears (at the new rate) for the period from 31st March to the billing date
The charge at the new rate for the following month (charged in advance)

Consequently comparing this months bill with last months bill can create the impression that it has gone up more than the expected 9.3%. It is also possible that the annual prise rise is coincident with the end of the discounted minimum term, making the increase appear much larger.

Note: In some cases there is a known error on the first bill run which has omitted to adjust applicable discounts.

As for the £38.22, have you come to the end of you fixed term, discounted price as per your current contract? When price rises coincide with end of contract periods, it is too easy to see conspiracy / errors when there might be something else "in play". What does the user portal advise about your contract terms?

There again, it could indeed be a billing error! 🤔

Re: Boring billing issues

jv1 — Wed, 11 May 2022 17:15:16 GMT

Thanks for the reply.

Contract end date is 10th July 2022.

My products are listed as:

Line rental £20.56

Call plan £5.71

Unlimited broadband £0.55

Total £26.82

Billing period of the £38.22 one is to 10th June, so that and a July bill should be as above.

Billing and payments page now tells me:

"Sorry, we are not able to complete this request at the moment, please try again later."

Re: Boring billing issues

Townman — Wed, 11 May 2022 17:24:04 GMT

Sounds as though the page has been left logged in on the portal. The portal is made up of multiple components made to look seamless. Some of the subsystems time out their system connections ... whilst leaving the portal looking as though it is logged in. Use the LOGOUT link in the top right and try again.

Re: Boring billing issues

jv1 — Wed, 11 May 2022 17:28:33 GMT

Thanks - page works again now.

The "after contract ends: 12.74" is suspiciously close to the amount the bill is wrong by.

Re: Boring billing issues

jv1 — Fri, 13 May 2022 08:34:37 GMT

Can I get this turned into a support ticket? Or is the 'open a complaint' thing the way to go?

Re: Boring billing issues

jab1 — Fri, 13 May 2022 08:40:00 GMT

@jv1 This will get picked up by one of the Help Team shortly, who will no doubt open a ticket to reply to you as it is an account specific question.

Re: Boring billing issues

adamwalker — Fri, 13 May 2022 11:39:45 GMT

Hi @jv1 - I've picked this up and have added a ticket to your account to explain things in more detail: https://www.plus.net/wizard/?p=view_question&id=224418771 please have a look when you can and let me know when you've responded.