topic Re: Expensive mistake in Plusnet Feedback

Expensive mistake

Fantasticfourum — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 21:28:33 GMT

At about 11pm on the 31st May i went over my usage limit by 0.01 of a gig and by midnight was 0.06 over my 80gig allowance. I forgot to tell my daughter to stop using the net so i know its over the limit and i know that it caught up with itself thats why it jumped to 0.06 even though i dont think anyone was on the net Blah Blah my question is i have paid an extra £5 for 5 gig at about 11pm i couldnt with the best will in the world have used downloaded streamed whatever 5 gigs worth in 1 hour so is this a penalty charge or was this genuinly for 5 gig even though it would be impossible for me to use that much as my download speed never exceeds 400kbps ?

Re: Expensive mistake

dsw — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 18:56:21 GMT

When you go over your usage they charge £5 for 5GB more bandwidth, so you'll have paid for a further 5GB even if you didn't use this much. You can set a limit within your account to prevent you being able to exceed your standard usage. Login to your account, choose connection settings and then manage my usage. Set that as £0.00 and you'll then not be able to exceed your usage and will not end up paying for extra bandwidth.

Re: Expensive mistake

Anotherone — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 20:26:33 GMT

On what date each month does your billing cycle end?

Re: Expensive mistake

jelv — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 23:05:30 GMT

Set https://portal.plus.net/data_transfer_watch/ to £0 which will stop it happening again.

Re: Expensive mistake

Fantasticfourum — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 16:29:39 GMT

Hi Guys Thanks for the info.i will do that. I know the concept of the 5 gig as my billing ends at the end of each calendar month but it was such a small amont over my limit and this occured at 11 pm on the 31st May. When this is added there is no allowance made for time and date etc over is over no matter what time i presume if i clicked over .01 at 11.59pm i will still be charged the 5 gig so it seems to me more of a penalty charge than adding more bandwidth to use as it would be impossible to use any of the 5 gig. Dont get me wromg its my fault and i know it is but my point is if it is physically impossible to use this extra bandwidth then it is more of a penalty charge.

Re: Expensive mistake

spraxyt — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 18:39:02 GMT

But looking at it a different way, the alternative to adding extra bandwidth is to restrict speeds. Had you been downloading something at the time (or was about to do so) you might not have been best pleased if a speed restriction kicked in. As others have mentioned Data Transfer Watch provides users with means to choose.
If Plusnet should ignore small amounts, how much is a "small amount"? On this occasion 0.1GB would have covered you but if extra usage had reached 0.11GB should that be charged?

Re: Expensive mistake

BryanP — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 19:14:38 GMT

An interesting concept is that I stoped using PN on the 1st of June because I managed to get my primary ISP to work at the distance from my computer to the router, but that is another story, however since then my usage stats say I have used in total since ththe 1st June is in total 2144.17KB, what I'm saying is that when you are not using the internet you are still syncing with the system and are adding usage to your allowance, perhaps PN should allow for this when you are just over your limit and not be charging you for the exta 5 Meg

Re: Expensive mistake

Fantasticfourum — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 19:41:39 GMT

A excellent point Bryan thankyou

Re: Expensive mistake

kdoug007 — Tue, 05 Jun 2012 08:56:11 GMT

tnks for the usuage tip . ok im a newbie and well within my limit , but i will set it now
as mentioned

Re: Expensive mistake

msssltd — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 10:17:36 GMT

Quote from: spraxyt
But looking at it a different way, the alternative to adding extra bandwidth is to restrict speeds.

How about looking at it in the really simple way of traditional commerce.
PN imposed an additional charge without asking for consent at the time.
The charge bares little relation to the cost of supply.
Profiteering or penalty, call it what you will, incurring the charge is not reasonably within the customers interest.

Quote
Had you been downloading something at the time (or was about to do so) you might not have been best pleased if a speed restriction kicked in.

True, but having not paid for something you want, you would expect to have to agree to pay for it before receiving it. Such a fundamental commercial principle, the average 5 year old can understand it. It is no more difficult to make additional bandwidth opt in as the current opt out.
So yes, PN must choose the lesser of two evils but taking money without asking for it is pretty damn evil.

Quote
If Plusnet should ignore small amounts, how much is a "small amount"? On this occasion 0.1GB would have covered you but if extra usage had reached 0.11GB should that be charged?

It is really pretty simple to decide internally what a 'reasonable' error margin might be. Businesses do it all the time. I would in this instance, considering the low cost of supply, suggest 25% is a reasonable amount for PN to pay for customer satisfaction and the loyalty it leads to.

Re: Expensive mistake

jelv — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 13:58:33 GMT

Quote from: msssltd
PN imposed an additional charge without asking for consent at the time.

Absolute tosh!
The user signed up to a package with a clearly defined usage allowance and a clearly defined charge for going over the allowance. By signing up to the package he agreed to those terms and conditions and had therefore given content to the additional charge in advance.

Re: Expensive mistake

Anotherone — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 17:33:40 GMT

I'm afraid I agree with jelv , to use a popular expression, in this case msssltd your statements are wrong, and your 25% suggestion is daft IMHO.
As to making extra bandwidth an opt-in option rather than opt-out, well obviously that is debatable. Maybe that option should be part of the Sales/Sign up journey, so EU's have that matter drawn to their attention at sign up.

Re: Expensive mistake

BryanP — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 18:53:20 GMT

I’ve followed this thread with interest and as a user for six months and not knowing what my extra usage limit was I thought I would check, it took me 14 minutes to find out how to do it and see what the set up was, low and behold it was set up by default to no limit, I have never got close to my 10 GB limit but I can appreciate some new users can, I have altered my extra to £0 but I would suggest that new users should automatically be set by default to £0 and if they require extra they can change it to what they require subject to their requirements and budget

Re: Expensive mistake

Oldjim — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 19:09:27 GMT

I would agree with that

Re: Expensive mistake

Pettitto — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 22:26:32 GMT

Quote from: BryanP
I’ve followed this thread with interest and as a user for six months and not knowing what my extra usage limit was I thought I would check, it took me 14 minutes to find out how to do it and see what the set up was, low and behold it was set up by default to no limit, I have never got close to my 10 GB limit but I can appreciate some new users can, I have altered my extra to £0 but I would suggest that new users should automatically be set by default to £0 and if they require extra they can change it to what they require subject to their requirements and budget

It's not that I disagree with your point completely, but I don't think I am alone in saying that a lot of customers probably aren't 100% sure about the Data Transfer Cap capability, even though there is information regarding this feature on the website. If we pre-set the usage allowance so a customer could not go over, I can only imagine the amount of calls it would drive into the CSC purely because their broadband speeds have been reduced, due to hitting their 10GB usage limit.
Personally, I think doing what you have stated would suit some customers, but would most likely cause a lot of confusion - this is of course just my personal opinion.

Re: Expensive mistake

jelv — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 23:04:50 GMT

Don't agree with you.
When you hit the limit your connection is restricted but not killed so you can still get emails. You send an email when they hit the limit, all that has to be done is make sure very prominent at the beginning of the email it says something like:

Quote
Your connection has been restricted as you have used your usage limit and have reached your Maximum extra monthly spend. To pay for extra usage you will need to increase your extra monthly spend. Go to https://portal.plus.net/data_transfer_watch/ and set your new limit which will restore your normal transfer speeds.

The chances are that users are going to go to the portal to find the telephone number. making sure an appropriate message is on the front page of the members centre will also help.
In any case, surely a little extra work for CSC which is easily dealt with is better than users who feel they have been shafted!

Re: Expensive mistake

Pettitto — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 23:11:56 GMT

We do what you stated when you hit 80% of your usage anyway, so either way, you have been alerted and you can make the changes necessary anyway, again, just my opinion.

Re: Expensive mistake

jelv — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 23:23:33 GMT

Which is an excellent reason for restricting by default and not shafting the user!
Could someone post the text of the 80% email please?

Re: Expensive mistake

David_W — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 23:54:37 GMT

Doesn't a welcome email state clearly that your usage allowance is X Gb, if you go over X Gb you will be charged £5 for 5Gb extra? If not, it should, but maybe in a welcome email (and when people change package to a package with an allowance) it should start with full information on what the allowance is, that it's automatically set to add extra allowance if you exceed your limit and how to set your limit too.

Re: Expensive mistake

Oldjim — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 08:23:34 GMT

When you hit your limit you already get this email

Quote
Dear <snip>,
Account username: <snip>
At the moment your account allows for 10GB of peak-time usage per month.
You've probably noticed that your broadband speeds are slower than usual, this is because you've gone over your monthly usage allowance. Don't worry, your speed will be back to normal at the end of your billing month.
If you'd like to return to full speed now, you'll need to increase your usage allowance.

There are two ways to do this, you can either:
- Increase your usage allowance - (75p per GB added)
- Use what you like now and pay for it at the end of the month - (£1.00
per GB used) This will refer to the £5 for 5GB
Choose what works for you at the following link:
- https://portal.plus.net/my.html?action=control_your_broadband
If you'd like to find out more about traffic management and usage
allowance there's a load of information on our website:
- https://www.plus.net/support/broadband/products/broadband_your_way/
To see a breakdown of your usage this month go to the following link:
- http://portal.plus.net/view_my_broadband_usage/
Thanks,
Plusnet Customer Support
http://www.plus.net/