Warning to PlusNet customers and anyone who knows one
Stan The Man
the ISP which, on April 28, introduced a new £21.99 2MB tariff without
letting the majority of its existing customers know about it.
Consequently, all PlusNet's 1MB and 2MB Premier Broadband customers,
currently paying £29.99 and £39.99 per month respectively can
down-price immediately to the new tariff without losing any
functionality at all. But only the relatively small number of customers
who visit the PlusNet website or discussion forums on the PlusNet
portal or on ADSL Guide have cashed in. PlusNet seem more than happy to
keep the majority of their customers in the dark - thereby allowing
them to continue to pay more than they need to.
PlusNet's Bob Pullen attempts to justify this "mushrooming" policy by
claiming that the £29.99 and £39.99 products still exist, even though
they are no longer offered for sale. If customers are happy to keep
paying, why rock the boat, seems to be PlusNet's attitude.
But of course, virtually all of those customers would down-price to
£21.99 if only they knew that they could. PlusNet claim that they are
not obliged to tell them about it.
So, tell everyone who might be a PlusNet customer that they are being
denied by PlusNet's stealth the right to save up to £216 a year. They
can claim the new tariff simply by asking for it on the PlusNet
website.
But warn your friends not to fall for PlusNet's other new products, the
legality of which is questionable. They have introduced a new £39.99
"Up-to-8MB" tariff as well as a £29.99 "Up-to-4MB" product both of
which offer exactly the same functionality currently as the £21.99
product - but they come with a promise of a free upgrade to the faster
speeds as and when they become available.
Bearing in mind that a) many exchanges will not offer these speeds in
the foreseeable future; b) even those that do won't do so until
September at the earliest; and c) many customers using the speed-bumped
exchanges still won't see any benefit because their line quality isn't
good enough, these products are clearly a scam. It may even be illegal
to offer them for sale since the promised benefits don't exist - and
for many customers, will never exist.
Customers will be much better off down-pricing to the £21.99 tariff now
and simply paying PlusNet a one-off £14.99 regrade fee to get the
faster speeds if and when they know that the benefit is real.
These new 4MB and 8MB products are clearly desinged to trap the less
knowledgeable customer into paying for something which they may never
get -- and even if they do get it, they will end up paying more for it
than they would simply by upgrading at the time.
These sharp practices have been reported to the Trading Standards
authority and I would urge reputable ISPs to consider what industry
pressure might be applied to curtail this kind of rogue behaviour which
threatens to bring the whole industry into disrepute.
Stan
Peter
I see this was cross-posted but the FU setting was back to a.i.p.u
so readers in other newsgroups will not see any/all follow-up posts
if they choose not to subscribe to that group.
On 07 May 2005 03:09, Stan The Man <m...@pr100.com> wrote:
>But warn your friends not to fall for PlusNet's other new products, the
>legality of which is questionable.
I don't think you've proved that in any way from your comments:-
>Bearing in mind that
>a) many exchanges will not offer these speeds in the foreseeable future;
So a few months away is not the "foreseeable future" or do you claim that
BT Wholesale will not be upgrading exchanges for years ? Or what exactly
do you base this claim on ?
>b) even those that do won't do so until September at the earliest; and
well that's a statement of fact, and I doubt anyone would claim otherwise
>c) many customers using the speed-bumped exchanges still won't see any
>benefit because their line quality isn't good enough,
Yet many will, so what does your statement prove ?
>these products are clearly a scam. It may even be illegal to offer them
>for sale since the promised benefits don't exist
Explain that to the people on the trial accounts, whose feedback is no
doubt helping BT and Plus.Net in their assessment of those speeds.
>and for many customers, will never exist.
On what basis do you state this claim ?
I agree there are issues about Plus.Net allowing users to remain on certain
accounts costing 29.99 or 39.99 a month.
However, I seriously doubt that many of those who chose to move up to those
speeds are as 'out of touch' with their options as you suggest, because, as
with many consumer products, and with the internet in particular, it's very
easy to compare products and see the changes in accounts. I would certainly
agree that Plus.Net has a duty to inform those customers and that point has
been made in the plusnet.service.customer-feedback newsgroup, too. Peter.
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