topic Very poor customer service...and still no solution in Plusnet Feedback

Very poor customer service...and still no solution

timpelling — Thu, 30 Oct 2014 21:29:06 GMT

I ordered Unlimited Fibre 38mb at the beginning of August. I am still waiting! 2 weeks ago someone came to install ASDL...close but not what I asked for. Plusnet's customer service promised to sort it out and call me back, a week later nothing has happened. I got an email form the guy apologising (after I phoned to chase him) saying that there was a high volume of calls...what a pathetic excuse, if you say you will call someone back CALL THEM BACK!
They offered me a deal to make me feel better. The deal equates to the same 'offer' they are currently running
The customer service at Plusnet is a joke and after 3 months I still have no solution

Re: Very poor customer service...and still no solution

ostrercarey — Thu, 30 Oct 2014 23:10:25 GMT

I agree Customer Services is bad. I have no phone line since at least 12 October, and I am told it will not be fixed until 18 November, I imagine that is the earliest date they can give me... a cable fault meaning digging up roads apparently. In the mean time, they have made no mention of compensation - they debited my account as usual on 8 October, have made no mention about 8 Nov when next payment due. I need, though dont want an emergency mobile phone in the interim, and have requested they fund it, from the monies that they debited me and will, I suppose debit me in a few days. If they do not do this I will leave Plusnet, I'm sure there will be better and cheaper options available.

Re: Very poor customer service...and still no solution

LinnPlusnet — Fri, 31 Oct 2014 09:36:09 GMT

Hi timpelling,
Welcome to the Forums!
Sorry to hear that the Fibre service still hasn't been installed. I've had a look at your account and it doesn't seem like you ordered Fibre when you signed up - Unlimited broadband is clearly stated in your welcome email that you received after signing up.
I am sorry to hear that the member of our support team wasn't able to call you back as promised to arrange the deal for your upgrade to Fibre. As there hasn't been an agreement to which offer you'd like to proceed with, your order for Fibre hasn't been placed.
If you can confirm on Ticket: 93200394 which offer you'd like to proceed with I can get this arranged for you and get the earliest available Fibre appointment booked in for you.

Re: Very poor customer service...and still no solution

LinnPlusnet — Fri, 31 Oct 2014 09:47:33 GMT

@ ostrercarey - Having looked at your post on this thread and also this thread - http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,133489.0.html and also this thread - http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,133495.0.html I'm unsure which thread would you care for a response on? Duplicate posting can make it confusing and difficult to provide support.
In hope that this is the thread you wish to receive a response on - I've had a look at your account and can see that there is extensive underground cabling work that needs to be carried out which now involves civil engineers and your local council as parts of a main road need to be closed to allow this work to be completed. Another road also needs to be closed as heavy duty digging equipment is required on site so for safety reasons they cannot let traffic pass by whilst this work is being carried out.
I appreciate the inconvenience caused by this, however, due to the nature of the work required it's not something that is going to be fixed within a few days. Getting your local council to agree to close down a busy main road is unfortunately not a very quick task. Our Faults team are continuing to monitor this on your ticket and they will provide further updates as soon as they receive them. Again, apologies for the inconvenience caused.

Re: Very poor customer service...and still no solution

Townman — Fri, 31 Oct 2014 10:13:31 GMT

Note that these engineering works will impact the services provided by ALL CSP & ISP in the area. Moving away from PlusNET will not deliver a resolution.

Re: Very poor customer service...and still no solution

ostrercarey — Sat, 01 Nov 2014 20:05:46 GMT

Lynn K, Apologiesw for posting on more than 1 thread, I didn't realise it would cause difficulties, I was also responding to other people posting there, with my own case. I have been told about Plusnet's problems re repairing the cabling. I understand this. What I would like Plusnet to do would be to offer me assistance, as you will have read from my posts, I have no other phone. As you can possibly appreciate this is causing problems. No offer of help has been forthcoming in spite of my questions on Help and Support.
1. I would have expected to be offered a refund for my October payment for everything but Broadband, and I would have expected to be told that I did not have to pay for November, I am baffled as to why this has not happened, surely that is good business, to be polite and not charge for services that are not available.
2. Using the refund I could fund an emergency mobile phone, at least people would be able to contact me and I them. I do not wish for a mobile phone, I choose not to have one, but this is an emergency, there are also health issues, I need to have contact via phone.
3. Additionally, whilst I have tried to tell everyone that the phone doesnt work, other people have called me and when they call it goes straight to answerphone message and because they are not aware that there is no phone line, they have left messages. They have contacted me later by email, which is how I know this, but maybe some haven't emailed, and dont know why I am not returning calls. I feel that there should be a message saying that the phone line is currently out of order.
4. There has been no response to my last question on Help and Support. It appears that they are ignoring me!
It is all very frustrating as you will appreciate Lynn K. I look forward to your response.

Re: Very poor customer service...and still no solution

Townman — Sun, 02 Nov 2014 14:40:14 GMT

Linn,
In the situation of a protracted outage from your suppliers, is there anything which can be arranged with them to better manage the 1471 answering service?
As things stand, callers will not be aware that there is a protracted issue on the line, leave messages at the call minder invitation and expect a reply from the called party. The subscriber has no idea that there are recorded calls and has (I believe) no obvious means of accessing them.
Can a "Line out of service" message be applied to the 1571 answering service to warn callers?
Can the subscriber access the 1571 service remotely from another phone?
Seems something creative and out-of-the-box is required for these rare situations.

Hope BTOR get this resolved soon.
Kevin

Edited to correct phone service identity - 1571 not 1471 - Thanks AndyH

Re: Very poor customer service...and still no solution

ostrercarey — Sun, 02 Nov 2014 19:38:18 GMT

Very well put BrighSpark and useful too. Thank you for giving that extra clarity and talking the IT talk .

Re: Very poor customer service...and still no solution

AndyH — Sun, 02 Nov 2014 22:01:15 GMT

They should disable the 1571 on your line.
I think given the circumstances, it should be considered to forward calls to an alternative number at no charge (if desired).

Re: Very poor customer service...and still no solution

MattyC — Mon, 03 Nov 2014 09:19:26 GMT

It's a good idea, Townman.
The problem is that it would require a change to be made at supplier level, rather than Plusnet level. Unless of course, it's a feature that I'm unaware of.
Matty

Re: Very poor customer service...and still no solution

Townman — Mon, 03 Nov 2014 09:44:02 GMT

Matty,
With respect this does not help the OP. These are exceptional circumstances requiring exceptional action from both PlusNET and your supplier. Looking at what's there us inside the box thinking. Something different is needed here.
BTOR should have special provisions available for protracted failure of service. One understands that from time to time there will be MSO events which take time to rectify. In such circumstances there ought to be standing procedures to help subscribers.
Kevin

Re: Very poor customer service...and still no solution

MattyC — Mon, 03 Nov 2014 10:21:25 GMT

@ Townman - By OP, do you mean ostercarey? We have agreed some sort of gesture regarding his second paragraph to help him out. I'm hoping that he's managed to get a new emergency point of contact.
I understand your point. And I completely agree with you. The implementation of Openreach carrying out any such provision on a grand scale though seems unlikely.
@ostercarey - I can remove the voicemail 1571 feature. Whilst it's not a resolution, it may encourage email contact. Would this be better?
Matty

Re: Very poor customer service...and still no solution

Townman — Mon, 03 Nov 2014 12:36:43 GMT

Hi Matty,
Yes that is what I meant by OP (original poster). I did not intend to query any matter of goodwill arrangements to affected individuals. Rather that operationally between CP and BT* supplier(s) there ought to be standing provisions for mitigating the impact of extended BTOR phone line outages. Where there is no established answering service, things are not quite so bad. Where there is an active inaccessible answering service, subscribers are left with no control of their communication service. People call, leave messages and receive no response. Imagine the impression created if this were on a business line!
One understands that major network failures will occur however when they do there needs to be the means to manage inbound calls. Either call diversion (FOC to EU at the supplier's expense) to another number and / or proactive management of the answering service - remote access or temporary suspension as you've suggested.
Clearly this is not going to happen for this OP, but is maybe something that the products team can review with your suppliers to drive improvement. After all it is when things go wrong that customers need "better care" the most.
Cheers,
Kevin

Re: Very poor customer service...and still no solution

louialive — Mon, 03 Nov 2014 14:18:03 GMT

All PN have to do is contact BTOR and take the line out of service. This will then give busy tone or number not available message to caller dependent on whether they ring from land line or mobile.
Or PN could get BTOR to divert the calls to another number.
We often arrange this for our business customer when they get a line fault.

Re: Very poor customer service...and still no solution

MauriceC — Mon, 03 Nov 2014 14:52:19 GMT

One thing missing from this interchange of opinion, is that to the End User Plusnet IS the telephony service supplier. There is no direct contact between the EU and BTOR for service or fault provisioning. It is entirely a Plusnet decision to sub contract the operation to BTOR and to include any provision for long term outages in their Service Level Agreement.
BT retail do include suitable arrangements in their land line service.
NOTE. Diversion to a Mobile was raised as an idea in the Pugit 387 database in Dec 2007 and discussed in Community on many occasions since then.

Re: Very poor customer service...and still no solution

Townman — Mon, 03 Nov 2014 20:14:22 GMT

Maurice,
Do not disagree with the tenant of what you say, however if BTOR do not provide that capability within their systems for CPs to provide facilities to their users, then their hands are tied. If I were running an operation, I would not want to pick up the cost of my supplier's failures - the cost of call diversion should be covered by BTOR under commercial agreement.
This is though easy to manage as there are facilities for the CP to set up call divert.
What does not exist AFAICT is the means to manage the 1571 service in the event of the phone line being down. It is a need and it is not facilitated by BTOR and thus CPs cannot offer it. There needs to be a change in service facilitation.
As for "PlusNET choosing to subcontract the service to BTOR" that is a bit hollow - we both know they have no option - which is exactly what is wrong with the UK telecoms industry. BTOR still behave as though they were the GPO - no obligations - answerable to no one.
Kevin

Re: Very poor customer service...and still no solution

ostrercarey — Mon, 03 Nov 2014 21:05:47 GMT

The suggestions by Townman, louialive, Maurice C and Andy H (above) are very helpful, and surely should be done, one way or the other! Thank you all for your insights and contributions. I am stunned and sorry that the difficulty of there being no alternative message to alert callers has been an issue for so many years. It's very difficult for PN customers. Leaarning from this experience it is something that I will be considering when I re-new (or not) my contract with PN.
Also, if PN customers do happen to have a mobile, they will be funding a fault that is not theirs by having to make calls from the mobile at considerable cost, without compensation. Unfair.
Matty: In the light of PN being unable to place a message saying the line is out of order, withdrawing the answerphone message would be better than leaving it as it is, and I would like that done please. With respect, things like this should be done immediately and automatically when there is a fault, or the offer made to divert calls. Its difficult to understand why this can not be done.
Regarding the arrangement made to refund my charges, I have just received notification of this today, I have requested information about what will be refunded because the Customer Service message doesn't make that clear, I hope that it means all charges debited from my account for each day since I reported the fault, to the day that it will be repaired and I am re-connected. I understand that a discussion is taking place regarding road closure on 6/11, the engineers will try to fix when they can get access, and I hope for the best!
Being a bit short of funds ATM, I will none-the-less have to fund a basic emergency mobile phone myself, and then hope for a refund of charges as soon as possible.

Re: Very poor customer service...and still no solution

Townman — Mon, 03 Nov 2014 22:09:33 GMT

Hi,
Just to be crystal clear, it is not so much a matter that PN cannot do these sensible things, but a matter that BT Wholesale do not provide means of administering the phone answering service. PlusNET are no more than a reseller of BT wholesale / Openreach telephony services. Other than in areas where Virgin Media operates, there is no alternative supplier.
It's somewhat similar to electricity supply - you can buy it from whomever, but the supply line is provided by a single third party.
Kevin

Re: Very poor customer service...and still no solution

LinnPlusnet — Tue, 04 Nov 2014 10:04:41 GMT

Hi ostrercarey,
With regards to the refund it's been processed for £14.69 which covers 21 days (so far) since the fault was reported (14/10/2014) for your Line Rental and call package. This should be refunded back into your bank account in the next 7-10 days, depending on your bank.

Quote
I hope that it means all charges debited from my account for each day since I reported the fault, to the day that it will be repaired and I am re-connected.

You will be refunded for your Line Rental and call package for every day until the fault has been resolved. As we don't know when this will be yet, under normal circumstances we wouldn't refund until the fault has been resolved for this reason, however, in this instance I've processed the partial refund to aid you in buying a temporary mobile phone.

Re: Very poor customer service...and still no solution

ostrercarey — Wed, 12 Nov 2014 18:53:56 GMT

Hello LynnK
Thank you for the information. This has been extremely difficult as you can imagine! But I will have to take the straight refund as you out lined it. I have now bought an emergency mobile phone, the refund does not cover the cost, but what can I do....
I was asked by Matty if I wanted the answerphone message withdrawn whilst the cable fault affecting my line was still ongoing. I said that yes it would be more helpful than leaving it as it is. Really it should say that the line is out of order! However the answerphone message for callers to my line still says that I am on the phone. Please can you arrange for this to be withdrawn temporarily? As per Matty's suggestion a few days ago on this thread?
Brightspark - thank you for your help, I understand now. This is madness!! It never happened like this under BT before, when it was sole supplier, I'm nearly 60 so have had a few years experience before this so called greater choice...! Having to be out of contact with people for this long, is not at all good. Keep up the good work! and thanks again.