topic Re: Your accounting procedures leave a lot to be desired. in Plusnet Feedback

Your accounting procedures leave a lot to be desired.

longedge — Mon, 02 Oct 2017 08:38:54 GMT

Just got notification of this months invoice. I paid LRS on 7th Sept to commence today but you have also invoiced me £18.99 for line rental. This is so fundamental a mistake that it just shouldn't happen. Something is seriously wrong with accounting procedures at PlusNet Towers.

I have already spoken with one of your support agents and the matter is already resolved. He was polite and very helpful and deserves a pat on the back .

Whoever oversees accounting could do with a kick up the backside!

Re: Your accounting procedures leave a lot to be desired.

rongtw — Mon, 02 Oct 2017 09:21:56 GMT

allegedly Plusnet have been looking at a new billing system for the past 8 years

Its still being looked at , Apparently its not easy they said

Re: Your accounting procedures leave a lot to be desired.

longedge — Fri, 06 Oct 2017 10:44:56 GMT

This is not now feedback but a request to get this sorted out please.

Although my closed Ticket Number 158977805 states that £18.99 has been refunded, I have just checked my bank account and the DD dated today (6/10/17) is for £36.72 so I have after all been charged for line rental although I have paid a years LRS.

My account summary shows "Talk Anytime International 300 £18.99(monthly) Active". Is that correct?

As I said previously I paid my LRS at the beginning of September almost a month before the end of my previous contract period which ended on 2/10/17.

Re: Your accounting procedures leave a lot to be desired.

longedge — Fri, 06 Oct 2017 16:21:16 GMT

The Direct Debit Guarantee tells me that, "If an error is made in the payment of your Direct Debit, by the organisation or your bank or building society, you are entitled to a full and immediate refund of the amount paid from your bank or building society".

I am taking note of the fact that the guarantee does not cover contractual disputes but I don't think that anybody could argue that I have at any time contracted to be charged twice over for the same thing.

Re: Your accounting procedures leave a lot to be desired.

spraxyt — Fri, 06 Oct 2017 21:04:57 GMT

@longedge wrote:

My account summary shows "Talk Anytime International 300 £18.99(monthly) Active". Is that correct?

I think that summary line should say £0(monthly) Active so it isn't correct. Though the text describes your call plan the charge is actually for line rental and £0 applies when LRS is in place.

Hopefully a staff member will pick this up tomorrow and fix the problem permanently.

Re: Your accounting procedures leave a lot to be desired.

newagetraveller — Sat, 07 Oct 2017 08:58:46 GMT

This seems to be a problem that does happen from time to time for whatever reason. There are other posts on here from customers who have experienced the same, including me.

My experience was not ideal. It happened a few years ago on my transfer from Madasafish to PN. Paid LRS and was charged for line rental on the next bill. It was allegedly sorted out, line rental refunded (eventually) lo and behold it happened the next month - and the next! It was eventually rectified with a suitable outcome in the end thanks to one of the PN staff on here. Clunky stoneage billing system no doubt was the culprit.

After posting a few times of my dissatisaction, one of the fan boy "forum police" told me to "leave it alone". No.

Re: Your accounting procedures leave a lot to be desired.

longedge — Tue, 10 Oct 2017 08:23:45 GMT

Well I was hoping this would be picked up and sorted out without me having to spend another morning making phone calls but it appears not. Unfortunately I was at the back of the queue when patience was being given out and the supply had run out when they got to me .

As I said, Ticket Number 158977805 refers but it is closed. There ought to be a way to re-open them.

Re: Your accounting procedures leave a lot to be desired.

longedge — Tue, 10 Oct 2017 10:05:13 GMT

I've just managed to get through and spoken with an agent who felt that this was "Always going to happen because ~5 days is required for changes to direct debits". I pointed out that in fact almost 4 weeks had passed after I paid my LRS and that the change to monthly charging for my line rental should never have happened at all.

It is perhaps difficult not to do it but your agents would do well not to try to defend the indefensible!

Re: Your accounting procedures leave a lot to be desired.

longedge — Tue, 10 Oct 2017 10:44:59 GMT

Another thought has just occurred to me after my last phone conversation. Mention was made of my Plusnet account being credited with the charge so that next month's DD would be reduced. That is not how the scheme works. If an error is made any overcharge should be credited to my bank account. The overcharged amount is in excess of what I pay per month so adjusting my monthly billing would take at least two months to accomplish.

I thnk that PlusNet really should stick to what is guaranteed by the Direct Debit scheme.

Re: Your accounting procedures leave a lot to be desired.

longedge — Tue, 10 Oct 2017 12:18:25 GMT

Another part of the DD guarantee says, "If there are any changes to the amount, date or frequency of your Direct Debit the organisation will notify you (normally 10 working days) in advance of your account being debited". As I normally pay just under £18 and the 'disputed' charge was for over twice that amount it was a significant change to the amount.

I received a routine, "We'll soon be taking a payment....." email on 2/10/17. The payment was taken on 6/10/17.

The purpose of notifying changes is to facilitate corrections before the debit occurs. This is another way in which, in my view, PlusNet's current practices fall short of those required by the DD scheme.

Re: Your accounting procedures leave a lot to be desired.

HarryB — Tue, 10 Oct 2017 14:52:23 GMT

Sorry to hear of the experience you've had with this @longedge

@longedge wrote:

This is not now feedback but a request to get this sorted out please.

Looking over the account, this does appear to have been sorted out on 02/10/17.
A refund was issued for the erroneous line rental payment, and LRS was applied to the account correctly.

@longedge wrote:

Although my closed Ticket Number 158977805 states that £18.99 has been refunded, I have just checked my bank account and the DD dated today (6/10/17) is for £36.72 so I have after all been charged for line rental although I have paid a years LRS.

While that is correct, it looks like the advisor you spoke to issued the £18.99 refund against your LRS payment, as opposed to the monthly DD payment.

This will have likely been to avoid waiting the up to 5 working days for the payment to clear, followed by up to 10 working days for the refund to process back through via DD.

Instead, the refund was issued on 02/10/17 back to the card your LRS payment was made from and should have been back in that account with about 3-5 working days.

@longedge wrote:
Ticket Number 158977805 refers but it is closed. There ought to be a way to re-open them.

That complaint has been re-opened, however as far as I can see, the refund was issued back to the card you used to pay for the LRS. The refund was issued on 02/10/17 therefore should have been back in the account that card is connected to, no later than yesterday.

@longedge wrote:

I've just managed to get through and spoken with an agent who felt that this was "Always going to happen because ~5 days is required for changes to direct debits". I pointed out that in fact almost 4 weeks had passed after I paid my LRS and that the change to monthly charging for my line rental should never have happened at all.

It is perhaps difficult not to do it but your agents would do well not to try to defend the indefensible!

I agree with you. I have no idea what the advisor is referring to from what you've quoted. A payment for LRS was made in September, well in advance of this months invoice, therefore the bill should have not had a standard line rental payment on it.

As far as I can see looking over the notes, the payment was taken correctly and should have applied LRS, but I'm honestly not sure why it didn't.

I've passed feedback on regarding this.

@longedge wrote:
Another thought has just occurred to me after my last phone conversation. Mention was made of my Plusnet account being credited with the charge so that next month's DD would be reduced. That is not how the scheme works. If an error is made any overcharge should be credited to my bank account.

Correct. As above, the refund for the standard line rental payment was issued as a refund, not a credit, and should be back in the account your LRS payment was taken from.

Although you DD payment still came through at the price including line rental, realistically what should have happened is that we should have waited for the DD payment to clear, which would take 3-5 working days, followed by issuing the refund against that invoice, which would be back in your account within 10 working days.

Instead, to cut down this wait, the advisor seems to have issued it against the LRS card payment, which would have taken 3-5 working days, instead of waiting for the payment to clear followed by another possible 10 working day wait.

I hope this clears things up and again I do sincerely apologise for the experience you've had.

Re: Your accounting procedures leave a lot to be desired.

longedge — Tue, 10 Oct 2017 15:35:27 GMT

Thank you Harry.

I must now make my own apology . The credit went through several days before the direct debit payment was taken and I was not sufficiently thorough in checking my statement!

Much appreciated.

p.s. I should also re-iterate that your agents were polite and helpful, the fact that the first dealt with my refund in a 'creative' way showed initiative and still earns a pat on the back

Re: Your accounting procedures leave a lot to be desired.

HarryB — Tue, 10 Oct 2017 15:35:18 GMT

Not a problem, glad to hear that's cleared up now anyway

Re: Your accounting procedures leave a lot to be desired.

spraxyt — Tue, 10 Oct 2017 19:13:30 GMT

@longedge

Has £18,99(monthly) in the account summary entry you quoted

@longedge wrote:

My account summary shows "Talk Anytime International 300 £18.99(monthly) Active". Is that correct?

been replaced with £0(monthly)?

Unless that has changed you could experience this saga again next month

Re: Your accounting procedures leave a lot to be desired.

longedge — Tue, 10 Oct 2017 20:09:43 GMT

Cheers David many thanks, no it still reads the same.

@HarryB - could you comment on this point please?

Re: Your accounting procedures leave a lot to be desired.

HarryB — Wed, 11 Oct 2017 10:38:45 GMT

To be completely honest, I'm not entirely sure, however it's possible that this says this at the moment because an invoice was generated with a standard monthly line rental payment to cover 02/10/17 to 01/11/17.

Although I can confirm that your account on our side does state that LRS is active and has an expiry date of 01/10/18.

Regardless, I will pass feedback on regarding the confusion this causes on the account summary page (And looking in to this further, the itemised phone bill which also states line rental was £18.99 back when you were previously on LRS before you renewed it last month)

Re: Your accounting procedures leave a lot to be desired.

longedge — Wed, 11 Oct 2017 10:42:52 GMT

Thank you once more Harry. I'll see what next month brings and 'gird up my loins' just in case