topic Re: Customer service in Plusnet Feedback

Customer service

shaunwj — Thu, 23 Jan 2014 21:42:32 GMT

I have been a plus net customer for about 10 years and in the early years thought the technical and customer support was world class. How things have changed! Nearly 6 weeks after placing an order for fibre I have had 2 failed appointments and have been waiting a week for another appointment to be made. Tried ringing tonight but my phone ran out of battery after nearly an hour waiting.
How can plus net win the customer service awards they did last year. Are the competition really worse than this? Might be time to find out.

Re: Customer service

adamwalker — Fri, 24 Jan 2014 09:21:56 GMT

Hi there,
Really sorry about this. I'll deal with this for you. Our suppliers ordering system is down for maintenance at present so I'll set a reminder for me to return to this later.
I'll make sure I respond before the end of the day and will aim for the soonest possible appointment for you.

Re: Customer service

jelv — Fri, 24 Jan 2014 09:36:43 GMT

Quote from: shaunwj
I have had 2 failed appointments

You may find this information helpful (the Missed Appointment Payment): http://www.openreach.co.uk/orpg/home/updates/briefings/generalbriefings/generalbriefingsarticles/gen02413.do

Re: Customer service

vince — Fri, 24 Jan 2014 14:46:01 GMT

I have also had a missed/engineer didn;t bother to turn up appointment today, anyone know how I can go about claiming my £45 from BT (notice how BT's time is worth twice as much as ours as paying customers!).
Also have to say the old excellent service from Plusnet seems to be no more - waiting 30 mins to be bounced to yet another department who also can't help is frustrating and only adds to the queue times as customers are not being directed to the correct place/personnel immediately; and so adds to customer dissatisfaction and also wastes customers' time.
How about using different phone numbers for different departments to avoid this?
Companies who don't keep up customer service as they expand, fast become known for it in this day & age.

Re: Customer service

jelv — Fri, 24 Jan 2014 14:52:26 GMT

You'll have to claim it from Plusnet as your contract is with them.

Re: Customer service

vince — Fri, 24 Jan 2014 15:03:35 GMT

How about it then Plusnet, we've all got better things to do than wait in all day for engineers that never turn up, our time is important and so should be customer satisfaction?

Re: Customer service

shaunwj — Sun, 26 Jan 2014 14:54:33 GMT

Thanks for the info jelv. The 1st appointment wasn't fulfilled because plus net never booked it . I rang at 11.30 to check and at that stage they told me it could be any time to 1.30. It was only when I rang back at 1.30 they told me the engineer had never been booked.they offered £4 per month discount for 2 months as compensation. When I refused they doubled it to 4 mths. Still nowhere near £45.
To be fair the 2nd failure was genuine. He turned up but thought fibre wouldn't work as his sat nav told him 2 1/2 miles from box to our house. I rang him later and explained that by road it's a long detour - distance by foot 0.9 miles. He agreed his mistake and was very apologetic.
Anyway plus net have now responded and are offering an appointment on 7 February, though they are trying to get an earlier one. Suspect I'll have to rearrange my diary to suit them as they haven't even asked when might suit me. And I'm back round to customer service - it's not that hard is it?

Re: Customer service

rbel — Sun, 26 Jan 2014 16:57:11 GMT

shaunwj - you should be aware that FTTC speeds are dependent on distance from the cabinet. A distance of 0.9 mile is likely to have a very significant impact on the actual speeds delivered. Also worth remembering that if the line is underground the route from cabinet to your property will not necessarily take what appears to be the shortest route.

Re: Customer service

shaunwj — Fri, 07 Feb 2014 13:44:07 GMT

Thought I would post an update for everyone to read (and i suspect Plusnet will respond quicker to this posting than the complaint I have just logged).
Having waited almost another fortnight for an appointment, many of you will not be surprised to hear that the engineer didn't turn up. That's 3 failed appointments now! It will be interesting to see if plusnet actually booked the appointment in the first place.
Waiting with baited breath to see the standard of customer service this time.

Re: Customer service

tazmaniandevil — Fri, 07 Feb 2014 15:40:15 GMT

Quote from: shaunwj
How can plus net win the customer service awards they did last year. Are the competition really worse than this? Might be time to find out.

In my recent experience... yes. My current (soon to be ex) provider's customer service is/was appalling.When you eventually get through on the phone, agents are rude, obnoxious, patronising, and abusive by turns.
When calling to report a telephone fault I was told, "I'll put your through to cancellations if you're not happy. I'm sick of people complaining." Classy or what?

Re: Customer service

green19801 — Sat, 08 Feb 2014 14:50:19 GMT

I reported a broadband issue last Monday and I am still waiting for a response.

Re: Customer service

chrispurvey — Mon, 10 Feb 2014 09:26:05 GMT

@shaunwj
Really sorry about your situation, we've got your complaint and we'll pick this up. I'll be getting an order placed now to get an engineer to you ASAP and I'll update you today.
@green19801
Welcome to our forums, I can see we've got an engineer visit booked in for you, let us know how you get on.

Re: Customer service

chrispurvey — Mon, 10 Feb 2014 15:11:47 GMT

@shaunwj
I've left you a voicemail just asking for your availability for an engineer. If you could let us know then I'll get that booked in for you.

Re: Customer service

shaunwj — Wed, 12 Feb 2014 20:54:29 GMT

Update: as you can see from the posts above plus net picked up my complaint on Monday am and left me a message Monday afternoon re a possible appointment Wednesday am. Unfortunately I was unavailable till 6.00 and immediately posted a response as requested to my logged complaint confirming availability wed am (and also offered fri am). No one has followed up on this so another week goes by, no appointment yet booked! I placed this order a week before Xmas (2013)!!
There was also no mention of any compensation for the 3rd missed appointment.
I'm sure I'll be giving another update next week!

Re: Customer service

chrispurvey — Thu, 13 Feb 2014 12:57:38 GMT

I've requested tomorrow morning for you and will confirm this once we've received confirmation. Regarding compensation, it's not something we offer but I'm more than happy to look at a goodwill gesture, my main priority first is to get you onto fibre though.

Re: Customer service

shaunwj — Mon, 17 Feb 2014 19:17:24 GMT

Well this looks like my final post on this subject. Late on Thursday I got a message that an engineer was coming Friday am. I then got 2 follow up calls on Friday and I have to acknowledge that finally the customer service was back to its high standard of a few years ago. Despite all that went before it left me with a positive feeling about plus net. And thanks to all that posted on this site warning about other companies. If these experiences hadn't been posted I would probably have left. As a bonus the fibre is giving much improved speeds over broadband despite us being nearly a mile from the box!

Re: Customer service

LinnPlusnet — Tue, 18 Feb 2014 14:04:27 GMT

I'm glad this was sorted out for you. We hope that your positive experience will continue into the future with us

Re: Customer service

amcclean — Tue, 18 Feb 2014 21:30:49 GMT

Re Customer service.
I have to say that despite having to wait a bit longer on the phones than in previous years the service I have received re my 3 month issue has been great from PN end of things. Sadly , from my experience, the whole issue re faults goes bottom up the second Wholesale and Openreach get involved.
I have received updates very regularly from PN staff who have always been able to advise of the next appropriate step they are taking to fix my issue.
I know that we all wish everything done instantly but sadly that's not always possible. My experience of PN is that they work hard to help and you can, unlike with other ISPs, get support from people with a sound knowledge and ability to chase up the right people to get a resolution.
For me the support from PN is close to that of my Bank. My bank answer all calls within two or three rings and can always help. Pn may, currently, take a tad longer to answer but can always help too.
Keep up the good work
podman

Re: Customer service

LinnPlusnet — Wed, 19 Feb 2014 09:04:17 GMT

Hi podman,
Thanks for the feedback. I'll make sure this is passed on