Forcing customers to pay more

[#1]

On the new bill its says 'This is not a VAT invoice'. I'm sure it would have been a trivial task to change that line to read 'VAT No: 245 7193 48'

Then my company could pay the bill and reclaim the VAT. But someone at PN made a policy decision not to, which essentially increases what we pay by 20%.

Their recommendation is to switch to a business account to get a VAT invoice, but those packages look like a 50% increase.

Is this just a money grab by senior management at Plusnet? Starting to feel more like the parent company now and not a brand that I would trust (especially in light of the £29.99 overcharge)

The comment in the other thread about becoming like Ryanair is spot on.

[#2]

Hi @mgelder

I am sorry that the changes to our provision of a VAT invoice has caused issues for you.

I understand that in the past we have been able to provide a VAT invoice and that any individual that does either work from home, or supports a business from their personal connection has been able to use this invoice as evidence. This facility was provided on an ad-hoc basis and due to recent updates we are no longer able to do this after 1st September.

It’s fair for us to assume that customers needing a VAT invoice are using our broadband to support a business and require the invoice for tax purposes. This goes against our residential broadband terms and conditions, which states that it is for personal use only, and not for use in running a business. We have tailored business broadband packages and are really proud of the work we do in supporting small businesses. Customers are able to create a new business account with Plusnet, and can take advantage of our new customer deals. They can also keep any domains or email addresses that they currently have with their residential account, as we know that changing these details can be annoying.

Moderator's note by Mike (Mav): Font size fixed.

[#3]

This is interesting - https://www.oneaccounting.co.uk/blog/what-proof-do-you-really-need-reclaim-vat

Purchases under £25 do not need VAT documents and (see tip 2) you only need to know the supplier is VAT registered.

[#4]

Around 10 years ago Plusnet had a package called Teleworker which was designed specifically for this sort of situation.

https://web.archive.org/web/20080410194622/http://www.plus.net:80/business/broadband/teleworker.shtm...