topic Re: Allow Customers to Set Extra Usage to Zero in Plusnet Feedback

Allow Customers to Set Extra Usage to Zero

mothco — Sun, 12 Aug 2012 22:13:52 GMT

One day before my internet download allowance re-sets, I get charged £5 for going a couple of MB's over my limit, which I can't afford and didn't ask for. In fact, I specifically tried to set the extra bandwidth limit to zero, but it only allows you to enter a minimum of £5, and if you leave it blank it automatically charges you £5 when you hit your limit.
This is a horrible little con, because when I first signed up to Plusnet you could set this limit to zero, and you'd just get severely throttled when you hit your limit, rather than punished with this unavoidable cash penalty.
My 12 months are up soon, and if this problem isn't addressed I think I'll be asking for my MAC code. There are plenty more ISP's out there.

Re: Allow Customers to Set Extra Usage to Zero

Oldjim — Sun, 12 Aug 2012 22:23:33 GMT

You can set it to zero
- see this picture as mine is

Re: Allow Customers to Set Extra Usage to Zero

mothco — Sun, 12 Aug 2012 22:34:03 GMT

This is what happens when I try to set it to zero...
"Please enter an amount that is higher than £5.00."
See screenshot below.
Have tried entering 0 and 0.00 and every other variation of zero.

Re: Allow Customers to Set Extra Usage to Zero

Chris — Sun, 12 Aug 2012 22:35:37 GMT

I'm not in the office to check, but it's probably because you've already had a 5GB block added, therefore you can't add 0 because there's already some added. If you set it too £5 it should stop any more usage being added and you can change it to 0 after your next billing date.

Re: Allow Customers to Set Extra Usage to Zero

mothco — Sun, 12 Aug 2012 22:43:56 GMT

Thanks for the replies... if you're right then hopefully I might be able to avoid any more of these charges. It's just strange that I already set the extra usage to zero when I first signed up, and somehow it's reset itself back to 'Not Set', which defaults to a £5 charge when you hit your limit.

Re: Allow Customers to Set Extra Usage to Zero

orbrey — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 08:46:09 GMT

Hi there,
I believe 'Not Set' will carry on adding usage as there's no limit set, so if you use up the 5GB another 5GB block will be added... not sure how it reset though, that doesn't sound good (unless it happened after you tried setting it to Zero when a block of usage had already been added, which would make sense).

Re: Allow Customers to Set Extra Usage to Zero

kdoug007 — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 09:54:24 GMT

mothco... i look at my usage every other day.. and NEVER over the usage allowance , that i have of 10gb,,,

Re: Allow Customers to Set Extra Usage to Zero

w23 — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 10:29:04 GMT

If you change product then I believe it always reverts to default or: 'not set'.
This is something that many are not aware of (until it's too late) and, in my opinion, needs to be made much clearer both on initial sign-up and product change to avoid unwanted charges (and arguments).

Re: Allow Customers to Set Extra Usage to Zero

mothco — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 10:33:47 GMT

Yeah, I was just going to say that I upgraded my package shortly after signing-up with Plusnet, and that, or some other account change must have reset the extra download allowance.
I guess I'll have to micro-manage my account a little more if I decide to stay with Plusnet, which is something I really didn't want to have to do. I'm not a mega busy person, but I do have better things to do than log-in to my ISP all the time to try and avoid extra charges.
Upgrading your account shouldn't be punished by defauting your settings to unlimited download charges. I hate sneaky little charges like this.

Re: Allow Customers to Set Extra Usage to Zero

Kelly — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 10:55:49 GMT

It resets because I believe its based off of maximum spend, not maximum usage. Either way, when you change products, both of those change, so it's not immediately obvious what to move the numbers to.
I guess if it was set to cap at no additional, we could replicate that, but its not that simple if you've set it higher?
Either way, it is definitely not an intentional sneaky way of charging you for more usage. I'll flag up to see if we can get a way to put a message on the account change success screen to warn you to reset it.

Re: Allow Customers to Set Extra Usage to Zero

w23 — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 11:02:15 GMT

Could the default not just be changed to zero extra?
I'm sure that some in the 'commercial' department would not want this but for those in the 'happy customer' department it would be a very positive move.

Re: Allow Customers to Set Extra Usage to Zero

mothco — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 11:06:04 GMT

Yep, I second that with bells on. It's a simple solution that would save others going though this little drama.
And if you tell the commercial department this change will keep customers happy and stop them changing to a new ISP, it makes financial sense too.

Re: Allow Customers to Set Extra Usage to Zero

Oldjim — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 11:13:20 GMT

Agree 100%

Re: Allow Customers to Set Extra Usage to Zero

KevinG — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 12:14:47 GMT

So do I! I fell foul of the product change wiping out my previous setting of zero some time ago and Plusnet refunded the £5.

Re: Allow Customers to Set Extra Usage to Zero

mothco — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 12:42:18 GMT

I've requested a refund and will let you know if I get it.
But if as Kelly says "it is definitely not an intentional sneaky way of charging you for more usage." then I can't see any reason why they wouldn't impliment this change, at their customers request. Afterall, it's easy to add extra download allowances, while impossible to remove them once they've been added (without going through all this detective work and frustration).
Let's see if Plusnet does the right thing or weasles out of it.

Re: Allow Customers to Set Extra Usage to Zero

Strat — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 12:49:07 GMT

This has been discussed before at length and at the time I pointed out that 'Manage my usage' says Change your maximum extra monthly spend: £ (enter multiples of £5.00), no mention of zero!
So the implication is that the minimum figure you can enter in the box is 5.
I can of course understand the commercial reasons for this

Re: Allow Customers to Set Extra Usage to Zero

Kelly — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 12:52:12 GMT

I think we'd get a chunk of customers phoning up when their BB went slow because of hitting their limit who otherwise would have been ok with the extra £5er being added. I'll get Dave to run some numbers to look at the impact.
If the change costs us a significant bunch of cash + caused extra calls, it's unlikely. I'd rather sign post the tool better and tidy up the text (to Strats point)

Re: Allow Customers to Set Extra Usage to Zero

St3 — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 12:57:51 GMT

What about changing it to £1 per 1 gig, id not mind paying a £1 for use 400mb but being charged £5 for it, well ... thats not good.
But really its down to customers to pick the correct package that gives them the data they need. I went for plusnet extra, and i make use of the free unlimited download times, which does not affect my 60gig limit.
I always pick something with alittle more than i would use, then i use this as a safety net.

Re: Allow Customers to Set Extra Usage to Zero

mothco — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 13:01:33 GMT

Surprise surprise, Plusnet is erring on the side of cash, rather than listening to what their customers actually ask for.
All we want is for our settings to remain the same when we change/upgrade our product. We don't want to have to re-enter our setting to avoid extra charges.
You will lose more cash if you drive customers away with sneaky cash-grabs like this. My 12 month contract (sorry, equiptment paying period) is up next month, so you're going to lose my (and I'm guesssing quite a few other people's) annual £360 fee for the sake of the odd fiver. Not to mention getting constant complaints and bad press saying the same thing over and over again, and upsetting your remaining customers. Oh well, I guess it makes sense to you.

Re: Allow Customers to Set Extra Usage to Zero

Oldjim — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 13:04:30 GMT

The point here is that where a user has set a zero spend limit on Value for example then move to Extra the limit is removed.
Surely that cannot be correct as, assuming they hit the 80% rule on Extra and get the email, they they would ignore the warning assuming that the previous zero spend restriction was still in force not having had any warning that the limit had been removed.
Of course the same argument applies where a customer has moved from Extra to Value to save £5 per month because their usage was typically just under 10GB and they were happy to be slowed down for a day or so.
Suddenly they get hit with a £5 charge which they weren't expecting