3,751 Customer Reviews over 94 pages
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- Location
- MANCHESTER
- Reviewing
- Plusnet
- Date
- 2022-04-25
- Comments
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Terrible, been with them for a while, not reliable...drop outs up to 5 in an hour. They send out openreach who do nothing. I will be moving when my contract is up
- Location
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- Location
- Liss
- Reviewing
- Plusnet
- Date
- 2021-04-17
- Comments
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I called plusnet to change the account from my husbands name to mine. I explained to the operator that my husband has recently passed away and I had found an email to him from plusnet requesting we call to discuss what plan we wanted to be on when our 2 year contract ended in a couple of months. The operator took a while to understand but eventually after offering a cheaper price we agreed that the account would close when the contract expired which gave me a few weeks to get set up with another provider. Our Internet coverage had been playing up quite a bit recently and in fact wasn't working at all that day. I was told that there was an outage but service would be resumed ASAP. Next morning no Internet and now unable to make calls on the landline. I called at exactly 8am and got through very quickly. After quite a while I was told that the account had been closed the previous day and I no longer had access to the Internet. This was very bad news as so many things still have to be arranged for my husbands funeral. I now have no Internet or phone. Plusnet claims to want to care for its customers needs is a sham. At the worst time of my life I have been left totally without support. We were with plusnet for more than 20 years and truly did not deserve such appalling treatment. Shame on you plusnet.
- Location
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- Location
- Cheshire
- Reviewing
- Plusnet
- Date
- 2017-11-03
- Comments
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Have been with Plusnet for 6 years now and have just moved house and not taken them with me. Every time I need to call them, I am told its at least 15 minute wait. I queried this on a number of occasions and the response was "There is a new call centre being organised that will help". I think they need about 30 calls centres as its a right pain to get through to them when you need help. eBay are quicker to get through to and that's saying something. I have absolutely no idea how they manage to rate highly on customer services but getting through to them has to be a zero star to 1 star. Over the years my fibre speed has degraded as well. Connection seems stable.
- Location
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- Location
- Dunmow
- Reviewing
- Plusnet
- Date
- 2018-06-16
- Comments
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I have been with Plusnet for almost a year. Customer service is really good but internet is very slow. Modem looks cheap and connection fluctuates. Not happy with price rise. Switching internet providers.
- Location
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- Location
- Essex
- Reviewing
- Plusnet
- Date
- 2015-10-15
- Comments
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When I changed to another broadband supplier they said sorry you are leaving and cancelled my direct debit.
Then the accounts dept said they couldn't access my direct debit and they couldn't take my monthly payment.I told them I had changed my supplier and that they had cancelled my direct debit I spoke to their accounts and they told me I owed £12.63 so I sent a cheque for this amount on the 10/10/15 .on the 14/10/15 I receive a letter saying I owed £1263.00 I later received an email with an apogee but still saying I owed £12.63 . A sad end to a to a relationship with a company that had up until then been vert good.
- Location
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- Location
- Reviewing
- Plusnet
- Date
- 2017-07-01
- Comments
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Continually increased and charged me unexpected fees. Don't believe their marketing!
- Location
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- Location
- Portsmouth
- Reviewing
- Plusnet
- Date
- 2015-05-21
- Comments
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Once they grab you with their ever changing offers you will not receive a clear statement of what you pay, your online bills will have a mixture of complicated charges and discounts that change every now and then making it impossible to understand if you are getting what was promised. Cashback is a nightmare to claim back, I'm still working on mine!!!
- Location
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- Location
- Wakefield, West Yorkshire
- Reviewing
- Plusnet
- Date
- 2020-10-04
- Comments
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I moved home 12 months ago, and there followed a succession of problems. Firstly for some unknown reason someone put us on ordinary broadband from the super fast, but continued to charge the faster rate. From day one we had no end of problems with coverage and reliability. After a number of calls and a replacement router, still the same problems. They then sent an engineer who suggested buying boosters as it a 3 storey house, which I duly did, still problems. They tried slitting the bands, still no better. I tried to persevere but it kept dropping all the time, which was a nightmare as my partner works from home on live spreadsheets, which are not self save, and she lost her work. Finally I decided to cancel my contract as it was not fit for purpose. A very rude lady on the other end said I had not followed their fault reporting process and I would need to pay the cancellation fee. I have now installed bt 2 all cover, perfect!If you live in wf2 do not buy plusnet.
- Location
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- Location
- UK
- Reviewing
- Plusnet
- Date
- 2009-07-31
- Comments
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Slow connection at peak times.Speed as measured never ever reaches claimed speed.typicaly 1.5 mbps.No where near 8 mbps !
- Location
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- Location
- London
- Reviewing
- Plusnet
- Date
- 2016-08-17
- Comments
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Very disappointed with Plusnet. If being able to move your direct debit date is important for you, don't use plusnet. You're stuck with the one you get when you sign up.
- Location
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- Location
- LEEDS
- Reviewing
- Plusnet
- Date
- 2017-02-03
- Comments
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Speed Ok Reliability Good but three price rises in 12 months will not offer the deals they offer to new customers do not like the fact line rental scam prices have risen from £10 to £18 in 8years taking public for mugs time it stopped have decided to leave sometime soon
- Location
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- Location
- Essex
- Reviewing
- Plusnet
- Date
- 2019-08-20
- Comments
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Unable to pay! Just want to pay! No end of obstacles being put in the way.
Before going into too much detail about my experience as a customer, I just want to highlight that I echo many of the thoughts and sentiments being raised and expressed via other platforms including this one, that of trustpilot, facebook, twitter and the official plusnet community forum. It goes without saying that nothing could be more damning for a business than to rate so poorly on trustpilot, for example; it is clear to see that customers are feeling aggrieved and let down by Plusnet, and yet when it comes to it, very little, it would seem, is being done in the way of damage limitation - and I'm afraid that just about sums up how bad things have apparently become for Plusnet, or so it seems from a customer point of view.
It pains me to have to come on here to post a negative review, but sadly none of the official channels are listening; my message just isn't getting through to them (and I don't mean that in literal terms, just from the perspective of constantly being ignored and fobbed off with promises that are never delivered).
Okay, so where should I begin with this one? Well first things first, I should point out that I am a loyal customer. I have been with them now for a good number of years, since March 2013 in actual fact. In that time the service has been pretty much consistent, and exceptional value for money, with perhaps the occasional connectivity glitch which was always happily nipped in the bud and corrected quite promptly. In the rare event of anything ever going wrong, communication with this company was always top notch, and in most cases, I wouldn't even need to chase them, they would reach out to me with an apology and explanation. Indeed, if I was to travel back in time, say up to around this time last year, I would certainly be giving them a 5 star positive and glowing review, but how things change - and not for the better, it would seem!
So what happened I hear you cry? Well, I guess it won't come as any surprise to those taking the time to read the other reviews on the likes of trustpilot and broadband.co.uk that I too am a victim of Plusnets inability to migrate from one billing system, to another without catastrophically messing things up along the way. What's happened is of clear detriment to me as a customer, and frankly I'm really annoyed by the way this is all being handled.
In September 2018 Plusnet moved over to a new billing system which was somehow meant to improve the customer experience. This apparently followed on from many years, it would seem, of customer feedback and complaints being raised and shared on the community forum. This fine post here being one such example: community.plus.net/t5/Plusnet-Feedback/Why-I-have-left-Plusnet/td-p/1389353 I dare say that's the Plusnet I knew and loved; one that always put the customer first, by listening, learning and adapting.
In reality though, what was delivered in September of last year was an ill-conceived rush job full of holes, errors and a huge step backwards in terms of what was on offer. For example, prior to the introduction of the new billing system, communication was fantastic. Every month a reminder email would arrive stating that payment would be taken on the set billing date, and following a successful payment, a confirmation email would land in one's inbox.
What's not to like? Well perhaps that some irrational individual for reasons unbeknownst to the customer, suddenly decided to adjust this procedure so that the email communication was banished until failed payment. Instead customers now had to log in to the member centre to keep track of bills in the form of PDF invoices, and even they proved hard to reach with blank pages and timeouts being encountered in the process of trying to view them. The invoices only state the amount due; for if the customer expected to see if payment had been successful taken, well frankly they were out of luck. For this you now had to visit a second page, which rather unhelpfully only states the total amount paid.
You could argue that the sudden lack of email communication could offer the illusion that if the customer didn't hear from plusnet by email, then everything must be fine and dandy. A huge step backwards, I'm sure you will agree!
From around October 2018, I noticed that the reminders and confirmations had stopped coming in. This shouldn't be anything to worry about, given how the new system works, but how wrong was I to assume this? What a mistake to make. In January of this year, I was rudely awaken to the sound of 'internets down!' and indeed it was. In the first instance, you would most likely inspect the router to see if the connectivity lights were on. Well what do you know; wan was connected. So, yes, I logged in to the router to ascertain whether or not this was true. Correct. The link was up, the modem was happily connected. Odd, I thought to myself, what could possibly have gone wrong? It was only when I, myself, decided to try and connect to a webpage when I spotted the URL in the browser was attempting to load failed.billing.plus.net/apps/payment/failed instead of the requested page.
Aha, slight problemo. Clearly something wasn't right, nothing a quick call to Plusnet wouldn't solve, after all, their ads state they're "happy to help". Did I say quick phone-call? Perhaps I should scrap that part, as there was nothing quick about it. On average it was taking around 45 minutes to actually make first contact. Recorded messages and annoying music bite your ear during the frustrating wait. Of course by the time you actually get through to anyone, not only are you desperate for a tinkle and most likely feeling a tad grumpy too, but your phone is starting to nag you that it's battery is exhausted. Marvellous! So, were they "happy to help"? What I will say is the advisor on the line was friendly and mostly helpful, and occasionally sympathetic putting himself in my shoes and looking at things from a customer perspective, which can only be praised. Sadly though the positive experience was somewhat short-lived.
It was explained that the account had incorrectly hit failed billing status, and assurances were offered that this was of no fault of my own as a customer. This is when I learned of the catastrophic mess the new billing system had caused, and what followed was a prime example of this. The system had failed to take continuous card payments automatically dating back to October 2018. This then put me in a scenario where multiple months were now owed. I'm not one to like owing money, and when payment is due, I always promptly ensure this is dealt with. As my account was in failed billing mode, access to the internet was now 'restricted'. The quickest way to remove further restrictions is, of course, to pay - nothing a manual payment over the phone couldn't resolve! Or so you would think! Upon trying to process payment, I was informed that the entire billing system was down, and therefore payment could not be made at this time. Given that I had tried to make payment, and the fact the system hadn't taken payment automatically for a number of months through no fault of my own, I was told any late payment fees would be waived, however I was advised there shouldn't be any in the first place as the error was their end due to the billing system catching up, and the fact the account had erroneously been placed into restricted mode too early. Apparently this should only happen 14 days after failed payment - anything before that should simply be a case of alerting the customer of the failed payment, rather than restricting access.
In this instance restrictions were lifted, and I was advised to visit plus.net/pay later in the day to try and make a payment via the website rather than having to phone back. It's worth noting that when restrictions are applied to the account, Plusnet send out an email alerting of the failed payment, and this tells you to go to plus.net/pay to make a payment. This then presents two issues the first being that email communication is absolutely pointless when access is restricted, as it is impossible to access email via a restricted service, and secondly that the restrictions actually block and prevent access to the plus.net website including that of the payment page.
How ridiculous! I asked the advisor why it was that Plusnet hadn't made any attempt to alert me of the failed payments up until this point, to which I was cheerfully informed that they are now a paperless company and they won't post anything out or phone the customer about such issues, it's generally accepted that these days customers are likely to have an alternative means of accessing their email and/or Plusnet account should their primary method of internet connectivity go down. To be fair though the advisor also stated that email communication was daft given that restrictions prevent access, and that he had personally raised this as feedback via the internal teams on numerous occasions. (Make a mental note of this part; I'll come back to it later in the review)
With the restrictions now being lifted, naturally the first thing I did was to visit the member centre to try and make a payment - but just like the advisor on the phone, I couldn't process this due to errors and timeouts. I gave it a bit of time, around an hour, and tried again - same problem. So I kept trying, but eventually gave up. I reached out to the social media team explaining the situation, and the growing concern that if this couldn't be resolved within 14 days, that billing would apply late payment fees. The social media team took note, and promised to phone me when payment could be processed. Later in the day I received the phone-call as promised, but once again payment over the phone could not be processed. I was advised to keep trying via the website, so that I did. After many hours of trying, I spotted that the member centre had the ability to process a one off manual payment, so I opted to use this method instead. It worked. And yes, I did use the exact same payment type and details that plusnet held on my account for continuous card payments. Odd, then, that it worked and payment could be made using this method. That then brings me onto an observational point - payment via this method, it seems, does not generate a receipt. I had nothing to confirm that payment had been received. With that in mind I contacted the online chat team, and after security checks, they were able to confirm that payment had been received, and that nothing was now owed.
As, by this time, I now had a lot of information to hand, and experiences to share, I decided to reach out to the CEO to try and highlight what I had been through. That was easier said than done. The only means of being able to reach this team was by opening a new complaint - although I had no intention of raising a complaint, as this was the only option open to me, I reluctantly chose this path.
As the large bill for many months of failed payments arrived so soon after the festive period, as part of the 'complaints' process, I cheekily asked if there was any option of a refund - given that the failed billing was no fault of my own, and owing to the amount of time I spent chasing up and trying to process a payment. To cut a long story short, I was told, as a service was provided, it was up to me to pay, but as there had been a disappointing response, a goodwill gesture of one month's refund in the form of a credit would be issued should I accept. But, should I wish not to accept, the case would be deemed in 'deadlock' and thus any further communication would have to be with the ombudsman rather than Plusnet themselves.
I wasn't about to enter a deadlock situation as I didn't regard my communication as a complaint; it was meant to be something of a learning experience to ensure what happened to me wouldn't happen to other customers; of course though the goodwill credit was gratefully received and accepted. It’s worth noting that at no stage did I contest payment or refuse to pay. Plusnet had provided a service, and I was happy to pay the agreed amount owed for the service being provided, however the issue was that the ability to pay was somewhat restricted at the time due to numerous faults and errors on the billing system.
Now, as a payment had been processed, you would expect this to be the end of it, but alas, no! After the free month of service, in the next chargeable period, my account went back into failed billing. Clearly lessons had not been learned, and the billing issue was still present on my account. Once again, the same issues encountered in January repeated themselves - failed billing email sent out, account restrictions applied and access to the plusnet website and payment page blocked.
With this in mind, I once again reached out to the customer services team, who removed restrictions and advised to pay via the website. Once again though, any attempts to pay via the website failed with error messages. What's more, after the restrictions were lifted, I noticed that the solution I used in January to make a payment had been removed from the member centre, leaving manual payment over the phone as the only method to pay - so that I did.
My communication with the complaints team had been closed due to a period of inactivity, so I opened a new ticket requesting that the complaints ticket be re-opened thus to allow me to feed in my second experience of failed billing. My complaints handler wasn't in the office to respond on this occasion, but thankfully someone who was extremely honest and understanding responded to my query. At this stage it was stated that after thorough investigation, the problem affecting automatic monthly payments on my account had been located, and would be raised with the internal faults team to investigate further. "After some considerable searching I have located the internal fault on your account preventing the Continuous Card payment processing per month. I have now raised this to an internal faults team and they will, now your account has been specifically flagged, apply the fix to your account once the issue has been fully rectified. Meaning that, and I will be as brutally honest with you here, given your significant loyalty as a customer I will speak to your like a member of our family - I have no idea when this will be resolved. These are not always simple resolutions and can take a few months, so I will say prepare yourself for the fact we may have to continue in the same vain for a little while. Please be assured though now it has been diagnosed fully, the correct back office team are now specifically looking at your account too in regards to a resolution." Another goodwill credit was added to my account, this time covering two months of service.
That's the end of it; right? Wrong! Three months later, my account entered failed billing again, with all the usual problems. By this time I was quite frustrated. Remember that mental note I asked you to make earlier in the review? I will add to that at this stage, a trend is becoming apparent - that the managerial level of Plusnet seem not to be listening to important feedback and concerns being raised by their own colleagues, so, evidently, it's not just the customer being ignored. You would think the internal faults team would have immediately applied a fix or remedy to my account, but clearly this didn't happen! I'm not sure why, but having to continually chase plusnet to try and make a payment, given that it should be a painless automatic process, was becoming something of a frustrating experience.
The original message sent in response to the 'complaint' is certainly valid, given that Plusnet are providing me with a service, I am happy to pay, but I just wish they would let me do so using the method I opted for when signing up as a new customer. That’s their contractual obligation as this was the payment method chosen when signing up for the account back in 2013. Again, to remedy this, I resorted to paying manually over the phone. As, evidently, the complaints process didn't resolve anything, the next best option available was to share my experience via plusnets own community forum.
At this stage I learned that there were in fact numerous faults affecting my account, the first of which being that where restrictions had been applied to the account, what was meant to be happening was a splash page should appear in the web browser alerting that the bill had not been paid. This splash page, apparently, has an acknowledgement button which, when clicked, removes restrictions until the next notification period, thus allowing the payment page and other websites to be accessed without any restrictions. That was the first discovery, the second was that the billing error seemingly has multiple triggers and failure points, whether it's a change of details, a product or service being added to the account, and so on. Standard policy, it seems, is for Plusnet to respond by telling the customer that they are aware of the issue, are working on applying a fix, and that only a small handful of customers are affected by the issue. "We’re aware that a small number of customers are still experiencing problems from our new billing system and we’re working hard to fix these legacy issues. We want to reassure those affected that may not have received a bill from us recently, we’re doing all we can to get everything back on track. We’re sorry that this isn’t the service customers have come to expect from us and give our assurance this will be sorted as soon as we can. Apologies for any inconvenience caused." The other element learned via this communication, and this is worth noting if you are in the same situation, is that when restrictions have been applied to the account, if these are manually removed by plusnet, rather than by the customer (on the splash page), even if an amount is still outstanding, the system automatically jumps forward to the next billing date, thus making it harder to pay. It would seem the best option is to phone in, pay over the phone, and then wait for restrictions to be lifted. It’s also worth noting that even though the billing date jumps forward to the next due date after a manual removal of restrictions, the system will still automatically re-apply restrictions at various points throughout the month! Bonkers!
Through researching the issue, I noticed that where others had shared similar experiences (failed billing) via the community forum, and twitter, another standard reply seemed to be "We can also confirm that once your bill has been generated we will only charge for a maximum of 90 days leading up to the invoice generating so if for example we've not generated your bill for 4 months then we'll just charge you for the last 3 months. If you also need a payment plan to split this cost over more than one month then we're happy to offer it."
With this in mind, I presented a number of different possible solutions to Plusnet, the first being the option to migrate my service to a new account thus to hopefully escape the billing issue. "As the issue is not account specific but is related to the payment method I feel that is is unlikely that setting up a new account will allow you to make payments via a card". The second was an offer to pay by cheque, which was seemingly ignored, even though the cancellations page states, and I quote "A posted cheque can be accepted in exceptional circumstances. When sending a cheque, the username must be written clearly on the reverse, and this should be sent by recorded delivery to Plusnet plc, The Balance, 2 Pinfold St. Sheffield, S1 2GU." The third solution I put to the team was the suspension of billing until such a time as a fix could be applied to the account, as has been offered to other customers encountering the same billing issue. The community staff decided to offer option three, should I be in agreement. It's by no means a perfect solution, after all, a service is being provided, and I expect to pay for said service - but, arguably, it is their own system error preventing this from happening in a smooth and seamless way, so with that in mind, it seemed like a viable temporary solution, and one I was happy to try.
Is that the end? Of course not. As payment could be made manually over the phone once a month, the billing department apparently declined the request(s) to suspend billing - yet another example of Plusnet ignoring their own staff! Instead they recommend that I change payment method to one I didn't agree to at the time of registering as a new customer. One of the main reasons I chose Plusnet was because the option to pay by credit card was available, and thus that's what, contractually, I signed up to. So I now find myself in a situation where I've got to phone in once a month to manually pay by card, chasing them for something which was never my fault. How do I feel about this? Well to be honest, I'm not happy! Remember, should the billing system fail on their end, as a customer I've only got 14 days to keep trying, otherwise late payment fees are applied no matter what - anything beyond that gets sent out to a collection agency, and there's plenty of examples of that already happening on the forum and social media platforms. The other ridiculous point, worthy of note, is Plusnet seem unable, or unwilling, to take payments in advance. So in my case, should I wish to pay for the next month prior to a 'failed billing' status being applied, it is not possible to do so. I have to wait until restrictions are applied, and then phone in!
What happened next is just abhorrent on every level, and severely damaged any last shred of trust and confidence that I had remaining in the company. In addition to the billing department refusing to suspend billing on the account until such a time as a fix could be applied (but at no stage have they ever told me this directly, they simply ignore requests from their own colleagues to action this as a reasonable request) – yes, you’ve guessed it, after a brief period of little or no communication from plusnet, suddenly I find I am back in restricted mode again due to failed payment. This time, apparently, I owe them for two months of service. What’s worse is I specifically reached out to plusnet to seek an update last month, only to be told it seemed like automatic card payments had resumed, that the request to suspend billing had never been actioned, and that everything is back to normal on my account. Well how wrong could they be? Failed billing and restrictions again this month! After raising this with the social media team in an attempt to resolve this, I was offered a good-will by way of apology, and this would consist of two separate credit notes. Upon the first credit note being applied, which should have covered one months bill, the account immediately went back into restricted mode as the current month was also due to be paid. And, surprise, surprise, the second credit note never materialised. This company has, it would seem, adopted the mindset of elected politicians – they tell the people what they think the people want to hear! And they clearly think they can get away with it too.
As you can tell, I do everything I can to share my experiences with Plusnet to try and help them learn from them, and to ensure that nobody else will ever have to encounter the same issues I’ve had to endure for 11 months. This is where the mundane becomes frankly absurd. At this point I was informed, and I quote: “I am sorry that you were previously advised by one of my colleagues that we could suspend the billing on your account. It has been confirmed that this would not be an option and would not resolve the issue. In order for this matter to be resolved we would recommend setting up a direct debit payment on this account. We would be unable to offer any further options of resolution as we are unable to support card payments.” Do what? So we’ve gone from please phone in every month to make a manual payment over the phone to suddenly being unable to take any card payments, at all? Which then begs the question, if that’s true, then how would Direct Debit be unaffected by this issue? And also, in which way would suspending billing not resolve, at least temporarily, an ongoing billing issue? A rather contradictory response from plusnet there, I am sure you will agree!
Given the number of similar complaints being raised on other review platforms, the community forum, social media platforms, in the press, and elsewhere, you have to question why it is that trends haven't been spotted, and why this has been allowed to continue for so long. Certainly from my own experience thus far, there has been an eagerness from the complaints handler to push me to the Alternative Disputes Resolution Service, the ombudsman. I can easily find many examples of customers who have been in a similar situation to my me that have followed through with this process, and in most cases it would seem the outcome is far from satisfactory. It does beg the question, though, of how it is even the ombudsman has seemingly failed to spot a very obvious trend where the level of complaints regarding the billing system is concerned.
Personally I think the auditors and Chief Executive should be ashamed of themselves, and, accordingly, I have asked Plusnet to give me the contact details of their auditor so I can raise this directly with them, but of course, that request has fallen on deaf ears.
Plusnet clearly has little or no regard for customer service, customer experience or delivering on the advertised slogan of “We’ll do you proud!” The billing date of each month now fills me with dread, and the nagging thought of having to spend so much time continuously chasing this has, I will admit, taken its toll now.
I can only assume that the well rehearsed statements in response to billing issues are some sort of code for all is not well behind the scenes. Admittedly I haven't sussed out what's actually happening, but if you start putting the pieces of the jigsaw together, given the length of time this has gone unfixed and unchallenged by the powers that be, including the auditors, one can only assume that the business is either set up to deliberately push more, unnecessary costs on to the customer or to deliberately push legacy customers away, or, even worse, maybe Plusnet have completely lost control of their own payment gateway (I say their own, but transactions seemingly get sent to the BT payment gateway via a plusnet domain).
If that is the case, surely that opens an even bigger can of worms, namely how safe personal and financial data is at this company. Food for thought! In the early days of this billing issue, where the entire system failed, I was told “When trying to take this payment from yourself I was unable to do but I have raised this due to it’s an issue we are experiencing where we are faced with an empty assignment key when trying to take payment.” They were obviously aware of an issue at that stage, in January, but it would seem there is now a much bigger issue arising here. The question is, what is it, and how can it be resolved?
To me it seems to be very similar behaviour and traits of that of a company that knows it’s on its last legs and about to call in administrators. It's the whole let's blame everyone but ourselves mentality. That’s the message that is coming across from Plusnet, and they are doing nothing to remedy this hopefully false perception.
Why did Plusnet even let it get to this stage? They had ample opportunity to put this right, but they have failed me miserably for something which, to be honest, would be quick and easy to resolve from their end.
I was hoping to remain a loyal customer for many more years to come, and I keep my fingers crossed that this can be promptly resolved in a satisfactory way that not only helps restore my trust and confidence in Plusnet, but reaffirms what I said at the beginning of this review - that a 5 star glowing review from me was possible – so let's make it happen. I’ve done my bit by airing and sharing my experiences, concerns and feedback, and I have logged and documented every step throughout this miserable 11 months. Time for you, Plusnet, to do your bit and, yes… do me proud!
In conclusion:
In its current state, regrettably I'm unable to recommend plusnet to others at the moment as I wouldn't wish others to encounter the same disappointing experience I've been through now for what is fast approaching nearly one year since the problem first materialised, which I base on early indications raised via the community forum in September 2018, but of course for me, it's not quite a year yet as my problem began in October 2018 - that being said though, should we reach October 2019 and I’m still in the same situation, I dare say the easiest way to conclude it will be for me to completely abandon plusnet as a customer - but even then, there's a fairly strong chance the damage has already been done, as it it possible Plusnets inability to process an automatic payment, and accusing me of failed payment due to their own systems error has, no doubt, been of detriment to me as a customer as it has likely been flagged on my credit rating. And going by other reviews, even closing the account doesn’t guarantee that they won’t continue to get things wrong and send out payment reminders and collection notices in the future!
I just hope this isn't the case, but cast iron assurances are going to have to be offered to me now. Plusnet, no standard responses here please - I'm willing to work with you to resolve this in a way which is mutually acceptable to both parties, but to achieve this, I feel there is a real need to re-evaluate my experience, to assign a named advisor/contact from a senior management level to engage with me, and to hopefully resolve this and learn from it. I do not want the current named complaints handler to continue with this case as, well you can see for yourself, he’s only made matters worse and hasn’t resolved the issue at all. I want you to escalate this to another more sympathetic, caring and understanding advisor within Plusnet who will go above and beyond to read through the case history, become familiar with the issue, and offer a practical solution at the earliest possible opportunity. It needs to be someone who has the authority to make changes to the account, to action and deliver on any agreed promises, and to have direct contact with myself throughout. Communication and honesty is integral to this working.
Let's turn this around and make the negative a positive - I have every confidence that it can be achieved. I have to say though, with statements like “Whilst this issue is being investigated we are unable to provide a date as to when this matter will be resolved” do little in the way of filling me with any actual confidence that you will ever do me proud. Such a shame as I was a really happy and a loyal customer until this billing mess started. Throughout the whole thing you’ve put endless emphasis (and stress) on me as a customer to resolve this – and I just wish I could actually resolve this. As a customer there’s nothing I can do to access your back-end billing software to fix the issue, so please, use your initiative here and be sensible – stop making this my problem. I have spent many months and hours chasing this, by gathering and submitting the evidence of each step as requested, and still you treat me like this! How about you actually stick to the part where you say you will speak to me, and I quote “like a member of our family” I really hope you don’t treat your own family (colleagues) in this way! But, going by the job ads, you do treat your family quite well with a very nice package of free phone calls, broadband and TV – so at least they never have to encounter the dreaded billing issue. I just hope they actually get paid for their time and efforts. Would you be happy, as a representative of the company, if you had to go to such lengths and measures as I’ve been through to chase payment for your time? Thought not. Well don’t do it to me. I want to pay for the service, but your system won’t let me. Fix it!
- Location
-
- Location
- Sutton Coldfield
- Reviewing
- Plusnet
- Date
- 2009-08-02
- Comments
-
Paying for up to 8mb getting 2-3mb
- Location
-
- Location
- Bradford
- Reviewing
- Plusnet
- Date
- 2021-07-29
- Comments
-
My broadband was going to be transfered to another provider on 30th July however plusnet decided to leave me without broadband from today 29th July. They do not provide good service and very spiteful even when you leave them end of contract.
- Location
-
- Location
- Gloucestershire
- Reviewing
- Plusnet
- Date
- 2020-04-23
- Comments
-
We have been with Plusnet for several years. Last year they allowed accidentally for Sky to take over the line and broadband without our consent. This resulted is us not having broadband or a phoneline. After a great deal of stress - Plusnet had to put a complete new telephone line in to reconnect our service.
This year upon renewal I have telephone them and was told someone would call me back to discuss renewal options with me - its been 7 days and counting and this is even after opening a complaint with them. So much for "we'll do you proud"!
I'm thinking of leaving to go to Zen - it costs more but hopefully customer service is better!
- Location
-
- Location
- Cornwall
- Reviewing
- Plusnet
- Date
- 2016-01-15
- Comments
-
Avoid! I have just been charged £30 for cancelling my contract outside of my 12 month period that I signed up for because they say they have to cancel the line. I argued that I didn't want the line cancelled because a new person was moving into the property and she wanted the service continued. They told me this couldn't be done, even if she signed up to a new deal before the cancellation date I had given them. Now it appears that she will have to pay to have the line activated.
I have never had this problem before and it seems entirely wrong to me.
I could understand it if I just simply decided I didn't want broadband any more but I am just moving house and want to stop paying for broadband on a property I no longer live in.
The service was quite reliable while I had it but please be aware of the hidden charges which were not explained to me when I took out the contract. I wrongly assumed that one the 12 months was up I would be free to go. That is not the case.
- Location
-
- Location
- Preston
- Reviewing
- Plusnet
- Date
- 2017-04-17
- Comments
-
We have very intermittent service and can't rely on doing anything on our internet for more than 30 minutes with out it cutting out for another 30minutes. However when it works it is 30mb/s so Plusnet have sent 2 engineers and all they can say is the your getting good speed. Poor customer service where 10 advisors have not understood our issue
- Location
-
- Location
- Bedfordshire
- Reviewing
- Plusnet
- Date
- 2016-09-01
- Comments
-
I've been with Plusnet for years, I mean many many years now, and until now I was a happy customer. Even when they cut off my neighbour by mistake in my previous property, which delayed my broadband connection even further, I still liked them!
I don't often post negative reviews unless a company really get's my back up. And whilst I've had many a happy year with Plusnet, they've recently managed to irritate me over a quibble of a cancellation fee. It's sad that I never reviewed them when I was happy with them, but needs must.
I honestly think Plusnet customer service is slowly getting worse. Years ago it was impeccable, but possibly since BT took over the reins things have started to take a turn for the worse. You see I cancelled my old broadband/phone package mid-July and we agreed it would end 2nd August. It was a piece of cake to cancel, and I didn't feel pressured to stay in the slightest - which is good - but at the time I got no mention of the dreaded cancellation fee. Now was that because I mentioned I was probably going to sign up again? I don't know, all I know was that If I wanted to transfer my service from one house to another, they weren't going to offer me any deals, yup absolutely NONE! So after weighing up the options I decided to cancel so I could sign up as a new customer and take advantage of their current deals, and at no time was their ANY mention of that cheeky cancellation fee. In fact, he made out that my standard monthly broadband/phone fee was the last I would be paying.
So throughout August I started to receive a load of emails and texts from Plusnet claiming a random fee of £19.30 is due, I quote: "To avoid any restrictions to your service", ummm, but I cancelled it, so you should have restricted it when you said you would, by cutting it off!
So I took a look at their website as I thought it was all very strange, I even discovered the cancellation fee section, but the figures on the site weren't matching the figure I was being quoted, so surely it can't be that?
So today (1st Sept 2016) I finally called them up. Their representative confirmed it was indeed a cancellation fee, but he couldn't tell me why it had been apparently discounted. Perhaps it's a loyalty discount he said, seriously, do they not keep track of what's going on (although I'm guessing from my need to rant that they don't).
So I tell them to listen back to the recording of my initial conversation when I cancelled - we all know they record them after all. I explained that there was no mention ever made. He then went off to speak to the powers that be, and came back and gave me the ultimatum that got my back up, "if it's not paid they will take action and cancel my new account." At no point had I said I wouldn't pay, I was just querying what it was, why it wasn't the standard cancellation rate, what on earth was the discount (even though secretly we all love a discount), and can he just confirm that it was ever spoken about.
Anyway, nothing like a subtle threat to get you weilding your credit card. We all know the world is our oyster when it comes to home broadband. It would appear the toss up I had between Vodafone and Plusnet ended up with me signing up to the wrong company. We all know it costs a company more to attract and sign up new customers than keep the old ones happy, but obviously Plusnet like to make things challenging for themselves. So, if you're signed up with Plusnet and want to cancel, make sure you record the conversation to protect yourself as if no mention is made of such a fee you'll have covered your back unlike me.
Oh and lastly, Plusnet if you read this, you need to change your recorded message, because it explicitly says you WON'T take payment over the phone, and yet your representative wasn't aware of that as he happily took my money over the phone! Oh dear oh dear
- Location
-
- Location
- Norwich
- Reviewing
- Plusnet
- Date
- 2016-11-28
- Comments
-
Plusnet would be fine if only the email system they provide was accessible. There is a known fault which they say they are 'investigating'. It has been ongoing for weeks. I have been unable to access my emails this afternoon. As soon as I can copy some saved emails (assuming I can ever access them again) we shall be leaving plus net.
- Location
-
- Location
- Southwell
- Reviewing
- Plusnet
- Date
- 2023-10-09
- Comments
-
we used to have 3 BB contracts with plus net for over 15 years, always been spot on, but since the BT Takeover they have gone downhill, I renewed one of the contracts October 2022, they now say that I never renewed the contract even though I spoke to an agent about it a couple of days later. been overcharged about £340 in total. apparently they have no records that far back including voice recordings. All I would Advise is take your business very much else where.
- Location
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- Location
- High Wycombe
- Reviewing
- Plusnet
- Date
- 2019-11-23
- Comments
-
Plusnet have left me with no internet on black Friday. I transferred to them from my previous provider 15 days ago.They were happy to send welcome emails and except a years line rental in advance,but then nothing!No texts,no router,no emails.
I have changed ISP many times from Talktalk,Postoffice, EE to name a few but none of them ever caused any problems. The new router would turn up in the post an email told you when to plug it in, loss off internet 4-5 hours max.
Plusnet through thier incompetence are going to take a further 6 days(on top of the 15 days they've already had) at the most important time of the year for purchases.
There excuse "some outreach problem with ISP contract handover " i.e the dog ate my homework Miss. Come on guys this is your business you're ment to chase up the bits that don't come together properly.
They graciously said that they "won't charge me for the days that they're NOT PROVIDING a service".
Well; thank you So Much!☹
So if internet access is important to you I would STEAR WELL CLEAR.
ps. I put 3* for broadband speed and reliability because I don't know if they are good or bad.
- Location
-
- Location
- Doncaster
- Reviewing
- Plusnet
- Date
- 2015-12-15
- Comments
-
Had the contract for 12 months requested it to be cancelled at the end of the 12 months with plenty of notice due to putting the house up for rent, the company continued the contract regardless with extortionate amounts and roped me into paying more to get out of the contract. Definitely would not recommend them, please read the fine print you think you're getting a good deal and you're not. Advisors very snotty or cant understand English. Excellent speed and connection though
- Location
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- Location
- Denstone, Staffs
- Reviewing
- Plusnet
- Date
- 2015-03-13
- Comments
-
We have a poor line here in Denstone so I moved from BT to Plusnet... and have not really noticed any difference - only its cheaper. However today I find that PLUSNET McAfee does not support MAC PCs (BTs does) - a fact that was not made very clearly in Adverts!!!! BEWARE. The customer services were brusque... read T&Cs carefully - last line in page of writing :o)
- Location
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- Location
- Cornwall
- Reviewing
- Plusnet
- Date
- 2016-09-20
- Comments
-
Anyone with drop-out problems throw the plusnet router, which is total rubbish, in the bin and invest in a TP Link router, not expensive and never dropped out once since changing to it.
Internet speeds also rubbish, ring them and when you eventually get through to complain they hike the speed up by the following day only for it to fall away over the following 4/5 weeks, resulting in another phone call to repeat the process all over again. Morons
- Location
-
- Location
- Moffat
- Reviewing
- Plusnet
- Date
- 2018-06-13
- Comments
-
Have been problematical on and off. Billing was a problem but technical problems are worse. On latest occasion I lost my internet. Thinking it was a problem with my computer I spent 3 hours unsuccessfully trying to fix it. It was then I discovered that a BT engineer was working in the area and somehow had changed my phone number to someone else in the area! This meant no internet for me. Best they could do was get an engineer back in a couple of days! Fortunately the other person who now had my phone number managed to get it fixed by BT this morning. OK, had my phone number back but no internet. Spent about an hour on the phone to Plusnet waiting 30 mins to be answered then another 20 minutes to fix the issue. Happy now except I then got a text message from BT wanting me to confirm my need but via a connection which didn't do replies and asking me to contact Plusnet direct! I wasn't going to hang on Plusnets free phone for another half hour and managed to send an email I had to discover. Not confident Plusnet will contact BT given current mess.
- Location
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- Location
- Worthing
- Reviewing
- Plusnet
- Date
- 2019-03-08
- Comments
-
Moved home but somehow they managed to put me on a different package for a phoneline only! 10 days later and still have no internet. Some of the staff are helpful but sone come across as being upgrade crazy..which i think is what happened with me, someone tried to upgrade me and cocked it up. The internet speed has always been stable in the past so no problems here but this has really put me off. Looking for another provider.
- Location
-
- Location
- warwick
- Reviewing
- Plusnet
- Date
- 2017-07-31
- Comments
-
they took over my phone lines but because 'their supplier was late transfering the account' I got to pay an full month to the old company, as well as a month less 5 days to plusnet, when I complained it took 1 hour and forty one minutes on their chat line before the words above were admitted but there was nothing I could as they were not allowed to give me the suppliers details.
- Location
-
- Location
- Saffron Walden
- Reviewing
- Plusnet
- Date
- 2020-10-15
- Comments
-
Terrible customer service! Yesterday our direct debit failed. We immediately resolved the problem however with 4 hours our Web traffic went on some redirect that made it unworkable. Could not access their Web site to make a payment. Still on hold to get through to accounts after an hour. Use someone else if you want a business service
- Location
-
- Location
- Kendal
- Reviewing
- Plusnet
- Date
- 2019-05-11
- Comments
-
The deal l took out included a £75.00 cans back reward have never seen it now told they sent a form in email which l never received if l don’t claim by end of month lam told it will then be null and void..changed over from another company to this thinking it would be better..Also l set my friend up with mobile deal which included £25.00 cash back card..because she was recovering from throat cancer they allowed me to set it up as long as she answered yes to give permitting plus this condition has left her hard of hearing..today when l visited tried to get the £25.00 sorted for her was told she would have to give details herself or l had to be power if attorney for her..she is married and l have no right to be power of attorney and her husband is not good in Internet or phone wish l hadn’t changed companies for her to get a better deal now she will loose her deal if we can’t get something sorted
- Location
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- Location
- Hartlepool
- Reviewing
- Plusnet
- Date
- 2020-04-25
- Comments
-
The worst company I have ever dealt with. Initially changed me over before the agreed date. Despite a request and promise I would keep my original phone number the number was changed. I had to contact them after 3 months to tell them they hadn't been taking payments from my account. Payments have increased twice since taking the contract out in August 2019. Can't wait to leave, but when I finally manage to get through to them I imagine the get out payment will be too much for me to pay. Would not recommend them to anyone.
- Location
-
- Location
- Beckenham
- Reviewing
- Plusnet
- Date
- 2016-10-08
- Comments
-
I joined plusnet mainly because of their good customer satisfaction about 2 years ago. I am afraid they are now rubbish. I have been trying to get through to customer service over a week now. I often give up after waiting for over 30 mins. Repeatedly using the storms in the Uk as an excuse for their inefficiencies. I am afraid Plusnet sucks. Looking for another provide!!!!!
- Location
-
- Location
- Coychurch, near Bridgend
- Reviewing
- Plusnet
- Date
- 2020-04-11
- Comments
-
In essence I am reviewing BT Openreach. All the DSLAM boards in my lcal fibre cab are HOT, i.e. oversubscribed. Openreach use covert service capping to throttle the bandwidth so they can accomodate new customers at the cost of good service to existing customers. Plusnet deny this but I have spoken to Openreach technicians who confirm this. Plusnet refuse to do anything unless the bandwidth is below the new lower standard (average max speed) I have multiiple mini dropouts and bandwidth fluctuations. The average speed is good (now 32mbps) but is dropping regularly (originally 37mbps) with no plans to repair pathced copper lines or upgrade the system by building new cabinets or providing FTTPr any hybrid service. Our line length is too long for G.Max at 993m. My gripe is that I pay more each year for a deteriorating service with no published plans to repair the copper network or upgrade the service. Also Plusnet customer service has taken a nose dive. An analyst who promised I would always be able to contact him has disappeared and nobody will talk to me. Switching suppliers is pointless as they all use the same Openreach network. Twice the speed is available a few hundred feet away but it is a different exchange and they wont/can't connect me to it. I can't see what the future holds and I just want to use the service instead of constantly having to worry about it.
- Location
-
- Location
- Tonyrefail
- Reviewing
- Plusnet
- Date
- 2015-10-04
- Comments
-
I have recently experienced no end of problems with Plusnet.I needed to purchase a new router and was told that if I wanted a free router I would pay for post and packing and if I renewed my contract I could have a cheaper deal. This I did and was told I would pay £5.99 a month , a saving of £3. However an email informed me of a monthly cost of £8.49 would be taken. I phoned to query and then complain when I was told they were unable to do any deals. This surely if they record calls then my information can be checked. I am now bound by an 18 month contract, I wish I had never heard of plusnet! I also had connection problems with new router which took weeks to rectify and an engineer visit that failed to happen. I complained about this and had a refund of £25. They also sent emails when they were aware I had no internet connection and to contact them by telephone is an absolute nightmare!!!
- Location
-
- Location
- Ipswich
- Reviewing
- Plusnet
- Date
- 2016-12-19
- Comments
-
The main problem is the abysmally slow webmail and the outdated restriction of 1G for your mailbox. If you start exceeding this then all your emails will be archived which means they empty your box completely.
Plusnet themselves recommend you use another provider for emails eg gmail or hotmail. Their servers are not coping with demand and I would never recommend them to someone else.
After contacting the Chief Executive I have had help from a dedicated team to reduce mailbox size and more time to archive; however the bottom line is that Plusnet are constantly advertising for new customers without being able to cope with existing ones.
- Location
-
- Location
- Wales
- Reviewing
- Plusnet
- Date
- 2021-06-11
- Comments
-
Only been with them for 2 days and already they are increasing my price!
The router they supply is a joke, poor wifi, overheats looks nasty!
The main reason I joined them was for the UK call centre, but honestly the ones abroad are better then these! Very patronising, you can tell they are working from home as they don’t care, each time you call up they honestly can’t be bothered.
Will be going back to Talktalk once my contact ends.
- Location
-
- Location
- Northamptonshire
- Reviewing
- Plusnet
- Date
- 2016-12-28
- Comments
-
While their service is as reliable as any other, the speed in my area is spotty. It is their customer service that is appalling. I called up about a problem with my bill, and the person I dealt with seemed unwilling or incapable of actually understanding my problem, most likely because he was more involved in what was on his computer screen than what I was saying. In the end, he informed me that nothing could be done about the issue and, when I said that I would take my business elsewhere, didn't have any interest in convincing me not to.
- Location
-
- Location
- Lichfield Staffordshire
- Reviewing
- Plusnet
- Date
- 2018-09-18
- Comments
-
Plusnet have taken on the same idea as car insurance discount for new customers and charge more for loyalty
- Location
-
- Location
- Southampton
- Reviewing
- Plusnet
- Date
- 2015-09-18
- Comments
-
I had thought that Plusnet were the very best at looking after their customers. For me, the reality is that they cannot appreciate problems, even when the nature of the problem and the solution is presented to them - this has happened a number of times. The latest disaster is their simply saying (after some delay) that they are unable to deal with the enquiry.
Regards, lim
- Location
-
- Location
- Blyth, Northumberland
- Reviewing
- Plusnet
- Date
- 2020-01-03
- Comments
-
I've been with Plusnet for 18months and I'll be honest the buffering and issues with routers have been constant. I had one failed router which I had to prove with a known good router before they would replace (difficult if you dont have one). Generally an average service. The cost comes at the end of your contract, dont expect to renew for a good deal. Currently they offer 27pm with £75 cashback for new customers. Best you will get on the phone is £33pm for 24 months and no further incentives. Given the average speed has been 20mbps below the advertised and it drops out frequently I've decided to move to EE. After cashback (100) its £21pm for 18 months, reviews suggest their equipment is superior also.
- Location
-
- Location
- London
- Reviewing
- Plusnet
- Date
- 2013-11-20
- Comments
-
2 months after switching my ISP (using MAC code etc, as advised), clearing my last bill and cancelling the direct debit, Plusnet started harassing me for 25 quid. My crime? To have switched to a service provider they didn't like (Post Office). When the salesman told me this charge wouldn't have been applied if I'd switched to BT, I laughed in his face and hung up. Now I'm getting debt collectors' letters
- Location
The reviews published on this page are those of the individual authors who have warrantied that they abide by our review guidelines. Reviews are not the opinion of Broadband.co.uk.