Appalling service from Plusnet

[#1]

Is it me, or has Plusnet’s service taken a nosedive recently? It’s breathtakingly bad.
It’s without exception the worst customer-service experience I’ve had in years - bar none (and believe me, there’s some stiff competition).
Three weeks tomorrow, my broadband went down -- the day before I went on holiday. I pulled out all the stops to do the checks before leaving, and they said it would be escalated. I left the router powered up and connected, and off I went, assuming everything was in hand.
Some chance.
Almost two weeks after getting back from holiday, it's still unresolved. Back and forth it goes, from the front-line support people to the Plusnet faults team and on to BT. They said my router was off (it wasn't). They said BT needed a home visit, then they didn't need a home visit (the Plusnet person 'misread' the data, another Plusnet person told me). Then - wait for it - they *did* need a home visit.
Which I had on Friday.
The BT engineer tested my line, and it was fine. Then, he went to the exchange, and phoned me to say that he'd found the problem - a faulty port. All he had to do was change the port, and I'd be up and running. Unfortunately, he couldn't get through to some BT call centre (you couldn't make it up, could you?) so he had to abandon the job as the two-hour slot was up and he had to move on.
I spoke to Plusnet on Friday, and was told (rather huffily, in that slightly put-out way the front-line staff have) that the job would be picked up at 6pm and BT would reschedule.
Yeah, right.
I called again yesterday and got the runaround from yet another Plusnet front-line support person. It would be 48-72 hours, he said. Before what? Before it would be dealt with. By Plusnet? No, by BT.
Ah, so BT had been asked to go out and change the port? Er, no. He couldn't confirm that. It might take 48-72 hours. What, before Plusnet bothered to contact them? No, no, no, he said in that there-you-go-again-being-an-idiot way. 48-72 hours for BT to do its stuff.
But they’d been told, hadn’t they, that they needed to change the port? The visit had been requested, hadn't it?
Silence, then more nonsensical waffle. A simple yes or no would have done, but I didn’t get either.
On and on it goes. The 72-hour window has come and gone, and still no broadband. 
Today, I'm told that...it's with the Plusnet faults team again. And what has the faults team done with it? They're dealing with it, sir. Oh yes? How? Have they contacted BT or not?
Silence, again. He can’t tell me. He can’t speak direct to the faults team. He can’t speak to BT. He ‘presumes’ that blah, blah, blah. I tell him I’d rather deal with facts than presumptions.
It's so incredibly frustrating.
On Friday, the BT engineer was minutes away from fixing it. Now, the job’s disappeared into a black hole again. The ticket is still 'Awaiting support team answer' (after *three* days) and nobody's bothered to call me back with a status update.
The basic problem is that nobody has taken ownership of the 'issue' (God, how I hate that word). I've lost count of the number of people I've had to explain the whole sorry saga to, right from the top. They sympathise, but their words are hollow.  They're powerless personally to help. The system simply doesn't let it.
So I'm caught in an endless pass-the-parcel scenario.
What gives? I used to be a Plusnet fan, and have recommended them to countless friends, colleagues and acquaintances.
Never again.
I’ve been with the company since 2003, but now my faith in them has been well and truly shattered.
What a mess. What an appalling, shameful, unprofessional mess.
Please, Plusnet bods, sort it out. Restore my faith in what was once a great company to deal with.

[#2]

Hi kevinswalsh,
I must admit I'm a bit distressed at the tone you have received from various agents; of course, this is not acceptable and not what makes plusnet an award winning company. I want to assure you that this is not the norm, so please accept my sincere apologies.
Unfortunately, as you advised, the previous engineer did not perform the port change and we have no control over this. Our suppliers have now received this request, but this time I will personally keep an eye out to monitor its progression and make sure it's actioned at the first possible opportunity.
Jojo

[#3]

Quote from: Joanne

Unfortunately, as you advised, the previous engineer did not perform the port change and we have no control over this.

Yes you do.
The BT engineer told me that you won't pay for a slot longer than 2 hours, even though many broadband faults take longer. And the supreme irony is that a fault that would probably have taken a little more than 2 hours to fix will now be charged to Plusnet at 2 x 2-hour slots.
So your drive to cut costs has backfired.
As for the problem, well I'm still sceptical that Plusnet has a handle on it. After I tweeted, I got an update from Bob Pullen asking me to nominate timeslots for a repeat BT visit to my property.
<Silent scream>
The work, as the BT engineer explained it to me, is at the exchange.  It's a 'lift and shift' -- which means connecting my number to another port at the exchange. The engineer told me he wouldn't need to come back to my house.
You can see why I remain sceptical. The comedy of errors continues.
Let's see what happens...

[#4]

Hi Kevin,
I'd just like to clear something up - we don't choose two hour slots, this is arranged by BT Wholesale.
Realistically, if we could, we would always book a TRC engineer (Time Related Charges - Stays until either 6pm or the fault is fixed).  We're only able to book this sort of engineer as part of an escalated fault, where the first engineer has failed to find a fix in the first place.
It's absolutely not a cost cutting exercise on our part.

[#5]

OK, well that's a start. BT's mistake, not yours -- or a cynical money-making exercise on their part. Take your pick.
Your mistake is not immediately  progressing the job and re-requesting a BT engineer to pick up where the other one had left off. And having systems and departments that aren't connected, so your front-line support people can answer questions intelligently and confidently.
Since Friday, I've spoken to three separate Plusnet people, *none* of whom could tell me what the status of the problem was. They were all sure it was in hand.
Well here's a newsflash: it wasn't.
At 10am on Friday 25/6 the problem was diagnosed. It's 4pm on Monday, and I'm still no nearer a resolution.
Talk is cheap. Let's see some action.
dick:quote

[#6]

Hi kevinswalsh,
I have contacted our suppliers and can confirm an engineer has been booked for tomorrow 29/06/2010 between 8am-1pm. I have advised them of the lift and shift to be carried out but they will always ask that the customer be available in case they need access.
Jojo

[#7]

I can confirm that this problem has now been fixed. Thanks for your help, Joanne.
It's a shame that I had to have a rant here to get some action.
I think you can see there's a problem with the support system. I sincerely hope you find a way of solving it -- for your sake and for all us Plusnet users. I'd hate to go through this again.
Enough said.
Regards,
Kevin Walsh
dick:quote

[#8]

Hi Kevin, glad to hear it all got sorted!
Jojo