Date : Wed, 04 Jan 1989 21:51:52 EST
From : telenet!nessus!dkpurks@uunet.UU.NET (System Administrator)
Subject: PC Pursuit pricing amendment
ADDITIONAL ANNOUNCEMENTS and ANSWERs to COMMON QUESTIONS
REGARDING PC PURSUIT PRICE CHANGE ANNOUNCEMENT.
To ALL PC Pursuit customers:
There has been an overwhelming response to the recent price
change announcement/letter (see related bulletin). So much so
that my personally responding to EACH in a timely manner is an
impossibility. However, we are reading all the mail. This
bulletin contains some related new announcements, as well as
answers to common concerns.
First, the following announcements:
1. WE HAVE DECIDED TO WAIVE THE LIMITATION OF ONE ACCOUNT PER
PERSON. There is now NO LIMIT to the number of PC Pursuit
accounts that can be ordered/owned by a single person.
Thus, if you have determined that a 60 hour usage cap (or
90, or any multiple of 30 hours) is more appropriate for
your typical usage, you can order the appropriate number of
accounts.
2. In order to provide you with plenty of time to determine
what your requirements are, WE HAVE DECIDED NOT TO BILL YOU
FOR ANY OVER CAP USAGE UNTIL MAY 1, 1989. The fixed monthly
charge will still increase to $30 as of February 1, 1989.
However, you will not be billed for any non-prime time usage
over 30 hours until the month of May 1989. Please note that
the actual statement for May usage won't appear until mid
June.
3. When we begin billing for monthly usage over 30 hours
(beginning with May's usage), WE WILL SUBTRACT THE AVERAGE
TIME IT TAKES TO CONNECT (APPROXIMATELY 1 MINUTE) FROM EACH
CALL BEFORE ADDING UP THE TIME. Therefore, you will not be
charged for a call to a BUSY line (as long as you disconnect
the call immediately upon seeing the "BUSY" message). The
exact amount of time to be subtracted will be announced
within the next few weeks.
Addressing other common concerns:
1. Many people are suggesting that it is the 30 hour monthly
usage cap, not the fixed monthly increase to $30, which
concerns them the most. Because PC Pursuit must be
transformed to a profitable service to continue offering it,
the primary alternative left was to have a higher fixed
monthly price with a higher CAP (or a much higher fixed
price and no CAP). Raising the fixed monthly charge
penalizes those who use the service less than 30 hours a
month (which is statistically the vast majority). We do not
believe that the smaller volume user should subsidize the
more serious (higher volume) user. Thus, we have the 30
hour cap, which is appropriate for the new $30 fixed monthly
charge. To accommodate higher volume users, we have waived
the 1 account per user limitation (see above).
2. When over cap usage billing begins in May 1989, a detailed
statement will be mailed to you no less than 10 days prior
to your credit card (or checking) account being debited, if
your account is to be charged for more than just the fixed
monthly charge.
3. The announcement inadvertently states that all cities *now*
support all three baud rates. The target was to provide all
baud rates to all cities by the end of the year.
Unfortunately, some cities have had deployment delays.
Latest schedules target the end of January to complete
deployment.
4. Some customers were sent terms and conditions that (through
a typesetting error) do not include paragraph 7(d) -- which
is clearly missing since these copies show 7(c) followed by
7(e). Unfortunately, 7(d) states our policy of 30 days
notice for prices changes (or other changes). Some have
concluded that since their copy of the Ts & Cs do not
include this paragraph, that Telenet can not change the
pricing for them. I truly apologize to those who have an
erroneous copy. However, the law clearly (and
appropriately) provides for any business to be able to
change its pricing structure, and/or service offering in any
way with reasonable notice. The Ts & Cs simply clarify our
implementation of "reasonable notice". Lack of this
paragraph does not remove the basic business right to change
pricing (or other changes) with reasonable notice.
Everyone here at Telenet wants to work with our customers. The
announcements provided here are to accommodate the concerns of
many of you, and are a direct result of input received from you.
I urge each of you to take advantage of the next few months
(before MAY) to determine what your typical monthly usage
actually is. Our statistics clearly show that most of you should
not be effected by the 30 hour usage cap. If you find that your
usage is higher, you now have the option to order multiple
accounts (blocks of 30 hours per month) before over cap billing
begins in May.
Sincerely,
Peter Naleszkiewicz
Outdial Services Product Manager
--
Dave Purks
PC Pursuit Technical Coordinator
Telenet Communications Corp
..!uunet!telenet!dpurks
End of INFO-CPM Digest
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