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Am I being ripped off?

God
Grafter
Posts: 1,112
Registered: ‎30-07-2007

Am I being ripped off?

I am currently on Extra and paying £17.99 per month.
I just checked out the plus net site as a prospective customer only to find that I was offered my service for £11.49*
Yup my exchange (SSNAH) is Market 2 so does qualify.  It 'appears' that I have been paying over the top for at least a year.
Does plus net operate a don't ask don't tell policy on price reductions to long term loyal customers? You would have thought after 7 years you might get TOLD about reductions.
Tried phoning but after 20 minutes lost the will to live.....
Please can someone from plus net confirm I am being overcharged?
Thanks.
19 REPLIES 19
Gus
Aspiring Pro
Posts: 3,236
Thanks: 26
Fixes: 3
Registered: ‎31-07-2007

Re: Am I being ripped off?

Yes you have, since they changed the pricing on market 2 exchanges they have never told us about it. It was a while back when some one posted on usenet that it had changed, day after I told PN my exchange was market 2 and my price dropped by a Fiver on my next bill.  But to this day they have never told us the existing customers of the change.
FTTP 500 regrade from Tues 28th November
God
Grafter
Posts: 1,112
Registered: ‎30-07-2007

Re: Am I being ripped off?

Thanks for the info Gus.
Poor show isn't it?
Well Plus net, what are you going to do about it?
x47c
Grafter
Posts: 881
Thanks: 3
Registered: ‎14-08-2009

Re: Am I being ripped off?

Probably nothing.
PN are a business and in today's world sadly loyalty counts for nothing.
All businesses are focussed on acquiring 'New Customers' as growth is everything and standing still with existing customers is not regarded as being successful.
So businesses make their money from those who are "lethargic" in keeping up to date with the changes.
-  savings accounts that revert to 0.1% after a year and hoping that existing investors don't notice.
-  insurance policies for car/house/etc where new customers can get better deals than renewing customers.
-  supermarkets and the rest putting out special offers.
and so the list goes on, none of who will be informing existing customers of the better deals they could get....very simply because they would get in less money if they did and if everybody took advantage of the better deal.
Welcome to the world
God
Grafter
Posts: 1,112
Registered: ‎30-07-2007

Re: Am I being ripped off?

Well it sucks... So I will probably shop around and take advantage of one of those 'deals' I always ignored because I trusted PN.
God
Grafter
Posts: 1,112
Registered: ‎30-07-2007

Re: Am I being ripped off?

Update:
I finally got through to customer services…
I was told that my payment would be reduced at my next invoice
I was also told that it would have changed automatically at some point. The rep told me my exchange had only recently changed and that Ofcom give them a period to make the change so there would be no refunds from previous billing periods.
I asked the rep when my exchange changed and how long Ofcom give them. The rep was unable to provide answers to either question. I told him it was possible the exchange has changed nearly a year ago and if that was the case I wanted the appropriate refund. Apparently for this to happen I have to ‘write in’.
I made it clear that I felt it was sufficient to ask the rep to escalate the query and them to supply that information without resorting to snail-mail.
I will let you know what happens, if anything!
x47c
Grafter
Posts: 881
Thanks: 3
Registered: ‎14-08-2009

Re: Am I being ripped off?

The exchange is only re-classified when OFCOM do a review.
So an exchange may have a number of LLU operators recently arrive, which would mean that it should be re-classifed from Market 1 to Market 2, however its re-classification does not actually happen until the next review - when ever that is.
Ther are several PN subscribers on these forums in this situation with their exchanges still registered as Market 1 despite multiple other providors being present in the exchange - and they are not happy as you can imagine (I'm not one by the way).  There is no indication when OFCOM will next do a review/consultation.
I think the last bulk review was done in 2010 with the results published in spring 2011 as I recall - but I may be a few months out on the timings.
So that will be when your exchange was re-classified - say May 2011 as a guess.
Chris
Legend
Posts: 17,724
Thanks: 600
Fixes: 169
Registered: ‎05-04-2007

Re: Am I being ripped off?

Quote
I was also told that it would have changed automatically at some point. The rep told me my exchange had only recently changed and that Ofcom give them a period to make the change so there would be no refunds from previous billing periods.

That's not quite correct and I'll find out who you spoke to and address it with them. Ofcom don't dictate our pricing in different market areas, if we wanted to and it made business sense for us we could charge the same across all 3 areas, or different prices in each one.
We didn't change existing customers (either direction as there were some exchange that went from Market 2 to Market 1) as it didn't make business sense to do so, if anyone contacted us then we changed the market area but generally we continued charging the price the customer agreed to when they signed up.
Former Plusnet Staff member. Posts after 31st Jan 2020 are not on behalf of Plusnet.
God
Grafter
Posts: 1,112
Registered: ‎30-07-2007

Re: Am I being ripped off?

Hi Chris
Thanks for your response. I must say I do think a 'if they don't ask, don't tell' policy of pricing is a pretty poor way of rewarding customer loyalty. It certainly wasn't how plusnet used to operate. I guess things have changed!
Shouldn't that policy be reviewed in the interests of a fair customer service policy, or at least in the terms and conditions you should state that it is up to the customer to check if you are offering better terms to new customers,
Regards
Peter
adamwalker
Plusnet Help Team
Plusnet Help Team
Posts: 16,871
Thanks: 882
Fixes: 221
Registered: ‎27-04-2007

Re: Am I being ripped off?

Quote
'if they don't ask, don't tell' policy of pricing is a pretty poor way of rewarding customer loyalty

I'm certain we didn't do things in that manner to penalise anyone but thanks for the feedback we can see why some people would feel that way.
If this post resolved your issue please click the 'This fixed my problem' button
 Adam Walker
 Plusnet Help Team
God
Grafter
Posts: 1,112
Registered: ‎30-07-2007

Re: Am I being ripped off?

The Final word from customer services is as follows:
Unfortunately, we are unable to refund for the time spent on Market 1 pricing as we are not notified in regards to specific exchanges upgrades in regards to accounts. Also, the costs of your services where agreed at start up. If the customer believes they should be on a different pricing it would be there responsibility to look into this as you have done.
Well, I say:
1. You certainly know when you started the lower rate for new customers signing up to that exchange.
2. The customer agrees to the higher rate when he signs up because there is no choice, not because he is happy that others get the same service cheaper!
3. Does plus net think ALL of its customers are geeks and have the wherewithal to check exchange status?
4. Perhaps plusnet should advise all customers to check the status of their exchange and tell them how to do it - most certainly won't know.
It appears that many people are being ripped off... maybe not by the letter of the law but certainly morally.... plus net you should be ashamed of your policy.
dave222
Newbie
Posts: 1
Registered: ‎25-07-2012

Re: Am I being ripped off?

Quote from: God
Thanks for the info Gus.
Poor show isn't it?
Well Plus net, what are you going to do about it?
Crazy I cant even get an invoice to match the debit taken
orbrey
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 10,540
Registered: ‎18-07-2007

Re: Am I being ripped off?

@God - Understood, this isn't the first time we've seen a thread like this (I remember a couple on Thinkbroadband and also MoneySavingExpert that went pretty much exactly the same way). Unfortunately it was done the way it was done and we can't change it, though there will certainly be discussions had if anything similar comes along in the future (there almost certainly will be, but I don't say that because something is in the pipeline).
@dave222 - I've had a look at your invoices and the amounts seem to match what was taken according to our systems, what problems have you seen? If there are discrepancies, could you please raise a ticket at http://contactus.plus.net and attach scans/screengrabs of the relevant parts of your bank statement please? It's fine to blank out any information on there you don't want us to see, just the payment amount, date and payment reference should be fine.
cozza50
Newbie
Posts: 8
Registered: ‎31-07-2012

Re: Am I being ripped off?

hi how do i find out if i am  market 2 Smiley
Oldjim
Resting Legend
Posts: 38,460
Thanks: 787
Fixes: 63
Registered: ‎15-06-2007

Re: Am I being ripped off?

http://usertools.plus.net/exchanges/
Upper right of the results