topic Re: Referral discount calculation changed yet again! in Plusnet Feedback

Referral discount calculation changed yet again!

Townman — Mon, 28 Oct 2013 08:13:27 GMT

Ref ticket 75086245
For quite sometime I have notice and reported that the total of referral discount applied to my account does not match the sum of the listed tokens. As this ticket (and previous) show I have been given various explanations of why I'm wrong in my assessment, however the final response last month confirmed that there is a known problem affecting my referral tokens which "is being worked on".
This month my reported referral value has changed yet again by an amount not equal to any referral token value. Therefore if the system is functioning correctly, that change cannot be the consequence of a change in status of one of my referred accounts. Also from the referral value list, there are two PN Essentials having a token value of £0.00.
The ticket concluded that my correct referral value is £6.60, but the value credited this month is an odd number less which is not a multiple of 25p, that being the smallest token value. Just how does the system end up with a referral value of £x.x7 when referral token values are multiples of 25p?
What is the status of the fix referred to in ticket 75086245 please?
Thanks,
Kevin

Re: Referral discount calculation changed yet again!

Pettitto — Mon, 28 Oct 2013 09:17:00 GMT

Hi Kevin,
I've just taken a look at the problem that referenced on the ticket you've referred to. I can see the problem is still currently open and is still with our Development Team. I'm sorry that it's causing you such a headache. We're aware it's affecting a number of customers and we'll get this issue resolved ASAP.

Re: Referral discount calculation changed yet again!

Townman — Mon, 28 Oct 2013 09:32:41 GMT

Hi Chris,
Good to catch up with you again... thank you for the prompt reply.
Not really causing me a headache - I have a life - it s a matter that there is a persisting inconsistent known fault.
The figure seems to strangely change each month by an illogical value - at least previously it was consistently wrong. PN then need to charge me 30p or 52p by direct debit, the processing cost of which is more than PN gets. Also for anyone with a transactional charged bank account (not me on my residential account, though it would apply if this were happening in respect of my business account), the transaction charge could be greater than the amount being charged.
Spread across a lot of customers, the bank transaction costs to PN could be a lot more than is being collected, which impacts the bottom line! Is there an estimated date for the fix please?
Cheers,
Kevin

Re: Referral discount calculation changed yet again!

Pettitto — Mon, 28 Oct 2013 10:00:20 GMT

Thanks for getting back to me Kevin,
It's good to hear from you too - just like old times
I've had a chat with one of the QA Engineers and they are currently looking at the problem as we speak. Once we have a bit more information on the scale of the problem and what size of work we are looking at to resolve this issue, I'll certainly let you know.

Re: Referral discount calculation changed yet again!

Townman — Fri, 08 Nov 2013 10:34:47 GMT

Hi Chris,
What did the QA engineer (tester?) find on the 28th ~~sat~~ last month?
Is there any news please?
Cheers,
Kevin

Re: Referral discount calculation changed yet again!

Pettitto — Fri, 08 Nov 2013 11:11:22 GMT

Hi Kevin,
One of the QA guys will be along shortly to pop you an update on this thread.

Re: Referral discount calculation changed yet again!

ScottStorey — Fri, 08 Nov 2013 12:37:57 GMT

Hello,
The problem is one that is currently actively being worked on by the development team I'm part of. We do realise how long the problem with referrals has gone on is not good enough.
We think we have the root cause bottomed out and should be in a position to have the fix tested to confirm it is all good (and doesn't break anything else!) next week. I do realise the update is quite often "next week" but it really is.
I'll be along Thursday next week to give an update on how it has all again.

Re: Referral discount calculation changed yet again!

Townman — Fri, 08 Nov 2013 12:57:21 GMT

Scott,
Thank you for finding the time to respond. This is the first response I've seen on this matter which clearly suggests progress and a target for resolution - this is most refreshing. For too long the answer has been "we are looking at it" with no indication of by when a fix might be provided. I realise that when next week comes along, it is possible that the problem will have been found to be even more complex than you think it is today. That is the nature of complex IT systems which have evolved over a number of years, often to do things they were never originally designed to handle. That said the delay in doing something is as you suggest, not good enough.
I look forward to receiving your update next Thursday - I will look out for that response!
Kind regards,
Kevin

Re: Referral discount calculation changed yet again!

reserved — Fri, 08 Nov 2013 15:44:31 GMT

I'm looking forward to it being fixed and the referrals paid with 10% interest

Re: Referral discount calculation changed yet again!

reserved — Thu, 14 Nov 2013 10:25:39 GMT

Quote from: Scott
Hello,
The problem is one that is currently actively being worked on by the development team I'm part of. We do realise how long the problem with referrals has gone on is not good enough.
We think we have the root cause bottomed out and should be in a position to have the fix tested to confirm it is all good (and doesn't break anything else!) next week. I do realise the update is quite often "next week" but it really is.
I'll be along Thursday next week to give an update on how it has all again.

It's Thursday

Re: Referral discount calculation changed yet again!

Pettitto — Thu, 14 Nov 2013 11:01:41 GMT

You will get an update at some point today, Scott is a little busy at the moment but will get you an update today.

Re: Referral discount calculation changed yet again!

Townman — Thu, 14 Nov 2013 11:08:36 GMT

Quote from: reserved
It's Thursday

It sure is, but give the guy a chance, it was only 90 minutes into the working day before you rattled their cage.
You might at least let them get through lunch first...

Re: Referral discount calculation changed yet again!

gofaster — Thu, 14 Nov 2013 15:11:55 GMT

I expect he has finished his lunch by now.
Anybody want a wager that the reply (if it comes) will be along the lines of "We are still working on it" ?

Re: Referral discount calculation changed yet again!

chrispurvey — Thu, 14 Nov 2013 15:33:02 GMT

There's no update yet regarding this being resolved, it is still being worked on and is towards the top in terms of priority of problems to get resolved, unfortunately there are a few things currently above this.
It will be going in a batch of fixes that we will be releasing in December at the latest, but if we can get this pushed through sooner we will.

Re: Referral discount calculation changed yet again!

ScottStorey — Thu, 14 Nov 2013 15:42:14 GMT

Hi all,
As Chris mentioned I'm rather busy at the moment (currently actually sat at my sisters graduation).
We aren't as far along as I expected we would be. My team picks up nearly all live issues and we had to fix the recent problems people reported with recent calls not showing as a priority.
Having said that, we have moved forward. Myself and the developer responsible for the fix sat down earlier in the week and confirmed the cause of the problem.
As other Chris has mentioned we want it fixed sooner rather than later and it looks like we will split the fix in two. First part to fix the actual problem so all future referrals are done correctly and the second part to clean up the referrals that have been missed. The reason for this is that it gives me time to confirm that the cleanup gives everyone the refunds they are owed and get a fix out as quick as possible for future referrals.
Behind the scenes we are also working on a better way of prioritising existing problems so there isn't a situation like we had with this where the response you would often hear is either "we are working on it" or "it will be fixed, but we don't know when."

Re: Referral discount calculation changed yet again!

Townman — Thu, 14 Nov 2013 17:42:35 GMT

Scott,
Thank you for fulfilling your commitment to provided an update of progress by today, even though you are out of the office doing once in a lifetime family stuff. Congratulations to your sister.
A two part solution sounds like a plan - fix the cause first, then tidy up the historical consequences. When you are back in the office, would it be possible to be given target dates for each phase please. One understands that live service delivery issues will always need to come first, but a target would be good to have.
If I might ask, does the fix deliver correction to the listed token values and the totalling of the same? Will the correction of historical payments take into consideration referred accounts which have now terminated? Do you have a date from which the model was known to be broken please? Personally I have never found a good correlation between listed tokens and the received referral discount value. Since I have been on LSR (monthly subscription is less than the referral value) the "visible" referral value as been "capped" to the subscription value.
I guess it would be useful to learn of the scope of the fix, so that those of us who have concerns over referrals (I do not think there is just one issue) could indicate if there is anything else outside of the scope of planned fixes.
Regards,
Kevin

Re: Referral discount calculation changed yet again!

gofaster — Fri, 15 Nov 2013 10:33:40 GMT

Quote from: Chris
It will be going in a batch of fixes that we will be releasing in December at the latest

I am willing to wager my entire Decembers referral value on this not happening - any takers?

Re: Referral discount calculation changed yet again!

Pettitto — Fri, 15 Nov 2013 11:55:58 GMT

I am quite confident that a fix isn't too far away on this one, as Scott has mentioned.

Re: Referral discount calculation changed yet again!

BRABUS — Thu, 21 Nov 2013 16:23:03 GMT

Quote from: gofaster

I am willing to wager my entire Decembers referral value on this not happening - any takers?

I think I am with you on this one but I have to say that I don't think its a lack of effort from the PN staff though

Re: Referral discount calculation changed yet again!

gofaster — Thu, 21 Nov 2013 17:15:38 GMT

: I don't think this one can be blamed on "our suppliers"