topic Re: So much negativity... Was my instinct wrong? in Plusnet Feedback

So much negativity... Was my instinct wrong?

mattskills — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 17:45:51 GMT

Hi, I have recently joined plusnet from cable and as far their customer support has been great and they have been fairly patient with me , but reading the forums i get the impression i might be wrong?
Anyone got anything great about plusnet to say to re asure me lol
Only thing i would say is, although they advertise that they are all happy chappy farmers from yorkshire, I haven't spoken to anyone with a yorkshire accent over the phone, for god sake plusnet , atleast put on a yorkshire accent the next time i call!
Matt.

Re: So much negativity... Was my instinct wrong?

Steve — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 18:07:39 GMT

Hi matt,
Well I have been with Plusnet over a year and nothing but good thing's to say about them really, Fast, Reliable, Friendly, cheap, Notalot Of ISP'S can say that truthfully. Don't look here for Positivity though, Generally people only visit when they have a problem, Perhaps I have been lucky, Either way It's the best ISP out there In my opinion. Head on down to general chit-chat If you have time to kill, They are all loopy down there.

Re: So much negativity... Was my instinct wrong?

jelv — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 18:20:16 GMT

The packages are fine if your usage fits the allowances and traffic shaping profiles.
The prices are great.
Support for routine, standard problems and enquiries is fine.
Faults there are some delays in them being handled.
However if you have a problem, query or fault that is slightly out of the ordinary it is a lottery as to whether you will get an appropriate response, with the odds on winning about the same as getting all 6 numbers on the national lottery.

Re: So much negativity... Was my instinct wrong?

john50 — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 18:45:39 GMT

Quote from: jelv

However if you have a problem, query or fault that is slightly out of the ordinary it is a lottery as to whether you will get an appropriate response, with the odds on winning about the same as getting all 6 numbers on the national lottery.

That happens with any fault on ~~TT/Tiscali~~ some other isps

Re: So much negativity... Was my instinct wrong?

Alxns — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 20:35:07 GMT

I can't say anything but good things so far
but as said already most people come here if they have problems so you will see the worse of it.

Re: So much negativity... Was my instinct wrong?

David_W — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 21:18:47 GMT

Been with Force9 (PlusNet) since 2002 and have only positive things to say about the company. I have an ongoing fault being tested and have been called a few times with people that have a Sheffield accent too which is a bonus, probably.
The best aspect about the ISP though has to be this forum, you can chat with other customers and even the staff so it's a really great place. You do tend to find negatives posted more often than positives though, not really much point in a forum post saying "yep, all good, nothing to see, move along"
Oh, and they have Jojo for more mega points.

Re: So much negativity... Was my instinct wrong?

gswindale — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 22:01:40 GMT

I've been around with PN since 2005 and have had pretty much no problem with them whatsoever.
You will find with any company that operates an "honest" feedback section that the number of moans/groans far outweighs the number of people complimenting the service.
Maybe I should start posting weekly to congratulate PN for providing a service that performs as advertised?

Re: So much negativity... Was my instinct wrong?

Chrism2 — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 22:28:36 GMT

I am one of the afore mentioned "naysayers" who visited this forum to initially have a moan. Don't be too concerned, though.
PlusNet have got something pretty good going; especially for the price.
I have many referrals with no problems at all. When there are problems, PlusNet do usually seem to genuinely want to sort it out. Like many organisations, they do need the occasional kick up the Jackson Five. No one company will ever offer you a service that is truly complaint free. I second the motion that not only do PlusNet welcome such criticism on their own forum; they contribute and respond to it as well. This is, to be fair, particularly forward thinking of them.
I don't agree with many of the things they do, but on the whole, I recommend them (actively) for good reason; they do a job.

Re: So much negativity... Was my instinct wrong?

matt_2k34 — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 22:34:29 GMT

Indeed, for every 100 people who sign up to PlusNet, probably only those who have a hiccup, or got referred by a friend who is here - come on here - id guess is a small %

The forums are great, and arent heavily moderated like some other ISPs forums.
Been with PN since 2003, had a 2nd line with PN personally for the last 12 months.
Yeah PN has cocked up bigtime in that time (LLU, emails, spam) - But the service is pretty good value and Customer Service is *generally* pretty on the button.
And you can come and chat to customers on IRC (See signature :P)

Edit: If you want to hear a yorkie accent, ring the 01 number instead of 0845 (its not included in your call package though if your with PN, which i think its abit of daylight robbery - just because id prefer to talk to Sheffield rather than Durban)
the 20-30p is usually worth it as you get through to someone who can actually help (no offence to Durban, but my experience with them is pretty shocking) -- call queues could be a little longer though

Re: So much negativity... Was my instinct wrong?

pierre_pierre — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 22:48:31 GMT

I have been here a short while , see my sig, and have in that time only had one bad session, an asleep operator in the middle of the night changed my package without asking, took four month to sort out the mess, But I didnt suffer

Re: So much negativity... Was my instinct wrong?

Wheel_nut — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 23:40:16 GMT

Mattskills,
You need to understand why we post in this forum. We use this Forum as a conduit to PlusNet's decision makers to let them know what we DON'T like about the Products and Services. By omission, we indicate those aspects that we like about PlusNet.
This Forum is not used by people trying to get assistance to resolve problems with their accounts or service, That is handled (for example) in the Broadband or Phone or Billings Fora where PlusNet operational staff provide excellent assistance to their customers.
You need to look at the specific issues discussed here and judge whether they concern you.

Re: So much negativity... Was my instinct wrong?

davidj66 — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 09:56:10 GMT

Compared with my previous two ISPs ( one "devilish" and one particularly brightly "coloured") PLUSNET have been the bees knees in terms of price/speed/reliability of connection & (on the times I've needed it) customer service.

Re: So much negativity... Was my instinct wrong?

carrot63 — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 11:07:07 GMT

Matt,
While Plusnet do have their off/denial of reality days, the positives generally do outweigh the negatives. It's fair to say that I think they are the only ISP that makes a genuine and meaningful effort to engage their user base via these forums, and that in itself accounts for much of the negativity you see - plenty of other ISPs respond by ignoring or locking threads if they become inconvenient. There are plenty of examples of policy/product changes here due to user feedback.
The actual delivery of broadband is probably no better or worse than anyone else's, but while they may frequently slip up on the "attention to detail" front (and ticket responses) when dealing with faults, PN CS are generally extremely tenacious in seeing faults through to their logical conclusion - you just have to get past the "try a different filter" routine.
I moan as much as the next user and have considered leaving more than once, but ultimately never do so, as on closer inspection, the grass never really is greener anywhere else.

Re: So much negativity... Was my instinct wrong?

adamwalker — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 12:28:38 GMT

Hi mattskills,
Welcome to Plusnet, I'm going to partially echo what wheel_nut says by mentioning that although this forum has several uses the main reason people come here is to raise any complaints or grievances they have. My personal view on this is that human nature means that people will raise negative issues and complaints when they need too (and quite rightly too) but will not go out of there way (most of the time at least anyway) to give any praise or positive feedback they may have.

Re: So much negativity... Was my instinct wrong?

essenby — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 14:36:33 GMT

Again, on a purely personal level, my feeling is that the vast majority of dis-satisfaction appears to stem from PlusNet's total and utter inability to "fix" things they have no control over i.e. the Infrastructure ;).
Sure there are the odd congestion issues and traffic shaping will always interfere with a perfect, lossless, direct, non-shared connection to the backbone - but that is not only unachievable, it is ridiculous to even contemplate achieving it. I can see my exchange - but the line path is so tortuous my attenuation is of the order of 60db with a resultant speed of under 2Meg Threatening to leave PN will not alter that. Even leaving PN will not alter that (unless Virgin ever come calling with their magic lightwires)
If people would only "listen" to the explanations offered and stop treating them as excuses they might find their expectations better managed and their satisfaction levels raised a little.

Re: So much negativity... Was my instinct wrong?

jelv — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 14:44:04 GMT

Being seen to be communicating with the supplier and getting regular feedback, even if progress wasn't made, is fine.
It's when there are protracted delays in faults even being looked at and passed on to BT that people get upset.
Waiting a couple of days to then be asked to confirm if you've tried the test socket followed by another long wait after you answer is not good service.

Re: So much negativity... Was my instinct wrong?

Mad_Moggies — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 22:32:12 GMT

I've been with PlusNet since 2003 (was previously with AOL but they couldn't support Broadband for Macs at that time). They've been excellent except for the Billing dept, which is a mystery to me! There's nearly always a problem when more than one discount needs applying. I would have recommended PN unreservedly except for this.

Re: So much negativity... Was my instinct wrong?

HPsauce — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 22:57:05 GMT

Quote from: carrot63
I think they are the only ISP that makes a genuine and meaningful effort to engage their user base via these forums,

There are others, to be fair.
But we all know the ones that don't......

Re: So much negativity... Was my instinct wrong?

Santiago — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 00:01:35 GMT

Quote
So much negativity... Was my instinct wrong?

Always with the negative waves Moriarty, always with the negative waves
I have been with ~~Force9~~ Plusnet about five years and it has been a relatively trouble free experience. The occasional problem I did have I brought the forum and got things resolved quickly.
Support from Sheffield has been mostly good but I won't deal with the subcontracted Indian CS in Durban as they don't understand English.
I have also had good support from ~~Bob Pullen~~ plusnet on twitter

Re: So much negativity... Was my instinct wrong?

oliverb — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 09:23:31 GMT

Ticket response needs looking at. I've asked a specific question about my line profile and got the generic "laundry list" for a poor speed problem.
With hindsight MY mistake was assuming a secondhand router would have been factory-reset by the seller. Should learn to follow my own advice.