Not being billed for PlusNet ADSL. What do i do?

I have been with Plus Net since 2001 however today I noticed that since moving to their ADSL service last year I have not been billed for any services. I used to pay quarterly on my dial up account so did not notice Plus Net missing from monthly statements.

Looking at my transaction history I was charged an Initial ADSL Charge, but nothing after that. The information on my account page also suggests that ADSL activation is still pending. However the service has worked fine for some time.

What's my best course of action? Ignoring the problem does not seem like a realistic option as I'm already at the point where I would struggle to pay in one go if Plus Net billed me retrospectively. I understand that having used the service over the past year I'm obliged to pay the costs. However, as a loyal customer I would hope that Plus Net would at have some way of not really spoiling my summer.

Well, it's nice to see somebody refute the claims that mistakes are ALWAYS in PN's favour.

It's also nice to hear from somebody so honest that they want to regularise the situation.

I think this is really tricky, because I don't know how far they would be prepared to go to waive some or all of the back-payments, given that it's their mistake. It is a bit harsh if you "come clean" and are promptly presented with a bill for the entire year. I've no idea what their policy would be on this. You're right that the law says you do owe the money.

I suggest if possible you talk to somebody quite senior, who will have more discretion. I think if you just raise a ticket in the normal way, it won't get passed to the kind of person with the authority to make concessions. It's a shame the reps don't post here any more, as I'm sure they'd work out a satisfactory compromise with you. Maybe Plusnet's own forums?

T.

In reply to:

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However the service has worked fine for some time.

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Free ADSL and it works fine, boy you are the lucky one.

Seriously if I was in your position I would contact Plusnet and explain what has happened and that you have only just noticed.
If they find out by themselves they will not be so sympathetic in any agreement you come to. Hopefully they will do the right thing and write it off, after all it is down to them to collect the payment on a monthly basis.

If they are totally unreasonable and demand the full amount think of the interest you have earned in the past year, then fight them for a reasonable reduction emphasizing it was you who brought it to their notice.

Should they pursue the matter consider changing ISP.

Best of luck.

Before contacting them I would consider some payment plan options,
e.g. Pay double for as long as it takes to clear the debt

You need to go in with some solution that you can afford.

As suggested you may want to try and speak to one of the online reps, the Plusnet user group site may be a place to goto. The normal ticket support people will probably have less flexibility in resolving this, i.e. take the viewpoint of its all billable at once.

Andrew

When a customer has approached me about a billing mistake, I've tended to give them credit.. Even if we find it later they are being honest. That's not to say I will always waive all the charges (although I don't think I've been in a situation where someone hasn't been billed at all.)

I think it is more than reasonable for you to ask PlusNet to allow you to pay it off in instalments.. after all they had a duty to charge you and if they failed to do that they share some of the blame.. If they give you something off the amount itself that would be a nice gesture of good will.


seb

That's a coincidence! A day after I post a comment here that all PlusNet support and admin errors are always in their favour comes the first-ever report (afaik) of an error in the customer's favour. Your honesty is commendable. Weren't you tempted just to let sleeping dogs lie and/or move to another ISP before PlusNet discovered their error?

Under normal circumstances, you would owe PlusNet the money. But it seems that your ADSL activation is officially "pending" and unless you have sent or received documents from PlusNet to confirm that a) your ADSL contract has been activated and b) you are subject to their broadband T&Cs, I think your liability would be for your contracted dial-up subscription and the pertaining T&Cs at that time, not for ADSL.

Simon

"Under normal circumstances, you would owe PlusNet the money. But it seems that your ADSL activation is officially "pending" and unless you have sent or received documents from PlusNet to confirm that a) your ADSL contract has been activated and b) you are subject to their broadband T&Cs, I think your liability would be for your contracted dial-up subscription and the pertaining T&Cs at that time, not for ADSL."

That would be incorrect, Simon.

When we see people informed that they are on an "anual rolling contract" and asked to pay up for 11 months if they want to leave.

If a customer phones them and says - "hey I've not been billed for a year, what do you want to do?"

Whats the chances of PN saying "Oh dont worry about it, we'll just sort it going forward"....?

To be fair you have to accept the T's & C's when signing up, so I would assume PN have the legal right to charge you, although demanding it all in one lump sum would be highly unfair, and most certainly frowned upon by the OFT.

I see this all the time with gas and electricity supplies, and I have yet to find a supplier that will not put in place a payment plan to help out. But if a payment plan is put in place, you will need to keep an eye on it to make sure you dont end up overpaying.

Simon, I think that when signing up, you have to agree to the T's & C's.

I see this all the time with gas and electricity supplies, but I have yet to find a supplier that is not willing to put in place a payment plan to sort the mess out.

Ive seen some written off, but that is entirely the suppliers option - depending on the headache it would cause to invoice they may elect that option.

For instance, if the customer has not been billed for a year on a flexible price product, and there are no accurate meter reads, then very often they will write it off - as it could be contested for ever and a day as to what the readings were at the time of any price changes. If there have ben multiple changes, then the complexity of sorting it out, and keeping the customer happy would outweigh the profit made from the account.

It all depends on whether in this instance PN feel the complexity of setting up an accurate paymet plan for one individual customer is worth the revenue. I would assume not, but we have to wait and see.

The right thing to do is for the customer to approach PN first though, as then if it does turn nasty, it can be seen that the customer was the one making the first move to try and correct this - which would be in his favour Im sure.

I sure think that is bad advice and I don't think the OP is looking for a "technical" way to avoid paying or scoot to a different ISP as you suggest.

The OP is acknowledging that he has used and still is using the service he ordered, and regardless of what is stated on his account the only issue as I see it is that Plusnet has failed to take payments due.

I feel as they are at fault the least the company should do is come to an arrangement that is not onerous to the OP and better still if they write off some of the charges. I do commend the OP for his honesty and without trying to diminish it, reading the post I would guess that the OP finds it the natural thing to do in this instance.