topic Re: Watchdog TV looking into plusnet, read on. in Plusnet Feedback

Watchdog TV looking into plusnet, read on.

CMR — Fri, 21 May 2010 06:44:45 GMT

As a result of the ongoing query i have with plusnet, part of my anger went into contacting the Watchdog team, they have suggested that if anybody feels they would like to add there complaint to mine then please pass your details on to myself at Craig@cmr-performance.co.uk and i will leave it 7 days then send them all.
cheers
craig

Re: Watchdog TV looking into plusnet, read on.

Mand — Fri, 21 May 2010 08:48:55 GMT

Hi there,
I can completely understand your frustrations so far, but we are investigating your issues, and will do all we can to get them resolved for you.

Re: Watchdog TV looking into plusnet, read on.

adamwalker — Fri, 21 May 2010 09:09:30 GMT

CMR,
FYI I have replied to your original thread here: http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,85823.0.html

Re: Watchdog TV looking into plusnet, read on.

dogwhisperer — Mon, 24 May 2010 10:41:59 GMT

Quote from: CMR
As a result of the ongoing query i have with plusnet, part of my anger went into contacting the Watchdog team, they have suggested that if anybody feels they would like to add there complaint to mine then please pass your details on to myself at Craig@cmr-performance.co.uk and i will leave it 7 days then send them all.
cheers
craig

You can send them a link to this thread........ http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,84714.0.html problems on going for nearly two months, plus I am disabled with a serious condition that does not respond well to stress which I have made plusnet fully aware of, which they have largely ignored and I have had to spend many hours defending my corner rather than plusnet sort the problem out.....at least 8 x attempts by BT to sort the problem out and since at least Saturday I have had no internet at all and nobody from plusnet can be bothered to let me know what is happening or when my broadband will be working again.......
If Watchdog find it of interest I will give them my personal details......
Good luck with your on going problems.....hope they get sorted.....

Re: Watchdog TV looking into plusnet, read on.

dogwhisperer — Mon, 24 May 2010 10:49:08 GMT

You could also try this organisation which plusnet signed up to and agreed to abide by the rules.........I will be complaining to them later this week if plusnet don't sort out my latest problems with them.......

http://www.ispa.org.uk/
This part of the code of conduct I found interesting........
2.4 Honesty
2.4.1 Members shall use their reasonable endeavours to ensure Services (excluding Third Party Content) and Promotional Material are not of a kind that are likely to mislead by inaccuracy, ambiguity, exaggeration, omission or otherwise.
2.5 Fair Trading
2.5.1 In their dealings with consumers, other businesses and each other, Members must act fairly and reasonably at all times.

Re: Watchdog TV looking into plusnet, read on.

adamwalker — Mon, 24 May 2010 11:03:15 GMT

dogwhisperer,
We're dealing with your connection issues at the moment as per this thread http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,84714.0.html

Re: Watchdog TV looking into plusnet, read on.

dogwhisperer — Mon, 24 May 2010 11:06:18 GMT

I am just letting this person know that they can add my complaint to the Watchdog list of complaints, with my reasons why and letting him know of another organisation he can complain to.....

Re: Watchdog TV looking into plusnet, read on.

killyfish — Wed, 26 May 2010 11:57:20 GMT

Here Here!
You can add my complaint to your list, it's about time these companies stepped up a gear and actually help customers instead of the constant sod off lame excuses.
I wonder how many plusnet staff actually use plusnet broadband?
If anybody wants to report plusnet directly to BBC Watchdog, here is the link:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/watchdog/gotastory/

Re: Watchdog TV looking into plusnet, read on.

adamwalker — Wed, 26 May 2010 12:27:40 GMT

Killyfish,
The majority of staff here use Plusnet broadband.
Re your other thread http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,86387.0.html some one else is already looking at this and will respond to you shortly.

Re: Watchdog TV looking into plusnet, read on.

rascom — Wed, 26 May 2010 12:34:06 GMT

People are always quick to jump on a bandwagon when they have problems but never actually thank or congratulate people enough when the service they received is good.
I'm not saying that the people above are being unreasonable, please don't think that, but to contrast their problems we have been PN customers at work and home for over 7 years and, as a IT Server reseller, we have recommended around 100 customers to PN in that time. Their logical thinking is that if/when they ave problems, they contact us in the 1st instance as it was on our recommendation that they contracted to PlusNet - we get VERY few calls from customers to say they are having problems and have no customers who have said they are unhappy with PlusNet.
Watchdog tend to give people the impression that any company they report on is totally untrustworthy which is not always the case and it may just be a very small number of individuals who are having problems when taken as a percentage of their overall customer base.
On the couple of occasions I have spoken to PN Support they have always been quick to respond and very helpful so to those people who are having problems, I would say give them a chance to sort your problems out. And no, I don't work for PlusNet!!!

Re: Watchdog TV looking into plusnet, read on.

Lurker — Wed, 26 May 2010 12:40:31 GMT

Quote from: killyfish
I wonder how many plusnet staff actually use plusnet broadband?

Given they get broadband for free - I would have expected the number to be high.
A more telling figure would be how many don't...
In fairness though - I've a number of accounts that have been with PN for a number of years - I would say that generally you get reasonable value for money - and pretty decent service a lot of the time.

Re: Watchdog TV looking into plusnet, read on.

SparckZero — Wed, 26 May 2010 12:51:23 GMT

I can understand people being frustrated with PlusNet - but at the end of the day, you'd get these issues with any other ISP - and I can't think of many that engage with the customer-base on the same level as PlusNet do. A Watchdog investigation would more than likely reach the same conclusion.
I find dogwhisperer's quoting of the ISPA rules to be a bit inflammatory - having read dogwhisperer's thread in full, I would say that PlusNet are doing everything in their power to sort the issue out for you, and have been very upfront and honest about what's going on...I can't see any situation where PlusNet have been unfair either. Please don't consider this a personal attack...more a reasoned opinion.
I can honestly say that there's no other ISP I'd rather be with from a customer service perspective.

Re: Watchdog TV looking into plusnet, read on.

artmo — Wed, 26 May 2010 12:52:19 GMT

I've been a PN customer for many years and any problem has been resolved in an efficient and timely manner. If Watchdog want to contact me I will be happy to pass on my experience to them.

Re: Watchdog TV looking into plusnet, read on.

killyfish — Wed, 26 May 2010 13:38:04 GMT

I can understand replies in regards to having a good service, I always had one with BT before moving to plusnet which my brother in-law suggested to me.
The problem I have is the duration of faults I have experienced, constantly for the past 7 months! If you were on 2.7mbps starting off and then find your averaging 400 - 700kbps only be told when you complain that the max you can have is 1.2mbps, would you be happy?
It's not like we even get 1.2mbps, it's always between 400 - 700kbps and frankly I am getting sick and tired of complaining about it! We have one life and here I am again wasting my precious time complaining again just to get an expected service I was promised. If I don't complain then I get shafted, you tell me why I should be happy? I would love to swap my experiences with others who claim to have had an excellent service, lets see how they would rate plusnet then lol
Cross Talk for the last 7 months, today they claim that is fixed and others have mentioned that cross talk would affect the broadband speed? It's still 400 - 700kbps and always will be.
Plusnet have now contacted me stating that I must at least pay the line rental and cost of calls? I am more than willing to pay when they sort me out some decent service, it's not fair paying full line rental for a faulty line, it's not fair paying full price of calls when I have to listen to other peoples conversation due to cross talk......go figure!

Re: Watchdog TV looking into plusnet, read on.

MisterW — Wed, 26 May 2010 13:56:21 GMT

From what I've read on here most of the problems seem to be down to the BTw and Openreach system of handling faults. PlusNet must work through BTw and they in turn through Openreach. No one organisation is responsible for actually getting on and fixing the problem!! information moving between the organisations seems to get lost, invented etc and nowhere in the system does there seem to be any guarantee of 'service level' in terms of actually fixing faults rather than just responding!.
I would echo what artmo said , I have been a PlusNet customer for many years and any problem I have had has been resolved timely. Fortunately none of my problems have rqeuired BTw or Openreach to be involved ( that's a kiss of death isn't it , I'm going to go home and find no internet now! ) .

Re: Watchdog TV looking into plusnet, read on.

nadger — Wed, 26 May 2010 16:51:37 GMT

Over my eight plus years of broadband forums I've seen numerous Watchdog threats and only recall one possibly coming to fruition.

Re: Watchdog TV looking into plusnet, read on.

dogwhisperer — Wed, 26 May 2010 22:47:20 GMT

There is always a first time.........

Re: Watchdog TV looking into plusnet, read on.

dogwhisperer — Wed, 26 May 2010 23:13:38 GMT

Quote from: SparckZero
I can understand people being frustrated with PlusNet - but at the end of the day, you'd get these issues with any other ISP - and I can't think of many that engage with the customer-base on the same level as PlusNet do. A Watchdog investigation would more than likely reach the same conclusion.
I find dogwhisperer's quoting of the ISPA rules to be a bit inflammatory - having read dogwhisperer's thread in full, I would say that PlusNet are doing everything in their power to sort the issue out for you, and have been very upfront and honest about what's going on...I can't see any situation where PlusNet have been unfair either. Please don't consider this a personal attack...more a reasoned opinion.
I can honestly say that there's no other ISP I'd rather be with from a customer service perspective.

Nothing personally taken.
However, its very easy for people like you who haven't had the problems some of us have had to say what you do.......if you had nearly 2 months of constant problems you may well have a different view....
While I accept BT (expletive) are the main problem I cannot speak to them or hold them accountable in any way shape or form, my contract is with plusnet so they have to bear the brunt of customer dissatisfaction and its up to plusnet to sort things out with their 3rd party business partner no matter how hard that may be due to them having a monopoly, after all when plusnet entered this market they knew what they were getting into.
Typically today in this country we just accept things and apathy rules.....ie all ISP's are bad, so just like a load of sheep we accept it......
Most likely the best way for me to fix my fault is to migrate to another supplier (prob LLU my best bet), but despite in my view to have to unfairly defend my corner a number of times with plusnet and threaten certain action to get a response there is something that warms me to the plusnet staff active on this forum (cant say the same when phoning general support as they seem experts in fobbing people off in my experience) and hence so far I am willing to stay to hopefully in the end have a positive outcome.....
If demanding I get a service that I signed up for makes me an awkward customer then so be it, but in my view if more people were like that and not so woolly then perhaps we would all get a better service and value for our money, at the same time I am willing to work with a supplier of mine if I feel its a two way street...
You can only flog a dead horse for so long......currently I am getting free broadband with more on top after (if) the ongoing problems are resolved, yet I am still tempted to use my mac code.....may seem odd to some but I would rather be paying for a service that I can actual use and enjoy.....

Re: Watchdog TV looking into plusnet, read on.

SparckZero — Thu, 27 May 2010 07:05:07 GMT

I accept your point that from the outside, it's easy for me to pass comment.
Given that your issue looks like a physical line problem, moving ISP (even to an LLU ISP) probably wouldn't help at all - indeed, the fault process would have to be started from scratch, and there aren't many ISPs that would give you this amount of back and forth. I can all but guarantee that PlusNet are as frustrated with BT as you are, and it's clear that they're fighting your corner as best they can.
I wouldn't say that demanding a service you paid for makes you an awkward customer - on the contrary, you should expect the service you've paid for. If the service isn't available for whatever reason, then PlusNet have a duty to do their best to get the service up and running again - and it's obvious that they're doing this for you.
I really do hope that PlusNet get to the bottom of the issue for you soon - I'll be watching your thread with interest.

Re: Watchdog TV looking into plusnet, read on.

dogwhisperer — Thu, 27 May 2010 09:48:17 GMT

Thanks for your reply.....
It appears now that the physical line issue to the exchange is fine and now its an exchange issue (jumpering most likely), so moving to an LLU supplier would most likely help as I would be on their equipment at the exchange....I dont want to as each time you move from an LLU supplier it costs money to migrate......I will only do that if I feel I am forced to, to get a half decent broadband connection..... I would certainly get higher download speeds without a doubt.......
My previous ISP (non LLU) had excellent customer service, they are a reseller, I was with them for a number of years, they seemed to be able to get BT to do things if needed (no idea how), they then changed suppliers of who they resold for and everything went downhill.......even before that their once excellent customer service was on the slide and after became useless.....with their new supplier it was like being constantly throttled at all times (the package I was on had no traffic management on it, line speed at all times).....which suggested with the influx of so many new customers it was too much of an over subscribed service and hence the probs I mentioned.....