topic Re: Incorrect bill in My Account/Billing

Incorrect bill

charisac — Thu, 11 May 2023 18:02:39 GMT

I contracted on 8th March for 27.99 a month, I’m getting billed 34.32 - 3.44 = 30.88.
As I recontracted after the 1st March I don’t think the RPI increase was to be applied, can you please advise.

Re: Incorrect bill

MatthewWheeler — Mon, 15 May 2023 13:00:45 GMT

Hi @charisac

I'm afraid if your contract started before the 31st of March then you would be affected by the price increase

There isn't anything we could do to change this

Re: Incorrect bill

charisac — Mon, 15 May 2023 13:32:35 GMT

Very underhand but no doubt in some small print somewhere.

Re: Incorrect bill

corringham — Mon, 15 May 2023 15:44:12 GMT

@MatthewWheeler wrote:

Hi @charisac

I'm afraid if your contract started before the 31st of March then you would be affected by the price increase

There isn't anything we could do to change this

@MatthewWheeler Plusnet's CPI Plus 3.9% Guide states:

On or after 1st March every year, we'll take the CPI percentage rate published by the Office for National Statistics in January of that year and add an extra 3.9% to the rate.

so is the effective date 1st March or 31st March?

If it is any date "on or after 1st March", then 15th May, 4th July, and 25th December are all after 1st March.

Re: Incorrect bill

charisac — Mon, 15 May 2023 16:12:57 GMT

My understanding was the cut-off was the 1st March, that’s the policy adopted by BT & makes sense as the increase was locked in on 1st March. Contract taken out on 18th March should have been advertised at the higher amount.

Re: Incorrect bill

corringham — Sun, 28 May 2023 09:28:13 GMT

@corringham wrote:

@MatthewWheeler wrote:

Hi @charisac

I'm afraid if your contract started before the 31st of March then you would be affected by the price increase

There isn't anything we could do to change this

@MatthewWheeler Plusnet's CPI Plus 3.9% Guide states:

On or after 1st March every year, we'll take the CPI percentage rate published by the Office for National Statistics in January of that year and add an extra 3.9% to the rate.

so is the effective date 1st March or 31st March?

If it is any date "on or after 1st March", then 15th May, 4th July, and 25th December are all after 1st March.

@MatthewWheeler is there any chance of official Plusnet clarification of the date on which the price rise applies?

There are a growing number of threads where people report accepting a contract offer well after 1st March, only to find the price they accepted is increased by 14.4% within days of starting the contract period.

Re: Incorrect bill

adamwalker — Sun, 28 May 2023 10:36:33 GMT

Hi @corringham the price change took effect on April 1st.

Re: Incorrect bill

jgb — Sun, 28 May 2023 11:09:36 GMT

@adamwalker

As @corringham states in message 4 above the problem is that the wording of the price rise message suggests that the increase is likley to be operative from 1st March and so it is reasonable for customers signing up after that date to expect that the quoted price includes the increase.

Plusnet need to clarify the wording of the price increase message to reflect the actual date they intend to apply the increase to avoid this ambiguity. If I recall correctly the operative date has been at the end of March in previous years and so it should be a simple matter to reflect the correct date in the message. Plusnet also need to ensure that members of the COT state clearly whether or not a quoted price will be subject to an imminent increase. An online sign up journey also needs such a clear warning, and not just some text buried in the sign up journey.

Such clarity would avoid complaints such as this, save staff time and minimise customer dissatisfaction regarding this issue.

Re: Incorrect bill

corringham — Sun, 28 May 2023 12:19:11 GMT

@adamwalker wrote:

Hi @corringham the price change took effect on April 1st.

That is NOT what it states in Plusnet's own Terms and conditions for Plusnet residential services:

18.3. Subject to paragraph 18.6, a percentage price increase will be applied to the price of broadband, line rental, call plans and call charges. This price increase will be applied on or after 1st March each year from March 2022, and will be equal to a percentage comprising of i) the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rate figure published by the Office for National Statistics in January of that year (ignoring any negative figure) plus ii) 3.9%, and rounded up to the nearest whole pence. If the CPI figure is negative, the price increase will only be 3.9%.

Nor in Plusnet's CPI Plus 3.9% Guide:

On or after 1st March every year from March 2022, we'll take the CPI percentage rate published by the Office for National Statistics in January of that year and add an extra 3.9% to the rate

I know you can say 1st April is after 1st March, but so is 1st June, 1st July and 360+ other days. When your terms and conditions state 1st March it is not unreasonable for anyone entering into a contract after that date that the current year's price increase has already happened.

If Plusnet decide to impose a price rise on some other date they should publicise that clearly - I cannot find any mention of 1st April in any Plusnet guide.

This doesn't affect me personally as I haven't recently renewed, but I fully understand why so many people are upset (and if it had happened to me Plusnet would be hearing from my lawyer!).