Error in Early Termination charges calculation

[#1]

Hi ,

I have placed a request for switching out from Plusnet - the other provided has confirmed the switching date as 28 Jan. I have 6 months and 9 days contract left with Plusnet and for which Plusnet is quoting  £83.77 as early termination charge. This is as good as more than 50% of payment that I supposed to pay if I had continue with my contract. I tried contacting plusnet customer care to understand the logic behind this figure and how they arrived on these figures. To my biggest surprise, all of the customer care representatives are saying ' it's system calculated figure and this cannot be wrong.' My humble request to all of them where to let me know the calculation logic. But they were not able to share the details. I have raised a ticket (ticket #210310544) asking someone from Billing team to share the details on reason for this amount -£83.77. The customer care team, tried to share the details like , £12.15 per month as the early termination fee per month. But that gentleman was not able to convince himself and dropped that idea :). Then mentioned that VAT and wholesale costs are involved in the calculation. I would require the details like VAT -£xx, Wholesale cost £xx; add or deduct these figure and hence the final cost £xx. Ballpark figures like £83.77 does not make any sense.  I feel, as a customer , I have every right to understand the reason why I need to pay this amount and Plusnet to share valid justification on the figures. 

Any help on this would be appreciated.

Thanks,

C

[#2]

@Charles12 Does this ionk help to explain the way that the Plusnet early temination charges are calculated?

https://www.plus.net/help/my-account/early-termination-charges/

[#3]

@Charles12 

You will find the details here under termination charges. https://www.plus.net/help/legal/plusnet-price-guide-for-residential-products/#other-charges-price-gu...

[#4]

Hi jgb,

Thanks for sharing the details, I had already gone through that . 

Those are just guidelines for calculating the charge. Copying the details below:

• We take your monthly charge*, including any discounts
• We then deduct the current rate of VAT
• We then reduce the charge to take account of any costs we save because of you leaving early, such as wholesale costs
• We then deduct 1% for early payment
• We multiply this figure by the remaining months of your minimum term to get the final charge you owe. Any part month will be charged daily on a pro rata basis. Any remaining credit on your account will be taken off your total.

However, one might not be able to calculate the final figure as we don't know the details VAT and  any costs we save because of you leaving early, such as wholesale costs. We can assume that VAT will be 20% but do not have any clue on wholesale cost, that plusnet has to share .

Thanks,

C

[#5]

@Charles12 

Extract from the link that I posted. I suspect that you will find that these form part of the terms and conditions to which you have agreed  

The early termination charges set out in the tables below apply to any customer who signed up to a broadband or broadband and phone contract before 10th December 2019:

Product	Package	Monthly Charge
Unlimited	Broadband Only^	£11.85
	Broadband & Phone	£12.15
	Broadband & Phone (Line Rental Saver)*	£3.66

[#6]

Just to add to my last post the long winded calculation quoted by @Charles12 applies to customers who signed up after the 10th December 2019.

Out of interest I have just looked at my last renewal confirmation email from Plusnet and that actually quotes the cancellation charges that would be applicable. I was reminded in that email that I had 14 days to cancel this new contract if not happy.

[#7]

@Baldrick1 

Thanks so much for your inputs. I went through my contract and found that early termination fee per month has been mentioned there. 

However, based on those figures my early termination charges should be £56.17. 

Still, Plusnet is quoting the charge as £83.77 and they are not able to explain the logic behind that.

Anyway, I managed to get the confirmation that wanted (from my contract). Thanks so much for your help. 

Cheers,

C

[#8]

@Charles12 

I have noticed that my termination charges don’t align either. I suspect, in my case and possibly yours, that my termination charge has been carried over from an earlier contract, which was effectively extended as I renewed before the old contract expired.

Eithe way you now have all the evidence that you require to get this billed correctly.