VAT Increase & Price Changes - January 2011

[#1]

If you sign up before Jan 4 the one with the included minutes as that is when the product changes

[#2]

To avoid trawling back through the posts - has this been picked up and due to be corrected
Upgrading from the old anytime to the new anytime I get this
Also here http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,91211.msg761965.html#msg761965

[#3]

Getting very confused from some of the many questions asked here, so I'll ask my question & Hope it gets an answer.
I've just signed upto the talk anytime (for £5 a month) with the 300 international minutes a critical selling point. I presume that from what I can gather, this will remain the same?
I'm on the 'extra' broadband, 60gb a month, free from midnight - 8am. Is This again still staying the same, and what would the total costs for line rental, the 5ppm calls and the extra internet be come the vat increase compared to now?
thank you

[#4]

Quote

Why? You do know 85% of our customers (the vast majority paying monthly) use Direct Debit don't you? I have to be honest, I'm really struggling to understand just why you're so aggrieved by this

So, only 15% are paying with cards? And I am sure that a majority of those 15% never gave any problems to Plusnet with their card payments. (but they will be those same ones who will be penalised with that  £1.50 surcharge)

Quote

We don't accept the majority of debit cards for recurring subscription payments, we stopped doing that some time ago

So why would it be so problematic to leave the ones who have paid all those years by cards to carry on paying the same way without being ripped off by an  over inflated fee. It doesn't cost £1.50 to process a card payment That what makes the £1.50 surcharge a rip off.

[#5]

Quote from: pjmarsh

DavidW: That is your new monthly cost made up of £11.25 for PAYG and £11.25 for your broadband according to your screen shot. Phil

Should have replied earlier but was playing Mass Effect (installing ME2 again now hehe).  I'm on Premier Option 1 which is a different account to the phone account which does have PAYG but that's dial up I believe and nothing to do with my broadband.  I've no idea where the £11.25 is coming from as there is no broadband on the telephone account.  I've spoken to my mother (who has the phone account) and she wants to switch (it's cheaper and we rarely use the 300 international minutes) but I'm not risking switching if I suddenly get hit for £22/month line rental.

[#6]

David,
As you will see from my post further up the page the upgrade process is duff - lets wait to see what tomorrow brings assuming some poor sucker is working Saturday

[#7]

Quote from: Lolaan

Quote Why? You do know 85% of our customers (the vast majority paying monthly) use Direct Debit don't you? I have to be honest, I'm really struggling to understand just why you're so aggrieved by this So, only 15% are paying with cards? And I am sure that a majority of those 15% never gave any problems to Plusnet with their card payments. (but they will be those same ones who will be penalised with that  £1.50 surcharge)

Bob addressed this point at the top of page 6:

Quote from: Bob

Let's look at it another way then. The failure rate of card payers *far* exceeds that of our Direct Debit payers. The transaction failure rate for Direct Debit averages about 1.5%. The failure rate of card transactions is about 12%. I needed tell you that repeat transactions cost us more money.

Card payments are 8 times more likely to fail than DD payments - you can sympathise with PN for preferring DD!

[#8]

Quote from: Oldjim

David, As you will see from my post further up the page the upgrade process is duff - lets wait to see what tomorrow brings assuming some poor sucker is working Saturday

My bad, I stopped reading after page 8 or so, so didn't get to read your reply, my own fault!  Probably be Monday before a fix due to the weekend?

[#9]

Quote from: Bob

Let's look at it another way then. The failure rate of card payers *far* exceeds that of our Direct Debit payers. The transaction failure rate for Direct Debit averages about 1.5%. The failure rate of card transactions is about 12%. I needed tell you that repeat transactions cost us more money. Card payments are 8 times more likely to fail than DD payments - you can sympathise with PN for preferring DD!

I bet the Card payments fail because the card has expired and Plusnet haven't bothered to ask for details of the new card.

[#10]

Quote from: jelv

Card payments are 8 times more likely to fail than DD payments - you can sympathise with PN for preferring DD!

This is assuming that the failure rate is due to the mechanics of paying by card, so forcing "card people" to change to paying by DD will solve this.  I wonder if actually "card people" have a higher failure rate for other reasons; maybe they chose to pay by credit card specifically to help them manage a tight budget, yet even though they do this, they still find it difficult.  If this is the case, the failure rate of "card people" who move to paying by DD may be even higher - I'm imagining that they use a card at the moment to delay payment because they simply don't have the money in their account.
My scenario is not intended as a judgement against people who pay by card or who manage their money through credit in this way.  It's not the way I'd choose to do it, but I can imagine someone getting into this situation maybe through no fault of their own.
My point is that the new card surcharge removes choice (you pay more for continuing to pay by card), without consideration of personal circumstances and consequences.

[#11]

Quote from: A

I bet the Card payments fail because the card has expired and Plusnet haven't bothered to ask for details of the new card.

You'd lose! I used to pay by card and got a reminder when the card was due to expire.

[#12]

Quote

Card payments are 8 times more likely to fail than DD payments - you can sympathise with PN for preferring DD!

Plusnet has nothing to do with it, it's BT being at it again.
Quick, someone must warn all those companies which are still allowing card payments to force their card paying customers into DD by overcharging them on each of the transactions they insist on doing with their cards
It would be interesting to know which percentage of payment failure Plusnet is experiencing with their 15% card paying customers. Are we all bad boys and girls then?

[#13]

Quote from: A

Quote from: Bob Let's look at it another way then. The failure rate of card payers *far* exceeds that of our Direct Debit payers. The transaction failure rate for Direct Debit averages about 1.5%. The failure rate of card transactions is about 12%. I needed tell you that repeat transactions cost us more money. Card payments are 8 times more likely to fail than DD payments - you can sympathise with PN for preferring DD! I bet the Card payments fail because the card has expired and Plusnet haven't bothered to ask for details of the new card.

They do send you a reminder when your card is about to expire.
I have always paid plusnet by credit card. The only payment failures (two) occurred when the card expired. On request I updated the card on plusnet's system which failed to correctly manage the change on both occasions. The card updates had to be manually implemented by a CSA.

[#14]

Quote from: jelv

Quote from: A I bet the Card payments fail because the card has expired and Plusnet haven't bothered to ask for details of the new card. You'd lose! I used to pay by card and got a reminder when the card was due to expire.

I would also add that the customer knows exactly when the old card will expires and will before that date have a new card in their procession that they activate. Once this is done the old card is no longer valid.... there is no way that Plusnet will know (to my knowledge) that the old card is no longer valid without making a claim against it or the expiry date is reached.
Why do we as customers, need reminders that we need to update our card details on Plusnet systems from Plusnet? Once you activate a new credit card it seems obvious that you need to update card details with all companies that use a Continuous Authority System (CAS) for your regular payments. Of course this relies on the fact you know who you make regular CC payments to under CAS.

[#15]

Quote from: Bob

You're invoice date will remain the same. Monies taken via Direct Debit are typically debited from your account about 5 working days after your invoice date. Under most circumstances you can't change your invoice date (without breaking a lot of stuff).

Err,  5 working days is a lie, if you read the plusnet direct debit agreement it sates

Quote

•If the amounts to be paid or the payment dates change PlusNet plc will notify you 3 working days in advance of your account being debited or as otherwise agreed

And the email gives a date of 3 working days after the billing notice.  Thats why if there is a mistake plusnet cant change the ammount as its allready been submitted to the bank for processing