Leave without penalty

My father renewed his broadband last December which he had to do over the phone and always payed line rental upfront which he did no mention at all about this service was going to be stopped next year otherwise he wouldn't of agreed but now he has been receiving emails mentioning it has been discontinued (no details how much he is expected to pay per month or if he will still have discounts applied that was agreed when renewing)

I tried to look at his details online but the system plusnet have is a mess it either doesn't show up anything or it has dates all over the place one of them shows his new deal was activated on Christmas day.

Does this give him a reason to get out of his contract?

Thanks for any advise

In reply to a post by mortmaru:

Does this give him a reason to get out of his contract?

What exactly is changing/going to be discontinued?

If they are increasing the price by more than CPI plus 3.9% then you can get out your contract free of charge.

If they are fundamentally changing the package then I would assume they would let your father break the contract without penalty.
Usually an ISP notification will tell you if their changes allow you to leave penalty free.

In reply to a post by mortmaru:

Does this give him a reason to get out of his contract?

Line rental saver does not form part of the broadband contract, so its discontinuation does not affect the existing contract.

The standard monthly line rental of £19.99 will apply, the broadband price will not be affected; they're billed separately even though they have to advertise the deals as including line rental. Even though I'm getting a pretty good discount on the broadband, I'm now paying rather more than a new customer would so I plan to get onto them about it some time.

In reply to a post by kasg:

The standard monthly line rental of £19.99 will apply,

It was but PlusNet line rental is currently £21.22 for me which is ameliorated by what I pay for broadband £0.73

I am glad I left Plusnet In May 2021 after 14 years with them because of their billing issues, static ip address no longer work, referral scheme missing, they going downfall lately.

My isp are great, email support instant even at 11pm or weekend. Static ip address, fixed price for rest of contract then rolling 30 days but never get price rise (CPI) and support openreach both on BTw backhaul, TTB backhaul for FTTP, FTTC and G.fast.

In reply to a post by j0hn83:

In reply to a post by mortmaru:

Does this give him a reason to get out of his contract?

What exactly is changing/going to be discontinued?

If they are increasing the price by more than CPI plus 3.9% then you can get out your contract free of charge.

If they are fundamentally changing the package then I would assume they would let your father break the contract without penalty.
Usually an ISP notification will tell you if their changes allow you to leave penalty free.

If you paid line rental up front you would get it discounted this is what my father had been doing for years and did when renewed last year they have discontinued this service now media outlets announced it feb this year so two months later yet plusnet didn't tell my father this at the time otherwise he wouldn't of renewed.

Without the discount it can be £30-40 more per year for the line rental.

For other people avoid this company the prices for new customers may look good but once your term is up they remove discounts and wont give you deals near what these new customers get and if you get even a slight discount they force 24 months on you no other option yet new customers have 12-18 months options.

The router as well they provided is garbage nothing but issues with it keep cutting the wifi out or not allowing devices to connect yet plusnet wont even offer a replacement for free.

The most annoying thing is how there online system for customers is broken it has been for years and they know it so every time you want to check or change something a large % of people are forced to phone them.

In reply to a post by mortmaru:

If you paid line rental up front you would get it discounted this is what my father had been doing for years and did when renewed last year they have discontinued this service now media outlets announced it feb this year so two months later yet plusnet didn't tell my father this at the time otherwise he wouldn't of renewed.

I'd be surprised if they let him out his contract for that reason. They have no obligation to offer a discount.

For other people avoid this company the prices for new customers may look good but once your term is up they remove discounts and wont give you deals near what these new customers get and if you get even a slight discount they force 24 months on you no other option yet new customers have 12-18 months options.

Same as nearly every other broadband company then. Most give new customers better deals than existing customers.
Plusnet were always fair to me when renewing. Recent threads on here show other customers are still able to negotiate a good deal at renewal time.

The router as well they provided is garbage nothing but issues with it keep cutting the wifi out or not allowing devices to connect yet plusnet wont even offer a replacement for free.

They have only had 1 router for many years. A replacement wouldn't have helped. It's simply garbage.

They have now launched a new Hub. Existing customers would likely need to pay to receive 1 or negotiate 1 at renewal time.

You or your father knew of the issues with his hub when he renegotiated his contract.

The most annoying thing is how there online system for customers is broken it has been for years and they know it so every time you want to check or change something a large % of people are forced to phone them.

I'm not going to attempt to defend Plusnets CS or their support/ticketing system.
They aren't what they used to be in that respect.

Sounds like Plusnet were good enough to renew when line rental saver was around. Now that's gone they are the world's worst ISP.

Edited by j0hn83 (Sat 04-Dec-21 19:56:06)

In reply to a post by j0hn83:

Sounds like Plusnet were good enough to renew when line rental saver was around. Now that's gone thru are the world's worst ISP.

(I'm assuming "thru" was "though" or "they").

Perhaps a bit OTT to say "the world''s worst"? ?

Yea I meant "they".

I think Plusnet are still a decent ISP. I was referring to the OP.
1 minute they are good enough for him/his father to renew, then when line rental saver is removed he has half a dozen complaints.

Sounds like sour grapes to me.

Ah, sorry! I hadn't picked up on that .

His contracts for the two "separate" services end anyway on the anniversary of his last renewal of each. Prices revert to the standard figures that you can find online in the Legal section at the bottom of their website pages.

I haven't gone into it in depth but there used to be and maybe still are different Terms and prices depending on when he joined in the first place.

That continuation will be on a monthly contract basis, nothing to stop him migrating away at any time afterwards.

So you/he have a choice between continuing at the default price applicable while you decide whether or not to move; sorting out a migration rapidly to take effect soon after the move (Ofcom has a specified minimum 10 working days for a migration to take effect, and you mustn't order from the new supplier without ensuring it can't happen while still in contract) ; moving just the phone line to another ISP like I did when with them, (pulse8broadband was the one I went to) and keeping the broadband with Plusnet; or the probable best way is to ring and request to speak to the Retentions Team. That last option being what most people who are happy with the service itself tend to do.

Don't necessarily accept the first offer. You can argue and/or ring the next day and speak to a different person and get a better offer.

As has been posted earlier, someone has a very good deal. The expert used to be adslmax, who year after year got incredibly low deals.

PlusNet informed customers well in advance that line rental saver was coming to an end. I think it was early/mid 2020 when I was notified. The annual saving was in the region of £25 to £30 and I took advantage of it for quite a few years but accepted that they were withdrawing it. Their choice and done with sufficient notice.

There's no two ways about it, the billing system is a nightmare usually around renewal time and it can take a couple of months to settle down again after renewal.

For my 73pence a month I get email which I choose to use, a sufficient amount of web space for a small site (historical freebie), a 55/10 provision that normally gives me 43/9 on a very long flaky line and, very importantly for me having poor hearing, someone at the other end of the phone that I can understand.

Yes - sour grapes

In reply to a post by j0hn83:

Yea I meant "they".

I think Plusnet are still a decent ISP. I was referring to the OP.
1 minute they are good enough for him/his father to renew, then when line rental saver is removed he has half a dozen complaints.

Sounds like sour grapes to me.

Like another TalkTalk poster recently...must be grape harvest time

In reply to a post by longedge:

For my 73pence a month I get email which I choose to use, a sufficient amount of web space for a small site (historical freebie), a 55/10 provision that normally gives me 43/9 on a very long flaky line and, very importantly for me having poor hearing, someone at the other end of the phone that I can understand.

But you're not *really* paying 73p for broadband. Really the majority of the cost of the broadband is buried within the "line rental".

This is a legacy pricing model. ISPs have been moving to a single price for combined (line rental + broadband) for a while. These are where the best deals are to be found.

In any case, by the end of 2025 you'll have to pay like this, because you'll no longer be able to have a voice line where broadband is an optional addition. Instead, all lines are being converted to pure broadband - and then voice is a service which can be added on top (digitally).

In reply to a post by candlerb:

But you're not *really* paying 73p for broadband. Really the majority of the cost of the broadband is buried within the "line rental".

That is of course true, my total bill this month is £19.45 (£21.95 minus a couple of referrals). Still good value I think and although I always have a look around each time renewal comes up I never find anything to tempt me away.

p.s. - I very much regret that I almost certainly won't be here in 2025 and will never have the chance to experience FTTH

Edited by longedge (Sun 05-Dec-21 12:45:09)

In reply to a post by longedge:

In reply to a post by kasg:

The standard monthly line rental of £19.99 will apply,

It was but PlusNet line rental is currently £21.22 for me which is ameliorated by what I pay for broadband £0.73

Indeed it is, which I found out when I started looking at my contract renewal. Anyway, I've just beaten them down from £31.99 to £23 for Unlimited Fibre Extra, so I'm paying £1.78!

In reply to a post by longedge:

p.s. - I very much regret that I almost certainly won't be here in 2025 and will never have the chance to experience FTTH

I’m sorry to read this, I know it may not mean much coming from a complete stranger, but wishing you a good Christmas and a peaceful New Year