RPI increase after 3 months...

Speeds settled down shortly after I posted on here a while ago (asking what Plusnets network was like, been new to them).

Now two or three months later, I've been hit by the RPI price increase, so not the advertised and signed up for price (yes I appreciate the small print, but after 3 months...), that really isn't cricket in my book, I wouldn't have a problem after 12 months as that's a fair year at advertised price and I can understand costs do rise year on year (they don't after 3 months though..).

Has anyone had any luck disputing such a quick increase?

Not the way to keep happy customers in my book... I certainly wont be sticking with Plusnet after the contracted period just on principle (if they do not address wen I get a chance to contact to them to highlight)..

Curious what other's thoughts are on this.

cheers,

m

In reply to a post by HOB:

Speeds settled down shortly after I posted on here a while ago (asking what Plusnets network was like, been new to them).

Now two or three months later, I've been hit by the RPI price increase, so not the advertised and signed up for price (yes I appreciate the small print, but after 3 months...), that really isn't cricket in my book, I wouldn't have a problem after 12 months as that's a fair year at advertised price and I can understand costs do rise year on year (they don't after 3 months though..).

Has anyone had any luck disputing such a quick increase?

Not the way to keep happy customers in my book... I certainly wont be sticking with Plusnet after the contracted period just on principle (if they do not address wen I get a chance to contact to them to highlight)..

Curious what other's thoughts are on this.

cheers,

m

When you signed up Plusnet thought you were acting in good faith and had agreed to the terms and conditions of the contract. It seems that you were not acting in good faith if you now want to complain about the terms and conditions to which you agreed. Not sure about the logic of how you can be looking to leave after the contracted period as a matter or principle as Plusnet have acted entirely within the agreement and you now wish to overthrow the principle of that (or are you like Groucho Marx where you can state that those are my principles but if you don't like them I have others)?

Just checking for what Plusnet can offer me puts the following text fairly visibly at the top of the section marked "here's the legal bit", and doesn't require expanding anything to see:

* The price for broadband, line rental, call plans and call charges will be increased each March from 2022 by the Consumer Price Index rate of inflation published by the Office for National Statistics in January of that year plus 3.9%. Other prices, content and terms may also change during your contract. See our CPI Plus 3.9% Guide.

Presumably you were presented with the same before agreeing to take their service out.

It would not have mattered which ISP - they all put their prices up in line with the agreed contracts,. There was one, higher cost, ISP who in Feb said that the price would include the March '23 inrease although March '24 would happen.

In Jan '25 move from PlusNet to another ISP and guess what ... they will increase their price in March.#

I moved to Aquiss who do not do in contract price rises. So far so good.

Just out of interest I had a quick look and the nearest package to mine they're advertising starts at about the same I'm currently paying with PlusNet but then doubles after 6 months.

Is it FTTC or FTTP? I found the FTTP packages were pretty competitive but I think the FTTC might be a little more pricey.

I was looking at FTTC.

In reply to a post by ian72:

I moved to Aquiss who do not do in contract price rises. So far so good.

Prices appear to double within the 12 month contract.

https://www.aquiss.net/home-broadband-packages/

Over the 24 months, be it on FTTP or FTTC, Aquiss are way more expensive than Plusnet even with the Plusnet inflation plus increase. This is because the Aquiss 100% increase kicks in from month 4 or 7 and lasts until month 24.

Sorry, I have to agree with the others, it is in the contract that prices will rise in line with inflation+3%, that is what you signed up tpo.
I think it is over the rise is over the top, but not a lot you can do, most providers do the same thing

I have the 500Mb package for £24.99 for 6 months and then £49.99 for the remaining 6 months. Average of £37.49 per month. That includes a static IPv4 and a large pool of static IPv6. For the same speed PlusNet is £31.99 per month but is 24 month contract and will have 2 price increases (and at the end of the contract will go to £53.77 per month at current pricing).

Personally I went with Aquiss because of the good reviews, they were cheaper than BT who I was with, it is a 12 month contract with no price rises, I could use my own router without having to do any faff (like I would have to with Sky who I considered) and has static IP included. That all had value for me.

At the end of the 12 months I will need to see if I can get a good offer with them again - if not I might have to move elsewhere.

The issue I have is that they are still selling the same product for the same price, so the price has not in fact risen, it is still the same. IF prices had risen then I would expect the price to rise across the board.

Yes it's in the small print, but I really view that as an unfair contract term, and not something I could have got changed as someone signing up today will get 11months at the offer price, where as I got 2 or 3.... as I said, that's not cricket imo.

cheers,

m

One option might be to log into your account and click on the "offers and upgrades" tab. You may be able to accept a new 12/18/24 month contract at a lower price than the CPI-increased price.

Of course this could extend your tie-in for a few more months, but at least you'd be paying less and effectively only now have one CPI price rise next March (and a brief second one for month 24 of a new 2 year contract).

In reply to a post by HOB:

The issue I have is that they are still selling the same product for the same price, so the price has not in fact risen, it is still the same. IF prices had risen then I would expect the price to rise across the board.

Yes it's in the small print, but I really view that as an unfair contract term, and not something I could have got changed as someone signing up today will get 11months at the offer price, where as I got 2 or 3.... as I said, that's not cricket imo.

cheers,

m

You signed up - if you thought the contract contained unfair terms you could have gone elsewhere and not signed up with this supplier.

No doubt if you were the one signing up today and heard about others who had signed up previously and were disadvantaged as compared with yourself you would have been congratulating yourself on your smart work - that's not cricket imo.

In reply to a post by FibreBubble:

Over the 24 months, be it on FTTP or FTTC, Aquiss are way more expensive than Plusnet even with the Plusnet inflation plus increase. This is because the Aquiss 100% increase kicks in from month 4 or 7 and lasts until month 24.

Can I just make a small correction here. We don't do 24 month contracts on family products, so whilst our discounted price do change at the mentioned points, our contracts are 12 months.

In reply to a post by aquiss:

Can I just make a small correction here. We don't do 24 month contracts on family products, so whilst our discounted price do change at the mentioned points, our contracts are 12 months.

Thanks for pointing that out.

Its also worth stating that not everyone wants broadband (or any other product) at the lowest possible price, some people consider customer support\quality equally important.

Thanks for the correction. For a fair comparison with the Plusnet price, what does an Aquiss customer pay on month 13 to 24 of service?

In reply to a post by ian72:

Personally I went with Aquiss because of the good reviews

I can't find any reviews of Aquiss on the TBB site and the reviews on ISP Review could possibly be seen as suspicious.

For example, I can find no reviews of Plusnet over at ISP Review whatsoever in 2023 or 2022. You have to go way back to 2021 to find the last review.

Whereas curiously there are lots of reviews of Aquiss. More than any of the providers with millions of customers and amazingly including 10 reviews of Aquiss on the same day!

I would exercise extreme caution on placing much weight on what could well be organised review manipulation.

Edited by FibreBubble (Wed 26-Apr-23 22:02:19)

In reply to a post by FibreBubble:

Thanks for the correction. For a fair comparison with the Plusnet price, what does an Aquiss customer pay on month 13 to 24 of service?

As per our website, the same as month 12, but on a monthly rolling contract.

In reply to a post by FibreBubble:

I would exercise extreme caution on placing much weight on what could well be organised review manipulation.

Can I ask you to retract that absolutely ridiculous statement.

In reply to a post by aquiss:

In reply to a post by FibreBubble:

I would exercise extreme caution on placing much weight on what could well be organised review manipulation.

Can I ask you to retract that absolutely ridiculous statement.

Let's be honest here.
If it looks like a Duck, waddles like a Duck, swims like a Duck and quacks like a Duck..................................................there's more than a 50/50 chance it's a Duck.

In reply to a post by kitfit1:

In reply to a post by aquiss:

In reply to a post by FibreBubble:

I would exercise extreme caution on placing much weight on what could well be organised review manipulation.

Can I ask you to retract that absolutely ridiculous statement.

Let's be honest here.
If it looks like a Duck, waddles like a Duck, swims like a Duck and quacks like a Duck..................................................there's more than a 50/50 chance it's a Duck.

We know that bad service induces people to spread the news far and wide while good service generates far less noise. Therefore taking the view that Aquiss have so impressed their customers with their care and service levels that they feel honour bound to make a positive review would qualify for your description of a Duck?

In reply to a post by kitfit1:

Let's be honest here.
If it looks like a Duck, waddles like a Duck, swims like a Duck and quacks like a Duck..................................................there's more than a 50/50 chance it's a Duck.

Wow, comments like this make me sick, you know none of the facts why those reviews were made (may be a company campaign to encourage customers to do so just like Google play apps do) but you want to slur a companies name.

I have heard good stuff about Aquiss from other sites, I also know someone who used to use them and they were happy, the only reason they left was because they moved into their partner's place and she already had broadband.
while Aquiss would not be a provider i would pick, simply because of their prices, far more than I would pay, but they do seem to be doing what pother providers are doing, sticking the price of FTTC sky-high and lowering the price of FTTP.
I think these companies are forgetting that a lot of people can;t get FTTP even if they want to.

I moved over to Aquiss a little over a month ago. The migration was seemless. Have a static IPv4 and a large range of static IPv6 addresses. Performance is good (my router does automated speed tests and they always come out fine). No issues seen. I have only contacted support once (to enable the IPv6 static addressing) but it was resolved quickly and with no fuss. Price wise for what I wanted they were pretty comparable with the 6 month half price offer. No issues with using my own router with the service.

So, from my personal experience Aquiss have been good and with a 12 month contract without any price rises mid term it is even better.

Yesterday I had Aquiss FTTP Full Fibre activated/installed with no problems. The engineer used the existing u/g duct and did not disturb the live PSTN/ADSL copper pair connection. Actually the free activation/install was done very professionally and also to my preferences by a guy (ex army signals) working for the Kelly Group!

The Full Fibre broadband was up and running in no time even though I'm using an old Billion 7800N router (which is OK for a PPPoE connection of up to 100Mbps) The SMPF ADSL I'll cease quite soon once I feel 100% happy with the Aquiss fibre optic broadband service. The dependable PSTN voice line rental, which is on a different account to the ADSL, I'll keep live for the foreseeable future.

Edited by 4M2 (Thu 27-Apr-23 19:35:01)

I think they are all doing it now.

Vodaphone increased mine by almost 15% after a few months and despite being on Full fibre I'm getting little increase in speeds over my previous ADSL!

I stupidly went over to a 24 month contract so expect another 15% increase before I can escape. I certainly won't go for anymore than a year in future. I've always avoided a longer contract in the past, but they all seem to be as bad as one another now.

Edited by hk11 (Fri 28-Apr-23 14:14:08)

What full fibre package are you on and what speeds are you getting? Is this high levels of contention in the Voda network?

In reply to a post by aquiss:

In reply to a post by FibreBubble:

Thanks for the correction. For a fair comparison with the Plusnet price, what does an Aquiss customer pay on month 13 to 24 of service?

As per our website, the same as month 12, but on a monthly rolling contract.

I do hate long term contract but 12 months sound isn't that bad. 18 or 24 months contract has put me off

Even better when the price is fixed for that 12 months - no in contract price rises...

In reply to a post by ian72:

Even better when the price is fixed for that 12 months - no in contract price rises...

Yes I agree