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Free broadband gets a price increase!

wphil
Dabbler
Posts: 24
Thanks: 3
Registered: ‎25-11-2012

Free broadband gets a price increase!

In July 2017 I contracted for 'free' 18 months broadband and the confirmation email stated the cost would be £0.00 for 18 months and then £9.99.  Of course the 'free' is implemented by discounting the price but that is Plusnet's chosen method; they could have created an item to put on the bill with zero cost.  As far as I am concerned they should now be discounting by the new cost with their method.

 

When I was notified of the BB price rise I expected that to apply to me at the end of the 18 months.  However in my June bill I am now being charged £1, the price rise.  I know not a lot but the point is I thought free and zero meant just that. 

I called customer services and was told it's all in the terms and conditions and anyway I should have raised the issue when they informed me of the price rise.  It was also pointed out to me that they now include caller display at no charge; so what , this is a phone charge.  Anyway, this charge has always irked with me when most other suppliers include what is really a basic feature without extra charge.

 

I am not happy with this.  It does not sit well with the 'good honest broadband from Yorkshire'.  This just does not make be feel good about Plusnet.

4 REPLIES 4
MasterOfReality
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 1,640
Fixes: 57
Registered: ‎26-03-2018

Re: Free broadband gets a price increase!

Hi @wphil 

 

I'm very sorry to hear you were under the impression that this £1 increase would take effect after your current contract ended - the correspondence which was sent to all customers stated - "Any discounts or promotions you have will still stand. This means will be a slight change in your broadband bill."

 

This means that, for example, if your Broadband Price was indeed £9.99 discounted down to £0, your £9.99 discount would remain unchanged, however the base price would increase by £1. 

This was confirmed further down in the message with the following statement - "Your Broadband bill will increase by GB Pounds 1 on your first bill from 5th June 2018".

 

In regards to the mention of Caller Display, this was included in the same correspondence as it was part of the overall price refresh. 

 

Again, I'm very sorry if you believed this was to take affect after your contract reached its terminus, however I'm afraid that all customers were changed to the new pricing structure at the same time, please accept my deepest apologies for the fact that this does not make you feel good about us as a company, that is not how we wish our customer to feel at all.

 

Thank you 

 

wphil
Dabbler
Posts: 24
Thanks: 3
Registered: ‎25-11-2012

Re: Free broadband gets a price increase!

Thank you for that explanation.

 

Caller display - yes in the email,no problem, I was just saying it was an irrelevance when discussing the price of BB with your representative.

 

My point is that things are not crystal clear which is what I'd like to see.  When marketing discounts as for instance 'free' or 'half price' which is nice and simple they are actually discounted by in my case £9.99 which at that time happened to make the cost £0.00 or in effect 'free'.  Of course marketing in the latter way would be messy to present but that is Plusnet's problem of what they want to do.  I'm just saying as a minimum it leaves customers as a disappointed and feeling less positive about their supplier which does not help to engender loyalty (if indeed any company these days is even seeking that).  I'd just hoped Plusnet were a bit better than the others.

 

Hopefully I've got my point across and Plusnet will take it on board for the future.

plusnettony
Plusnet Staff
Plusnet Staff
Posts: 2,188
Thanks: 48
Fixes: 18
Registered: ‎24-07-2014

Re: Free broadband gets a price increase!

I fully take on board your point and hope that changes are made in the way we advise about such things in future.

If this post resolved your issue please click the 'This fixed my problem' button
 Tony T
 Plusnet Help Team
Jonpe
Hero
Posts: 3,991
Thanks: 1,831
Fixes: 9
Registered: ‎05-09-2016

Re: Free broadband gets a price increase!

@wphil  If you have something in writing promising free broadband for 18 months, you can claim it's misleading advertising regardless of what the small print says.