topic Re: Well. It's been a hell of a ride, but....... Bye bye. in Plusnet Feedback

Well. It's been a hell of a ride, but....... Bye bye.

Ado16 — Fri, 08 Feb 2019 19:27:34 GMT

I'm not daft. I appreciate that 'Line Rental/ exists and there is little getting around it whilst BT still have a Monopoly on Line control, but other companies are breaching the sacred £18.95 charge - and yes, probably losing money as a result. So. whilst I understand that Broadband companies hands are tied - supposedly - one would still expect a bit of grovelling when politely asking to renegotiate your contract. The final reason why, with Contract end impending that after seven years with Plusnet - yup SEVEN years, we are leaving because Call Centre Staff attitude go like "Pfffffft Bye then! Take it or leave it Sunshine". Not even prepared to knock £3 off to match your own "New Customer" Deal. Something which I have actually been offered on previous occasions when negotiating a new contract!

So guess what, we are leaving! We are forced to go back to our previous supplier, who are offering a deal at £17 a month for 12 months. We feel forced to do this, to hit Plusnet where it hurts, in their profits, because there is no longer any reward for being a loyal customer. And maybe in a years time, we will come back to get their best deal as a new customer! Is this the BT influence?

Re: Well. It's been a hell of a ride, but....... Bye bye.

Gandalf — Fri, 08 Feb 2019 20:02:20 GMT

Sorry to see you've decided to go after so long with us.

All the best with your new provider and hope we'll see you back at some point in the future.

Re: Well. It's been a hell of a ride, but....... Bye bye.

Mav — Fri, 08 Feb 2019 20:03:48 GMT

Moderator's Note(s)

Thread moved from ADSL Broadband to Plusnet Feedback.

Re: Well. It's been a hell of a ride, but....... Bye bye.

Ado16 — Fri, 08 Feb 2019 22:15:48 GMT

Hi. Thanks for that. Maybe we shouldn't have phoned last thing on a Friday when everyone is tired out!
It is a shame though that you are forced to "Play the field" these days. Back in the Dial up Internet days I remember BT knocking a couple of quid off the bill every year as a goodwill gesture! Although then if you moved house they'd tell you you had to start again from the top!

Ach well. All the best.

Re: Well. It's been a hell of a ride, but....... Bye bye.

newagetraveller — Sat, 09 Feb 2019 10:54:48 GMT

"Call Centre Staff attitude go like "Pfffffft Bye then! Take it or leave it Sunshine"."

I sympathise Ado, that's exactly the response I received when phoning to advise I was leaving because of a price increase. Six years as a PN customer and Madasafish before they were bought out by PN/BT.

No attempt whatsoever to retain a customer. It was only a very small price rise too. All they had to do was keep me at the same monthly payment and I would have probably stayed.

Re: Well. It's been a hell of a ride, but....... Bye bye.

ejs — Sat, 09 Feb 2019 11:10:42 GMT

Hardly surprising that a company might not actually want you as a customer if they're not going to make any profit from you.

Re: Well. It's been a hell of a ride, but....... Bye bye.

Ado16 — Sat, 09 Feb 2019 11:28:28 GMT

With links to BT and their Monopoly behind them, I doubt they will suffer that much.

One day, someone will come along, like Freddie Laker did with flights and blow this cosy little cartel into history.

Re: Well. It's been a hell of a ride, but....... Bye bye.

Anonymous — Sat, 09 Feb 2019 12:19:57 GMT

@Ado16 wrote:
One day, someone will come along, like Freddie Laker did with flights and blow this cosy little cartel into history.

But that didn't last as the big boys got together and put him out of business.

Re: Well. It's been a hell of a ride, but....... Bye bye.

Ado16 — Sat, 09 Feb 2019 12:29:47 GMT

Haha! 🙂 &c Those pesky Caledonians! Yup! But it is recognised that he shook the Market up. Possibly even leading to the Budget airlines around today.

Re: Well. It's been a hell of a ride, but....... Bye bye.

notmyname — Sun, 10 Feb 2019 10:42:27 GMT

@ejs wrote

Hardly surprising that a company might not actually want you as a customer if they're not going to make any profit from you.

This exactly. If you've been a loyal customer for 7 years, but Plusnet have only made £50 off of you, you're clearly not as profitable to them.

I don't know what the OP does as a career, but I doubt they'd be doing a job if the end payout meant just breaking even.

Moderator's note by Mike (Mav): Quote fixed.

Re: Well. It's been a hell of a ride, but....... Bye bye.

Townman — Sat, 09 Feb 2019 15:23:28 GMT

The reality is that this market and most markets are on a race to the bottom line. Whilst consumers look for the cheapest price with no discernment for the content of the service, in an attempt to expand market share organisations will cut prices to the bone for new customers. There is no profit in year 1 deals.

Yes it stinks, everyone does it. Someone in the industry needs to be brave - load year one with the realistic cost of acquiring the business and then offer the service for less (whilst still delivering a margin) in the following years.

What I fear is that the industry continues its cut throat pricing, enticing people to switch every year, resulting in the industry cutting its own throat.

Re: Well. It's been a hell of a ride, but....... Bye bye.

Ado16 — Sat, 09 Feb 2019 22:37:12 GMT

I agree! The mobile phone and Contract Market is all over the place in a similar manner too. Back in '93. I bought a phone outright and just paid for my monthly minutes contract. Now "Free phone!" offers abound (and of course, it isn't!).

Re: Well. It's been a hell of a ride, but....... Bye bye.

newagetraveller — Sun, 10 Feb 2019 10:44:25 GMT

@ejs wrote

Hardly surprising that a company might not actually want you as a customer if they're not going to make any profit from you

Strange that they haven't made a profit from me in about 8 years. Do you really think they don't make any profit by offering a slight discount to a long term customer? If so, you are deluded.

It doesn't take long for the fanboys to leap out of the woodwork to defend their sacred, do no wrong Plusnet.

Moderator's note by Mike (Mav): Quote fixed.

Re: Well. It's been a hell of a ride, but....... Bye bye.

JayG — Sun, 10 Feb 2019 10:43:50 GMT

@newagetraveller wrote:

It doesn't take long for the fanboys to leap out of the woodwork to defend their sacred, do no wrong Plusnet.

More likely they have a more realistic understanding of the current state of play in the business ('they' didn't actually say they liked it!)

Re: Well. It's been a hell of a ride, but....... Bye bye.

TeeGee — Sun, 10 Feb 2019 19:34:23 GMT

I have been here even longer than seven years and with LRS I pay barely more than a new customer. I have said it before and I will say it again, you can't have the internet without a line to connect it to so it should always be an all in price. I don't use the phone that much but my O2 PAYG is 3p a minute which is much cheaper than land line charges.

The real lesson that everyone needs to be aware of is that all businesses are in business for their benefit not yours.....

Re: Well. It's been a hell of a ride, but....... Bye bye.

Ado16 — Sun, 10 Feb 2019 20:07:14 GMT

I said at the beginning that I understand the ins and outs in the nature of how flexible companies can be, but I think it remains the case that whilst BT are still the Troll guarding the bridge, so to speak, we all suffer. I'm not a great fan of all this fake competition nonsense and it is fake whilst BT is in charge. BT should never have been allowed to merge with T-Mobile and Orange. What a joke! Because there was enough competition elsewhere? Not really. It was less a matter of competition and probably just old boy network back scratching! ....and there's the rub! It's not "Hard done by Communications Companies trying to make ends meet" It's multi million pound, multi deal corporations carving their share of the Market between them!

Re: Well. It's been a hell of a ride, but....... Bye bye.

RobC — Mon, 11 Feb 2019 09:44:08 GMT

@Ado16 wrote:
I said at the beginning that I understand the ins and outs in the nature of how flexible companies can be, but I think it remains the case that whilst BT are still the Troll guarding the bridge, so to speak, we all suffer.

Largely agree with that

I remember when there was no choice but BT, and it was exactly that and any query regarding poor line for data was : we only guarantee fax speeds. Dont like it - Tough.

Then VM came along, and all of a sudden you could leave BT and they were ringing you after you cancelled, all promises that the line could and would be better.

Too late boyo, dont trust you - I'm off

Replaced VM with SKY some years ago despite lower stated speed and never regretted it.

Both neighbours still on BT

One has just upgraded to BT fibre - and is now happy (but his usage would be addressed by any half was decent adsl2 connection)

One is still on BT adsl2 and gets half my sky adsl2 speeds - at best

Never returned to BT until plusnet - and I have regretted it.

Now in the process of leaving and expecting problems even with that.

Cost is important, but I wouldn't leave sky BB for a couple of quid a month

... and certainly wouldn't return to Plusnet mobile for any price above nothing. They have replaced 3 as my do not go to mobile supplier - and Ihave little reason to think plusnet BB would be any different.

Re: Well. It's been a hell of a ride, but....... Bye bye.

Ado16 — Mon, 04 Mar 2019 22:46:46 GMT

The woes continue. Like a spiteful partner breaking into your house and smashing your favourite albums. I asked Plusnet to keep our email accounts open, once on the 9th of February when I asked if such a thing was possible and again by Private Message on Twitter the day before our service was about to swap, to confirm that the email accounts would be kept open.
This was confirmed.

Plusnet closed our email accounts on the 25th of February.

Now that's spiteful!

To a certain extent we had always kept it in mind that important emails needed a gmail address in case problems like this arose. BT kept emails open for nearly ten years. The Post Office kept them open for about five. Virgin cut you off straight away. So we've always been wary. For Plusnet to cut off the email after twice promising to keep it open kind of just blew any chance of us returning in the future. Hell hath no fury like an ISP spurned.

Re: Well. It's been a hell of a ride, but....... Bye bye.

Dumbledore — Tue, 05 Mar 2019 09:40:36 GMT

Hello @Ado16

I am deeply sorry to hear that your email account has been ceased.

I have responded to your query via a ticket. You can view my response by Clicking Here

Should you require any further assistance, please do get back in touch with us.

Re: Well. It's been a hell of a ride, but....... Bye bye.

Ado16 — Tue, 05 Mar 2019 11:25:30 GMT

Thanks Dumbledore. I promise not to go "He who must not be named" on you all! 😉 Spent an hour on the phone last night to a chap who couldn't get his system to work. Not sure if this was further punishment though! 😲🙂