£5 for 5GB

[#1]

Quote from: jelv

I can see a very good justification. People won't read the emails, they won't read the FAQ but when they first get charged £5 for going a little over their allowance they will ask for their MAC.

If people choose not to read our emails and choose not to look at the content here, or on the portal, then really what can we do? I'm sure you wouldn't advocate increasing charges to cover the cost of ringing every customer personally?
We always state that we will communicate by email, and we do, as well as putting public content here, on the blogs page and on the www site.
Bear in mind that customers will also have warning that they are close to their limit, and what will happen after that, so we will remind them *before* they're charged, and they can of course set DTW at any point.

[#2]

Quote from: Mand

Default is off, but DTW is in the welcome emails, so the customer can set it at whatever they want from the beginning. I can't see the justification for us setting DTW for all customers ourselves, existing customers know about it, and it's in the FAQ we've published for this change, for new customers its in the welcome email, and on the help pages.

Mand,
With due respect, I suggest that your average customer DOESN'T already know about DTW, and that is the problem! I don't think this week's communications will have changed that for many people.
I think you have to admit (privately to yourself at least) that this change only really benefits Plusnet from their sales & marketing perspective. At the end of the day Plusnet can charge what you like, and you can attempt to justify it with same price per GB, but in real terms for most users this is a massive price hike....
I think the DTW needs to be raised in awareness much higher than it is currently, by actively encouraging customers to turn it on and showing how etc (I don't agree with others it should be forced on for anyone).... because otherwise, I think otherwise this exercise just comes across as money grabbing, and that will leave a bad taste in peoples mouths.
Of course, if it is all about grabbing money (and then disguising it in marketing speak... "you'll still only pay £1 per 1GB" etc), then leaves things as they are now, you have achieved your objective... but I would expect you'll see some people leave Plusnet as soon as they get a bill with the extra £5 slapped on as a shock!
However, if you genuinely stand by not wanting to catch customers out, I think you need to push out better comms about DTW and how to keep the account at the fixed price, then at least you can genuinely say you have given people a choice. As things stand, I bet if next week I phoned all my referrals and asked them about DTW, I would expect that 95% (or higher) wouldn't know what I was talking about.
Too late to change the emaill now though.... So how about a blog about DTW. Maybe with a nice video of how to login to portal an set the DTW to keep a fixed price. etc
A link to this blog could then be included in a future email communication (a Plusnet newsletter perhaps?). Or even a follow up email next week to allay confusion.
Customer's aren't stupid.... and resent being treated as such.
Mike
p.s.  as others have said this isn't about you personally (Mand et al.). I feel sorry that you guys have to face this flack. However I don't think it would take much to improve the comms on this and at least show willing...

[#3]

I'm happy to draft some content for the community site, though as we're changing DTW I think it's best to leave that 'til launch (as describing how it works now won't be relevant in a month).
We do obviously have the help pages, and we do talk about DTW in all emails that talk about usage as well as the original welcome email.

[#4]

OK. that is a bit confusing, and makes it more difficult....
I know it means duplicated effort, but how about drafting something to post to Community ASAP on the current setup, so those wanting to set it now, can do so easily by following the instructions provided. Then at launch of the new setup, you could change the linked page to point to the new instructions.
eg..
Publish a Blog in next day or two with a Link to DTW article (in support library?). Make sure content of that DTW help page is current to the existing system of changing it (and update/create it if needed).
Meanwhile, be preparing a video and better help pages for the new setup behind the scenes ready for next month. Then next month, you can update library article (same URL, so the existing Blog will then still point to the most relevant info).
Then in about 5 weeks or so (a week after the change), you could also then publish a new blog as well, giving the link again, and explaining that the method of changing it has changed, publishing the link again.
That should cover it neatly. The blog itself could be very simple each time, so wouldn't take much effort. The help article should already exist, so just needs linking to (or creating if not). A better help page for the new system would be on the cards anyway, so making it a video tutorial alongside the text steps just makes it easier to follow. Again the second blog would be easy, not really too much effort, but at least user might "get" the idea, and genuinely have a choice.
Thanks for responding so quick with a positive response....
Mike

[#5]

Leave it with me.

[#6]

Thanks...
Mike

[#7]

I've just received a copy of the e-mail, oriented towards me as a Value user. So I might as well be the one to post it for everyone else to read:

Quote

We hope you're enjoying your Plusnet Value service. From 12th April the monthly price for new customers taking this service will change to £6.49. The good news is, you won't be affected. We're freezing the price of your service at £5.99 a month for the next 12 months.^ You don't need to do anything to take advantage of this price and the length of your contract will not change. Your Plusnet Value service includes 10GB of peak time usage each month, as well as unlimited usage between midnight and 8am every day. That's enough to surf all day and night and send and receive over 6,000 emails - and you'll still have enough left over to enjoy up to 5 hours of your favourite TV and movies. If you think you might need more usage, from 12th April we'll be launching a new product called Plusnet Extra which, for only £5.50 extra a month, will have 60GB of usage and the option of faster speeds. To find out more visit http://www.plus.net after 12th April. At the moment, if you use more than 10GB peak time usage each month, you automatically get 2GB extra for £2. From 12th April we're changing this to £5 for 5GB extra peak time usage. You can check on your usage at the Member Centre. Simply login and you can see your usage for the last 3 months. To help you keep your costs down, from 12th April you can also set a price limit for how much extra usage you can add each month with our unique usage management tool. To find out more have a read of our FAQ.

Note ‘Plusnet Extra’ – the mythical option 2 product a number of us have called for. Good move Plusnet, nice to see you listen to your customers sometimes. Still think the 5GB for £5 is blatant money-grabbing (particularly in the context of Extra, where just 50p more would get you a whole extra 45GB!) but at least there's now some good news to be had.

[#8]

Glad there's something you like.
Well, now the feline's out of the holding device, we think the new product is the ideal middle option a lot of you were asking for (it makes the product line up a lot wider-raging IMO, as previously there wasn't a lot of price distinction between Premium and Pro).

[#9]

Quote

If you think you might need more usage, from 12th April we'll be launching a new product called Plusnet Extra which, for only £5.50 extra a month, will have 60GB of usage and the option of faster speeds. To find out more visit http://www.plus.net ; after 12th April.

And this is meant to simplify things how?

[#10]

It will replace Premium. So the product line will still have 3 products, but Extra gives a better distinction (on both price and experience) between Value and Pro.

[#11]

Ah.. the cat is out now... and I can talk!
I still think £5 for 5GB is a bad move solely designed to tempt people to change packages.... and isn't required!
Sadly the EXTRA package looks to be so good itself, that I don't think Plusnet would have needed to play with the price per GB to act as a tempter now. In the days of the big gap from £6 to £16 from Value to Premium, yes a £5 for £5 might have helped back then with the upsell by helping artificially closing that £10 cost difference going over your included bandwidth to next package rung up. But ironically, I think with that with the release of EXTRA, (that reduced the upsell gap to just £5.50), I think the sour marketing taste this £5 5Gb leaves was a unnecessary, and has taken the shine off what should have been a happy day as a long wished for product being released!
At least the news is out now, so hopefully we can have a balanced talk about the good and the bad all at once rather than just the bad.
I am particularly pleased by the EXTRA product since PUG have been calling for a product in that price gap since over a year ago when we were first discussing the impending change to Value & Unlimited et al, with Plusnet under NDA. I was disappointed it didn't get added when Premium joined the scene 6 months ago, and no product at that price point has been my bug bear of mine that is happily put to rest now!
Mike

[#12]

Interesting to see the full text of the email posted by Thomas which highlights just how important Plusnet think it is that users know about DTW.

[#13]

Quote from: Mand

It will replace Premium. So the product line will still have 3 products, but Extra gives a better distinction (on both price and experience) between Value and Pro.

That is the first thing I have read that actually makes sense regarding the latest changes.
[edit] found I had missed a word out... oops

[#14]

Quote from: jelv

Interesting to see the full text of the email posted by Thomas which highlights just how important Plusnet think it is that users know about DTW.

The email talks about setting a price limit, and the FAQ talks about DTW?

[#15]

The email calls it something different and gives no clue how to find it. One might almost suspect you were trying to hide it.