Autumn Price increase FAQ's

[#1]

Quote from: Mayfly

I agree with you . If someone leaves of of their own volition then no refund as stated but to say you will not be reimbursed LRS because they put up the pricing and you leave under the detrimental terms then that's another matter. PN is in a win-win situation. It may not be illegal for all I know but I certainly think it's immoral.

in my mind if LRS customers have the call rate increases, PN are obliged to refund to be compliant with ofcom's guidelines.

[#2]

Ok I just rang ofcom to ask them.
At first they were saying call charges are excluded because they not in the contract.  As not fixed fees.
I said if any customer makes calls and then proceeds to not pay for those calls they are in breach of their contract, the contract requires the customer to pay for those calls so they are part of the contract, the call handler then did agree.  I think someone needs to have a look at the written legislation because if it says "fixed charges" only, then thats a big loophole in favour of the service providers.  Although things like caller display are still fixed charges.

[#3]

Quote from: ariansandra

Alternatively that I can drop the BB contract and migrate the whole shebang elsewhere as long as i do so within 30 days of receiving my email (which I had on 17 July) but that will mean loss of 3 months on my LRS?

Quote from: Oldjim

yes in both cases

I'm not 100% sure that Oldjim is 100% right on this particular point (though it's a minor, pedantic difference):
My understanding is that you must give notice that you're moving your service within 30 days, you then have a (minimum?) notice period of 14 days:

Quote from: Linn

We would need to be notified of this within 30 days of you receiving the email and you would have to give us 14 days notice.

Obviously a transfer could take over 14 days, is there a limit on the notice period?
[Edit to correctly close quote]

[#4]

Quote from: chrcoluk

I think someone needs to have a look at the written legislation because if it says "fixed charges" only, then thats a big loophole in favour of the service providers.

I've already posted it:

Quote

9.6 The Communications Provider shall: (a) give its Subscribers adequate notice not shorter than one month of any modifications likely to be of material detriment to that Subscriber; (b) allow its Subscribers to withdraw from their contract without penalty upon such notice; and (c) at the same time as giving the notice in condition 9.6 (a) above, shall inform the Subscriber of its ability to terminate the contract without penalty if the proposed modification is not acceptable to the Subscriber.

[#5]

I think this boils down to the interpretation of "without penalty" and will probably need a test case.
As noted above, I think the apparent PN stance of "no refund whatsoever" of prepaid LRS call charges is certainly not morally defensible  and does impose a penalty (difficult to quantify though) and they should have a policy that makes a "fair offer" to those who really wish to leave, appropriate to where they are in the LRS period.

[#6]

Plusnet used to advertise as "Good honest broadband from Yorkshire". To be fair they never advertised honest telephone services. Now it says "We'll do you proud". Perhaps they should drop the proud with respect to LRS.
Just looked at TalkTalk and this is taken from their web site :
What will happen with my advance payment if I leave TalkTalk?
You will be entitled to receive a credit of any outstanding balance on your existing Value Line Rental term and a full refund of your unused renewal Value Line Rental term. This may be off-set against any applicable charges after disconnection.
.

[#7]

Quote from: w23

Obviously a transfer could take over 14 days, is there a limit on the notice period?

Logically the claim would generate a MAC and these have a 30 day limit and the notice period is taken from the date of issue of the MAC
So on the basis that you left the objection to the very end of the 28 day period you would then have a window where you can use the MAC
Obviously you would need to allow sufficient time for the receiving company to use it.
Unfortunately that all falls apart if you move to fill LLU where the MAC wouldn't be used
A further thing which I don't think has been clarified - at least I haven't seen it
On receipt of the email I assume that there is a ticket created on the account.
Can one reply to the ticket advising that you don't accept the change or is it already closed. If so does raising a ticket fulfil the same function or do Plusnet insist that you phone cancellations

[#8]

@ Salmo - LLU ISPs can do that because it doesn't cost them. With Plusnet, they have a 12 month contract with BT Wholesale for the phone service and it costs them if someone cancels mid-way through their contract. This is why they cannot refund any LRS or why they charge the remaining months as a penalty if you pay monthly.

[#9]

Can you provide a reference for that as I wasn't aware of any such restriction from BTw

[#10]

Quote from: AndyH

With Plusnet, they have a 12 month contract with BT Wholesale for the phone service...

Odd, then, that Zen Internet (to provide one example) offer telephone only on a one-month rolling contract (unless tied into FTTC/phone combined contract), source: http://www.zen.co.uk/home-office/voice/phone-services.aspx

Quote

Our phone line rental has a one month contract

Makes no sense to me.

[#11]

Quote from: Linn

Plusnet has won several awards and been officially recommended by Which?

As a Which subscriber, I know what my feedback on Plusnet will be this year, perhaps with your inflation busting price rises and unfair LRS grabbing you will have pissed enough of us off to not be considered for any kind of recommendation this year.

[#12]

Quote from: Oldjim

Can you provide a reference for that as I wasn't aware of any such restriction from BTw

From here http://www.openreach.co.uk/orpg/home/products/pricing/loadProductPriceDetails.do?data=%2BrBpMW3XM9ac... as it says Standard Rental Per Year
But looking at the bottom, it says the cost is payable monthly/quarterly in advance so it's not clear what the contract term actually is.

[#13]

As I said before the phone is normally on a 30 day rolling contract. You can OPT to pay for a year in advance, but the contract is 30 days.

[#14]

The important thing from the BTW link is confirming that the charge for line rental has actually dropped.
There was a lot of publicity when BTW raised the cost earlier in the year in advance of any guidance from Ofcom with the proviso that the cost would drop in July if needed.

[#15]

Quote from: AndyH

@ Salmo - LLU ISPs can do that because it doesn't cost them. With Plusnet, they have a 12 month contract with BT Wholesale for the phone service and it costs them if someone cancels mid-way through their contract. This is why they cannot refund any LRS or why they charge the remaining months as a penalty if you pay monthly.

as a customer, that's not my problem. that's plusnet's problem.