House Move During Contract

[#1]

Hi

I've just moved house part way through my contract with PN. Hoped it would be easy to simply stop my broadband at my old home and move it across to the new house.  Spoke to the home move team and was told would need to take out a new contract which reluctantly agreed to do as had been pleased with PN service to date.  

Still waiting to be connected following move as issues with new line (question response is quite technical - could do with answering in plain English) and so I was contemplating my options.

Not happy to see that new PN customers can take out unlimited broadband at £18.99 / month (line rental included) whilst I'm being charged £9.99 plus line rental.  If I was a new customer I could get unlimited fibre cheaper than my 'new contract' at £24.99 all in!

Also not happy to read in the PN Help section that actually I could have taken my old contract with me, subject to a £65 fee. Should I have been informed of this option by the home move team or was it conveniently omitted to make me pay more for a new contract?!

As I'm within my 14 day cooling off period is it still an option to stay on my old contract?  Though have to admit I'm also tempted to just pay my cancellation fees and look elsewhere... 

[#2]

A few questions here. The technical side naturally is going to be difficult to answer without details. Feel free to post a bit and if we can interpret it I'm sure people on here will be more than happy to do so.

With regards to the contracts, yes the option is usually there to pay the fee for the move. I suspect it was an accidental agent omission as I'd guess most just go the contract route and the person you spoke with probably just didn't consider the fee option. Nothing malicious but you could probably have a discussion with them on it. The 14 days cooling off period should allow you to move back, although exactly how this would work I'm not sure-it not like the service can move back. I'd guess you'd have to pay the move fee too. Have a word with options of that one-0800 013 2632.

As for the new customer price compared to yours-don't be too surprised. Bear in mind, Plusnet line rental is £18.99 so the broadband is essentially free. As with anything, new customers always get the best deals to entice them in. Its not nice but since everyone does it it'd be a brave move to go against that-since when most people move a service, broadband or otherwise the price is always the main thing. As commendable as it would be for a company to stop new customer deals and reward existing the real risk is the company can't get new customers and goes down or has to hike the costs. Also worth bearing in mind your contract is used to cover the move costs that can't exactly be free, though admittedly you'll end up paying more than £65 over the contract. That's all about negotiating the best deal. Again, if your still in 14 days options is the way to go and see what they will do.

[#3]

I'm sorry to hear about the experience you've had.

The reason we've been unable to place your orders until recently is because the previous owners of the line in your property put a cease on it.

Effectively this stops us from placing any orders until it completes which in this case was on the 24th and then we placed your orders on the 25th.

With regards to the deals available for new customers these will always be cheaper than the deals we can offer you when you're moving properties. The reason for this being is that it costs us to terminate the services at your old property and activate them at your new property.

With regards to the cooling off period you are still within that however if you were to cancel you'd be liable for any early termination charges on the old account

[#4]

Thanks for the reply Kdog.

I understand there are costs involved and would be happy to pay the move cost to be able to stay on my old contract.

And I realise that in a competitive market firms need to attract new customers and price is the main lever they use. It just feels like loyal customers are always the ones that lose out (financially) on the best deals and so encourages the merry go round of moving from provider to provider.  So if you can't reward loyalty with price then service is the next best thing, but if you then think that isn't happening then moving provider becomes the obvious choice.

Having said that I will take your advice and speak to someone from options and see what they can do. Hopefully the omission was just an oversight.

Thanks again.

[#5]

Matthew

Thanks for explaining the reasons behind the delay. Much easier to understand than the question response.

Can I just clarify though that if I decide to stay on my old contract there would be no early termination charges and I would just need to pay the £65 move fee?

[#6]

I suspected it may be a little different with a house move. When upgrading and then changing back within the cooling off period the usual process is that you go back to the previous contract. With the house move however, the service can't go back because you're not on that line anymore. Therefore you'd revert to the old service, but since that has been ceased it would result in it being cancelled and that would then trigger the charges.

And I feel your pain with the delays. Same happened to me when I moved. Pnet were all set to transfer it over, but the previous occupants supplier ceased the line, thus stopping the whole thing. And unfortunately pnet couldn't do a thing because the other provider (sky) wasn't willing to remove the cease order because their customer was moving and didn't want to upset their order. In truth all they needed to do was place a transfer on my old line, like Plusnet did on the other and leave the cease aspect off but they were massively unhelpful.

[#7]

Thanks for explaining the reasons behind the delay. Much easier to understand than the question response.

Apologies for the response you've received, I'll make sure feedback is passed on to the adviser.

Can I just clarify though that if I decide to stay on my old contract there would be no early termination charges and I would just need to pay the £65 move fee?

Yeah that's right if you call us before your 14 day cooling off period ends. If you have any issues please let us know over here.