My post was a somewhat ironic way to say similar to yours. Plusnet are more open than many ISPs and offer ways of providing service that many don't. And yet they get beaten up over it consistenly whereas other ISPs that don't offer it in the first place never get questioned.

So, where are all the questions of the rest of the ISPs for why they don't pass on wholesale savings for market 2/3. Very seldom does this get raised as far as I have seen. And yet Plusnet then get consisently vilified for not automatically moving people between the prices that no-one else offers in the first place.

Plusnet are by no means perfect. In fact I wouldn't even say they are one of the best I've dealt with. But, for the products they offer and the prices they offer them at they are not half bad. Value for money wise I have no issue with Plusnet.

I agree with you entirely, but I think PN have made a rod for their own back by being so good ironically. As you mentioned previously, it would have been better to rename the product rather than offer the same one at a lower price.

I've just had a follow up support query as follows:

Plusnet have a Market base of over half a million customers. We are not made aware when a customers market change takes place so billing will continue as usual.

As per my colleagues response it was Plusnet who decided to offer new Market 2 customers the reduction in price. Any existing customers who made us aware that they were in a Market 2 area had their prices changed.

As you have notified us we have changed your price on going.

We can not offer a refund in this situation. We have broken no Ofcom regulations as they set the Market area and we changed the price.

Looking at the Ofcom 2010 report, there were just under 12% of BT Exchanges classified as Market 2, now this will have changed since then, but as my exchange was on that list in 2010 I'll go with 12%. PN say over 500,000 subscribers, so 12% of 500,000 is 60,000 which equates to £390,000 PER MONTH extra gained by PN by not lowering costs for people who SHOULD have it lowered.

OK, they have not broken any Ofcom rules, but, they are a good ISP in my book (I've been with them for 8 years in total) but this is simply dishonest.

I've had no reason to check if there was a change in my price because I TRUSTED PN to let me know if there was a change either way. I'm limited to my choice because it's Market 2 (BT + Virgin Media who don't venture into new estates) so I HAVE been checking to see if anything is happening on my exchange, but not if PN prices have changed because they haven't changed their products (i.e. the point made earlier).

It's pure chance I stumbled upon the price change that happened 13 months ago, and it annoys me that the trust I had in PN has been abused because of (what appears to be) greed and laziness.

I applaud them for reducing the price when they didn't have to, I am very disappointed that they have left their existing (dare I say it loyal) customers to pay 30% more than new customers. I don't dispute any of the praise of PN for what they are doing, however I'm sure you'd see it a different way if it actually affected you personally as it does me. Even a PN rep has admitted that he would personally not be happy, however it's an accountant somewhere that's made this decision.

Personally, I'm happy that I've got a great service at a lower cost, I'm extremely unhappy I could have had this cost reduction 13 months ago if I'd kept an eye on PN, but again, I TRUSTED them.

Is it good financially for PN to reduce their costs and tell their customers, not immediately no, but the PR in doing so then generates a lot of goodwill and likely further referrals. Now the PR will be negative and PN will look like crooks and it's not good for business is it, especially in these economic times.

What could they do now, fess up immediately, admit it's a mistake, tell everyone, give everyone a refund of overpaid charges by folding it into the next 12 months payments thus ensuring 12 months more loyalty from said customer.

Maybe I'm overreacting to this lot, but I do feel let down by a company I've trusted and recommended time and time again verbally (yup, even lost out on some referrals there). And to stress again, it's not the amount of money I have been overcharged (in my view) it's the blatant dishonesty and brushing it under the carpet I'm upset with. I'm sorely tempted to contact the likes of Watchdog or the ISPA who recently gave PN an award however I'll see what PN do with my ticket....

What could they do now, fess up immediately, admit it's a mistake, tell everyone, give everyone a refund of overpaid charges by folding it into the next 12 months payments thus ensuring 12 months more loyalty from said customer.

I'm afraid they won't change. That same question has been raised about various price changes in the past with Plusnet and they have always maintained the same position - I suspect it will continue to be the case.

Just one thing. The 12% of exchange as Market 2 almost certainly does not equate to 12% of customers. The reason I say this is the the vast majority of large exchanges are market 3. Therefore, the market 1 and 2 exchanges are likely to be at the smaller end of the scale so 12% of exchange could, for example, be 1% of customers (of course I have done no analysis to confirm this). It is the usual thing that a relatively small number of exchanges cover a relatively high percentage of the population.

In reply to a post by ian72:

Just one thing. The 12% of exchange as Market 2 almost certainly does not equate to 12% of customers. The reason I say this is the the vast majority of large exchanges are market 3. Therefore, the market 1 and 2 exchanges are likely to be at the smaller end of the scale so 12% of exchange could, for example, be 1% of customers (of course I have done no analysis to confirm this). It is the usual thing that a relatively small number of exchanges cover a relatively high percentage of the population.

Sorry, I didn't make it clear enough in my explanation, it was just rough figures as it's impossible for me to know the distribution. I had put something about bad maths and took it out to replace it with something else but didn't, oops

No need to apologise

It's just your figures for their profit on this are almost certainly much higher than the actual figures.

In reply to a post by 4M2:

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

I find the only thing that makes you have to leave is stuff like Pet Insurance done online. 15% or so introductory discount goes at the end of the year. End of! So then you go for another. Then back, ad infinitum.

Similar thing with my BT line rental Unlimited Evening and Weekend Plan Extra (Discount) retention deal which last year I really had to fight for after the contract was auto-renewed. This year I'll call them up before the end of the contract and establish for certain that the extra retention discount will remain credited to my account because I don't want the hassle of fighting with an overseas call centre for it again...

Just negotiated my BT landline contract renewal and have managed to get a £6.15 per month (£3.15 + £3 "special" retention discount) off my Unlimited Evening and Weekend Plan.

BTW. the negotiation was done with a British call centre

In reply to a post by 4M2:

Just negotiated my BT landline contract renewal and have managed to get a £6.15 per month (£3.15 + £3 "special" retention discount) off my Unlimited Evening and Weekend Plan.

BTW. the negotiation was done with a British call centre

Something I must look into there . A couple of months ago I was borderline on changing from BT E & W to Anytime as it would have been cheaper overall, then checked the calls in the first fortnight of the month and only two were chargeable!!! So it went on the back burner for a couple of weeks and then got forgotten. So either a cheaper E & W or even a cheaper Anytime is worth looking into.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

Something I must look into there . A couple of months ago I was borderline on changing from BT E & W to Anytime as it would have been cheaper overall, then checked the calls in the first fortnight of the month and only two were chargeable!!! So it went on the back burner for a couple of weeks and then got forgotten. So either a cheaper E & W or even a cheaper Anytime is worth looking into.

As you know an up front payment of £129 (£10.75 � a month equivalent) for line rental would be an even better deal if one spent less than £3.15 on calls per month. I will get free evening and weekend for £11.60 per month but that includes my "special" £3 retention discount having been a long term BT customer...

Edit: will still get caller display for nout also

Edited by 4M2 (Fri 17-Aug-12 21:53:38)

In reply to a post by 4M2:

BTW. the negotiation was done with a British call centre

Since when have BT started using a British Call Centre?

BT's Customer Options Team (COT) is in UK; Rotherham I think.