topic Re: Plusnet has the most appalling customer service I have ever seen!!! in Plusnet Feedback

Plusnet has the most appalling customer service I have ever seen!!!

procup — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 16:36:27 GMT

A month ago, I made the unfortunate mistake of moving from O2 broadband to Plusnet. Boy do i regret this decision.
First of all, I was never informed of the exact date the service will activated (I received an sms informing me that "Broadband will become active on the following date: " and they left date blank 🙂 Then on 22-Nov at 4pm, my broadband was disconnected by O2. I called O2 and was told I'm being moved to Plusnet. I called Plusnet and was told that they're working on the switch and I'll be moved in a matter of hours.
Sure enough, nothing happened. I called next day and was told to do some tests on my end and call back with the results. I did that and reported that all is well on my side. I was told that a ticket has been opened and will take 48-72 hrs for Plusnet to do their checks. 72 hours later and I haven't heard anything from them. I had to chase them all the time. Then they told after 4 days, that they're escalating the issue to BT. And again it could take 48-72 hours. Long story short, I wasn't connected until 30-November. Connection was OK for 11 days. Then on 12-Dec, broadband was again disconnected and has not been restored util now!!!!!!!!
Plusnet customer support is the worst I have ever dealt with. It is appalling. They never call to update the client and they never abide by their own 48-72 hours deadlines. I have spent hours on the phone (costing me money on top of everything) and still gotten nowhere!!!
I haven't even heard a single word of apology during this whole debacle.
Everyone stay away from this company!!!!

Re: Plusnet has the most appalling customer service I have ever seen!!!

Strat — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 18:24:52 GMT

Welcome to the forum procup.
Sorry to hear you've had a rough ride so far.

Re: Plusnet has the most appalling customer service I have ever seen!!!

pierre_pierre — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 18:45:01 GMT

I thought it was only TalTalk LLU that did that

Re: Plusnet has the most appalling customer service I have ever seen!!!

brokenthumb — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 22:47:32 GMT

Sorry to see you're having troubles, but at least you have an active forum, populated by PN staff and interwebz sages alike.

Quote from: procup
. .. ... that they're escalating the issue to BT.

Nail on the head time, right there, PN are hamstrung by BT and, their responses, BT are renowned for dragging their heels, who else wouldn't, it's not in their best interests.
Having moved from AOHell, with no forum, queueing calls for half an hour at 7p per minute abroad, to be told 'turn it off and on again' then 'call back in an hour if it doesn't work', rinse and repeat, ad infinitum.
Chin up, you are in good hands, despite your initial take on things, have a good look around

Re: Plusnet has the most appalling customer service I have ever seen!!!

adamwalker — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 15:16:52 GMT

Hi procup,
I'm really sorry to see that things seem to get off to a bad start. I've checked your account and can see that Matt has been dealing with you. I've just had a word with him and he says he'll give you a call soon.
Adam.

Re: Plusnet has the most appalling customer service I have ever seen!!!

mypics — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 09:34:23 GMT

Hi, sorry to hear you had a bad experience, I've been with force9/plusnet since they started as a dial up customer and now as a broadband user. I had some problems configuring my router at the start but had fantastic service, I was called most days over the course of a week and had the problem resolved within 5 days. In my eyes this was exceptional customer service!!!

Re: Plusnet has the most appalling customer service I have ever seen!!!

Strat — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 09:39:51 GMT

Welcome to the forum mypics Where have you been

Re: Plusnet has the most appalling customer service I have ever seen!!!

adamwalker — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 15:46:25 GMT

Thanks a lot mypics

Re: Plusnet has the most appalling customer service I have ever seen!!!

shutter — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 16:27:37 GMT

I have been with Plusnet since 2007, when my previous supplier V21, was "swallowed" down by a company called "biskit" or something similar.... V21 provided a very good service to me, and I had no complaints... I somehow got wind of the "swallow up" by a "crumby" firm with a "broken" reputation, (and many more similar punny comments). so I chose Plusnet...
I have had a couple of major issues which have been expounded on this forum, but even so, I reckon that PlusNet customer service is really TOP NOTCH... whenever I have phoned up with a problem, (apart from one major issue as previously mentioned regarding waiting times). the phone staff have dealt with it in a polite and courteous manner, and managed to solve it for me... some connection issues I had, were dealt with by asking for help on the forums, and also by the use of the ticket system.... the latter needs to be overhauled, and was another issue that I have raised.
Some connection issues can only be rectified by using the (slow down version) of customer service called "the ticket system".... but that is the way of things, and one has to be patient, despite the frustration the slowness causes... it is not "personal".... it is "the system"...

Re: Plusnet has the most appalling customer service I have ever seen!!!

adamwalker — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 11:36:49 GMT

Thanks for your comments shutter.

Quote
despite the frustration the slowness causes... it is not "personal".... it is "the system"...

I doubt the ticket system will ever be a way of achieving very quick responses to support queries. I would as usual urge customers to use that method to raise non-urgent queries and call through with any urgent ones.
Adam.

Re: Plusnet has the most appalling customer service I have ever seen!!!

fourfourdevon — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 12:00:03 GMT

I think Plusnet's customer service representatives are great.
I think Plusnet's team and systems that handle issues that are posted on the forum are great.
I think that Plusnets internal systems for handling complains, tickets and general sign up of new customers is pretty badly broken, sometimes this is due to error, other times I think this is due to customer number growth and systems (not just physical systems, but the procedures used by staff etc) not being upgraded/overhauled to cope.
To me it seems the Plusnet team here on the forum are a huge and largely effective sticking plaster, which oddly maybe part of the problem, as it helps to cover the failures of the underlying systems.

Re: Plusnet has the most appalling customer service I have ever seen!!!

adamwalker — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 13:24:26 GMT

Quote
I think that Plusnets internal systems for handling complains, tickets and general sign up of new customers is pretty badly broken

I'm not aware of any major issues causing set-backs with these systems is there anything specific you've seen that we haven't?
Adam

Re: Plusnet has the most appalling customer service I have ever seen!!!

fourfourdevon — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 13:35:22 GMT

Just my own experience.
DD's when first setup didn't get charged causing my account sign up to fail, then get charged twice, I had to give you guys my details multiple time.
Your links with Gradwells billing system are broken, refusing to accept DD's, their credit system stopping your credit system from allowing calls
Failure of customer services to be able to actually resolve the above issue without lots of prompting by me
Raising tickets sometimes results in no reply needing a note here to get a response
There's more, I've forgotten the details of what seems like loads of issues here and there
When I've made specific complaints or suggestions about handling a procedure, disappointed to learn that customer service reps are either unwilling or unable to pass my comments onto someone who might actually be able to use what I say constructively.
From my perspective, most of the processes I've come up against are broken, needing much manual intervention by customer service reps who whilst pleasant, friendly and seemingly helpful, but whom contradict each other and don't actually solve the problem until the 3rd or more time around.
Jason

Re: Plusnet has the most appalling customer service I have ever seen!!!

adamwalker — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 14:39:31 GMT

Thanks for your honest feedback Jason.
re Gradwell I'm not aware that we currently have probelms this this, I do know there has been issues in the past and can only urge you to let me know if you start seeing problems again.

Quote
disappointed to learn that customer service reps are either unwilling or unable to pass my comments onto someone who might actually be able to use what I say constructively.

In the majority of cases agents are empowered to make a difference themselves rather than have to do this. Let me know if there's anything that you haven't covered that you would like us to look at.

Quote
but whom contradict each other and don't actually solve the problem until the 3rd or more time around.

We are targeted towards providing resolution (where its possible) on the first point of contact, feedback will be given from me for any instances where we've failed to achieve this for you.

Re: Plusnet has the most appalling customer service I have ever seen!!!

fourfourdevon — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 19:50:30 GMT

Quote from: _Adam_Walker_
re Gradwell I'm not aware that we currently have probelms this this, I do know there has been issues in the past and can only urge you to let me know if you start seeing problems again.

I have today, for the first time in about 3 months been able to make an outbound call on my VoIP anytime package, in truth I gave up trying to get it resolved, and then I tried again today, the advisor promised its been fixed permanently this time, but that's what I was told last time it was fixed too, only it broke again at the start of the new billing period.

Quote from: _Adam_Walker_
In the majority of cases agents are empowered to make a difference themselves rather than have to do this. Let me know if there's anything that you haven't covered that you would like us to look at.

Indeed, but where this seems to let you down is where when its an issue being looked at by some team or other, or where the agent can correct it for me, but not for everyone, asking them to take the larger view and pass on to a manager etc what I think are possibly valuable insights the customer service reps sit there almost dumbfounded and at a loss what to do with what I'm saying apart from be nice to me and get rid of me off the phone.

Quote from: _Adam_Walker_
We are targeted towards providing resolution (where its possible) on the first point of contact, feedback will be given from me for any instances where we've failed to achieve this for you.

Well the DD fiasco was one of them, the VoIP anytime package has been another, I'm sure there have been more, but those are the two that spring to mind.

Re: Plusnet has the most appalling customer service I have ever seen!!!

fourfourdevon — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 14:45:39 GMT

Adam,
Another one of the many "procedural failures" documented here http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,92041.msg770507.html#msg770507
Hopefully it is being dealt with, but seriously, emails being sent to me that just don't seem to relate to either my account or what I have been told by advisors or what your website had warned me to expect seem normal.
It is this normality of error that when I try to get advisors to address leaves them so nonplussed. Advisors will attempt to fix the problem I am having, but no one seems willing, able or indeed able to understand, that either I am one of the most unfortunate people in the world and I keep repeatedly getting the million to one chance, or more likely, your systems don't work properly.
So, great fix my immediate issue (maybe, hopefully) but what about the fact that all these errors arise in the first place?

Re: Plusnet has the most appalling customer service I have ever seen!!!

Mon, 03 Jan 2011 15:23:27 GMT

Welcome to the forum Procup. It seems to me that often when this kind of problem occurs it is not technically Plusnet at fault but the BT side of things.
However, that aside, what many customers say (yourself included) is that they are not receiving adequate communication about progress of their order.
People need to understand what is happening and be kept informed at each step.
I am glad that you found the forum Procup and I am optimistic that the staff here will take personal ownership of your problem and hopefully bring it to a satisfactory conclusion.
As above, many of us are satisfied with Plusnet and perhaps you will be too once this is all sorted out.
Please let us know how you get on.

Re: Plusnet has the most appalling customer service I have ever seen!!!

witsend — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 11:07:49 GMT

Quote from: fourfourdevon
Failure of customer services to be able to actually resolve the above issue without lots of prompting by me
Raising tickets sometimes results in no reply needing a note here to get a response
There's more, I've forgotten the details of what seems like loads of issues here and there
When I've made specific complaints or suggestions about handling a procedure, disappointed to learn that customer service reps are either unwilling or unable to pass my comments onto someone who might actually be able to use what I say constructively.
From my perspective, most of the processes I've come up against are broken, needing much manual intervention by customer service reps who whilst pleasant, friendly and seemingly helpful, but whom contradict each other and don't actually solve the problem until the 3rd or more time around.

This echoes my experiences almost to the letter. The frustrations this creates, when you're paying for no service and seeing no resolution progression, is most unpleasant.
It's too easy to point to some third party (e.g. BT (Bloody Terrible !)) and say the issue is with them, and then see the problem fall between the cracks.
The PN techs I've spoken to come across fine, but I've long suspected that the internal systems and processes are severely flawed. Multiple handlers on calls can't help. Call histories are not re-read when calls change hands, resulting in repeat "default" suggestions being provided a 2nd, 3rd or even 4th ! time. There's no visible escalation procedure. And when you want to raise your complaints to "a higher level", PN seems to be bereft of any management who should be taking the "verbal feedback", leaving the techs to focus on the technical.
As a result the support service comes across as uncoordinated, slow to respond, with no real ability to expedite a resolution. And the techs are likely taking unfair flack as a result.
Some service credits for poor response might motivate a change for the better... ?