A bad move? Transferring to Plusnet unlimited fibre.....

Hi all

I'm currently with BT (Infinity 2) and have been generally happy with the service I've received. However, having been advised about the imminent price rises (which increased my annual charges by about £80 pa - which if you believe the papers is allegedly to pay for football rights and I'm not that into footie) I decided it was time to consider other options and looked around to change, Sky and Plusnet being my main two likely choices.

I was gobsmacked to find that I can get an identical product in terms of BB and phone line (with add ons etc) with Plusnet for some £180 a year (including a £60 special sweetener) less than I would be paying after the BT increase.

So I called BT to discuss it and they said there's no way they can match it and, as Plusnet gets good reviews on Thinkbroadband (certainly on the ratings scores), on Monday I signed up for transfer to Plusnet.

However since then, I've looked at a number of other websites (trustpilot for example) where Plusnet get REALLY BAD feedback and I'm starting to think I might have made a terrible mistake.....

So...... can anyone explain the apparent discrepancy between the PN reviews on TBB vs a number of other sites?

Also, should I be concerned about my decision? Are things at Plusnet as bad as the other review sites suggest? Have I make a decision I'm going to regret?

I assume now that I've started the transfer process it will be difficult to stop if I were to change my mind? (My advised activation date is 17/8/15, I signed up on Mon 3/8)

Thanks all

Edited by deleted (Wed 05-Aug-15 11:57:48)

One possible explanation for the difference is that TBB gets peoples views whenever they do a speedtest and so you get a spread of people. Most review sites may only see people who are there because they are complaining about their ISP.

For the vast majority of people PlusNet is fine - my uncle for example would see no reason to mark them down.

For some people there are problems with congestion, support queues, etc. Many people wouldn't know they had congestion problems. Many people never ring support. Many people don't know how good the online support has been in the past (and may not be so good now).

I was considering PlusNet earlier in the year and chose not to as they were entering a phase where there were more dissatisfied people. PlusNet support is not as good as it used to be (if you need it). Probably 90% of customers would have no reason (or enough knowledge) to complain. The 10% that do probably are vocal on review sites and indeed there are quite a few in these forums that have had issue.

A number of people who have been with PlusNet a while that post here are now seriously looking at alternatives. Personally, it isn't the ISP I would be moving to with where they are at present but whether they are right for you only you can decide.

Thanks for your comments Ian

Regrettably I paid upfront by credit card for their line rental saver and have read comments on this forum about difficulty in obtaining refunds when trying to leave part way through the contract period.

Does anyone know if refusal to refund would also apply in this instance (a couple of days after the order has been made) or has the contract effectively been entered into?

Also, does anyone have any experience of cancelling on order like this before activation? Is it likely to cause me a melt down?!?!

Thanks again all - much appreciated

Edited by deleted (Wed 05-Aug-15 12:15:11)

If you've only just signed up for LRS then I think there should be a cooling down period - worth checking. Or have you had phone with PlusNet already?

If the order has not gone to the wholesaler than flipping to another provider for the order is easy, if the migration has already had its wheels set in motion then changing can cause order systems to get confused.

Our volume of votes seems much higher than trust pilot, and as well as after a speed test people get email reminders to rate their provider each month.

Based on how users have behaved in the last 15 years, we can see some people having problems but nothing like the meltdown we see if problems have affected the majority for other providers in the past.

This may help from PlusNet's terms and conditions:
"Cancellation

You can cancel a service anytime up to 14 calendar days after the day we accepted your order (except for BT Sport, Plusnet Protect or YouView TV from Plusnet channel packs, which you must keep for at least 30 days). If you cancel after we start to provide the service, you must pay the service subscription charge for any period that the service was made available to you and for any use of that service not covered by the subscription charge, up to the date that you told us you wanted to cancel, and return any equipment we supply that is needed to use that service. You will also need to pay any installation, connection or activation charges associated with that service - including the full cost of charges that were discounted or advertised as free as a condition of taking the service on the terms that you agreed when we accepted your order. If the service you sign-up for is an additional feature, a re-contract and/or upgrade, upon cancelling the service we may revert you to your previous contract or the closest matching service.
You can cancel your order for any equipment up to 14 calendar days after the day on which we deliver it to you or any person you nominate to receive it.
Where you cancel as set out in paragraph 10 or 11 above and are required to return any equipment to us, you must return the equipment to us (undamaged and in its original packaging) within 14 days of cancellation. Unless we agree otherwise, you are responsible for the cost of returning any equipment. We will refund anything you have already paid for the equipment, but we may reduce that refund by an appropriate amount up to the full value of the refund where the equipment is damaged, or we consider that the equipment has been used more than absolutely necessary to verify that it was fit for purpose. We may offer to collect the equipment from you and if you agree, we will charge you our reasonable costs for doing so. These rights are in addition to any other statutory rights you may have to cancel your agreement."
So you have 14 days from the date you placed your order to cancel without penalty.

LRS is refundable within the first 14 days after ordering:-

https://www.plus.net/home-broadband/line-rental-save...

https://www.plus.net/home-broadband/line-rental-saver/

In reply to a post by Psyman:

However since then, I've looked at a number of other websites (trustpilot for example) where Plusnet get REALLY BAD feedback and I'm starting to think I might have made a terrible mistake.....

So...... can anyone explain the apparent discrepancy between the PN reviews on TBB vs a number of other sites?

People who have problems complain, people who don't take their service for granted. Plusnet has, I forget, almost a million customers? They only have to have problems with a small percentage and they're going to get a lot of self selecting bad reviews. Also, and you can sometimes see this on these forums, some upset customers will make it their life's work to destroy the reputation of a company to the point they appear to require professional help.

I've been with Plusnet numerous times since the 90s and more recently for 80/20 FTTC for an 18 month span and again for another few months - actually leaving for BT who have worse customer service than Plusnet but can offer me broadband and phone for £8/month(after vouchers and cashback). I would definitely stay with Plusnet if there was no financial incentive from BT, broadband is fine and customer service are UK based and fairly easy to deal with and approachable.

So to sum up I'd say the reviews are completely unrepresentative of a typical customer's experience. After my contract with BT ends I will be only too glad to consider moving back to Plusnet assuming the company is no different than it is now.

If all goes well and you have no problems you should be fine. If however you do have issues getting through to support can be an issue with long telephone queues and then the support you get may be very variable.

You might also take a look at the Your Feedback, ADSL and Fibre boards on Plusnet's own forums: http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php

In reply to a post by jelv:

You might also take a look at the Your Feedback, ADSL and Fibre boards on Plusnet's own forums: http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php

Yes, but again, he must remember forums are, more often than not, about problems(if rather less vitriolically expressed than TrustPilot) - what is useful perhaps is watching how staff interact with customers so you get a feel for how the company deals with customers when the proverbial hits the fan.