Premature referral to debt collectors by Plus Net

[#1]

My PlusNet broadband service was constantly slower than it should be, I called in a few times to support, almost immediately speeds improved but within a week or so they slowed down again. I ended up moving to another supplier about a month back and now have a reliable service.

I stupidly cancelled by Direct Debit to PlusNet at the time thinking that I'd get a final bill through the post (hands up, my error).

I instead received an email on the 15th October saying that they couldn't take a closing payment and to call their payments team to pay by phone within 14 days.  This I did 3 or 4 times, every time I was on hold for at least 10-15 mins, sometimes more but never less.

I finally got through to them today, the 14th day after the email came through. The chap I spoke to was very nice but said that my account had been passed to a debt collection agency already.  I told him that I was just within the 14 day period of contacting them and I wanted to pay now over the phone. He said that he couldn't do it as it had been passed over 'around a week ago'.  I asked for the complaints department and was on hold for 30 mins, at which point I gave up and tried the online chat.

Got through to a nice guy on there at about the 10th attempt who basically said there was nothing he could do.

This isn't right !  I'm trying to pay my closing bill and refuse to deal with a debt collector who will charge me an admin fee on top of my bill when I've made more than reasonable attempts to contact PlusNet over the past couple of weeks to sort it.

Can someone with the authority to (and some common sense) please look into this ?

[#2]

Hi @dr_cornelius

Thank you for getting in touch and I am sorry that your account is already cancelled.

I have checked through your account and have responded to you via a ticket that you can view here

If you have any further questions feel free to get in touch.

[#3]

Thanks for coming back Warwick but simply confirming that you see the 29th October as the 15th day doesnt really help. I have been trying to settle the bill for a couple of weeks but because Plusnet don't see the importance of having enough staff answering the phones I have had to end each call after being in a queue for 15 - 20 minutes . The Webchat iisn't a lot better, I tried a couple of times to get hold of someone on there as I couldn't get through by phone only to be repeatedly told WebChat wasn't available.

On top of that when I did get through to someone in the payments department he confirmed that the outstanding bill was passed onto the debt collection company 'a week ago' . Makes me wonder whether Plusnet own the debt collection company that they use ?  It's a nice way to make some extra cash - send a scary letter through , add the 'admin fee' for chasing the debt that someone has been legitimately trying to pay for 2 weeks and pocket the admn fee for very little extra work.

[#4]

Hi @dr_cornelius,

I appreciate your comments in regards to this and can understand why you are upset. However there is nothing more we can do to get this payment back. I'm sorry for the frustration caused.

[#5]

Do you own the debt collection firm that you use or split the 'admin  fee' they claim when they send me the collection letter ? I know you say you cant help me but this is a straight forward question ?

[#6]

Hi @dr_cornelius,

We do not take any admin fee or split anything from the debt collections agency. I can confirm that we also do not own them.

Please get in touch if you have any further queries.

Thank you,

Aisha

[#7]

Thanks for coming back Aisha, that's reassuring as I couldn't think of any other reason why your staff would be so keen to refer my closing payment on so quickly when I had been trying to get hold of someone for 2 weeks.