topic Re: Lousy Service in Plusnet Feedback

Lousy Service

KavanaUK — Fri, 31 Jan 2014 03:42:50 GMT

For the past month , every device in the flat loses connection 60+ times a day. I have used WiFi scanners, only one other WiFi in the area. My signal strength is always great, i've changed every channel, have no fish tank, Bluetooth or wireless phone around. But every device , whether its IOS, windows, or android, disconnects dozens of times a day. Its not that the signal drops, its 'authentican errors in connecting.
You advised this may be a problem with the router. Thats after you advised me it may be a fish tank, neighbours wifi etc etc. I have been a customer for 8 months. You advised in order to get a new router i had to take out a new 12 month contract! And pay for the postage of it.
16th Jan i noticed fibre was available in the area, figured this would come with a new router and therefore may solve my problem so placed an order.
Received an email stating my order is confirmed, and an engineer would arrive Thursday 30th Jan PM.
Waited till 5.30 PM. Rang Plusnet. Half hour queue. Was told to wait till 7PM. Also discovered in this call that the engineer does not bring the router and that whilst you took payment on 16th Jan for postage you haven't yet it sent out.
Waited till 7PM. no engineer.
Ring back. Told engineer is booked for 12th Feb and that you advised me this today in an email at 6.49pm. So you advised me of a change, AFTER, waiting 7 hours.
Every call to you takes an average of 25 to 30 minutes in a hold queue.
Now have to take another day off work.

Re: Lousy Service

KavanaUK — Fri, 31 Jan 2014 03:53:10 GMT

I've since noticed there is a payment made of £45 when an engineer fails to turn up. No mention was made of this to me.
Your last customer service advisor kept on stating that no order was placed on 16th Jan and that no engineer was booked for the 30th Jan.
I asked her to read out the order and appointment confirmation emails which she did, she confirmed they do state an order was placed, but then your advisor would say 'i can see that, but no order was placed so no engineer was booked'...Makes no sense to me whatsoever, but is this why you don't even bother to advise me of the compensation? Because you seem to be claiming no order was placed and no engineer was booked, despite you agreeing the emails all state that and you took payment for the router postage...

Re: Lousy Service

picbits — Fri, 31 Jan 2014 07:58:20 GMT

The £45 payment is made from BT Openreach to Plusnet.
How you see this allocated will be up to Plusnet. They may keep it to pay for staff costs to rearrange the appointment and chase up BTOR etc. etc. or they may give you a share of it for your inconvenience. You will however have to request the compensation as it isn't given out arbitrarily.
I suspect it isn't widely advertised as that £45 compensation is probably equivalent to the first six months of profit from you as a PN customer but more importantly would potentially be open for abuse by people trying to scupper BTOR then chasing for compensation.
I do think that PN could voluntarily and automatically pay a portion of this missed call payment to the customer as a credit on their bills.

Re: Lousy Service

mikko — Fri, 31 Jan 2014 08:07:47 GMT

In my case I requested compensation by opening a ticket and PN credited £25 to my bank account. I assume the amount is set on a case by case basis as it's not part of the contract conditions.

Re: Lousy Service

KavanaUK — Fri, 31 Jan 2014 08:19:54 GMT

Thanks for the replies.
So when the customer is inconvenienced, one part of BT, Openreach, pays money to another part of BT, Plusnet 🙂
Not really the compensation i'm worried about really. Just annoying waiting for 7 hours, but then having to deal with 2 hours on the phone too.
Just to be told no order for fibre was ever placed. Even though you have the emails and money taken out of your bank. To be told at 5.30pm to wait till 7pm for the engineer, but then at 7pm, your'e advised no engineer was ever coming out, your appointments not for another 2 weeks. And told id been sent an email with this. However , you then find out the email was only sent 10 minutes back!
Still, nice that Plusnet may get compensated for umm, well ,not sure what for really 🙂
Appreciate your help though, thanks.

Re: Lousy Service

vince — Fri, 31 Jan 2014 10:22:03 GMT

This seems to be the norm for the Plusnet level of service these days, you are not alone and the number seems to be growing!

Re: Lousy Service

jelv — Fri, 31 Jan 2014 10:48:00 GMT

You may find http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/delivery-rights helpful.

Re: Lousy Service

w23 — Fri, 31 Jan 2014 10:50:15 GMT

Quote from: KavanaUK
Still, nice that Plusnet may get compensated for umm, well ,not sure what for really 🙂

Openreach compensate all ISPs equally for failed appointments within their terms of contract with the ISPs, it doesn't matter whether the ISP is part of BT group or not - OFCOM require a 'level playing field'.
If Plusnet failed to place an order on Openreach then they are hardly likely to get compensated for OR failing to keep that appointment (that's what appears to have happened in reading the OP).
This does not, however, prevent the customer requesting compensation for having to take additional time off work (but you can't really claim this unless or until this happens).

Re: Lousy Service

jelv — Fri, 31 Jan 2014 10:55:21 GMT

As explained in the link I gave above you can claim if you have to take time off for the second appointment as you would have to take time off anyway. Plusnet could avoid that by giving you a Saturday appointment for example.

Re: Lousy Service

adamwalker — Fri, 31 Jan 2014 16:02:05 GMT

@Kavanauk
Just letting you know I've updated ticket 80612201 for you.

Re: Lousy Service

KavanaUK — Fri, 31 Jan 2014 23:54:34 GMT

Thanks for your reply Adam..
I do appreciate the response on the ticket, however that response has ignored every point raised and simply said here's an appointment, for a date and time that isn't convenient to me,
The last time i spoke to Plusnet was at approx 7PM on the 30th, after waiting 7 hours for an engineer. This call took over an hour due to your hold times.
This member of staff assured me 3 times she would confirm what she had discussed by email and also contact me my phone once she had looked into the matter to rearrange an appointment.
This hasn't happened. She only assured me three times as, well i was doubtful she would do anything whatsoever. Seems i was right. I presume you can see who this member of staff was, what has happened here? You promised to ring to arrange the appointment, instead you've just gone ahead and made one for Tuesday when i'm not available. Its not like i haven't tried to ring you, i spent 2 hours on the phone on the 30th.
Do you really think its acceptable customers have to spend an hour each time they ring, to be promised things that never ever materialise?
When this fibre is eventually installed, no doubt there's an 18 month contract with it. Do you honestly think that , not posting routers, forgetting about my order , constant half hour queues, staff who promise things but never follow up, staff who advise you incorrectly regarding contracts and new routers, 7 hour waits for engineers who never show...this is even half decent customer service?
And again, this does not seem to be a case where blame can be laid on Openreach. The last call i made to you, the lady stated there was never an engineer booked as no order had been placed. Despite me having all the emails of appointment times and order confirmations.

Re: Lousy Service

KavanaUK — Sun, 02 Feb 2014 02:38:17 GMT

Theres no point pursuing you regarding call hold times, no call back, no engineer, incorrect information etc etc.
I will cancel my other arrangments instead, so please ensure the engineer arrives on the 4th feb as you have indicated.

Re: Lousy Service

KavanaUK — Thu, 06 Feb 2014 18:07:36 GMT

Fibre installed on 4th Feb. Openreach engineer confirmed there was no previous appointment made, despite Plusnet assuring me there was.
Anyway, 2 days in and the speed is less than Broadband.
Last dozen or so tests ive done range between 4 to 6 Mbps download speed.
Ive read your leaflets about letting it 'settle' for 3 days.
Ive spent another hour on the phone while someone tells me to switch boxes off, on, off and on.
Given that theres only another day left, I have my doubts that this is going to increase from 5Mbps to the "estimated" 76Mbps.
Not prepared to keep on ringing you when you can't be bothered to reduce your calls times. Neither am I going to carry out endless tests again.
Please ensure you provide the service you estimated I would have, when taking out this fibre contract.

Re: Lousy Service

picbits — Thu, 06 Feb 2014 19:28:04 GMT

Unless it is a simple issue such as PN need to reset your speeds to FTTC levels, it may well be an issue with your line.
Can you run the test on the following site on a wired connection then run the further test and post back the results ?
http://speedtest.btwholesale.com/
It could shed a bit of light on your speed issue.

Re: Lousy Service

philimart32 — Thu, 06 Feb 2014 22:28:46 GMT

I to have had the most appalling service since joining plus net in December 2013.
I have contacted plus net four times in the last seven weeks about my broadband speed which has been running at 1/2 mg since joining them.
I have been told so many lies about them sending BT openreach out to check the line then they send me a TEXT( how unprofessional) to tell me the speed is fine. I then ring again and they ask me to perform a BT speed test but as my internet speed is so bad the test is incomplete and I'm told to contact my provider.I was told in there words it's my word against there's and BT won't believe them.
I then call again and I' m told there still isn't a problem and there's nothing they can do but report it again . I specifically asked not to be sent a text as I am a human being and not a computer and it's so unprofessional when dealing with a complaint .
Three days later I am sent another text(surprise surprise ) to say my line is hot vp which needs to be resolved (oh really have I not been telling them this).
Yet again more jargon that should be explained and could have been done if they bothered to actually speak to me.
I want to know who voted Plusnet for good service/ customer service as advertised .
The service I have received it nothing more than amateur and I wish I' stayed with BT !!!!
Sort yourselves out and start giving CUSTOMER SERVICE .

Re: Lousy Service

KavanaUK — Fri, 07 Feb 2014 05:28:29 GMT

Here are the resukts from BT speedtest
Download 7.81
Upload 8.53
Ping 49.75
You state this is probably a problem with the line, ie something wrong at my end. The engineer was here 3 days ago. He claimed everytbing was perfect. When I told him my speeds were only the same as broadband he said that's odd but everything works fine and id need to contact you.
I then rang you. Took an hour. You advised me tnis is sometbing to do with traffic profiles and it needs 3 days to settle . I was told to switch bixes off and on, The download speed then went up to around 30Mbs. Tnis makes me presume its clearly something at your end.
After 3 days the speed has now seemingly settled at old broadband speeds.
Why, when I ring you, do I get an immediate speed boost to 30Mbs, if its 'my line' that is at fault?
If my line is at fault, why does an Openreach engineer say its perfect only 3 days back?

Re: Lousy Service

KavanaUK — Fri, 07 Feb 2014 05:28:29 GMT

Here are the results from BT speedtest
Download 7.81
Upload 8.53
Ping 49.75
You state this is probably a problem with the line, ie something wrong at my end. The engineer was here 3 days ago. He claimed everything was perfect. When I told him my speeds were only the same as broadband he said that's odd but everything works fine and id need to contact you.
I then rang you. Took an hour. You advised me this is something to do with traffic profiles and it needs 3 days to settle . I was told to switch boxes off and on, The download speed then went up to around 30Mbs. This makes me presume its clearly something at your end.
After 3 days the speed has now seemingly settled at old broadband speeds.
Why, when I ring you, do I get an immediate speed boost to 30Mbs, if its 'my line' that is at fault?
If my line is at fault, why does an Openreach engineer say its perfect only 3 days back?

Re: Lousy Service

KavanaUK — Fri, 07 Feb 2014 05:46:52 GMT

Sorry about your problems philimart. I had a look at those awards given by Broadband Choices.
16 awards I think, with bronze, silver and gold.
Total of 48 awards.
All went to 4 companies, BT, Sky, Virgin, Plusnet.
3, if you consider Plusnet are part of BT.
When theres only 3 or 4 large internet providers left in the country ( Sky swallowed up Be and O2), they're all going to win the awards. Doesnt mean theyre good.
Im sure if there was an award for best water utility company in the North West, United Utilities would win hands down. The fact that there is only United Utilities in the North West is probably irrelevant.
The day the engineer failed to turn up, I made 3 calls to Plusnet. At no time did they tell me an engineer wasn't booked, until my 3rd call and a 7 hour wait.
Each call took 40 odd mimutes.
The 3rd call, I was promised a months free internet , a call back, and confirmation of their offer by email.
No email, no call back. Plusnet deny this offer was made. No notes on their system.
The call recording has been lost apparently too.
But if youre only competing with Sky, Virgin and TalkTalk, youre bound to win one of 48 awards.