topic Re: Monthly cost increases in My Account/Billing

Monthly cost increases

PabloBruno — Thu, 20 Apr 2023 12:38:22 GMT

Hi,

When I joined Plusnet my monthly bill for broadband was £22.99. Now, less than than three years later, it is £29.94. That is a rise of over 30%.

Can anyone justify this price rise? Is my only recourse to go with another cheaper supplier?

Re: Monthly cost increases

Baldrick1 — Thu, 20 Apr 2023 15:31:27 GMT

@PabloBruno

Your other option is to ring the Customer Options Team on 0800 013 2632 armed with a competitors price and ask for a price match.

Re: Monthly cost increases

PabloBruno — Thu, 20 Apr 2023 15:43:40 GMT

Good shout. I think I might have to. I like Plusnet but if this keep going up at this rate then in another 3 years time I will be paying almost £40 a month.

Annoyingly, they have no email address for queries and their chatbot never puts you through to a human. I'll have to call them at the weekend.

Re: Monthly cost increases

willcutforth — Thu, 20 Apr 2023 15:46:39 GMT

Hey there @PabloBruno I can call you up and pop you through to them to see what they can offer?

Re: Monthly cost increases

PabloBruno — Thu, 20 Apr 2023 15:52:17 GMT

It'll have to be at the weekend due to work stuff, but thanks.

Re: Monthly cost increases

willcutforth — Thu, 20 Apr 2023 16:41:05 GMT

No worries, I hope you get it sorted

Re: Monthly cost increases

PabloBruno — Mon, 01 May 2023 14:42:41 GMT

I have just had an email saying that this June my contract comes to an end and my monthly bill will go from £29.94 to £54.39.

But hey, don't worry, they are offering me a new deal for £30.99 a month.

That is a 35% rise in just three years. According to globaldatabase.com, Plusnet made £419M for 2022. Now we know how.

I have, until now, been a loyal customer, but when other providers are offering the same speeds for £22-£25 p/m how can Plusnet justify these price hikes?

As offered above (by willcutforth), can someone get the Customer Options Team to call me tomorrow (Tuesday) or Wednesday afternoon so I can discuss my concerns and options please?

Re: Monthly cost increases

Anonymous — Mon, 01 May 2023 16:01:51 GMT

@PabloBruno

"but when other providers are offering the same speeds for £22-£25 p/m how can Plusnet justify these price hikes?"

I have no particular axe to grind with regards to any particular broadband supplier, but I would take more than just "speeds" in to account when choosing who to go with.

The speed that your line can support is only part of the chain, and is just between your home and the cabinet, (or FTTP node). After that, your service shares "backhaul" capacity with other users to get in to the "big" internet: this is one reason that some people complain about their broadband "slowing down" in peak periods.

I have read from many varied sources that cheaper suppliers skimp on their backhaul capacity to save money. I think that PN may even share BT links capacity?

Also, reliability might be an issue for you to consider?

Recently there have been press reports of major, (in coverage and duration), outages of broadband suppliers such as Virgin and Vodaphone, (and Sky a while back?).

I have always found Plusnet, (and BT prior to joinging PN), to be very reliable. In fact I can't actually remember a service outage that was not caused by a line fault - which would have affected any FTTC supplier I chose.

This availability and reliability has to be paid for - if these things are important to you.

Re: Monthly cost increases

James30 — Tue, 02 May 2023 18:55:11 GMT

Ey up @PabloBruno , It sounds like you could do with a bit of help with the prices and indeed that sounds like quite a hike. If you want, have chinwag and a cuppa with our Customer Options Team on 0800 432 0200. They're open Monday - Friday: 8 - 8, Saturday: 9 - 7 and Sunday: 9 - 6 and they're gladly see what they can do for you to bring the price down.

Re: Monthly cost increases

RealAleMadrid — Tue, 02 May 2023 22:02:37 GMT

@PabloBruno The correct number for the Customer Options Team is 0800 013 2632 you should get a quicker answer than the standard support number.