No Payment Taken (August 2019)

[#1]

Hello Plusnet,

I was just checking my finances and saw that PNET~ Direct Debit had not been taken for around August 1st 2019. My last payment to you was 02 July 2019 for £46.84 despite a bill being generated for the same amount on the 25th July 2019. Something doesn't match up somewhere. Please investigate?

[#2]

Hi @CornedBeef, 

Sorry about this, the invoice date is stuck in the past unfortunately. That's part of a known issue that we're working on. Sorry for any inconvenience it might cause. 

We'll let you know as soon as it's been resolved and before we'd look at taking any payments. 

Do get back to me if you have any questions in the meantime though. 

[#3]

Hi @adamwalker 

Thanks for looking into this. This is not the first time this has happened and appears to be a common problem recurring over the past years for different customers.

As this is a regular fault that hasn't been dealt with properly by PlusNet so far, am I still bound by contract to stay with PlusNet or am I free to seek services from other providers without penalty?

Thanks again for your time in this matter.

[#4]

Hi there @CornedBeef

I'm afraid we wont be able to release customers from their contract based on our systems not being able to generate bills and take payments.

However that being said, in instances such as this whereby a billing date is stuck in the past and we are unable to take payments we will only charge for the last 90 days leading up to the bill being generated and anything prior to this will be removed.

In many instances, this results in customers paying less for the services they use.

We'll certainly make you aware when our system can once more generate your bills and we're also happy to set up a payment plan if the 90 day bill period is not affordable in one payment.

[#5]

The fault with the billing system persists. No bill generated and no payment taken. This is a basic business service and such unusual recurring faults cannot be tolerated. Plusnet promises of repair and normal service are historic without realisation as yet.

Plusnet asked me to set up a direct debit for easy regular payments. If I do not pay my bill, your debt collection team would pressure me to pay. You cannot have it both ways, Plusnet. I will cancel my direct debit until I have a genuine promise of normal service resuming. Until then, I will pay manually as I did before direct debits were organised.

Are you sure you won't release me from my contract? Do I need to seek legal advice? 

[#6]

Thanks for getting back to us @CornedBeef 

While it's your decision if you'd like to cancel your direct debit instruction this may simply cause more hassle for yourself when we do generate your bill as you'd then instantly go into failed payment(Although we'd still give you 14 days before applying restrictions your service, you'll see the failed payment interruptions that you'll need to bypass).

I've also noted that you believe this is a business service, from what I can see your account is a residential one and as such this shouldn't be used to run or support a business apart from the occasional working from home.

We are working to resolve the billing issue as soon as we can and in my opinion I wouldn't worry about this as it won't be affecting your service in any way and we'll let you know once we've resolved the problem/generated your bill.

If you have any specific concerns regarding this feel free to let me now and I'll be happy to help.

[#7]

Oh dear. A few things wrong there.
First, I find Pay-As-You-Go methods a lot simpler than automated systems. If I see the screen asking me to pay the bill before I continue, that works perfectly fine for me; it's fair and no fuss.
Secondly, I said that prompt billing and payment is a basic business function; I was not implying that I was using my line as a business utility.
Last but not least, Plusnet keep saying they're working on fixing the billing system, for a very long time. The promise has lost any credit and it's getting irritating when a company keeps using a broken promise.
I am not satisfied with this customer service or with the service I'm supposedly paying for.
I want to leave.

[#8]

Having a DD is not a 100% way of paying here if you read forums due to billing issues DD payments still go missing

[#9]

Thanks for the clarification @CornedBeef 

While I understand the frustration we're not billing you at all so we can be confident that you are billed accurately once we do start generating bills for your account and as far as I can see this has no detrimental impact to yourself.

If we generate too high an amount(Max 90 days worth) for you to be able to pay in one go then we will be happy to discuss a payment plan to split the cost over more than one month.

Having said that I've discussed this with my manager and I've added a reply onto a support ticket you can view from here: https://www.plus.net/wizard/?p=view_question&id=193757546 I hope this helps.