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Aweful,Aweful Customer Service

HIGHLEY
Newbie
Posts: 2
Registered: ‎02-11-2020

Aweful,Aweful Customer Service

Still awaiting a phone call promised for almost 2 hours ago!

Almost  expected after virtually a full day spent on the phone to customer services!...never experienced such poor service!

Plusnet have had an administrative problem affecting a number of accounts,and have decided to repeatedly threaten to  disconnect me, an oap with health issues,including disconnection of red button emergency alert, if i dont agree to them replacing my existing two year contract (only agreed by both sides in march) with a new contract at a much higher level of charges. Their only interests appear to  be making more money out of me,and they would leave me with a heart attack on the floor ,rather than honour the original terms agreed in writing and applying march,april,may,june,july,august,september and october without a problem!

Ive spent virtually all day in,largely on the phone to them,during which ive been repeatedly threatened with disconnection if i dont agree to pay considerably more than existing agreed terms.

To top it all,i was promised a call back at 4.30 pm today......which they knew i had to stay in specially  for.....its now nearly 7pm and....no phone call. I reckon its a deliberate failure to show me how unimportant i am as a customer and to force  me to pay much more,due fear of having no phone. Age discrimination,perhaps,enjoying threatening an old man?!....may be it makes them feel big and strong?

I was shocked to see how badly they are rated on trustpilot ....only just over one star on trustpilot,and over 80% rate as poor! After today im no longer shocked!!

My advice:-

1)abandon plusnet when you can do so without losing out (see money saving expert for alternative deals)

2)publicise their aweful service as far and wide as you can. Im hoping for items on bbc radio 4s "you and yours" and "moneybox"......the more referrals they have ,the more likely they will run it.

3)dont give into their bullying and threats. Complain,complain,complain.

4)find all ways of publicising their aweful service. Im wondering about age uk among others,but facebook,twitter etc. Probably much better!

I've been fortunate enough to spend nearly 25000 days on this planet....and i know i've got very few left by comparison. I resent having been forced to lose a full day to this when i have relatively few left.......but one thing i've learnt is "never give in to bullies" so i'm set for many days more fighting this case!

 

 

Moderators Note: All caps title / post changed as per Forum rules

4 REPLIES 4
wakeman
Aspiring Pro
Posts: 264
Thanks: 58
Fixes: 3
Registered: ‎20-04-2020

Re: Aweful,Aweful Customer Service

@HIGHLEY  Welcome to the forums.

What is this higher charge they are trying get you to pay and have they said why?

You do not say which service you are on? But I am surprised if you have an account issue they want you to pay more, sounds like a mixup on the account side.

HIGHLEY
Newbie
Posts: 2
Registered: ‎02-11-2020

Re: Aweful,Aweful Customer Service

@ wakeman

Thanks for your welcome. I can understand your scepticism......I couldn't believe it either!

I entered into a 2 year contract with PLUSNET in March 2020 .The agreement was for  a "Line rental saver" payment of £197.88 for year 1,which I paid up front,covering my rental until 2021.....or so I was told!  I was told that the second year payment would also be fixed at £197.88 ,again including free broadband,but this was not payable until March 2021.The foregoing is agreed by PLUSNET as being factually correct.

Yesterday I received a letter from PLUSNET advising that they had administrative problems with a number of accounts,including mine (admitting that this was their problem,not mine) but advising that if I did not contact them before 18 November to make new arrangements,they would cut me off,and went on to advise that various other services would be lost ,including any emergency red button alert. Indeed over half the content of the letter related to their threat to cut me off and the consequences I would suffer as a result.)

After a day worrying,I phoned this morning and found out that not only did they want to re-arrange payments,but they were cancelling our mutual 2 year contract (because they can according to the small print,they say!) and I would have to take out a new "contract"(is that the right word for something they can cancel at a whim?).This would be charged at £19.99 per month to start with,but this might increase. As they had to take a monthly charge of £19.99 immediately,no contract they could offer would  allow 1 or 2 annual "line rental saver" payments (as this would mean I had to pay for 13 months on a 1 year contract,or 25 months on a 2 year contract).

Therefore I was told I would have to pay £19.99 per month (=£238.99 instead of the£197.88 already paid) If they were able to fiddle things and I did a line rental saver for the first year,this would have to be at the current rate ,which is £213 ish plus I would still have to pay £19.99 up front,not the £197.88 paid. If I required a second year ,as I have at present, they don't think line rental saver will be available by then,so I would have to pay monthly,by which time the rate would have increased from £19.99 per month to ??.??. So ,if I don't take on a new contract at at least £213+£239.99=£452.49 ,or £479.98 based on monthly payments (compared to the £395.76 which they accept was agreed under my existing contract),and partly paid (validating the contract!!!??? ) they would disconnect my line on 18 November. The pressure on me is increased by the fact that a call back promised by a "manager" at 4.30 pm today did not happen,and ,although I have messaged them about this,they have not got back to me.....meaning fewer and fewer days before they cut me off on 18 November,cleverly increasing the pressure on me.??DELIBERATE?Huh

To provide further evidence of PLUSNETs "?professionalism?",the same "manager"who was due to phone me back at 4.30,but didn't......,when advised that I had already been on the line for going on for 3 hours,told me that I would be charged for the 0800 call because ,even though the first hour of 0800 calls was free,they were charged after one hour.  After my 20th heart attack of the day,I asked her to check this as (given the usually considerable wait for PLUSNET) all freephone calls to them would be chargeable!! I am glad to say that,on this rare occasion, PLUSNET,experts of phone charges,admitted that they were wrong and that I (a mere OAP!) was correct in believing that freephone calls were "free".....the clue is in the name!

Simply unbelievable isn't it??!!  But I have spent my life in business and believe I still have a full grasp of the facts!

wakeman
Aspiring Pro
Posts: 264
Thanks: 58
Fixes: 3
Registered: ‎20-04-2020

Re: Aweful,Aweful Customer Service

@HIGHLEY 

I had one of those letters awhile back and rang the number and pointed out I was already moving to a new account due to their billing issues and the process was stopped. Its a standard letter.

You need to have a new account created, It could be a new 12, 18 or at worse a 24 month contract. but should be at the current new customer offer price. Line rental saver cannot apparently be moved across as such but you should get a discount or rebate for the already paid for but unused part of it for this year. Thus the new contract price might be better then what you got in March. In any case the 19.99 line rental would not go up during your new contract period.

There should be no reason for you to be on the phone for 3 hours with them.

You can raise a complaint via https://www.plus.net/help/legal/complaints-code-of-practice/#how-to-complain-about-our-broadband-hom... 

and then use the the "Help Assistant", when doing this just stick to the facts, You had a letter and need help to sort it out and how do they resolve the Line rental Saver issue. 

 

tinytaco
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 457
Fixes: 29
Registered: ‎30-03-2020

Re: Aweful,Aweful Customer Service

Hello @HIGHLEY Smiley I can see that your complaint is already raised and being dealt with by Ken from our High Level Escalations Team. I've made him aware of your posts and added it to your question on the account. 

 Noor
 Plusnet Help Team