Failed upgrade - being overcharged and useless phone support

[#1]

Hi this is going to be long so bear with me🙂

Up until January 2022 I getting standard broadband (and speeds of 25-30mb/s) for £22.99 a month.

I saw an upgrade offer of up to 40+ mb/s for £25.50 and went for it. I was told my February bill would be higher but then it would revert to £25.

I noticed around early April I was getting low speeds and did some checking then found I was getting around 20mb/s and being overcharged.

I rang 0800 432 0200 and went through to complaints and spent an hour trying to get this sorted.  I was promised ...

1) to be put back onto my original price rate

2) and openreach engineer would call to look into the speed issues

3) I would get a new router as mine is quite old

An engineer did call and found the wiring in the master socket was incorrect (even though my flat is only 6 years old) but he advised that given the distance between my house and the junction box I was unlikely to get speeds above 30-35mb/s.

I havent recieved a new router and Im still being overcharged. Plusnet arent even bothering to send reminder emails about my bills.

I have been charged

21 Jan £22.99

21 Feb £35.80

21 Mar £39.43

25 Apr £43.35

23 May £41.75

14 Jun £41.75

so Ive been overcharged by £87.13

and when I look at my account it tells me "No upgrade possible - already have a product change in progress" this has been since April at least. It looks as though Plusnet has had me stuck in limbo since January and have been charging me whatever they like.

Im hoping a moderator can help me sort this mess out before I have to go to the CAB and start writing letters.

Ben

[#2]

@BenE Something in your post doesn't ring quite right. If you were getting 25-30Mb/s, you were already on the FTTC 40/10 package. If you then noticed a speed reduction, this was obviously due to a fault somewhere, possibly your wiring issue,. which the engineer should have rectified. No idea why you haven't got a new Hub - that's for PN to sort out, as is your fluctuating billing, although looking at the itemised breakdown on page 3 may help.

Sight of BT Broadband using your phone number would help here, but make sure the phone number isn't showing in the screen shot.

[#3]

screenshot supplied

[#4]

Looking at the Availability checker, I suspect you are on a long 'last mile' copper cable from the FTTC cab, so you will never get top speeds, but the last 'observed max', although a little out of date suggests to me that there is an issue somewhere which needs investigation.

[#5]

If I use a broadband speed checker I get 30mb/s down and 5mb/s up. If I download a single large file such as a game download from Steam its comes down at a steady 3.7MB/s

Now that the wiring fault in the socket is dealt with I hope I will keep that speed and I can live with that. 

To be stuck in the middle of an upgrade as I appear to be and have Plusnet not bothering to pick up on it but rather charge me whatever they feel like doing ... that is what is peeing me off.

But thanks for your interest

Ben 

[#6]

It is pointless trying to get an upgrade when your sync speed is so much lower than the package you are on.

Even once fixed it will only be a litter higher.

Have you done any basic troubleshooting?

Is the line quiet?

Are you plugged into the test socket?

[#7]

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@BenE wrote:

If I use a broadband speed checker I get 30mb/s down and 5mb/s up. If I download a single large file such as a game download from Steam its comes down at a steady 3.7MB/s

Now that the wiring fault in the socket is dealt with I hope I will keep that speed and I can live with that. 

To be stuck in the middle of an upgrade as I appear to be and have Plusnet not bothering to pick up on it but rather charge me whatever they feel like doing ... that is what is peeing me off.

But thanks for your interest

Ben 

---

I can't help with the 'stuck in the middle of an upgrade' issue - that requires PN staff action. As regards the charging issue, have you looked at the breakdown of charges (page 3 of the invoice IIRC)?

For the (potential) speed issue, I can post a check-list of actions if you wish to investigate further?