Re-enable ability to Raise a Support Request via. Portal

elementaltm — Tue, 12 Jul 2016 18:29:40 GMT

Hi,

Title says it all, PLEASE re-enable ability for users to raise Support Requests via. Support Portal or via. eMail. Chat and Phone Support is a major pain in the proverbial! I want to be able to provide Plusnet with all the info / specs / screenshots from the get go instead of being forced to speak to 'robots' (no offence) on Level 1 Support. Every time I speak to Support via. Chat I have to request a Support Ref. as this is not provided by default and previously Chats have not be logged against my account!

Grrr.

#plusnet #support #downhill

Re: Re-enable ability to Raise a Support Request via. Portal

rongtw — Wed, 13 Jul 2016 05:30:43 GMT

Interested to see if PN replies here , it has been asked for on numerous occasions

Re: Re-enable ability to Raise a Support Request via. Portal

Chris — Wed, 13 Jul 2016 08:31:23 GMT

We do also have a live chat service that does allow you to provide the information in written form to us. There are no plans to bring the ticket system back to how it was previously.

However looking at your account it does seem that it may actually be something that use of the standard ticket system wouldn't have been suitable for anyway, it's better to report connection issues at https://faults.plus.net

It's worth noting that when we did have the ticket system, it was generally the same people responding to them as you speak to on the phone or chat.

Re: Re-enable ability to Raise a Support Request via. Portal

rongtw — Wed, 13 Jul 2016 10:18:03 GMT

Ah yes Chris , BUT you could access the ticket 24/7 unlike phone and Chat

Re: Re-enable ability to Raise a Support Request via. Portal

avatastic — Wed, 13 Jul 2016 12:41:07 GMT

Which is why it was withdrawn.

Because it was easier to take it away entirely than it was to re-work it with the concept of opening hours.

Besides, it lets them focus on re-writing the billing system.

Re: Re-enable ability to Raise a Support Request via. Portal

elementaltm — Wed, 13 Jul 2016 22:43:32 GMT

@Chris wrote:

We do also have a live chat service that does allow you to provide the information in written form to us. There are no plans to bring the ticket system back to how it was previously.

However looking at your account it does seem that it may actually be something that use of the standard ticket system wouldn't have been suitable for anyway, it's better to report connection issues at https://faults.plus.net

It's worth noting that when we did have the ticket system, it was generally the same people responding to them as you speak to on the phone or chat.

@Chris firstly thanking you kindly for you taking time out to reply to my feedback.

I think it fair to say most successful integrations of Live Chat are usually offered by Service Providers in addition to the ability for Customers to raise their own Support Requests via. a Support Portal or eMail. Plusnet Customers are now guided / forced to wait in a Queue in exactly the same manner as Customers awaiting their turn in Call Queues. I personally waited approx over 20mins yesterday for a Live Chat Support Rep. This is most definitely NOT an Improved Customer Experience regardless of whether the User eventually managed to speak to the same Support Reps. they once did. The fact is Live Chat is no longer a Buzz Word. It is now widely accepted by many Customer Centric Service Providers and UX Developers who choose to follow Best Practise’s that Live Chat actually provides a worse User Experience for anything other than a Quick and Simple Question / Reply. Oddly enough and with respect you have in fact confirmed this very fact, I quote; ‘it’s better to report connection issues at https://faults.plus.net'. How was I the User to know this? This also begs the question why the Support Reps. I spoke to did not point me the Faults Wizard in the first place..?

Two Simple Questions - @Chris please can you confirm the current Plusnet Policies for the following:

Is every Live Chat allocated a 'Ticket' Reference by default? YES / NO
Is every Live Chat logged / linked against User Accounts providing a history for future reference? YES / NO

I ask these simple questions as I have personally experienced there being no Ticket Ref. available for a previous Live Chat, also the previous Chat History was not available to the Support Rep. or linked to my account. This could of course all be attributed to incompetent Support Reps. I should note that currently even the emailed Chat Transcript contains no such Refs. Personally for me the refusal to bring back the ability for Customers to raise their own Support Ticket Requests is ano. nail in the coffin for Plusnet. When BT originally took over Plusnet I had hoped BT would have learnt from Plusnet, oddly it seems to be the reverse. Which? Magazine ISP Reviews also reflect this downtrend.

An Insightful Take On Live Chat and Customer Experience

I spoke recently to an Online Service Provider well known for their exceptional Customer Service. When I asked why they did not use Live Chat for Customer Support this is what they said:

"I don't think we will ever offer live-chat support. You see, most of the support suites with features like live-chat cater to an entirely different support model, where you have call-center agents answering your requests - mostly via scripted answers. We on the other hand are a very unconventional host set out on a mission to revolutionize the industry. We believe the standard of support in the telco, hosting, cloud industry is utterly below par and it is partly due to the business model these companies have created. It's simple really, what would you prefer; to have a seasoned experienced systems engineer who is specialized in WordPress and who is part of the product development team, to directly answer your support ticket, work and solve your problems with no escalation?, or, have a live-chat session with a scripted low-budget support agent and with a very low chance of successfully solving the issue in a reasonable time-frame? both are mutually exclusive due to economies of scale, as you can't have live chat / telephone access to the engineer while simultaneously expecting product pricing to be economical."

@An interesting read for sure, I’d also be interested to hear what you @Chris and my fellow Community Users make of this?

Disclaimer: My sincere apologies in if this is too longer read or a bit ‘ranty’ however as a Plusnet (Force9) Customer since 2002 I feel passionately about a what was once Great Company and who offered a Service I was happy to recommend to others going to *hit!

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