topic Re: £80 to cancel in Plusnet Feedback

£80 to cancel

killie89 — Thu, 06 May 2010 15:25:39 GMT

I have been with plusnet for 2 weeks now and phoned today to cancel, I was told I would have to pay £80 to cancel my contract. £40 for the connection charge and £40 for the router. Both payments are payable if you cancel within 12 months.
I dispute that my contract is binding due to my speed being 0.9MB when I was told it would be 2MB. Even the plusnet checker where you enter your phone number and postcode comes back with a speed of "about 2.5MB". So they are saying that 2.5MB was not promised and I have to accept that 0.9MB is my speed. My last provider (Orange) gave me 2MB but apparently they have their own equipment installed at the exchange.
I can't watch BBC iplayer now and other streaming media also pauses. You really only get what you pay for I wish I had never listened to the plusnet salesman!
This has to be the worst ISP on the planet. (sadly it probably won't be)
I am probably going to have to pay £80 to get out of this contract as it's totally useless.
Rant over. ps anybody want to buy a second hand plusnet router, good door stop!!

Re: £80 to cancel

Mand — Thu, 06 May 2010 16:02:21 GMT

Hi there,
The first step to try and resolve your speed issue would be to raise a fault and let us find the issue (although you're moving to our ADSL2+ network tomorrow, so is probably best to wait and see what that changes). I can't see that you've raised a fault at all or given us a chance to sort the issue for you.
The activation and hardware fees are applicable because they are costs that we have incurred on your behalf.
With regard to the line check result, this is an estimate based on information from our supplier, it's not a 'promise' or a speed guarantee.

Re: £80 to cancel

torbayguy — Thu, 06 May 2010 22:11:29 GMT

Killie, do what I have done mate, cancel your payment details, and tell Plusnet to take a run and jump.
In my case, all the problems I have received, and the lack of decent speed means Plusnet have defaulted on the contract, and the charges arent enforceable, no matter what Plusnet might say!
They are welcome to take me to court, because with all the evidence I have to support my case, I will be walking away with compensation!

Re: £80 to cancel

nkingdom — Thu, 06 May 2010 22:30:32 GMT

hi torbayguy,
speed is not what you pay for from a ISP what you buy from a isp is the usage that you recieve. The speed is what is avaliable to you from the exchange. what you recieved from one provider last year will be different with what you recieve from the same or a different priovider the next. It is contention ratios that effect your speed not the service provider. The service provider can have shaping on the line, but ultimatly it is the distance from the exchange that effects the speed you recieve.
I suggest you check this website out. it is regulated by BT wholesale and it gives you all of the informaiton about your address and the speed you can recieve. If you read your terms and conditions that apply to your service you will also not there is no mention of speed being a part of the contract. not paying your bill is never the way to go, if you do it with your mobile provider or your mortgage or any other contract for any service the result swings in the favour of the company not the customer. Like i said check this link out below, fill in your phone number and your postcode and you will see what you can get.
http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/adslchecker.php

Re: £80 to cancel

torbayguy — Thu, 06 May 2010 22:40:07 GMT

I know all of that mate, and perhaps I didnt illustrate my point well enough, however the speed its self is a small part.
There are all the billing issues, the phone service, the lack of help to resolve the speed issue, theres plenty of other issues that I dont want to get into on a public forum.
At the end of the day, Plus net dont seem able to provide the service I am paying for, and arent dont anything to resolve any of the issues.
Because of that, they have broken the contract they agreed with me, and that breaks the legal bind.

Re: £80 to cancel

nkingdom — Fri, 07 May 2010 00:15:07 GMT

your main point on this thread was the speed issue, or so it read that way.
have you read your terms and conditions, and do you have proof that they have breached there contract? if they had breached there contract they wouldnt be stating that you are liable for cancellation fees. Your not happy with your speed, so you feel the contract has been breached. have you given the company a chance to rectify issues with your service, i see on other posts you havent been with the company that long.
By activating the service and using the service you are liable for any agreement you have made fella. If you have a problem, i suggest you work with mand she seems to know the score.

Re: £80 to cancel

killie89 — Fri, 07 May 2010 08:19:18 GMT

I got this info from the link supplied by bowsertoad. http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/adslchecker.php
Exchange Information
Exchange: Kilmarnock BT Code: WSKIL
Location: Langlands Brae, KA1 2AQ
Distance:- Direct: 2.5 km
(appx)*
By Road: 4.18 km
Status
ADSL enabled: September 30, 2001
DSL Max enabled: November 30, 2005
SDSL enabled : Enabled
21CN due : (PSTN) No Info
21CN WBC (Broadband) Enabled 21.03.09
Broadband Access†
Market 3
Available ISPs
Although your exchange is BT owned, this does not limit you to just BT Broadband and a vast range of ISPs are able to supply you with adsl.
Available ISPs are too numerous to list, but some examples would be: Zen, Plusnet, IDNet, Enta, etc
BT Line Speed Estimation
Fixed ADSL: 1024 kbps (1 Mb)
DSL Max: 1000 kbps (1 Mb)
21CN WBC : 1500 kbps (1.5 Mb)
Important: The above figures are obtained from the BTw database, which is often conservative.
DSLmax speeds are best guess based on the surrounding area and cannot take into effect individual line conditions which may effect the result such as the type of equipment you use or other issues which may affect the Signal to Noise Ratio.
If you already have adsl then you may be interested in Max dsl speed calculator which may give a better indication of your lines capability.
RAG Test Results
Fixed: Long line green for 1Mbps, Red for 2Mbps
radsl: 512Kbps and 256Kbps available
MAX: ADSL Max is available
TPON: No info in database
Check: The check identified another service on your line which may prevent you from ordering a new ADSL connection. Examples are : Existing adsl connection, DACs, LLU, TPON etc

________________________________________
adsl 1 linecode : AGEC
dslmax linecode: AEGEGEC
Explanation of RAG codes.
My problem with this is not the speed I am recieving but raher why was I decieved into thinking I cound get 2.5MB by the test page on the plusnet site, and by the salesman. I have been missold a service and should be able to cancel at no cost to myself.

Re: £80 to cancel

Mand — Fri, 07 May 2010 08:37:49 GMT

The *estimate* you get on signup is purely that, and is taken directly from BT Wholesale's line check system.
The majority of other ISP's would have given the same result if an estimate was given.

Re: £80 to cancel

torbayguy — Fri, 07 May 2010 09:44:49 GMT

Killie, I agree totally.
The speed estimates, in my experiance anyway, have always under sold the speed you will actually get.
Now, I know my line will hold 17meg, because it has in the past, and Plusnet supply UPTO 20meg, so why have they capped my line at 14meg?
They blame BT for line profiling, but obviously the line profile will be lower than Plusnets sync speed.
Not only that, but why do I get a max 8meg through put?
Its not because of my cabling or setup, that is all fine, its not because of BT either, so its down to Plusnet.
Now, if Plusnet dont have the resources to provide upto 20meg, then surely they are miss-selling the product?
I cant think of any other reason Plusnet would cap my speed to 14meg, other than not being able to physically offer more.
If they can offer more, than why arent I getting it?
Either way, its down to Plusnet.

Re: £80 to cancel

zubel — Fri, 07 May 2010 10:55:59 GMT

Or it's down to differing physical characteristics of your line right now. Never quite as black-and-white as you think.
@killie89 - can you post your router stats please? For the estimate to be that far wrong, I suspect there is another issue at play here.
Cheers
B.

Re: £80 to cancel

Mand — Fri, 07 May 2010 11:03:29 GMT

@torbayguy, we have *no* control over your sync speed, or your BT profile. Any management we apply would have no affect on this whatsoever.

Re: £80 to cancel

torbayguy — Fri, 07 May 2010 14:00:21 GMT

Ok Mand.
You obviously have no control over my billing or order process either!

Re: £80 to cancel

stiffnuts — Sat, 08 May 2010 21:41:48 GMT

I think many plusnet staff members are starting to bury there head in the sand from the comments seen here.

Re: £80 to cancel

torbayguy — Sat, 08 May 2010 22:33:53 GMT

Stiffnuts I agree mate.
All I have had from day 1 is excuses from Plusnet.
Sure, they promise to fix the problems, and yes, some have been fixed, BUT another problem comes along as soon as the one before is recified.
The majority of problems I personally have suffered, have been billing and account management, and obviously the only people that can deal with that is Plusnet, yet they still blame everybody else including the old man down the road!
Speed is my latest issue, along with inaccurate billing.
Plusnet say the speed issue is my setup... erm wrong answer!
Then they blame BT.. wrong again!
The buck stops with Plusnet.
We pay them, not BT or anybody else.
It Plusnet wont spend the money to ensure I can receive the speed I am paying for, and my line is capable of, then Plusnet dont deserve my business.
Anyway O2 have given me a migration date of 17/5/10 so not much longer to suffer the plusnet blues!!

Re: £80 to cancel

stiffnuts — Sun, 09 May 2010 20:36:10 GMT

yeah torbayguy. I moved to sky llu. The best thing I ever did for £10. Solid sync from day 1. Very helpful on the phone. No billing issues. Wanst messed about re dates of activation etc etc.

Re: £80 to cancel

torbayguy — Sun, 09 May 2010 20:48:29 GMT

Bet your chuffed with your speed mate, thats what I should be getting!!
Oh well not long now... hey I got my O2 router yesterday... N rated wireless as well.
Impressed!

Re: £80 to cancel

adamwalker — Mon, 10 May 2010 09:47:10 GMT

@killie89 I've just checked and your move to ADSL2+ is complete so you are now in the midst of a 10 day training period. You are on a 1500kbps profile at the moment which should improve.
Please keep us appraised as to how things are going.

Re: £80 to cancel

xpcomputers — Mon, 10 May 2010 10:08:04 GMT

@ killie89
Speak to Plusnet about your speed. They have one of the best customer support out there.
You were being moved to the ADSL2+ platform last week, and it will take a while to settle down after that move, so how are things looking now?
I would highly recommend not just ceasing payments (as has been recklessly suggested to you), and instead engaging with those looking to help. Hope you get the line speed resolved.

@ torbayguy,
If you are currently using a 54G router, your internal wireless could easily be the limit that is bringing your transfer speed down to 8Mb from the 14Mb sync. 54G wireless has an optimal throughput that is normally under 20Mb and can easily be under 10Mb with some chipsets and distance from the router. The "54" in G wireless is real head in the clouds stuff. Have you tried a wired connection to the router for a speed test?
N wireless is better, but not by as much as the "300" would imply!
Cancelling your payments is never the way to leave a provider, especially not without a decent attempt to resolve the problems.
Mike

Re: £80 to cancel

Mand — Mon, 10 May 2010 10:19:36 GMT

@torbayguy,
My post was in response to your post, which was purely about speed.
No-one here would dispute that there were problems with your provisioning (which incidentally led to the processes involved being reiterated to all our provisioning teams), or that you've had billing problems (there are a couple which have affected new activations recently, again not something we'd dispute), but we have tried to resolve them and come to a satisfactory conclusion.
We're sorry to see you go, but I can understand that such problems in quick succession would make that decision for you.

Re: £80 to cancel

torbayguy — Mon, 10 May 2010 21:13:47 GMT

XPcomputers, no offence, but you sound just like Plusnet!
Im not stupid, I know how broadband and routers work, I am also using a 'N' router.
There is nothing wrong with the connections in my house, or the equipment I am using.
There is also no local interferance with the wireless, I am also getting the same speeds whether using wired, wireless, or test socket.
Please dont assume everybody is stupid or illiterate.
With the amount of problems I have had, not just speed issues, but also billing, provisioning, and accounts, I have given Plusnet far to many chances.
I have cancelled my direct debit so I can control the money Plusnet get from me, seeing as they have made 3 seperate invoices in a week!
I will pay for the calls I have made, but I will not be paying a cancellation fee, if Plusnet want it, they take me to court, and I will have my day.