topic Re: Have Plusnet got your full support in Plusnet Feedback

Have Plusnet got your full support

TORPC — Mon, 06 Jan 2014 18:52:03 GMT

I am new to Plusnet and knew the new call centre would cause some disruptions, and all the hard work that is going into keeping the call centre in the UK
I for 1 am in favour of this and will be giving Plusnet my full support.
Will you give Plusnet your full support through these turbulent times

Re: Have Plusnet got your full support

syates — Mon, 06 Jan 2014 18:56:21 GMT

Only if they give me full support in return. Having been waitig for 16 months for a resolution to my problems, I'm afraid I do not see why I should give them any leeway at all.

Re: Have Plusnet got your full support

Townman — Mon, 06 Jan 2014 20:51:45 GMT

If one examines the issues raised on the forums, by far the majority relate to engineer no-shows or engineers not doing / not fixing what they were tasked with doing. These are BT Openreach (BTOR) engineers - the same supplier used by all non-cable ISPs. If they are poor for one ISP, they are not likely to be any better for another IF they are playing by the rules!
Whilst one cannot escape that PN have the responsibility to own those issues, their causes lay outwith PN and equally blight other ISPs too. In that context I support PN whilst it gets to grips with the appalling service delivery from BTw/BTOR. However they also need to get their own house in order - errors in ordering / booking appointments should not be happening. Issues with the billing system need to be fixed sooner rather than later.
The bottom line is the nation is moving to fibre - BTOR cannot deliver the workload - all ISPs are fighting for market share. One cannot blame PN for trying to grab a good slice of the super-fast market. Having got the customer on board and working, they ought to be a good long term relationship.

Re: Have Plusnet got your full support

HPsauce — Mon, 06 Jan 2014 21:16:04 GMT

Well put @Townman.
I pretty much agree with that and am rather disappointed that PN don't (probably down to ownership/politics) rattle the BT cage enough when they clearly could.

Re: Have Plusnet got your full support

IanSn — Mon, 06 Jan 2014 21:27:02 GMT

I read these forums once in a while. (Often useful info comes up!)
One thing that stands out to me - re complaints - is that they are nearly always 'rural' customers?
Ask that as a question as I can't be sure, but ppl often describe their situations as out of town, or small villages, poles, farmers digging up cables, etc.
If this is true, it says a lot about the state of the infrastructure, and also about those who maintain it, which, in relation to this thread, is not PlusNet. Maybe it says something about who/where gets preferential treatment with network maintenance.
Be interesting to find out if this the case.
Anyway, I wouldn't like to be in the situation where I had to play between BTOR, etc., and disatisfied customers, must be a nightmare.
Full support from me.

Re: Have Plusnet got your full support

syates — Tue, 07 Jan 2014 09:47:50 GMT

The "It's BTOR's fault" argument seems to come up pretty often in defence of Plusnet... Let me tell you why I am not convinced. For the last 16 months I have been having issues with the broadband provided by Plusnet, ranging from the connection dropping every 30 minutes to vastly reduced speeds and appaling lag. At the beginning I believed Plusnet telling me it was the line and BTOR would have to fix it, but now I am not so sure.
You see, BTOR have sent 10 or 11 Engineers to my house, replaced the master socket, replaced 2 spans of cable from the house to the first junction box towards the exchange and rebuilt the line from spare pairs in the main core all the way from the exchange up to my house, checking the line for quality at every junction.
The line is the best it is going to be and well within the required parameters. Only one of the multitude of engineers sent up turned up late (Afternoon rather than morning) with no "no-shows".
BTOR have issued Plusnet with a deadlock letter, stating that all the work that can be done on the line has been done, and frankly, having got to know some of these engineers as I have seen them so often, I believe them.
Yet I still have a problem (As is rather evident by the quality graph in my signature).
Now Plusnet, not having BTOR to blame their problems on in this instance, appear to be in a complete muddle. Since BTOR declared the line fit for purpose, Plusnet have done nothing to resolve my problem, and I believe their problem resolution consists of "Blame BTOR".
I am waiting for a response to the last comment put on the (third continuation) of my ticket, which i put there on the 1st of December 2013.. over a month ago.
I'm sorry, but this constant bashing and placing of blame on an organisation that has no opportunity to defend itself has to stop. "It's BTOR's fault" can neither be proved, or is it relevant.
SO.. that is some of the background behind my initial comment and my "No" vote. The problems in Plusnet are not short term glitches that will be fixed by a new building in Leeds.. they are ingrained.

Re: Have Plusnet got your full support

adamwalker — Tue, 07 Jan 2014 10:15:08 GMT

I've just taken ownership of your fault ticket and have updated the speed profile again.
If you can bear with me as I want to review the history of this issue in full before responding in more detail and outlining a course of action.
I'll do that this afternoon before getting back to you.

Re: Have Plusnet got your full support

Mayfly — Tue, 07 Jan 2014 11:00:52 GMT

syates I find your reply very interesting and as one who doesn't understand how the system works other than I know poor quality lines and distance from the exchange affects the quality of the internet may I ask what PN have/haven't done that could help your situation. You say BTOR have replaced all the 'bits' they can so what else can be done by PN? Genuine question honest.
Also can someone explain to me please why customers see a drop in speed when changing ISP? Is it ISPs own equipment in the exchanges that cause these problems?
@IanSn not sure I agree with you there - as a rural Mkt 1 customer I see many complaints here about 'only' receiving 65Mb download and not the 72 as quoted that certainly isn't a rural problem I think we [rural dwellers] all accept that living in a rural community we suffer with all 'infrastructural things' be it no buses to no mains gas to no cable TV to slow internet.
As for supporting PN I have to declare a 'yes I do' because I haven't had any problems for 4 years and my tickets & phone calls have been answered quickly so perhaps I'm just lucky.

Re: Have Plusnet got your full support

Strat — Tue, 07 Jan 2014 11:03:34 GMT

Plusnet does not have equipment in exchanges, they use BT equipment.

Re: Have Plusnet got your full support

TORPC — Tue, 07 Jan 2014 12:24:22 GMT

Quote from: Mayfly
Also can someone explain to me please why customers see a drop in speed when changing ISP? Is it ISPs own equipment in the exchanges that cause these problems?

As sprat said "They do not have the their own equipment in the exchanges"
Therefore it goes to show that BT are not using same or similar quality equipment to the ISP that provide their own

Re: Have Plusnet got your full support

HairyMcbiker — Tue, 07 Jan 2014 12:30:49 GMT

Doubt that verrrrrryyyyy much. The only time you would see a speed difference is switching from LLU to BT or vice versa. BT will not keep 2 sets of equipment in the exchange one for BT only connections and the other for the rest using the BT network.
If you were on a LLU connection (ADSL 2 usually) and switched to BT then you maybe in an ADSL 1 exchange, so max 8Mb.

Re: Have Plusnet got your full support

chrcoluk — Tue, 07 Jan 2014 18:50:58 GMT

I work on the principle I am never 100% loyal to a company as at the end of the day I just do business with them, but given plusnet are resisting following the trend using offshore call centres this policy has made me "tolerate" the problems I have had with them so far. Although the call centre queues are long there is no doubt everytime I have got through the service I do get is of higher quality than the likes of BT and VM who use offshore. Even tho those guys are clearly been overworked they have never tried to rush me off the phone.
To mavity regarding isp speeds.
Each isp has their own backhaul capacity from exchange to their own central network and after that they operate their own transit/peering. These will affect performance from isp to isp.
Of course most of the population think every isp uses the same infrastructure and that it just branding and pricing thats different.

Re: Have Plusnet got your full support

picbits — Tue, 07 Jan 2014 20:07:54 GMT

The fact that other providers use slightly different equipment at the exchanges and some routers/modems sync to the exchange at a better rate than others may have something to do with it.
You may also find that the different ISPs set their own minimum SNR differently to others which can make a difference.

Re: Have Plusnet got your full support

BRABUS — Fri, 10 Jan 2014 17:14:27 GMT

Quote from: chrcoluk
... but given plusnet are resisting following the trend using offshore call centres this policy has made me "tolerate" the problems I have had with them so far. Although the call centre queues are long there is no doubt everytime I have got through the service I do get is of higher quality than the likes of BT and VM who use offshore. Even tho those guys are clearly been overworked they have never tried to rush me off ...

Those of us who have been with Plus Net for a long time will remember the days when they used to have an overseas call centre as well as a UK call centre. They actually took the decision to close it and bring all call centre work to the UK only. My mother in law says they all talk funny at the plus net call centre in Sheffield (like I do, I am from Derbyshire and she is from Wales) in a bit of good humoured banter but she also says that is one of the main reasons why she chose to move to Plus Net as she was fed up with 'Peter' or 'John' (or what ever name the call centre agent claimed to be called) getting angry at her because she did not understand his accent.
Plus Net have got it right and many other UK business are starting to realise this and are bringing their call centres back.

Re: Have Plusnet got your full support

chrcoluk — Fri, 10 Jan 2014 20:47:37 GMT

I keep hearing about other business going back to the uk but none of the ones I have used are moving back to the uk.

Re: Have Plusnet got your full support

TORPC — Sat, 11 Jan 2014 09:24:20 GMT

Quote from: BRABUS
Plus Net have got it right and many other UK business are starting to realise this and are bringing their call centres back.

What other UK businesses are factually brining their call centres back to the UK, and where is the proof etc ?

Re: Have Plusnet got your full support

AdamClytn — Sun, 12 Jan 2014 17:52:12 GMT

Nope, well not yet anyway.
4-5 weeks with a shocking line.
5 days on from a engineer visit and still no update or reply.
1 cancelled fiber appointment (which they don't tell you about until you question it). Got another booked in for Wed so we shall see.
I wouldn't have so much of an issue if you could get through to actually talk to someone, tickets didn't take 3/4 days to get replied to and your forum threads didn't get ignored whilst most others around you get answered.
The worst experience of any ISP so far but hopefully things turn around on Wednesday (not really holding my breath).

Re: Have Plusnet got your full support

rbel — Sun, 12 Jan 2014 20:42:39 GMT

I have been with Plusnet for nine and a half years and until the advent of FTTC and the big marketing drive resulting in more queries and complaints than they can handle, I have been happy to recommend them. Following my experiences of the last five months I would no longer recommend them. I do know that they are opening another support operation in due course but I am commenting on the current state of affairs.
Against an estimate of 31 Mbps the actual FTTC speeds are currently 12 Mbps down and 0.6 Mbps up (it was 16 Mbps down but it has now dropped and nobody knows why and no-one can explain the extremely low up speed). I do appreciate that the issue is down to BTW and Openreach, however, as my FTTC agreement is with Plusnet and not their suppliers, I have to look to them to do their utmost to resolve the problem.
Unfortunately communications between Plusnet, BTW and Openreach and within Openreach have proved to be appalling, which is somewhat ironic given the business they are all in. The lack of a clearly defined and effective fault escalation process is surprising in a modern customer facing organisation. The reluctance of Plusnet management to become actively involved has been one of the biggest disappointments (just passing everything down the line to the poor chap at the bottom of the ladder).
It has been very evident throughout that Plusnet support and complaints staff have been so over-burdened with the recent faults and complaints workload that it is unlikely that the issue has received the necessary amount of sufficiently skilled and committed input from Plusnet.
Very sad.

Re: Have Plusnet got your full support

Apprentice — Mon, 13 Jan 2014 16:31:28 GMT

I don't have any problems with my line connection to the exchange and the indoor wiring to sockets is OK, PN supply the broadband without any problems and the billing is OK .......... all is great so far therefore I am happy to give them my support.
However like the majority I do expect the current issues with CS to be improved vastly before not too long just in case I too have to make use of the customer services via the telephone sometime soon.

Re: Have Plusnet got your full support

rongtw — Mon, 13 Jan 2014 18:48:47 GMT

I have had nothing but excellent service from PN in the 4 years i have been with them
Especially with the helpfull staff and customers who are regular on these forums
Keep it up