Left Plusnet after contract expiration - asked to pay cessation charge and 14 days notice charges

[#1]

Hi all,

I had a 12-month contract with Plusnet for ADSL phone/broadband which expired last July. I moved out of the property late September and the new tenant submitted an application to take over the line and start a new broadband contract with Plusnet again. Plusnet sent me a letter informing me of the change and stating that if I was happy with it I didn't have to do anything.

The transfer was carried out on October 2nd but today (8/10) I received a billing notification and realised they kept billing me. I called customer services and the first agent I spoke with confirmed that my service was terminated on 2/10 and asked to transfer me to the cancellations department to handle the termination and settle the refund amounts. Instead the cancellations dept agent asked me to pay a £30 cessation charge plus 14 extra days of service as he stated that my call today was the moment I am giving notice. He was really rude and unhelpful when, surprised by that information, I asked for clarification and he just directed me to go read the T&Cs. In the end I decided I was not going to get anywhere with this particular agent and I paid the cessation charge as well as the 14 days extra service charges.

All I want to ask is: is this normal? Having received a letter from Plusnet saying as much I assumed I didn't have to ask for my service to be cancelled, especially since there wasnt any time remaining in my contract. The line stayed with Plusnet after I left and in any case I don't understand the extra 14 days of billing.

Any help/advice will be much appreciated.

[#2]

To be honest,that's the way it works with most ISPs. Regardless of whether you are out of your minimum subscription term,If you are cancelling the service, you pay a cessation fee and you have to pay for a notice period. AFAIA  PN's notice period is shorter than most which are 31 days.

You must inform them -there have been stories of customers assuming that a move followed by a new tenant taking over the line, automatically close the account -several 100£s later they realise the error!!

[#3]

If the line stayed with PlusNet I do not believe you should have had to pay the £30 cancellation fee. That is only applicable if the line is ceased altogether, or moved to an LLU provider.

However you should have told them when you left the premises, that said, the £30 would have been applicable then. 

[#4]

Thank you for taking the time to respond to this.

To be honest, I still think the letter was misleading since it said that no further action was required from my part, as I would have otherwise done the logical thing and call them.

In addition, since the first agent I talked to confirmed that they cancelled my service on 2/10 I don't think the retroactive 14 days notice requirement was in order.

I guess I learned a lesson through this experience and, especially because of the cancellation dept agent's attitude, I definitely won't deal with plusnet ever again.

many thanks again

[#5 · Accepted solution]

Welcome to the community forums @tkou.

---

@tkou wrote:
I don't understand the extra 14 days of billing.

---

There shouldn't be an extra 14 days of billing. The 14 days notice required to terminate/migrate out a service would start from us receiving the notification on your line when the order from the new provider (In the case, us) requesting to take over the line.

You shouldn't incur any charges for a service following your services actually having been ceased with us. If any payments were requested/processing when the services left, these should be refunded on a pro-rata basis for the time following the date the services left us. It looks like automation has issued a pro-rata refund today.

In regards to the cessation fee, unfortunately with working line takeover orders (Where a line is taken over with a new number), this consists of a provide for the new services/number and a cease against the previous asset, so I'm afraid with this order type the cease fee would be applicable.

[#6]

Hello,

thank you for clarifying this.

This makes sense and I really wish it was explained to me in this manner over the phone yesterday. The impression I was left with was that I was charged an exit penalty unfairly based on a technicality.

Thanks again

[#7]

No problems, apologies for the explanation you've had over the phone.

All the best.

[#8]

@ Harry B,

Please do clarify for me.  If I switch my ISP, do I still get charged for ceasation and 14 days Notice charge?

Because, though I have been with PN for over 7 years, I may decide to switch my ISP if I can get a better deal.

I await your response.

Many regards,

Chandu.

[#9]

Hi, the 14 day notice charge is passed on as this is to cover the service for the notice period. The £30 cessation fee is charged when the circuit leaves the BT network (to Sky etc) or is ceased completely.

[#10]

@Gandalf @HarryB

Reaching out to you directly since you have both assisted me with my original enquiry.

As documented in the log for Question #159403172 as per @Gandalf 's instruction on 11/10 my account was supposed to be closed on 18/10 and £9.99 refunded. It is now the 24th of October and my account is still active. Could someone from the team please look into this?

[#11]

I'll sort this out for you now.

[#12]

Thank you, much appreciated.

[#13]

No problems at all.

[#14]

Hi. I have called tonight to cancel my account (no longer in contract.) I understand I need to pay 14 days usage but the operative was adamant that I have to pay the £30 cessation charge too. I am moving to BT so I queried this as the t's and c's say the following:

"Charges for removing broadband from your line
You'd only need to pay the charge if the broadband service is being taken off your phone line. Typical reasons for this are:
the phone line that your broadband's on has been cut off
you cancel your broadband account without switching to another provider
you switch to a provider who uses their own network (like a cable provider)
If any of these happen, you'll need to pay the charge, even if the minimum term of your contract is over.
The good news is, there's no charge if you move to another broadband service that also uses a BT line for its network."

She still said I had to pay. Is this correct? 

[#15]

You shouldn't contact PlusNet at all if you are migrating to another provider, the worst thing you can do is tell them you want to cancel your service. All migrations are now gaining provider led so just place an order with BT and they will handle it.