topic Re: Price creep (leap!) in Plusnet Feedback

Price creep (leap!)

alexgray — Mon, 29 Jun 2015 17:02:06 GMT

I've just seen notice of PlusNet increasing line rental charges again, just a year after the previous increase.
How can two successive increases of over 6% each year be justified when inflation is close to zero, and telecoms equipment gets cheaper and cheaper. They say they have recruited more support staff, but presumably this is in proportion to more customers, and the cost per customer ought to fall with an increasing user base, not increase.
On top of the increased line rental, Talk Anytime is going up a cool 20%, having already gone up 11% last year.

Re: Price creep (leap!)

ITWorks — Mon, 29 Jun 2015 17:22:31 GMT

Welcome to the forum , not good news at all regarding the price increase
Where have you read this ? Can you post the contents
Regards Mike

Re: Price creep (leap!)

rhohne — Mon, 29 Jun 2015 18:40:03 GMT

Prices changes - 2nd September 2015
http://www.plus.net/info2/legal/price_guide.html
New pricing will apply from 2nd September 2015 as set out below
•Line rental will increase from £15.95 per month or £15.99 per month to £16.99 per month
•Line Rental Saver will increase from £155.88 for 12 months to £185.88 for 12 months (for those customers signing up or renewing Line Rental Saver from 2nd September)
•Evening and Weekends will increase from £2.00 per month to £3.00 per month
•Anytime with and without 25% off international destinations will increase from £5.00 per month to £6.00 per month
•Anytime International 300 will increase from £7.00 per month to £7.50 per month
•Our call set up fee will increase from 15p to 16p per call
•Geographic calls to 01, 02 and 03 numbers will increase to 10p per minute and mobile calls to 13p per minute
•Postage & Packaging will increase from £5.99 to £6.99 (excluding YouView+ set top box at £7.99)
•Our early termination charges will change. How much depends on your package.
•Some of our call rates will change

Re: Price creep (leap!)

ejs — Mon, 29 Jun 2015 18:53:57 GMT

I love how Plusnet title these things "price changes" rather than "price rises".
To put these in "perspective", I have a pay as you go mobile on Three. If I ever use it, which is practically never, a call would cost 3p per minute. It doesn't have any monthly charges.

Re: Price creep (leap!)

Anonymous — Mon, 29 Jun 2015 19:10:18 GMT

Interesting - line rental saver, call set up fee, calls to landlines and to mobiles all more expensive than BT...
And like the change to customer service phone hours, Plusnet don't seem to have the decency to tell us!

Re: Price creep (leap!)

Oldjim — Mon, 29 Jun 2015 19:16:20 GMT

this time they have to give all customers 30 day notice with a get out of jail free card

Re: Price creep (leap!)

ITWorks — Mon, 29 Jun 2015 19:19:51 GMT

They will have to tell everyone about the the price increase, as it's a detrimental change, so 30 notice and option to leave penalty free.
Regards
Mike

Re: Price creep (leap!)

Oldjim — Mon, 29 Jun 2015 19:24:18 GMT

as I said
Leaving would cost me about 3 months of my LRS and cost Plusnet a fibre install package with router

Re: Price creep (leap!)

Anonymous — Mon, 29 Jun 2015 19:34:13 GMT

The way things are going with this lot, Oldjim, that could be a price worth paying to escape even without a get out of jail free card...

Re: Price creep (leap!)

KevinG — Mon, 29 Jun 2015 19:37:37 GMT

£2.50 a month increase in LRS? That is outrageous! Hardly worth the saving now.

Re: Price creep (leap!)

mlmclaren — Mon, 29 Jun 2015 20:41:18 GMT

Naaaaw! I wanted to present PLusnet with my legal findings on their Support Changes but now they will just let me out without a fight.... >:(...

Re: Price creep (leap!)

Oldjim — Mon, 29 Jun 2015 20:56:10 GMT

To an extent what I do will depend on the actual speeds I get with fibre as dropping from 80/20 down to 40/10 with BT may well be an option

Re: Price creep (leap!)

pwatson — Mon, 29 Jun 2015 20:57:18 GMT

The line rental increase was always on the cards as BT raised theirs some time ago and other providers work as a cartel rather than offering true competition. The rise is however indefensible, especially for LRS, as BT Wholesale line rental costs are actually on the way down!
Perhaps there'll be a mass migration to Madasafish for £11.99 line rental (including Evening & Weekend calls) - An easy switch as it's a Plusnet brand!!!!!
Fortunately my FTTC contract and LRS agreement ends at the end of July and the price rise has further reduced the price differential between PN and other ISPs so the temptation to jump ship is becoming irresistible...

Re: Price creep (leap!)

ITWorks — Mon, 29 Jun 2015 21:05:49 GMT

I have just under 5 months of my LRS left as of 2nd September, so will be staying put, i would assume some folk will be happy moving to pastures new.
So we have had cost cutting and prices rises announced not far apart. Let's hope we have some good news, like the new system will be implemented very soon
Regards
Mike

Re: Price creep (leap!)

NedLudd — Mon, 29 Jun 2015 21:11:20 GMT

I'm not happy with LRS increase - it's a bad joke!

Re: Price creep (leap!)

ITWorks — Mon, 29 Jun 2015 21:20:42 GMT

Sure is, monthly line rental increase between £1 - £1.04, yet customer who give PN the money upfront have to pay the equivalent of £2.50 a month more.
I think this is the first time PN has been as expensive for line rental as BT retail.
Regards
Mike

Re: Price creep (leap!)

mlmclaren — Mon, 29 Jun 2015 21:36:22 GMT

Save £18 a year for paying upfront and also guaranteeing them that income too... what a shower of .....
well it had to come at some point... I was speaking about this with someone recently after noticing the increases from the likes of Post Office and Zen!
I remember a few years ago someone at Virgin's Execs offices telling me that BT is basically a dictator of line and call costs in the UK and if they put it up... then everyone else has to follow suit or at least be within a range of BT's price... However I don't take this to be true but certainly makes sense
They need to make FTTC xDSL only so we don't need lines back to exchange... maybe costs will come down if wer shorten the length ... I kidd hehe

Re: Price creep (leap!)

peter10 — Mon, 29 Jun 2015 21:44:17 GMT

My present LRS cost £137.88 as I paid early. Next year (if I stay) it will be £185.88. This is a whopping £48 increase or 35%. Time to look around. Is this because PN have an ex BT man at the helm who seems to be trying to steer people to BT?
Just noticed that Anytime call package is going up from £5 to £6. (20%). Therefore my bill will be £60 a year more. Comments from people who have problems suggest that the standard of customer support is declining. I don't mind paying a little more to account for inflation or a better service but this doesn't seem to be the case. What is the official reason for such a large increase?

Re: Price creep (leap!)

chrcoluk — Mon, 29 Jun 2015 21:50:08 GMT

They have also further closed the gap between LRS and normal line rental.
Retail line rental so badly needs regulation its out of control.
LRS was circa £120 just around 3 years ago.
Something is really broken when a landline is more expensive to run than a mobile phone.

Re: Price creep (leap!)

mlmclaren — Mon, 29 Jun 2015 21:58:03 GMT

yes @chrcoluk I agree...
It also annoys me that I pay for 450m of cable... I could use the equivalent of a years LR to put my ethernet to the cabinet up the road and not will it just be shorter but better quality too.
Note: I don't use the phone so the bit running to the exchange in my eyes is probably more of an inconvenience and probably degrades the line prior to the cab for all we know.