Post Office robbery!

[Paul-R]

It pays to be a tart.

My brother was with Sly and about a month ago he reached the end of his 12 months special offer contract, This had effectively cost him about £10 a month for line rental plus free broadband. The very best they would do for renewal after an hour's bargaining by me was £19 a month. This was about £1 more than I could get for him using the comparison web sites so, to save changeover hassle he agreed.

And then in the Money Saving Expert weekly email round-robin the following week there was a short-lived special offer from PlusNet offering free broadband for 12 months if you pay line rental for 12 months. If you pay for the 12 months in one go then it's even cheaper and that came to £197.88 which equates to £16.49 a month. The really special offer was that they offered a £75 voucher after a month so that effectively brings the cost down £122.88 for a year; i.e. £10.24 a month.

Sly tried to say that we had broken the contract and there would be an £84 penalty charge but, as he was still inside the two week cooling off period, another phone call sorted that out. A good result.

If you're happy with your supplier except for the price then try haggling. The retentions department is where they have the real power to offer discounts. I've been with EE for several years now and each time the contract has finished I've bargained them down by about £12 a month. EE put up their prices a couple of months ago and so I was free to leave the contract if I wanted but I was able to grab what I thought was really great offer of upgrading to FTTC without paying a connection charge or delivery for the new modem.

Unlike my brother, who has absolutely no inclusive calls, I have the fullest package (anytime UK landline and mobile, anytime International). After taking off all the discounts I'm now paying £30 a month for the 18 month contract. As far as I'm concerned that's a good result as well. I could have got it £1 cheaper a month with Vodaphone but they don't include the oversea calls.

As I said earlier in the ramble, try negotiating. And if that doesn't work then be prepared to move.

[van ordinaire]

Doesn't TalkTalk have the lowest score for customer satisfaction? Still good to know some customers are happy with them.

I'm with PlusNet in Devon (after some research) & my only complaints are: the associated e-mail a/c was a nightmare to set up, all THEIR e-mails are duplicated, the only way to contact them seems to be by post - which is bizare! My default, I have to suffer Vodaphone in London: useless - but then I'm not paying for it.

[Paul-R]

I'm with PlusNet ... & my only complaints are: ..., all THEIR e-mails are duplicated, ...

My brother was with PlusNet before he was with Sly and the emails were doubled then as well. It took a couple of phone calls to get that sorted so it can be done.

[Pug_XUD_KeenAmateur]

we had a similar situation with npower, we wanted to switch to a more favourable tariff. As existing customers, they refused to do anything, even after sending them a letter saying "give us the new tariff or we take our business elsewhere"

We did go elsewhere, but we noted that having told them to 'get stuffed' and contracted a new supplier [something we had an 'out clause' on], suddenly anything was possible and they phoned us numerous times offering to give us what we wanted.... they were so keen to help that I was tempted to ask for a troupe of Can Can Dancers at my door, but SWMBO wouldn't've liked that!

[Pug_XUD_KeenAmateur]

I'm with PlusNet ... & my only complaints are: ..., all THEIR e-mails are duplicated, ...

not just me then! But other than that, can't fault 'em; they really are as good as the ads say they are!! I've got a date in the calendar for May when our 2year Contract expires and I have been in the habit of phoning 'em and asking for a discount, they've obliged twice so far.

[CitroJim]

I'm with PlusNet ... & my only complaints are: ..., all THEIR e-mails are duplicated, ...

not just me then! But other than that, can't fault 'em; they really are as good as the ads say they are!! I've got a date in the calendar for May when our 2year Contract expires and I have been in the habit of phoning 'em and asking for a discount, they've obliged twice so far.

I must try that when my current PlusNet contract expires. Thanks for the tip

[bobins]

I phoned to renew with Plusnet once and the guy at the end of the phone said (words to this effect) unprompted: "What was that, Sir ? You say you've found cheaper deals elsewhere, Oh in that case I'll find a better deal for you here". I've been with them for many years, my only problem is that very occasionally my 'profile' gets reset and I get a slower speed, but I raise a ticket with them and it quickly gets fixed without any issue.

[Gibbo2286]

Maybe we should get PlusNet to run the NHS.

The old lady in question has serious knee pain, went to the GP last Wednesday, he said "You need an Xray, ring the hospital and make an appointment." she been ringing both the local hospitals repeatedly since then, all she's been getting at each call is a half hour of proms music, finally got through this morning, first available appointment time is mid-day Tuesday the 20th.

[Eddie Nuff]

We're also with Plusnet. £19.99 for unlimited tinternet and free weekend calls. But that gives you access to their sim-only deals - £8/mth for 4gb of data, 2000 minutes of calls and unlimited texts. I never get near the limits but I also don't worry about the bill.

[dnsey]

As a fairly long-standing customer of Plusnet, I was phoned by them a few months ago to proactively offer me a discount, an upgraded router and £50 cashback if I renewed my contract. As I've always found their service (in both senses) excellent, I readily agreed.

[Paul-R]

I'm with PlusNet ... & my only complaints are: ..., all THEIR e-mails are duplicated, ...

not just me then!

I think, IIRC, that it's to do with the PlusNet email address that comes with the account forwarding to your regular email address which has already received its own copy. As I said, a phone call sorted the problem out.

[CitroJim]

I'm with PlusNet ... & my only complaints are: ..., all THEIR e-mails are duplicated, ...

not just me then!

I think, IIRC, that it's to do with the PlusNet email address that comes with the account forwarding to your regular email address which has already received its own copy. As I said, a phone call sorted the problem out.

That's quite likely... I have no such problem as I manage my own email...

The only issue is that you can't smarthost via the PlusNet outgoing SMTP server but there are ways around it...

[NewcastleFalcon]

Plus-Net the acceptable face bought by BT it seems. 100% owned by BT but try and find any reference to that on their website not particularly proud of their parent. Absolutely nothing in "About Us" and no "part of the BT Group" on the front page.

Still pedalling the Yorkshire "down to earth" "call a spade a spade" and "value for money" stereotype which to be fair was their original roots.

from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plusnet
Acquisition by BT
On 16 November 2006, it was announced that BT were making an offer for all shares in Plusnet. The BT deal, worth approximately £67 million, was declared unconditional on 24 January 2007 (after Office of Fair Trading (OFT) approval was granted).

Regards Neil

[myglaren]

We're also with Plusnet. £19.99 for unlimited tinternet and free weekend calls. But that gives you access to their sim-only deals - £8/mth for 4gb of data, 2000 minutes of calls and unlimited texts. I never get near the limits but I also don't worry about the bill.

Daughter signed up for that before Christmas and has been very happy with them. Currently looking into the mobile deal.

[Paul-R]

Plus-Net the acceptable face bought by BT it seems.

Not just PlusNet. EE are now owned by BT as well. I was not best pleased when this first came about as BT still owe me about £30 from when I dumped them as soon as I could following deregulation.

When I renewed with EE last year I raised my worries with them being part of BT and they assured me that they were being run independently and would keep their own UK based call centres.

Takeovers seem to follow me as I move from one ISP to another. I was with O2 for many years and they served me well even managing to raise my upload speed on ordinary ADSL to just under 2Mbps as they had their own equipment in the local exchange. Then Telefonica sold their landline assets to Sly which I was quite unhappy about. I stayed with them for a while and Sly gave me a free Now box and even offered me 12 months free satellite subscription and installation (turned down). I left them for EE when they downgraded the O2 equipment with their own and my upload speed went down to 1Mbps.