Renewing contract with online *Special Offer*

[#1]

Hi,

I find it interesting that for some existing customers the PN renewal special is a good deal to renew on, for me sadly it was not.     😞   

I found I was being sent around in circles on the PN website with most options to compare other packages, blocked.  I could not even see other packages displayed on their website, once I signed in!  It was a case of take this overpriced offer or lump it, even when I called Plusnet's (foreign) help-desk.   The reason I wanted to compare other packages / combinations was the "special" Plusnet automatically offered me in their e-mails and on their website, cost a lot more than what they claimed once I clicked on the similar BB and phone package I am already on.  It cost a LOT more than what I was paying for under contract or could get from any other provider.  So here I I am at the moment in the process of leaving Plusnet. 

My advice, make sure you are getting a similar package and check the final total amount before you commit.

Cheers

[#2]

Hi Suffer-proudly. The email I received today was a total surprise to me and (I believe) is down to Ofcom rules now insisting that providing companies with existing customers have to be given the best deal open to them when their contract is ending. Mine happens to be ending on April 3rd, so I`m waiting for my final March payment to be taken and then (I think) I can safely apply this new offer before my expiry date via this email I have received. But being someone who used to act on these things hastily, I now realise that can be a fools errand and it`s better to question first and act later.

I hope a staff member can acknowledge this for me. I`m also wondering if all existing PN customers will now receive a renewal offer within the final month of their contract via email (as I have today) rather than the customer having to (as you have Suffer-proudly) rummage around to find a good deal and then find your out in the cold? 😒 

[#3]

I followed this route and had problems. Like another poster I was offered only a single choice.

The reason for the problems seemed to be that PlusNet had discontinued the product which I was on and relaunched it (identical) under a different name whilst using a very similar name for a completely different product. They seem to do this continually. The result was that the system thought that when I recontracted (for my current package) I really wanted a downgrade. I didn’t!

@Gandalf has (I think 😉) sorted mine out, but it’s just a warning that PN’s systems are prone to unexpected contractual errors, so ringing in seems to be a better bet when recontracting.

[#4]

Hi quelquod. What I might do is call the 0800 customer options team and discuss this email offer of £19.99p I`ve received and if it`s all above board and just a straight forward re-contracting onto Unlimited standard BB and L/rental fixed for 18 months, that`s all I want to hear really. But as others have had some gremlins in the works when re-contracting going down the online offers route, I`m reluctant just to apply it myself incase the system doesn`t do it`s job or I end up getting a Fibre deal when I don`t want Fibre! The email doesn`t mention Fibre BB but I can`t take the chance.

[#5]

Hey @plusmouse,

Thanks for reaching out to us here and apologies for the length of time it's taken to answer your query.

You are correct in that we have to offer the best available deal to our customers at the end of their agreement with us, yours have been offered here. You can of course take this up now and it will start on your next invoice date rather than when you current agreement finishes so depending on when that is there may be a pro-rata charge on the next invoice.

Thanks.

[#6]

From personal experience, I would not assume that the 'Special Offer' is the best you can get. I renegotiated just days before my discount was due to expire. Prior to that , the special offer would have been £1 p/m more than I was paying, but having renegotiated I'm actually paying £1.50 less. And fixed for 24 months so no price increase next year either.

[#7]

Many thanks Mads for that. Just checked my account and the *Special Offer* is still £22.99p. I then received an email from Plusnet with the £19.99p fixed contract offer for 18 months which is even better, but as maranello posted, is it better to call up and refer to both these offers and see what the team can offer? It`s just the email offer (I may be missing something) did say due to Ofcom rules, my offer would be £19.99p (which undercuts the offer in my account?). 🤔 So I was feeling rather good about this especially as I want to stay with PlusNet with the knowledge I`m a valued customer. 

The email generated was from PlusNet (and not an offer from anyone else suggesting I could get £19.99p from another provider at this cheaper price) or at least, it doesn`t say that. Which is why I wanted some reassurance really that the email offer I`ve received is indeed something I can sign up to and ignore the offer in my account? I won`t be activating anything until my final March payment is taken anyway as I always like to clear the final payment before signing up to a new contract. Just prefer doing things that way.

[#8]

Hi @plusmouse, the offer received by email is indeed one you can sign up to. You can either follow the link provided in the email or call our team up on 0800 013 2632 to take this up.

Please do just get back to us if you have any further queries.

[#9]

That would be great LaurenB. I will certainly do that and make the call just to be sure everything is as before and it`s the standard unlimited BB and line rental I`ve had with PN from day one. Should know more by the end of this week once my final current contract payment is made. Will update soon. 👍

[#10]

*Just an update* to follow on from my posts above. Spoke to a nice chap (sorry, should have wrote his name down to say thanks once again but hopefully he will know who he is!) I mentioned the PlusNet email offer I received of fixed price BB & Phoneline for 18 months for £19.99p and it has been applied for me and in the process of changing product. My final current contract payment for £26.98p was taken yesterday. So I`m chuffed to bits! 😎 Just need to wait now and hope all goes though without any glitches. My new contract starts on my next payment date. So will keep an eye on my account and update again just for clarity and to give other members an idea of how my change went if they too have an end of contract email offer or an offer in their account they want to persue. 

On my accounts page it states that - "An error has occurred - you cannot change product at this time as one is already being processed" so I take that to mean the one I agreed earlier over the phone and a `ticket` has been opened for me. I`ve never used a ticket before? Is this opened incase I need/want to contact a staff member about anything? 

[#11]

Hi plusmouse,

I'm happy for you getting sorted.  

Just a heads-up to other people waiting too long to renew or leave, you run the risk of paying a LOT (the max they can charge !!!) for your broadband and phone line for two weeks, should you not accept their final package offer.  

I was not happy with Plusnet's automatic renewal offered, even after I called them to check if they can improve it.  It was for a much reduced (shown only once I tried to renew on their website) package, for nearly the same price.  So I waited.  When I called towards the end of my contract hoping for a better deal, Plusnet did not want to budge.  Because of a legally required minimum two week transfer window even if you are out of contract (!?! Plusnet is telling me), I ended up paying a heck of a lot for just over two weeks (they dragged their feet) of broadband and phone.  Trust me, they charge a LOT if you are out of contract and you can do nothing about it.   

I will not wait until the end again.  I will renew or commit with a different provider, before the two week transfer window i.e. more than two weeks before the end of my contract.  

Happy mousing.    🙂 

[#12]

Thanks for that Suffer - proudly. I was always a bit clueless about renewal dates and timing things right and when best to hit the `re-contract` button, or call retentions. Having read a few other members posts regarding this, I made sure not to wait too long and make some kind of move a few weeks before my current contract was due to end or I`d have been paying around £30 a month! So when the email offer arrived in my Inbox for the £19.99p fixed monthly deal, it was the pricing structure I would be happy with even if I was switching away, which I really didn`t want to do given PlusNet services (for me personally) have been excellent. Freephone helpline/retentions line, a forum I can come to should I need to ask a question and overall, no issues with the actual service. Maybe I`ve just been lucky though because I know it can be the opposite for some customers and because I don`t keep too well myself with pain problems, it`s not ideal having to hold on the phone for long periods of time or stress about call charges should I need to call.

I wasn`t aware of this legally minimum two week window to recontract you speak of, but I`m wondering if (because you were given a £ price in your account to re-contract?) and you waited to get a better offer? Thus taking you very close to your end of contract date and you then found out you wouldn`t get a better deal and the window of opportunity closed in on you before you could do anything? 

I have to say I didn`t think I would get a good offer being an existing PN customer and the last time I re-negotiated a 24 months contract over the phone(no email offer was given at that time), I was only saving 2p once the pricing was agreed. So rather than switch away at that time, I stayed loyal. Kinda glad I did in the end because PlusNet have Done me proud as a customer and I hope that continues for the foreseeable future. Or at least, while my new contract runs it`s course.

[#13]

Hello plusmouse,

I will try to clarify things but please shout if I misunderstand your questions. 

I was (would have been) happy with the automatic offer Plusnet made via e-mail but when I went on their website to renew, I noticed it was for a much reduced package for nearly the same price as I was on.  As I said, when I called Plusnet at the time to try to get a better (similar to what I was on) deal, they were not interested.  I have been here with Plusnet before so I (like before) waited until the end of my contract thinking I'd be able to get a better deal (like before) or transfer easily if they stick with the overpriced package (like before). That is how I got to the end of my contract without having renewed or transferred.   

I do not know the exact ins-and-outs of the 2 week transfer window but my understanding is, it starts from the moment Plusnet is notified by your new provider you are leaving.  My understanding (and I may be wrong) is it has nothing to do with if you are out of or still in contract.  My understanding is, they are not allowed to transfer you in less than two weeks, no matter your contract status.   

Therefore.  From the moment you are out of contract, this ('we got your back') will happen to you for a minimum of two weeks.   How will £44.98 per month sit with you ?  Before, one could wait until the last moment to get a good deal or transfer within days if you can't but now, with this two week transfer window, I'd say it is a risky move because as in my case it (expensively) backfired on me.  I ended up "transferring" to John Lewis (i.e. staying with Plusnet) on £27.50 for 12 months. See why I am peeved about it. 

When things work, Plusnet is great.  But when they break something or things go wrong, that is when they shorten your life with you trying to get things sorted if you are not lucky in getting hold of someone that knows what is going on. 

Here is proof of just how bad Plusnet is since BT took it over.  I paid the full £44.98 (!!!) for the whole current month (i.e. in advance) because Plusnet blocked all my access to my account and said they were going to cut me off unless I coughed up.  Let me make this clear.  I paid in full Plusnet's demands for the month coming. 

I have just today (22-03-2020) received a 'Payment reminder' e-mail from Plusnet demanding £8.99 due on 21-03-2020, that the Direct Debit did not go through for.  (See why it is vital for people to stop D/Ds with providers, if I did not this would have slipped through and how many more?)  So I went onto the Plusnet website to see what this is for.  As far as I am aware, THEY owe ME a refund because they (internally) transferred me in the middle of a month that I paid (over the odds) for in advance.  (My apologies for the shouting but ...(insert swearwords here) .... are grinding me down.) 

But guess what, that is not the end of it.  As per the best of "we got your back", they again blocked all my access to my account on their website.  All I can do is pay, that is the only option they allow me.  So they lied to me when they said in an e-mail I still have, they slowly over time reduce a client's access to remind him/her about an outstanding payment. Over time is not 1 day especially when it is another one of their own mess-ups. 

So now I will have to waste more of my life trying to sort out their mess.   AAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHH!!!!!! 

Please insert about 10 minutes of profanities here, that is what "we got your back" does to one.  I do not want incompetent people standing behind me.  I want them in front of me where I can keep an eye on them.

[#14]

Hello Plusmouse,

Since I have more time on my hands (avoiding a we shall not say the name virus), I decided to look at my account on Plusnet's John Lewis website.  Luckily I still have access to it, all access to my Plusnet account is still blocked !?   I think other people may find the dates interesting as in a warning to trust "we got your back" and leave transferring too late. Note dates.

• 19/02/2020 I request John Lewis (Plusnet) to transfer me.
• 19/02/2020 John Lewis give me a transfer date of 04/03/2020  (this date is recorded on their own website !!!) I assume they gave me this date to get me to stay with them (Plusnet).
• 27/02/2020 I received an e-mail from John Lewis informing me: "Please be aware that we have now placed the order to transfer your services to us, of which is expected to complete in 10 working days."      (Why not 10 working days from the 19th?  Even so, count the number of days between 27/02 and when it actually happened on 15/03.)
• 29/02/2020 From John Lewis: "Please don't set up your router until we've confirmed that your broadband service is ready. We'll send an email and text message to let you know."
• 01/03/2020 I received an e-mail from John Lewis informing me my transfer date is 13/03/2020.  I queried this and from memory it was then this 2 week no-transfer window thing popped its head up.  
• 15/03/2020 John Lewis informed me my service with them is up and running.

Anybody wanting to see Plusnet's hidden transfer policy, look at the spread between the dates above on a calendar.  Look how long Plusnet stalled to keep me out of contract on £44.98/m (!!!) and now want a further £8.99 without explaining or allowing me to look what it is for (!?!), when Plusnet should owe me a refund because of leaving in the middle of a month (only because they dragged their feet).  

What is difficult for me to remember is that it is not the employees' fault.  It is Plusnet's (management) company policy.  The employees follow orders.   

Yep Plusnet is enjoying my back OK but it is hurling like mad and I do not like it.   :'-( 

[#15]

It`s a real shame when these crossovers go pear shaped when JL gave you a transfer date of 4th March and then didn`t activate it until the 13th.. Surely this should have been a case of the 1st activation date given from JL (being 4th March) and asking why this date was than changed to  quote:I received an e-mail from John Lewis informing me my transfer date is 13/03/2020. I queried this and from memory it was then this 2 week no-transfer window thing popped its head up. 

Quote:  (Why not 10 working days from the 19th?

Because the email sent on the 19th stated your expected activation would be from the 4th March? Not from the 19th? 🤔But then they didn`t actually activate your new JL service until the 13th March.

I imagine this payment PN are asking for is payment for any BB/line rental that was used between your end of contract date and JL activating your new service?