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Early product upgrade

Michael84
Newbie
Posts: 6
Registered: ‎25-10-2013

Early product upgrade

Hi,
I have one week left before my next invoice is due (02/11/2013) and last night I used the Member Centre to order a product upgrade from Extra (now discontinued) to Unlimited.  I was told that my product would be upgraded at the start of my next billing month.  I was wondering if it would be possible to do any of the following, in order of preference:
1) Upgrade my product now as a goodwill gesture (I'm running out of bandwidth this month), only charging me the new rate from 01/11/2013 onwards  Embarrassed
2) Upgrade my product now, bringing my billing date forward to 26/10/2013, and the 26th of every month after that
3) Anything that means that I don't have to stump up £5 per 5GB this last week before I move on to the Unlimited product
Any help is appreciated,
Michael84
8 REPLIES 8
spraxyt
Resting Legend
Posts: 10,063
Thanks: 674
Fixes: 75
Registered: ‎06-04-2007

Re: Early product upgrade

It's unlikely that Digital Care Team staff who respond in the forums will be here again until Monday. Do you have sufficient bandwidth left to last until then?
Alternatively you could give the Customer Options Team a call on 0845 140 6002, 0330 123 9197 or 0800 432 0200; they are open Saturday 9am to 5:30pm (Monday-Friday 9am to 8pm) to see if they can help.
David
Michael84
Newbie
Posts: 6
Registered: ‎25-10-2013

Re: Early product upgrade

OK, no problem.  I will try phoning tomorrow.  I didn't realise the forum was a Mon-Fri job.  Cry
Thanks,
Mike
kmilburn
Grafter
Posts: 911
Thanks: 6
Registered: ‎30-07-2007

Re: Early product upgrade

Another thing to check with the COT is if they'll give you the same discount you could have got if you'd gone through the upgrade process with them.
Michael84
Newbie
Posts: 6
Registered: ‎25-10-2013

Re: Early product upgrade

Just spoke to somebody and apparently it is impossible to move my billing date forward.  So for the next six days I'm stuck with the choice of 256kbps line speed or stumping up £5+ (a third of the monthly cost of the Unlimited product) for some extra gigabytes.  It's a bit disappointing, and I find it very hard to believe that it is literally impossible to bring forward a customer's billing date.  At the end of the day it is pretty much a few fields in a database.
Is it possible to cancel an upgrade online or over the phone?
Thanks,
Mike
P.S. Wow, it's not even 256kbps...
spraxyt
Resting Legend
Posts: 10,063
Thanks: 674
Fixes: 75
Registered: ‎06-04-2007

Re: Early product upgrade

Shame they were unable to help.
My understanding is that upgrading early is not impossible but takes significant effort because of the number of interconnected systems that need changing. And few staff have the knowledge to get this right.
Rather than enduring the low speeds I suggest biting the bullet and purchasing another 5GB. This far ahead you do have time to gain benefit from the purchase.
David
Michael84
Newbie
Posts: 6
Registered: ‎25-10-2013

Re: Early product upgrade

Without wanting to be rude, I would suggest that you are a bit naive to believe that upgrading is arduous or complicated.  It doesn't make sense for Plusnet to have designed a system whereby it has made it difficult for itself to configure a customer's broadband line/product.  It's very cliché, I admit, to wax lyrical about the fact that nowadays everything is computerised and simple to do, but it's true here.  The software running on the various networking devices in use is responsible for handling a customer's traffic shaping and data allowance.  It gets a customer's product details from a database somewhere.  To upgrade a customer you just alter these details.
Note:  The above is not fact, but my educated guess.  If someone at Plusnet would like to correct it, feel free.
Anyway, cheers for all the help.  I think we've reached an impasse, so this thread can now be left to sink to the bottom of the Internets.  Crazy
Mike
jelv
Seasoned Hero
Posts: 26,785
Thanks: 971
Fixes: 10
Registered: ‎10-04-2007

Re: Early product upgrade

spraxyt is giving advice based on years of watching these forums and a closer relationship with Plusnet as a member of the user group. The way the Plusnet billing system works means that changing billing dates is not practical. They used to attempt it sometimes but more often than not it went disastrously wrong so now they don't even attempt it.
jelv (a.k.a Spoon Whittler)
   Why I have left Plusnet (warning: long post!)   
Broadband: Andrews & Arnold Home::1 (FTTC 80/20)
Line rental: Pulse 8 Home Line Rental (£14.40/month)
Mobile: iD mobile (£4/month)
Michael84
Newbie
Posts: 6
Registered: ‎25-10-2013

Re: Early product upgrade

What is it about the billing system that makes it impractical?  Without any explanations for these things it just comes across as dogmatic.