Is the "price match" real?

Has anyone actually got anywhere with their "Price Match" policy?

On their website it says

"Our price promise is on Plusnet Value Broadband versus the lowest cost standalone broadband product available from a competitor. It covers the total cost of broadband (subscription + setup costs) over the competitor contract length, up to 24 months."


So when looking for broadband for a friend on a bt only exchange I noticed by are doing 10gb a month for £13 a month with three months free and no setup charge. When I saw the plusnet promise I thought aha maybe they will do theirs for the same price then.

So far I have had;

"The price promise doesn't allow us to change prices just to point you to the most appropiate package"

"Bt's offering does not count as it requires line rental from BT so is not standalone". This is a bizarre excuse since all standalone broadband packages require line rental to BT including Plusnet's.

"If you take our plusnet line rental for £12 a month we might be able to negotiate the broadband price". Now they are just taking the mick, thats £2 a month more than BT to start with and bares no relation to what their price promise says they will do.


At no point could I get anyone to address why I was not getting what the price promise said, they all just avoided the question. So all in all I got nowhere and gave up and suggested my friend just go with BT. Has anyone actually got them to price match other providers? Or is it just a trick to get people to submit to a sales call? Grr, rather a waste of time.

Edited by mnbvcxz (Tue 01-Nov-11 22:43:53)

They probably can price match. However their package probably won't match. eg If i wanted to download 300GB / month and pay £22 they would not be able to offer a solution that would not kill their business model like it did 5 years ago.

In reply to a post by mnbvcxz:

"If you take our plusnet line rental for £12 a month we might be able to negotiate the broadband price". Now they are just taking the mick, thats £2 a month more than BT to start with and bares no relation to what their price promise says they will do.

Slightly misleading - BT line rental is £13.90 a month - admittedly you can get it for the equivalent of £10 per month if you pay for 12 months up front.

There are some BT Total packages that are only available if you take a bundle of line rental/calls at the same time, i.e. you cannot have WLR via another provider in some cases.

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

There are some BT Total packages that are only available if you take a bundle of line rental/calls at the same time, i.e. you cannot have WLR via another provider in some cases.

I think all BT broadband packages are now bundled with a BT Call Plan Andrew, ie BT Line Rental is compulsory for new broadband connections. There is a "Broadband" page, but clicking the Choose a broadband package link takes you to this page, with bundles only.

Maybe this can be avoided by telephone signup, but I can't find a way online.

I certainly did get exact match to BT discounted bundle (value BB, LR and anytime) back in July, including the £10 p.m advance rental, even though I did not have to pay in advance.
The only thing it's for 12 months (not BT's 18 months), but I was told I can ask to continue the deal in 12 mths time.

I was an existing PlusNet customer, but that shouls make no difference.

Hopefully one of PlusNet bods will be here soon to explain themselves....
S

Hi there,

The £13/month BT package you mention isn't standalone broadband, it includes line rental and evening and weekend calls - which is why we don't pricematch. As advertised, the price match is for standalone broadband only rather than a bundled broadband and phone offering.

Yes, line rental does always need to be paid, but you don't need to get phone and broadband from the same provider - hence the price match offer.

Hope that helps explain things,

In reply to a post by orbrey:

Hi there,

The £13/month BT package you mention isn't standalone broadband, it includes line rental and evening and weekend calls - which is why we don't pricematch. As advertised, the price match is for standalone broadband only rather than a bundled broadband and phone offering.

Yes, line rental does always need to be paid, but you don't need to get phone and broadband from the same provider - hence the price match offer.

Hope that helps explain things,

Close, but nope .

It doesn't include the line rental. Just the call package. But as that requires line rental, and as BT do not do line rental without a call package, it's all a bit (deliberately?) confusing.

I would say that it is just a BT requirement that the customer pays BT line rental,which happens to include a call plan, and the £13 is the broadband cost. Period.

But it's still a bundled package (i.e. broadband and calls together) as opposed to standalone broadband, hence why it's not something that we would match the price on as part of the promise.

In other words a pointless marketing gimmick from Plusnet.