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PlusNet cancellation fee - £25

Hi folks

I'm sure this has come up before, but I just got told I have to pay £25 for a cancellation fee.

I've been with Plusnet for over 5 years I think, and I use my own router (Cant remember if they sent me one or not).....

Can I get out of paying this fee?

I'm moving home and house sitting for a year, otherwise I probably would have transferred across. But, in light of this sort of policy, I'm not soo sure I would renew with them in a year.... at the very least I'd try to avoid such stipulations.

Can I avoid paying this £25 fee legally?

Ta for any advice on how to approach this.
M
 
This sounds like the standard industry wide Broadband Cease Fee. If so, pretty standard stuff that's been around a while now.
 
Theres nothing i can see in their termination terms about £25 to cancel. Could it be this is more to do with an xxx amount of days notice and a charge left?
 
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They i think have only a 10 day notice period, but if you are not migrating to another ISP then they will be passing on the charges from BT (cease fee) which cost ISP's £11.00 plus vat according to the openreach document that i read a few months ago
The price of the cease fee's that ISP's charge varies a lot, in the T&s's on vivacity's web site they say £40.00 same for xilo i think, so some it would appear are making a profit from that too, no one minds a few quid ,but keep it reasonable
 
(cease fee) which cost ISP's £11.00 plus vat according to the openreach document that i read a few months ago
That sounds like you found the inbound migration fee, which whilst most ISPs will swollow, does actually cost us money.
 
In PlusNet's case I think it is like Martin says above and remains a standard practice for quite a few ISPs. Essentially you make the migration/setup "free" but shift a cancellation (exit) fee into the contract terms. We covered this on page 2 of our 'Exposing Hidden and Confusing Broadband ISP Charges' article.

Some ISPs work this into their deals and only apply it so long as your contract lasts (i.e. if you leave outside of the contract then it's not charged), while others keep it there no matter what service you take. It's a crafty way of making a package look cheaper than it is because you don't automatically think to add the £20-£30 cost on top.

A handy tip is to always check the T&C's before signing up and make a specific search of the content for any pound sign £ characters. That usually helps you to spot some hidden nasties or find the true cost.
 
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Thanks all, sounds like it's just something I have to swallow.

*Mark J*, nice handy and simple tip there, thanks for that. I'll def use it from now on :smilet:
 
Looking at this which is as far as i can tell their cancellation terms....
http://www.plus.net/support/service/policies/cancellation.shtml

As i mentioned there is no mention of charges for completely cancelling the service. The only charges mention are if you want to cancel but keep some type of domain name or email account etc.

No charge unless i missed it is mentioned for wanting to terminate the service entirely. It may be mentioned in other terms though.
 
Looking at this which is as far as i can tell their cancellation terms....
http://www.plus.net/support/service/policies/cancellation.shtml

As i mentioned there is no mention of charges for completely cancelling the service. The only charges mention are if you want to cancel but keep some type of domain name or email account etc.

No charge unless i missed it is mentioned for wanting to terminate the service entirely. It may be mentioned in other terms though.

It's explicitly mentioned if you follow the 'Account Summary' hyperlink on the above page under the 'Final Payment' section (you need an account to log into this page).

The fee, as alluded to by others, is the passing on of the Wholesale cost for outright ceasing/disconnecting your DSL circuit. More information on our website here.

Hope that helps.
 
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Thats a bit naughty, im assuming (hopefully wrongly) from that people need to have an "account" with you first before they know about this charge?

Clicking the Account summary hyperlink you mention (under section 6 "6. Final Payments" from my prior link if anyone is interested) takes me to a plusnet login page. Specifically...
https://portal.plus.net/my.html?s=0&action=account_summary

How are people supposed to know about that cancellation charge before they sign up to your product?

Is this £25 mentioned anywhere on your site which people can view before becoming a member/user of your product?

I think you will find it should be. Failing to mention charges in terms of a product is a big NO NO. I hope it is mentioned elsewhere on your site, where people can see it before signing up.

If it were me, i wouldnt be paying it unless its specifically listed in terms before i signed up. You wouldnt have a legal hope in hell getting it out of me either LOL I suspect without checking it probably violates all types of things.
 
@truth4free

I suspect that you missed my post due to Bob's appearing shortly afterwards - go back to message 10, see link I gave - I'm not a PlusNet customer but I found that pretty easily.
 
Thats a bit naughty, im assuming (hopefully wrongly) from that people need to have an "account" with you first before they know about this charge?

No, that's not the case. I think we're agreed that doing this would be a little underhand to say the least.

Clicking the Account summary hyperlink you mention (under section 6 "6. Final Payments" from my prior link if anyone is interested) takes me to a plusnet login page. Specifically...
https://portal.plus.net/my.html?s=0&action=account_summary

How are people supposed to know about that cancellation charge before they sign up to your product?

It's referenced in the T's & C's that are presented during the signup journey. It might also be in the 'shopping cart' but I'm not 100% sure.

Is this £25 mentioned anywhere on your site which people can view before becoming a member/user of your product?

In addition to the T's & C's it's here too (as linked to earlier).

If it were me, i wouldnt be paying it unless its specifically listed in terms before i signed up.

It is. You often assume the worse I've noticed? ;)
 
@truth4free

I suspect that you missed my post due to Bob's appearing shortly afterwards - go back to message 10, see link I gave - I'm not a PlusNet customer but I found that pretty easily.

You are indeed right i did miss your post, sorry and i also apologise to bpullen.

I stand corrected... Plusnet do indeed have every right to charge that fee.

Its just not listed where i thought it would be, infact even if you google Plusnet cancellation fee it lists the link i found first. Oh well i guess its a lesson to the OP to read every little term and condition of a product in future.

Maybe its about time Ofcom also made ISPs list ALL the terms of a product in a single place rather than bury things and hidden charges in multiple pages of waffle (thats not aimed just at Plusnet but several).
 
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i am also with plusnet however have taken a no contract option. I used my own router that met the requirements however for some reason would not work, i also tried with two other routers. eventually i had to get one of their issued ones which did work...which was strange, even the technicians could not figure it out.

anyway i now have to pay the following in cancellation fees;
Deferred Setup £25.00
Deferred Hardware - Wireless 4 port router £40.00
Cessation charge £25.00

£90 in cancellation fees of which i quite simply don't want to pay as im i a shared house and getting this out of my house mates is just not going to happen, is there anything i can do to bring this charge down?
 
Dont see how they can charge a....
Deferred Setup
and a
Cessation charge

Unique i suppose, charging to cancel something that they never set up LOL

Did they actually supply Hardware? If not id tell them to stick that charge also.
 
Hi there,

Sorry to hear your leaving. Regarding the cancellation costs ...

Deferred Setup £25.00

I'm assuming you're within the first year's service then? If you were to sign up now you'd actually be forced to pay this up front if you opted for the no contract option. I can only assume that wasn't the case when you signed up though. Did you migrate into us or was this a 'fresh' provisioning/activation? Check you haven't already paid for it at the start of your contract. If you didn't then you'd still be liable for it (after all, we paid it to our suppliers when your line was set up).

Deferred Hardware - Wireless 4 port router £40.00

Same applies as above really. Were the two routers you tried pre-hand from LLU suppliers e.g. Sky, O2/Be or Talk Talk? If they were then it may have been some of the encapsulation settings on the router that were at fault (or in some cases the fact that the router is 'locked' to another ISP).

How long is left before you'll have been with us a year? If it's only a couple of months then I might be able to make an exception and charge you the remaining subscription costs rather than bill you for the deferred activation/hardware.

Cessation charge £25.00

If you migrate to another provider at the same premises then you probably won't be liable for this. If you're outright cancelling then it's going to be payable.

Hope that helps add some clarity to the situation.

Best regards,
 
Dont see how they can charge a....
Deferred Setup
and a
Cessation charge

Why not? BT Wholesale charge separately for both the activation and cessation of a circuit. We actually lose money from this FWIW. The wholesale cost of activating a DSL circuit is £39.79 + VAT whilst the cost of cessation is £24.74 + VAT (although this is changing in a month or two to become location/market dependent).

Unique i suppose, charging to cancel something that they never set up LOL

Our Wholesalers charge us to activate/cease the circuit. We simply pass that charge on.

Did they actually supply Hardware? If not id tell them to stick that charge also.

Yes we did. @smick100 has explained this in his original post.

Regards,
 
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