Is everyone who renewed LRS being double billed line rental ?

[#1]

I renewed LRS on 2/5/18 over a month in advance (was paid up to mid June), just had an email to say this months bill is £29, which is way too much, and can see plusnet are billing me line rental twice, when I login it shows LRS fully paid, and today 'pending' bill.

Online chat and plusnet say they can't correct invoice or refund me, so wrong amount will be taken by DD and they will apply credit to my plusnet account, which is no use, as I shouldn't have paid in first place.

Sounds like a nice little earner

[#2]

Sorry to see that.

I've fixed this for you moving forward and when your pending bill is processed we'll refund £18.99 back to your DD.

Apologies for the inconvenience caused.

[#3]

I genuinely find it impossible to believe plusnet can't correct an error with bill a week before money is taken, surely that's the whole point of emailing a week before so problems can be fixed!

If the billing system is designed this way it sounds very dodgy to me, surely taking money you know isn't owed is legally questionable at best ?

I get the impression cancelling the DD would be best way to resolve this, I'm happy to pay correct bill or setup new DD for correct bill, given I'm ~£200 in credit with LRS but suspect plusnet would disconnect me and cause more hassle on top of original mistake.

[#4]

Hello @jamesb72

Thanks for getting in touch and welcome to the forum. When an invoice is generated a direct debit request is automatically sent to the bank on the same day, but will usually take 5 to 7 workings to be paid to us.

As the request is already sent, we are unable to amend the bill and any amount owing would have to be processed as a refund. We are really sorry for any inconvenience caused.

[#5]

Incorrect direct debit was taken on 21st May, and still waiting for the refund which was supposed to be immediate ? Also looks like the complaint has been frozen as I've not had a call back as I was advised.

Am very annoyed plusnet seem to consider their billing errors my problem ! 

[#6]

Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention. I am sorry that we have been billing you incorrectly.

After digging into this matter deeper I can see a question has been raised on your account which can be found here. A colleague is currently in the process of dealing with this issue and you will be reimbursed accordingly once your direct debit has processed.

[#7]

The question seems to have been put on hold, then a link to 'check my bill', I don't need to check my bill, I just needed the incorrect amount not to be taken from bank account.

I was assured plusnet would refund this immediately back to account, which hasn't happened - 5 days later.

Not sure what the point of raising tickets is if they are put on hold/ignored, or having a billing system which can't correct mistakes - clearly all working in plusnets favour obviously ! 

[#8]

Hi @jamesb72,

The reason for the delay was because we cannot process a refund on a payment being processed. I am glad that we were able to resolve the issue today. Just a quick note the ticket on your account has been updated and can be found here.  

[#9]

I, too, found myself in this situ..not a good place to be. I paid 197.88 for advance line rental and in the March when it was supposed to start, they billed me the 18.99 for the March month. They were contacted about it in June, when I  happened to be looking thru my itemised bill (funnily enough not looking to do with that issue at the time) and they said theyd refund me. Then when it didnt hit my bank account, today I have been onto them again. Spoke to a lady called [CSA Removed] who told me it had been put into my account as an "account credit note" and that the reason I had been given a <deal> on my broadband was because Id got the amount on my account as a "credit note" Questionable. Made the point of visiting my Bank, time 2hours, after parking issues etc) told the amount has NOT hit the account. Rang when I got back and was told that as this had been an issue, they were going to give me a goodwill gesture of £25. The 18.99 is included in that, so I said to him, "so youre not giving me £25 you re giving me £6.01.." "in reality yes" was his reply Thats ater being on hold for 10m whilst he spoke to a manager. They are doing for me Monday as theyv a new billing system going on which means they cant do refunds or gwgs til then. All a bit suss if you ask me..Im so confused at how each worker can give a diff explanation.... the mind bggles

Moderator's note by Dick (Strat): CSA name(s) removed (to an area staff can see) as per Forum rules.

[#10]

Hi there.

Sorry you have received different explanations for this issue. The information you have been given regarding your refund delay is related to the new billing system, however, we can't give a date for the launch of this new system.

If you can drop us a message on here on Monday, we will happily be able to check the status of the refund for you and make sure it is sent back as soon as possible.

[#11]

I have still not had a refund to my bank account, incorrect DD was taken on 21st June, and I had a phone call from plusnet on 26th June I think who are very annoyed I am posting on this forum, and said the reason I didn't get a refund was because the Direct debit didn't show on their system yet, as this was 5 or 6 days after taken from my account, I assume there system isn't working !

I was told refund would be sent immediately and they closed the ticket and thread on 26/6 - as of yesterday 4th July bank account still shows no refund, so I have no idea what plusnet are doing, I suspect they want to credit my plusnet account (so they keep the money).

My understanding of direct debit guarantee and process is that plusnet should give 10 days notice of any change of amount and correct mistakes before DD is taken, clearly their system is designed not to allow this which seems very unfortunate to me.

Everyone I dealt with at plusnet just gives 'computer says no' explanation for anything, and cannot do anything about it

[#12]

Three weeks' notice of DD payments used to be standard, but over the years this has been reduced, and PN now only give three days' notice (although in my experience the money is debited the customer's bank account a day later than stated).  No, PN do not credit your PN account with the money (i.e. deduct it from you next bill), their billing system is old and inflexible so they bill you the full amount, then when the payment has cleared, they issue a refund of any overcharge to your bank account.

[#13]

Just to update my back account is now finally showing refund dated 4Jul (DD was taken 21st June), so it did get there in the end

[#14]

Thanks for getting back to us @jamesb72, I am glad to hear you have now received the refund. Apologies for the inconvenience this caused.

If we can help with anything else don't hesitate to let us know.

[#15]

I too have been doubled billed for Line rental. I paid the up front rental on 22 May. The previous rental was due to run out at the end of June beginning of July.

Edit: Sorted over phone.