When does the free modem truely become free?

My friend is now migrating away from Plusnet due to a month without service -

http://bbs.adslguide.org.uk/showthreaded.php?Cat=&Board=plusnet&Number=2597700&page=2&view=expanded&sb=5&o=0

Plusnet wish to charge him for the deferred activation fee....fair enough...but they also want to charge him for the 'free' modem they sent him. Does it become truly 'free' after a certain time period (he would have been with them a year at the end of next month) or did I read it all wrong and it was never 'free'?

Should he be given the option to send it back to them?

Thank you in advance for any help

Both deferred activation and modem become free once you have been with PlusNet for 5 years - the 'you stay, we pay' scheme which is explained in the T&C for the 'free' offer. Each complete year you are with PN, the amount you have to repay should you leave reduces by 20%.

Not exactly "you stay, we pay" is it then? Looks to me like every customer staying with plusnet pays in some respect more than what they should do. If they don't keep charging you after you've left you still end up forking out for something or other.

Maybe if it was "you stay for 5 years, we'll pay" it'd be a far more realistic statement?

Thank you for the clarification petervaughan.

It is you stay we pay, just the you stay period is five years.

Whether five years is a too long period to carry this over, is for the ISP to try and sell, and people to buy into.

Andrew

PlusNet have always done this in style though by hiding the the fact its 5 years on a "Sub Page" of the terms and conditions. This has now changed I think ( or has on the move my broadband page ) but I know when I last signed someone up you had to read the terms and conditions then there was a link under the deferred bit crudly explaining it with a table. When most ISPs are doing "Free Activation" and "Free Modem" and everyone else is tying you in for a year and PlusNet dont explain it clearly its only right that we have this confusion.

Because of this we have now have people who

A) Dont know they are on deferred Activation
B) Think its only a year.

True the customer holds some blame for not reading the Terms and Conditions in full inc all the sub pages on sup, fup, sharing etc but when the ISP entraps them in by making the information as small and hidden as they can in the small print its hardly surprising. Plusnet taking dishonest approaches in advertising actually gave them more backlash than customers as all it does is irritate the consumer when they come to leave.

Another "Mistake" to add to the long list its a shame they never learned.

Just thinking out aloud here...

Are the products which PN supply, covered by a 5 year warranty?

If you buy a car on finance over a period of 5 years is it guaranteed for that period. Of course it isn't. So why should a "free" modem have a five year warranty just because you need to stay a customer for 5 years to really get it for nothing.

Actually my car was bought on finance over a period of 5 years is guaranteed for that period.

So my answer would be yes. Sorry but some times thats how things go.

So - had you bought your car on a 7 year finance deal then it would have had two years where you were still paying for it and it wasn't under a warranty.

Rather than just split hairs though, very few cars have 5 year warranties, in fact very few anythings have 5 year warranties.