Usage Allowance Increased Without Reaching Monthly Allowance

[#1]

Hello!
I have the Extra broadband only option and my usage is 60 GB per month. Yet I received an email on the 13th (and raised a support issue on the same day) telling me that I had used my full allowance for the month. So I checked my usage on the 13th and it was around 52 GB, obviously 8 GB or so under my monthly cap with only a few days to spare until my billing date. As of the time of posting this my usage is still under 54 GB, so I can only assume there has been some kind of technical problem as the extra 5 GB (and thus £5 charge) is unnecessary as I my usage still hasn't hit the allowance limit and I am being billed tonight. As the charge is in error I would would obviously like it to be removed from my account please.
I also have two questions:
1) If I altered my broadband product on the day of my billing, would the new package start the next day (i.e. the first day of the next billing schedule) or would it not take effect until the next month?
2) Are all the broadband packages without home phone included increasing by £1.50? For example Extra (no contract, no phone) increasing from £12.99 to £14.49 and Unlimited (no contract, no phone) from £14.99 to £16.49?
Thank you for your time!

[#2]

There have been some issues recently with View My Broadband Usage under reporting. However it appears the billing system uses different data I believe. They should waive the extra charge as you were not to know you were approaching the limit.
Account changes take place on the NEXT billing date, so you need to make sure you've ordered the change in advance.
It's a £2.50 difference for with/without phone on Unlimited.
I know you are thinking of moving to a different ISP  so ring up to ask for your MAC. You may find you are offered a discount deal similar to that offered to new users. If you just do the upgrade online you'll get no discount (but they may only offer the discount if you take the phone as well).

[#3]

Thank you for the information jelv - I was unaware there was a chance that the billing system uses different data to the View My Usage page as I have been managing my usage per month based on that page. If I had known there was a different metric used/discrepancy I would have adjusted my usage accordingly.
I usually wouldn't ask a tariff related question as the package pages are quite clear - the reason I mention it now is because I received an email near the end of August that stated that the cost of broadband will be increasing from the 1st of October for those without Plusnet home phone and I wasn't altogether sure whether that increase would be reflected yet on the main package page or the choose broadband package page while logged into my account. If it has been taken into account on the choose package page it might well be worth my while to switch packages at least.
As for package upgrades/switching provider, it's always good to know you have multiple options

[#4]

It's not a different metric - they should be the same - but there have been some problems recently where I've seen reports of no usage being shown in VMBU on a particular day when the user had downloaded a lot.
See http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,118385.0.html

[#5]

Thank you for posting the link to this thread in the Monthly Usage thread - it could well be a related issue.
The plot thickens now as at the time of posting my new billing cycle has now started and I have 0 KB usage - but I already have an automatic extension of my 60 GB to 65 GB (!) and I obviously haven't had the chance to meter any usage on my account, and I was under the impression that any usage over and above the limit that you incur (or not in my case) would not carry over to a new month anyway, so it cannot be that.

[#6]

It takes some time for the billing and usage to tick over to the new month. If you look in your closed tickets for last month you should find when it happens on your account - there will be a closed ticket that says "Bandwidth usage has been reset "

[#7]

Quote from: Caojem

I already have an automatic extension of my 60 GB to 65 GB

I wouldn't worry about that today, only be concerned if it is still showing the same in 24 hours time, as the new month rollover process can take most of the first billing day of the month to get everything reset, realigned, and the billing confirmation emails sent out.
Unfortunately it does one thing at a time, often hours apart, so during the first day of the billing month, your account can look like it is in a state of limbo - but it usually works out OK !

[#8]

Thanks for the responses! Having checked again the notice for extra usage has gone, so I jumped the gun a little there as this is the first time I've ever seen the extra usage on my account so wrongly presumed that the instant my usage reset the message would go with it - patience is a virtue as they say

[#9]

Just a quick update to say that I've had a response to my ticket and short of there being any other problems the matter has been dealt with.
Thanks again to everyone who responded, seems like a very helpful community forum