topic Re: New customer. in Plusnet Feedback

New customer.

torbayguy — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 01:15:45 GMT

Hi all.
I am hopefully in the process of changing from tiscali to plusnet.
I have signed up for the phoneline and broadband via the website, 3 days ago.
I have been following the order process through the tracker option, which is very helpful.
Anyway tonight the order status changed to 'checking phone line', and the status said there was an error.
So, I phoned customer service to see what the problem is.
The lady that answered didnt seem to have any idea of anything!!
She said the problem was I had to pay £49 for a phone line to be provided.
I explained that this was the first I had heard of it, and that when I placed the order, I was informed there was an up front fee of £18.99 to pay, which is fine.
I also explained that I dont need a new line, as I was phoning from my home phone, that is working fine, it is a BT line, and my provider is Tiscali.
I explained that Tiscali put a tag on the line, and that was needed, is for the tag to be removed.
The lady wasent having any of it.
She kept saying I had to pay the extra amount.

I told her that nowhere on the website did it say I had to pay this money, also when I made the order, it said I had an upfront payment of £18.99 to pay, and no more.
The lady got very rude and said 'well I cant help you' and went to hang up, so I asked to speak to her manager.
He then told me she was mistaken and that I had nothing to pay, and plusnet are waiting for my number to be ported.
Well,, I am now waiting to see what is going to happen.
My payment still hasent been taken, my order hasent been update, Im waiting.
If this is how Im treated before I am even connected, god knows what its going to be like when I go live.
Im thinking of cancelling and going to bt for phone and o2 for broadband, unless this is dealt with properly.

Re: New customer.

Steve — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 01:42:54 GMT

Hi there and welcome aboard, The lady you spoken too was not indian by any chance? I am sure you will have nothing to worry yourself about and im sure a member of plusnet staff will pick this post up in the morning

Re: New customer.

pierre_pierre — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 08:01:59 GMT

We dont have a call centre in India, we do have a few foreign nationals in our Shefield centre and a few more in the Sub Centre in Durban South Africa
Tiscalli are notorious in holding onto the line and Occasional need a kick from our comms team, hopefully one will see this posting shortly, they dont work nights

Re: New customer.

Mand — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 09:30:56 GMT

Hi there,
I've added a response to your ticket to explain what's going on, and have passed on feedback regarding the agents you spoke to.
There is no install fee to pay, and your order is progressing.

Re: New customer.

torbayguy — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 11:32:26 GMT

Hi Mand, was it you that treid to call?
I was battling my way through breakfast at work, sorry I couldnt answer.
Thank you for taking the time to look into the account for me, your reply answered alot for me.
The lady did sound South African actually.
Up to that point, the customer service had been very good, so hopefully that was just a blip!

Re: New customer.

Mand — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 14:34:23 GMT

Yeah, it was me, but hopefully my ticket reply adequately explained the situation.
The person you spoke to was in our CS team in Durban, and I've passed feedback to her manager to ensure she doesn't make the same error again.

Re: New customer.

torbayguy — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 21:08:28 GMT

Ok thanks.
My ticket was updated earlier to;
(internal)
The VIC was sent off today and we do not have a response.
Placing the ticket on hold for the correct date.
The next action on your Help Assistant Question is due on Friday 19th March at 9:00am. This Question will remain open with the BOT - Phone Provisioning MPF until this time.
Kind regards,
link:CSA Removed

Can you tell what a VIC is?
As a VIC was sent a few days ago also.
And what does 'place the ticket on hold for the correct date' mean?
Thanks for your help.
[Moderator's note by Barry Zubel: CSA Agent name removed as per the Forum Rules]

Re: New customer.

Mand — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 09:24:23 GMT

Hi there,
A VIC is a number portability request, and is the first step in porting your number back over to the BT network.
They've basically placed the ticket on hold until today, as we should have the VIC request back today.

Re: New customer.

torbayguy — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 15:38:23 GMT

Hiya Mand, thanks for all the help so far.
I got a message on my support ticket saying my order has now been placed, my line will be active in 10-15 days, and after that, my broadband will be ordered.
You said the both would be done together?
Also, it says my first payment has been taken, however the money is still sat in my bank account!

Re: New customer.

Mand — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 09:35:05 GMT

Hi there,
The broadband order has been placed, to complete at the same time as your phone line.
The order tracker saying payment taken is incorrect, we've just manually moved the status of your account so that it will activate automatically when the order completes.
I'm really sorry about the confusion caused here.
You'll be glad to hear we're changing these order journeys soon to make it clearer.

Re: New customer.

dustymil59 — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 12:52:07 GMT

Your job ticket will stay that way until you actually get a service, which takes PN forever.
My post above:-
From my experience I would find someone other than plusnet.
My connection has been a disaster my day one, they took over a month to get my telephone across from talk talk, then forgot my broadband, which took another 10 days, finally got it all, but very slow, bought 20mb, even TT could get nearly 10mb, plus net only get 3mb, just found out I'm not on adsl2, so another 5 days, assuming they don't c*ck up again.
On top of all that they took over £45 out of my bank account, took 9 days to raise a credit note, god only knows when it'll arrive back in my account?. And all they can say, in an accent I struggle to understand, is "it was a mistake".
If I could turn back time and not be with plusnet I would. It's your choice.

Re: New customer.

zubel — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 12:55:27 GMT

@dustymil - please do not cross post as it is against the link:rules
B.

Re: New customer.

torbayguy — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 12:55:54 GMT

Hi Mand,
Can I just say, if you are a typical member of staff at Plusnet, then you will have a VERY happy customer!
Thank you for all your help so far.
So, if the payment hasent been taken, do you know when it will be?
Also, since the request to port my number to plusnet, tiscali have cancelled all of my services without notice, which is nice of them hey?
So I am without phone and broadband, and can access the internet from work.
However, as I do part of my work from home via email, I am really stuck.
Any idea how long it will be before I am activated?
Thanks again.
Marc

Re: New customer.

torbayguy — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 12:59:56 GMT

Hi Dustymill.
I have to say, so far (apart from one incident with a foreign call centre) Plusnet have been very helpful to me, much better than my year with Tiscali, and with Sky before that.
Hopefully your experiance is a one off, and Plusnet fix your service soon.
However, bearing in mind I havent yet been activated, the service I have received has been excellent.

Re: New customer.

dustymil59 — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 13:03:45 GMT

Barry, I apologise, but I canoont tell how unhappy and frustrated I am with Plusnet.
They're making me lose the will to live

Re: New customer.

zubel — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 13:09:44 GMT

@dustymil: It does sound like a catalogue of errors from your point of view, which I appreciate is frustrating. However, in my experience, migrating from TalkTalk can be a very lengthy process as they frequently resist any action to migrate lines away from themselves.
Hopefully, once the service is provisioned you can look forward to a much better service.
However, if you're only getting 3Mbps on your connection, when previously TalkTalk could supply 10 that doesn't bode very well for an ADSL2+ migration. If you would like to start your own thread in the Broadband Speed board, then some of the knowledgeable people here could advise you on how to get the most out of your connection. Include a full set of router stats and we will be able to advise.
Cheers
B.

Re: New customer.

Mand — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 16:46:24 GMT

@torbayguy, the payment will be taken when we activate your account, which is currently looking to be 01/04/10.
@dustymil59, I hope after our conversation you feel a little more confident, I'd be happy to help further where I can.

Re: New customer.

torbayguy — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 13:11:56 GMT

Ok Mand thankyou.

Re: New customer.

torbayguy — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 12:49:58 GMT

I contacted PN to ask why my router hasent been ordered yet, as Im due to be activated on 1st April.
This is the reply:
Thank you for your query. Once the order has been placed the router will be ordered, you should receive a notification by text message when the broadband order is in place and the router should be delivered just before or on the completion date.
Please do not hesitate to get back in touch online at http://contactus.plus.net or by phone on 0845 140 0200 if we can be of further assistance.
Kind regards,

I take it this means my broadband hasent actually been ordered then?
Mand said on this thread that my Broadband had been ordered?
Confused!!

Re: New customer.

orbrey — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 08:16:08 GMT

Hi torbayguy,
We're currently chasing to get an engineer out for you on the 1st to connect your phone line and should be confirming that today. Unfortunately we need to wait for that to complete before we're able to order the broadband I'm afraid, the lead time for that will be 5-7 days from the order being placed.
I'm sorry for the delay.