cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Restricted connection payments was due 23rd so only been a couple of days

KG1
Newbie
Posts: 1
Registered: ‎25-01-2021

Restricted connection payments was due 23rd so only been a couple of days

This is a common issue i do believe, i need to change my payment date going forward. Its only a couple of days late but already experiencing restrictions and connection issues. I believe you have 14 days to pay before i should experience restricted connection. Please advise
10 REPLIES 10
dvorak
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 29,473
Thanks: 6,623
Fixes: 1,482
Registered: ‎11-01-2008

Re: Restricted connection payments was due 23rd so only been a couple of days


Moderators Note


This topic has been moved from ADSL Broadband to My Account / Billing

Customer / Moderator
If it helped click the thumb
If it fixed it click 'This fixed my problem'
Townman
Superuser
Superuser
Posts: 22,922
Thanks: 9,538
Fixes: 158
Registered: ‎22-08-2007

Re: Restricted connection payments was due 23rd so only been a couple of days

There is no “14 days to pay”. PlusNET is not a credit broker.

Payment is due on the date the invoice is raised. Having automatic payment arrangements in place avoids interruption to service.

However unlike the majority of conmunication providers, Plusnet’s service is not restricted (slowed down / inhibited) until 14 days of non-payment have elapsed. That is not the same as not encountering interruption screens reminding users that it’s time to pay their bills.

Fail to pay your EE bill on time and they will suspend services immediately!!!

Superusers are not staff, but they do have a direct line of communication into the business in order to raise issues, concerns and feedback from the community.

corringham
Seasoned Champion
Posts: 1,211
Thanks: 634
Fixes: 16
Registered: ‎25-09-2015

Re: Restricted connection payments was due 23rd so only been a couple of days

"Plusnet’s service is not restricted (slowed down / inhibited) until 14 days of non-payment have elapsed. That is not the same as not encountering interruption screens reminding users that it’s time to pay their bills."

Actually that doesn't match the experience of a lot of people. I had a business ADSL connection, and due to billing problems Plusnet never managed to collect a DD payment despite it being set up correctly (and being able to take DD payments for another line and several mobile phone accounts from the same bank account).

Every single month on the day that the bill was raised I would lose the ability to connect to anything - including Plusnet's billing pages. I would have to use 4G to connect and pay online, and then service would be resumed after a while.

Plusnet never accepted that the problem exists - and they have lost customers as a result.

P.S. The problem is made worse by not allowing any payment in advance - so in my case I could not pay until service was actually interrupted - at which point I couldn't use Plunet broadband to pay.

Townman
Superuser
Superuser
Posts: 22,922
Thanks: 9,538
Fixes: 158
Registered: ‎22-08-2007

Re: Restricted connection payments was due 23rd so only been a couple of days

Plusnet has accepted that in some circumstances problems do exist, the SUs have ensured that.  Changes have been made to the systems recently, specifically the inability some have had accessing the payments page.

Whatever, the fact remains that there is not a 14 days "grace period" to pay as many seek to believe.  Bills are payable on presentation.  Having automatic payment arrangements in place, with the funds to pay on request for what has been used, largely eliminates this experience, though as you note there have been odd fringe cases.  As noted above, many providers terminate service entirely and immediately on failed payment.

Anyone recall being able to go out for a meal, order and consume food and then when presented with the bill tell the waiter I will pay in 14 days time?  No!  So why do people expect to not pay for their internet until 14 days after being presented with their bill?

Similarly, who around here would be content if the chef's (your) employer said, "Sorry I cannot pay you the wages I owe, you'll need to wait until that customer pays me in in two week's time."?  Why do people expect someone else to deal with their financial management problems?

Superusers are not staff, but they do have a direct line of communication into the business in order to raise issues, concerns and feedback from the community.

corringham
Seasoned Champion
Posts: 1,211
Thanks: 634
Fixes: 16
Registered: ‎25-09-2015

Re: Restricted connection payments was due 23rd so only been a couple of days

Actually, a LOT of other companies manage this in a much better way. For example Three mobile broadband (which replaced my Plusnet broadband) raise the invoice 14 days before the payment due date. I imagine if it wasn't paid by the due date they would suspend the service (but they never failed to take the DD payment unlike Plusnet), but that allows someone to use the service to pay the bill. Making the due date the same as the day the bill is raised is just stupid.

Townman
Superuser
Superuser
Posts: 22,922
Thanks: 9,538
Fixes: 158
Registered: ‎22-08-2007

Re: Restricted connection payments was due 23rd so only been a couple of days

Hi @corringham 

That is an interesting thought, where the bill is totally predictable, that is it will have no variable consumption charges, such as phone calls. It is though nothing more than 14 day's grace to pay and has implications on a business's cash flow.

There are though other commercial issues for example VAT payment liability.  A company's liability to pay VAT to HMRC is due on the invoice date, not the date the invoice is paid.  Consequently the company ends up funding the cash VAT cash flow between the invoice being raised and it being paid.

As I noted above, this is a contemporary discussion in the SU space, following your contribution above, I have just added the following to the questions around the changes...

"The discussion presently taking place in public on this has referred to the historic mitigation of needing to access the user portal from some other internet connection (mobile) in order to pay the bill on first presentation, payment failure arsing from Plusnet's inability to process the DD properly.  Ignoring the DD issue, can you assure us that it will no longer be necessary for a user to need to find an alternative connection route to the portal to access the payment screen?"

Superusers are not staff, but they do have a direct line of communication into the business in order to raise issues, concerns and feedback from the community.

corringham
Seasoned Champion
Posts: 1,211
Thanks: 634
Fixes: 16
Registered: ‎25-09-2015

Re: Restricted connection payments was due 23rd so only been a couple of days

The VAT tax point could be an issue if a large percentage of customers delay payment (common in B2B, but less common in retail businesses). I can't believe it is a large percentage for Plusnet. In any case VAT isn't payable to HMRC immediately at the tax point, so often businesses are holding a sum of VAT money in their accounts for a period which is either earning interest, or offsetting their overdraft. In any case it is a problem that all other VAT registered businesess companies manage.

Returning to the original issue,  I think there are actually two distinct problems:

1) Plusnet's systems are not robust or reliable (resulting in the issues I described). These should not happen, or if they do should be fixed very quickly. Unfortunately, they do happen, and take years to fix (if ever).

2) Plusnet allow contracts with no recurring payment method in place (resulting in the issues some others report). The solution is to either disallow such contracts, or to operate them in a way that allows people to pay easily.

From the customer's point of view, the easiest solution to either of these problems is to change to a different ISP.

smiffy1
Pro
Posts: 245
Thanks: 91
Fixes: 1
Registered: ‎23-09-2018

Re: Restricted connection payments was due 23rd so only been a couple of days

If you still haven't paid AFTER  14 days !! , your internet access will be limited to our payment page, 😯

https://www.plus.net/help/my-account/paying-your-bill/#what-happens-if-i-miss-a-payment

smiffy1
Pro
Posts: 245
Thanks: 91
Fixes: 1
Registered: ‎23-09-2018

Re: Restricted connection payments was due 23rd so only been a couple of days

Townman
Superuser
Superuser
Posts: 22,922
Thanks: 9,538
Fixes: 158
Registered: ‎22-08-2007

Re: Restricted connection payments was due 23rd so only been a couple of days

@smiffy1 

Thank you for flagging up that recent example - I have tagged it for engineering review.

@corringham 

"From the customer's point of view, the easiest solution to either of these problems is to change to a different ISP."

If they do the same for broadband as they do for mobile phones (suspend service immediately upon payment failure) then better not change to EE.

Superusers are not staff, but they do have a direct line of communication into the business in order to raise issues, concerns and feedback from the community.