I tried to join Plusnet mobile on a rolling contract and was put through to the finance dept. They ran a credit check which was fine and then I was told I had to pay the first month up front using a debit or credit card. I gave my card details and was told it had been declined. I gave the details again and the representative said it was declined again. It seemed strange that my debit card wouldn't allow me to make a £6 payment but I passed on to my credit card and the rep was able to take the money. She gave me an order number. I called my bank who told me that the first time the debit card had been entered wrongly thus declined but that it had gone through fine the second time. When I called Plusnet up again, I gave my order number but they said it didn't correspond to my name. They said I had no account with them as the card had been declined and there was no record of any other payment. They assured me the money wouldn't be taken from my credit card or from the debit card. In fact they were wrong on both counts. I paid twice but have received no contract. Instead two letters addressed to a different person arrived at my address from Plusnet.
I have tried to deal with this now for approx a week. The managers are no longer taking my calls and I'm told 'they're dealing with the situation'. It's very simple from my point of view: money has been fraudulently taken out of account twice for a product or service that was never provided. I'll be pursuing this as far as it will go.
I had timed the changeover so that I would no longer need to pay my existing rolling contract provider but now I'm £9.24 down as it's rolled on to the next month.
Looks like Plusnet have got themselves a very bad reputation for customer service.
