Hello there,

I'm very sorry about this. It looks like for some reason you appear to be on an auunal contract. If you give one of the CSC analysts a ring they should be able to sort this out really quickly for you.

20% seems a tad excessive
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I wonder what rsharma would say? In any event, if the banks are now prohibited by law from profiteering on their charges, I'm sure that PlusNet can't arbitrarily add to the disputed bill any more than the going rate of interest - and, if eventually successfully recovered through the courts, an actual recovery or collection charge. I'm not aware of any law which allows them to add 20% to the amount claimed just because someone is 7 days late in paying or disputes the charge.

My advice to the OP would be to work out what he thinks he reasonably may owe PlusNet, if anything, and pay that amount - always bearing in mind that PlusNet may pursue him to court for the balance (unless of course they don't have a leg to stand on). But if they should succeed in getting a judgment then they will certainly then add on additional recovery and legal costs to the amount awarded.

Simon

Simon

Personally I think it's a scare tactic. Can't see it being legally enforceable.

So you think the 20% extra charge is a mistake?

In reply to:

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Can't see it being legally enforceable.

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It doesn't need to be if people just pay it.

The policy is that any remaining fees, if not collected at the time of the cancellation request, remain due. We will ultimately pursue unpaid debts via an external debt-collection agency, but we do call and write to the registered account address before doing this and obviously if a sum is in dispute we woulden't just pass it on to the debt collection agency without working with the customer to make sure the dispute had been addresed.

It is only when we pass on the debt that an additional administration fee is also applied to the outstanding sum, and currently 20% reflects that cost. I don't believe this is very unusual, but I agree that this should have been explained more politely and without it seeming automatic - we have no desire to make people's leaving experience bad. In plenty of cases customers are realising the grass is not greener and are coming back to us - we don't want to jeopardise that.

It sounds to me like there has been a misunderstanding here which if I was in work I would look to sort out myself now. If the OP can't resolve this with another call into the support team as James suggested, I will make sure this is properly addressed on Monday. Certainly the amount being asked for sounds like a disspointing mistake, which is precisely what we are working so hard at PlusNet at the moment to avoid doing.

Ian

In reply to:

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The policy is that any remaining fees, if not collected at the time of the cancellation request, remain due.

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I understand and have no problem with that.

In reply to:

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We will ultimately pursue unpaid debts via an external debt-collection agency, but we do call and write to the registered account address before doing this and obviously if a sum is in dispute we woulden't just pass it on to the debt collection agency without working with the customer to make sure the dispute had been addresed.

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The OP posted that he received an email saying pay within 7 days or the 20% will be added. That doesn't tie with what you are saying.

In reply to:

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Certainly the amount being asked for sounds like a disspointing mistake,

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Which is why I didn't comment on that specifically.

In reply to:

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It is only when we pass on the debt that an additional administration fee is also applied to the outstanding sum, and currently 20% reflects that cost.

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I still believe an Administration Feeof 20% is a tad steep. Can you give a breakdown why an Admin fee has to be a percentage, surely the same paperwork is involved for

"13.1 You must pay the Charges for the Service and/or Equipment at the price prevailing at the time of the Customer Order. The Charges form part of this Agreement. You will be responsible for the maintenance of your connection settings. You are responsible for checking your connection settings against the configurations which we stipulate on our website in the 'Your Account' section. We will not be liable for any Charges incurred where you have not followed our recommended connection settings. Any Charges incurred due to incorrect connection settings will be payable by you."

Nothing there about 20%

"13.5 You understand and agree that if you fail to make payments of Charges when they are due, we may suspend or cancel your Service, in part or in full, until payment is received in full. If we need to cease your Service because you have not paid and you then later decide to resume the Service, there may be a re-activation and administration charge where applicable, for which you will be liable."

Nothing here either - the word MAY does not mean will.... and why would an administration charge vary according to the amount outstanding? surely it should be a fixed cost!

13.9 Interest payable on demand shall accrue from day to day on overdue amounts at the rate of 2% above the base rate of National Westminster Bank Plc together with VAT if applicable.


13.10 We reserve the right to engage a third party debt collection agency in order to obtain any outstanding debt. Any additional charges generated as a result of this process will be payable by you

Nothing about a 20% charge here either


Might have been worth waiting a month...

Ian
will the

Edited by deleted (Sat 17-Nov-07 16:18:09)