New customer - affected by billing system issues - horrible start to Plusnet.

[#1]

Hi,

My new business phone and broadband products went live with you today (18th of Dec) - and I made an advance payment of £34.80 on December 4th to cover first months charges.

I've just been sent a bill for £47.40 to be taken on or around 27th Dec, and the breakdown of that says

Monthly charges = £43.50 ex VAT

Other Items = £25 ex VAT

Total = £68.50 ex VAT

Total = £82.20 inc VAT , minus balance brought forward £34.80 inc VAT = Total to pay £47.40 inc vat

Obviously I'm shocked by this - when I signed up - my welcome email even shows me the breakdown of what I've paid for showing that the total for phone and broadband was supposed to come to £29 ex VAT / £34.80 inc VAT - and that the activation fee was discounted at the time I signed up.

Line Rental £10.50

Unlimited Business Fibre Broadband and phone (24 Month Contract) Initial Subscription £33.00

Unlimited Business Fibre £-14.50

Activation Fee Discount £-25.00

Activation Fee £25.00

Net amount £29.00 VAT amount (20%) £5.80 Total £34.80

I've phoned in to be told it's a billing system issue that's widespread - but I'm just shocked as a new customer that things like this manage to happen. Surely if I've paid for my first months usage on the day, then why I am I even being billed in this manner now?

I wanted to post this for clarity and to ensure it's sorted - a new customer shouldn't have to be dealing with things like this! There is a ticket open on my account and when I phoned in I was told that the billing system is offline and it couldn't be sorted, and had to go into a ticket and potentially refunded at a later date - which isn't acceptable.

[#2]

Moderator's note by Dick (Strat): Topic moved from Accounts/Billing to Business for clarity.

[#3]

Hi @dlucasandsons,

Thanks for getting in touch.

I'm sorry to hear that, I appreciate this has caused you concern. Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience caused.

I have looked into this for you and have sent a response here.

Let us know if you need anything further.

Thanks - LF

[#4]

Hi,

I've just spoken to another member of staff on the phone after getting some missed calls.

I am really not happy about the situation and that Plusnet's billing system issues are being passed onto the customer - and now I have to watch my bank and next bills (and have messed up bills) which is going to cause me a headache with tax.

There's 2 outstanding issues I need sorting

1. I requested a VAT invoice with breakdown for the advance payment of £34.80 I made on the 4th of December - I need this for taxation purposes. The bill I've been sent on the 18th of Dec which has all the wrong figures, just shows a balance brought forward of £34.80incVAT which is not sufficient for taxation purposes because of the incorrect figures that have been applied

2. I need to know exactly what's going to happen with my January bill so I know what to look for. As it stands - 

- My December bill is going to be taken via direct debit for the amount of £47.40 inc VAT

- Apparently - 5 days after this direct debit is taken, I will be refunded £25exVAT/£30incVat to my account for the activation fee that was incorrectly charged

- My January bill will show as £29exVAT/£34.80incVAT , with a credit of £14.50exVAT/£17.40incVAT applied, so a total bill of £14.40exVAT/£17.40incVAT

If you could confirm the above it would be appreciated. I also need my PDF bills to be sorted as from a taxation perspective - you have made this very difficult for me and for a brand new customer, this is a total headache that I am having to deal with because of your new billing system. If you could escalate this so I can get the correct pieces of paperwork, it would be appreciated.

[#5]

It will take time. I'm still waiting for a VAT Invoice for my initial payment for my business account made on 8th October. I haven't had the insult of an incorrect invoicel though, so you're unlucky there. In fact I haven't had an invoice at all, so at present I'm assuming my broadband is free! (apart from the initial payment).

[#6]

Apologies for the delayed response.

I'm afraid it's not possible for us to create a new VAT invoice for the £34.80 payment you've mentioned.

In regards to the £47.40 payment, could you confirm if this has left your account yet since the invoice was produced?

Thanks.

[#7]

Harry - 

How can you say it's not possible to provide me with the correct invoicing? I was never provided a VAT invoice for that payment in the first place, and you saying you now cannot provide one is for what reason?

Are you aware that under UK law - you must provide a VAT invoice? I quote from https://www.gov.uk/invoicing-and-taking-payment-from-customers

"If you sell a customer a product or a service, you need to give them an invoice (bill) by law if both you and the customer are registered for VAT (a business to business transaction). An invoice is not the same as a receipt, which is an acknowledgement of payment."

The payment for the £47.40 is due to come out the 27th of Dec apparently - and I've already been told on the phone by multiple of your staff that the billing systems have automated processes which have sent this off to the banks and cannot be intervened with (again, a shock to me)

Without sounding too brash - as a new customer - unless you no longer want my business I need better answers and assistance than what I've been getting.

[#8]

Hi @dlucasandsons,

I'm very sorry that the VAT invoice was not generated when you made your initial payment and that we are now unable to produce this invoice. Unfortunately, our billing team have advised that this is a result of the system error and there is no way for them to get around this and to produce a VAT invoice for this payment. I'll pass on feedback about your poor experience here.

I'm sorry that your discount did not come off the latest bill, meaning that you have been charged more than agreed. I can see that you have now discussed this with our customer service team and they have added the discounts to your account to ensure that your billed correctly moving forwards and that they have put through a refund for the incorrect charges.