Charged after end of contract

[#1]

I was a happy Plusnet customer since 2010.
In November 2018 I received an email saying paraphrase 'your account is being taken over by another provider - sorry to see you going'
I phoned Plusnet to stop it happening. They said that they did.
End of December 2018 - my phone and internet is stopped.

Phoned Plusnet they tell me that Vodafone has taken over my account.

No contact to me from vodafone. Phoneline dead as a door nail.
I was told by Plusnet that I needed to open a new account that would cost me £68 - possibly, refundable.
I asked what guarantee is there that this would not happen again?

They of course could give me no such guarantee.
I said stop the order going through and they said that they would.
On the 8th January I received and email saying the any direct debit from Plusnet is cancelled.

This last weekend I receive an email from Plusnet saying that "£255.77 for your service. This will leave your account on or after 15th February 2019."

Is this the way to be treated? They allow a disconnection and want to charge me for now not being connected to Plusnet?

[#2]

Hi there, 

I've just taken a look over your account and it looks like you've called in this afternoon and that we've clarified the situation with you in relation to any applicable fees to close the account. 

Here's a link to where that conversation has been documented: https://www.plus.net/wizard/?p=view_question&id=187374038

[#3]

Thank you for your reply.
I earnestly await their decision.

[#4]

No problems @Desmon1,

Please do let us know if there is anything else we can help you with.

[#5]

"Awaiting support team answer" - seems to be the standard answer.
Two questions.
1. How long does take for the support team to answer questions put to them - this question was raised on Monday 11th Feb 2019?

2. I have read other posts on this forum that say the early termination of contract has to go through - and it is then any refund is made, is this correct?

I ask for I am about to have £255.77 removed from my account with no permission from me, to do so.

[#6]

Thanks for getting back in touch @Desmond1

I do apologise for the time it's taking to resolve your issue. I can see it's currently with our Billing Team who are looking into the query however it is taking a little longer than normal for this to be looked into. Once we have any further information, we'll update the open support ticket.

Regards

[#7]

Thank you for your reply.

Not knowing when or why Plusnet thinks it can remove £255.77 from my bank account - does not aid to a good nights sleep.
Living on a state pension means that funds are limited and to keep waiting for a reply, whenever, it may come, is just not good enough.

In November 2018, I asked for Plusnet to stop another provider from taking over my phone line.
I was promised that that would not happen.
But it happened none the less.
Plusnet's error - not mine.

That it was suggested to me at the same time that a better broadband deal could be offered to me and that I initially accepted it and then canceled it during the same phone call - does not mean that an early termination fee applies.

£255.77 - is a lot of money to any of us, hence my continually adding to this post.
Please give this your earliest consideration.

[#8]

If the money is taken by Direct Debit, go to your bank straight away and demand a full and immediate refund under the Direct Debit Guarantee.

[#9]

Thank you Jonpe for your reminder about the Direct Debit Guarantee

My bank is aware of a possible transaction and the direct debit was cancelled many weeks ago.

I will need to be checking every day from now on as it stated that money would be removed on the 15th or 18th of February.

[#10]

If no valid DD mandate exists, how are they going to take your money?

[#11]

Thank you for your reply.
My bank has said and research online seems to confirm that even if you have stopped the direct debit, money can still be removed from the account and that is why the Direct Debit Guarantee is in place to return any funds, incorrectly removed.

[#12]

Part of an email received this morning.
Mon 18/02/2019 03:32

"We couldn't take payment for your account closure bill
Account username: xxxx

You recently cancelled your services with Plusnet on 21st January
2019. We have been unable to take payment for your termination
invoice associated with your account closure.

You are required to pay the balance of £255.77 in full within the next
14 days.
If payment is not received, your account balance will be forwarded
to a third party Debt Collection Agency which will incur an
additional cost and may have an adverse effect on your credit file."
=====

You do the right thing and phone Plusnet support.
They say - they will deal with it
You then post on Plusnet forum for some suggestions and answers.
They say - it will be dealt with but may take some time.

And then to add insult to injury, you receive the email above.

Apart from udating my post - is there any point in asking for
someone to help me?

[#13]

---

@adamwalker

---

SU Escalation

Superuser escalation

This topic has been escalated by one of the Superusers; please allow time for Plusnet to respond before commenting further.

Escalation does not imply progressing this matter will be given priority, nor that a different outcome will result.

Reason for escalation:  Request response

 This just should not be happening!

[#14]

Hi there.

I'm sorry to see your line was slammed. I can see we've received two notifications regarding this; the first was cancelled at your request, and the second completed although it doesn't appear that we emailed you regarding the 2nd notification which resulted in the cancellation of your account, so I do sincerely apologise regarding this.

As it looks like you've chosen not to stay with us (we'd have to reprovide your services on a new account), it's likely that the termination fee is applicable, however after discussing this with a colleague from our debt management team I've escalated the open support ticket 187373897 to that team to investigate this thoroughly and come to a decision.

I'd allow around 2-3 working days for an update. 

Apologies for the inconvenience this has caused.

[#15]

Thank you for your reply.
You said that I could reply to my account Question ID or here on the forum. I choose here.

"Although as it looks like you've chosen not to stay with us (we'd reprovide your services on a new account), it's likely that the termination fee is applicable, "

"Chosen not to stay with us ...." My phone line was dead, disconnected - unusable.
I had to buy a mobile dongle just to get online. Cost £35.00. Cost of data 15Gb for £25.00

It seemed sensible now that Vodafone had my phone line was to try their broadband service. They said my phone line would work on day of activation.

14 days for the router to be delivered. 10 days until activation.
On day of activation, nothing, why, phone line is screwed up.
Vodafone had the good grace to allow cancellation at no cost.

Next provider to try was Sky. This time at a cost of £20.00 to have Openreach come to repair the phone line and after waiting for a router from Sky and then the day of activaiton,

I'm back online.  February 8th 2019

This is 6 weeks after Plusnet lost my phone line on December 28th 2018.

And you need to decide if I owe you money?

There may be some humour here - but I don't see any!!!