I’ve had an email from Plusnet regarding my phone and broadband etc:
"Once your fixed price contract minimum term ends, your terms and conditions will include price changes. This means the price for broadband, line rental, call plans and call charges will be increased on or after 1st June 2021 and then on or after 1st March every year from March 2022. On or after 1st June 2021, prices will increase by the Consumer Price Index rate of inflation published by the Office for National Statistics in April of that year plus 3.9%.
On or after 1st March every year from March 2022, prices will increase by the Consumer Price Index rate of inflation published by the Office for National Statistics in January of that year plus 3.9%. Other prices, content and terms may also change during your contract. If you have any discounts on your price at the time of the price change, the increase will be applied to this amount. See CPI Plus 3.9% Guide for details."
So…my fixed price contract ends in February and I’m reading the above to mean that whatever the increased charge from February is, in June there’ll be a further price increase of CPI% + 3.9%. Then in March 2022 there’ll be another price increase of CPI% + 3.9%.
CPI at the moment = 1.6% so total price increase after only FOUR MONTHS will be 5.5% and will increase the following year by another massive 5.5%!
You haven’t misread it, Lindy. Do what everyone should do when a contract comes up for renewal:
Shop around for a better deal.
Phone existing supplier to see if they can match or improve on this deal.
Go with the best offer.
I’m with Sky, have been for donkeys. Every time my contract comes up, I phone them and say I’m leaving unless you can either match what X is offering me AND keep the TV side of the contract the same as last time. I’m still paying more or less the same as I was 6 years ago.
Be quick in finding a new deal because I just found this article about Plusnet’s price increases and the author of the article says the price increase model is something that ALL broadband providers are looking to introduce.
Looks like consumers are going to pay a hefty price for the government’s lockdowns and tier restrictions.
Thanks PV and Dodge. Think I need to prioritise this - can’t believe they’re offering a new deal followed by a 5.5% price increase within FOUR months!
I’ve been looking on Money Supermarket but the Plusnet deals shown there are for new customers only and the only other provider I recognise is BT - who I truly dislike. I’ll need to ask friends about other providers as I think there are some local ones specific to the island.
Basically it’s a scam in my opinion and ALL the broadband companies do it with their deals. I went with Virgin Media for a long time BUT when I originally got the deal, it was a good deal at the time, the small print said that prices would increase in line CPI in April (new financial year) which effectively meant the deal they was offering was not a good deal. Many years later I switch to Sky and the did exactly the same thing, offered a good deal BUT price would increase come April due to CPI. Switched to BT, they did the same. Switched back to Sky and again they did the same.
It’s a scam on a huge scale as far as I’m concerned. They have you a good deal, say £20 for 1st 2 years BUT within those two years you will be subject to a CPI price increase in April, which meant that £20 for 2 years no longer becomes a good deal.
The worst thing is ALL of the broadband companies do this. They tempt you with good deals around Christmas time and then BAM!! come April you see your monthly payments have increased. You ring up customer service and they say ‘didn’t you read the small print’.
Lindy . Let me know what happens and if you change providers please . I’m with plus net and that has confused me now . My contract is up this year sometime. I must check . Now I’m concerned
I will. So far others have recommended: Talk Talk; Vodaphone and Wightfibre. An agent has approached me from Utility Warehouse…not sure about them… Also advised to comparethemarket; and broadband choices.
Give it a few months and Plusnet will reverse their decision, why? because I believe they will lose at least 50% of their customer base, if not more over this and when such information hits the money markets, the companies shares will fall tremendously and as we all know, when a company notices they are losing money that is when they act . The government lockdowns and tier restrictions has decimated the economy. Millions of people can no longer afford many of the monthly bills and thus will be looking for cheaper alternatives, broadband being one of them. All it will take is for a competitor to come in and offer a cheaper alternative to Plusnet but offer similar broadband speeds and people will flock to the competitor.
Lindy, I’ve just had a thought. Phone Plusnet and tell them you’ll renew with them but only if they’ll treat you as a new customer otherwise you’re off to another provider.
Plusnet plc is a British quad play internet service provider (ISP); providing broadband, landline, IPTV and Mobile services. The company was founded in 1997 in Sheffield, England, and became a public limited company (plc) in July 2004 when it was floated on the Alternative Investment Market. On 30 January 2007, Plusnet was acquired by BT Group, but it continues to operate as a separate business. By December 2013, it had over 750,000 customers across the UK.
Plusnet also operates a number of additional businesses: Metronet and John Lewis Broadband in partnership with John Lewis.
In 2018, Plusnet was brought into BT Group’s BT Consumer division, the CEO of which is Marc Allera.
In November 2019, Andy Baker stepped down as CEO of Plusnet and in 2020 Plusnet corporate staff will be transferred to BT contracts.
My “fixed” contract ends in the middle of February, but my line rental - paid in advance - ends in April. So any new contract I start will mean about 2.5 months of my line rental being voided! Bad practice on behalf of PlusNet I believe and possibly falls foul of the Sales of Goods and Services Act.
Lindyloo knows I’m stuck into a contract with them too so I’ll be interested in the outcome . My line rental and contract end at different times too and unfortunately I renewed last May and now tied in until 2022. It becomes worrying when time comes to change firstly you dont know if the new company are good and as we know a year into the contract they hike up the price
All done! Stayed with Plusnet as they’ve been 100% reliable so far. They’re sending a new router - which I’m not sure I need - and charging me £6.95 p&p.
Checked my download speed and it’s 17.27 - which shows I already have fibre bb.
I’ve signed up for the £22.99 pm deal (one of their Best Buys on here: https://www.plus.net/broadband/ which comprises £2.70 for broadband and £20.29 line rental. Have agreed to pay their line rental saver of £213.03 for 12 mths from May, so will be paying them £2.70 pm from now as I have 4 months line rental saver from my last annual payment.
Loads of t’s & c’s
Glad to get it over and done with and to know it’s not as complicated as I’d thought…and didn’t even have to tell them about the six other quotes I could have gone for!!
Thanks for all the input and advice - gratefully received and read.
Well done. The new router will be of great help (Sky sent me one last year when I renewed because the technology had been updated). I hope all goes well.
