I have helped my 83 year old mother-in-law to sign up for broadband and a change of phone provider. I myself am a customer of Zen Internet and, frankly, am used to a far higher level of service than my mother-in-law has received with me trying to assist. In case anyone asks, she wanted to save money so Zen's charges were too high for her.
To keep things short the main issues have been: -
1) Initially card payment not accepted and my mother-in-law's card was cancelled by her bank. I had to pay for her and my card (with the same bank) was accepted.
2) Eventually the order moved ahead but an email casually dropped in that she would be issued with a new phone number which she had not requested after 40 years on the same number!
3) I ring to have the original number reinstated. 30 minute hold to be told the order would have to start again.
4) Email and SMS notifications have since conflicted over whether there is a 'problem with the order' or whether things are going ahead smoothly.
5) Phone eventually sorted but answerphone is in place when none was requested.
6) Still no broadband and this takes another week .
7) Router has still not arrived. One message says it's in the system to be sent at some point after today whilst another area of the message centre says no router was requested.
I don't know if the broadband will actually work but I plan to install an old ADSL router of my own and then we'll just see if another turns up.
The whole PlusNet experience has been convoluted, confusing and frustrating - even for an experienced user like myself.
Just for the record, many order issues at Zen are sorted by the person you are calling as you wait on the phone. Where they are dependent on BT there are obviously delays but the call centre experience is much shorter and when you get through you feel as if someone really understands your problem and it's going to receive full and prompt attention.
I do hope that my experience is not typical.
