Is anyone manning Customer Services these days?

[#1]

I raised a question four days ago and have had no response so far. I thought I had a problem with my router, which kept losing the connection, but after having substituted another router it now looks as if the dsl equipment at the exchange is the cause of the problem. It has become progressively worse over the last week or so until now the router cannot establish a dsl connection at all.

As I no longer have internet access (I am having to write this at my daughter's house an hour's drive away) I was obliged to try telephoning the Plusnet helpline only to be informed of a 40-minute wait time.

When I first joined Plusnet it was partly because it had a reputation for service that was a cut above the rest. It now looks to have joined the race to the bottom. I suppose since being subsumed into the awful BT that is only to be expected.

At least I now have no reason not to look at offers from other suppliers.

Moderator's note by Mike (Mav): Edited thread title as requested by the OP.

[#2]

I opened a fault on the 3rd July.  Numerous phone calls with waits of over half an hour, tried Chat which is always closed, and still have not had an answer.  Phone calls resulted in a new ticket being opened and ignored.  One ticket disappeared without trace, and two answers on another ticket were deleted, so someone is looking at them, just not actually fixing the problem.

When my broadband is below 0.3mg, it takes an age to load a page, but at least I have some sort of access.  How Plusnet can advertise "we will do you proud" is beyond me.  "We will drive you up the wall" would be a better slogan!

[#3]

CHAT is not always closed, but you will need to turn off any pop up blockers on your browser for it to operate.

[#4]

The last time I had occasion to raise a question, several years ago, it was responded to within 24 hours and culminated in the supply of a new router, albeit by committing to a further 12-month contract. I didn't mind doing so as I was satisfied at that time with the service I was getting. Those were the days . . . . . .

Before the current problem reared it's head I was looking into upgrading to a fibre connection as I'm still on ADSL with under 7Mbps download and 270Kbps upload. Like others on here I've been aggrieved, but not surprised, to find Plusnet offering much better deals to new customers than to existing (loyal?) ones. As a consequence of the significant deterioration of service I now intend to look for a deal elsewhere. Maybe in 12-18 months I might look at Plusnet again but they'll need to have upped their game to persuade me to deal with them again.

Is there any way to edit the subject line of this thread as I didn't notice that I mistyped "Customer"?

[#5]

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@Buggwrit wrote:

Is there any way to edit the subject line of this thread as I didn't notice that I mistyped "Customer"?

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I have done that for you.

[#6]

Thank you Mav.

[#7]

I raised a question four days ago and have had no response so far. I thought I had a problem with my router, which kept losing the connection, but after having substituted another router it now looks as if the dsl equipment at the exchange is the cause of the problem. It has become progressively worse over the last week or so until now the router cannot establish a dsl connection at all.

Sorry to hear you're experiencing connection problems.

From what I can see your connection is back after being offline for some time:

Line tests aren't showing the cause of the problems but if they continue I'd recommend reporting a fault to us at http://faults.plus.net letting us know over here once you've done so.

When I first joined Plusnet it was partly because it had a reputation for service that was a cut above the rest. It now looks to have joined the race to the bottom. I suppose since being subsumed into the awful BT that is only to be expected.

We've been part of BT Group for over 10 years, we also largely operate as a separate entity.

At least I now have no reason not to look at offers from other suppliers.

Can we arrange a call back from our customer options team to discuss a new deal and/or upgrading to fibre?

[#8]

Hi,

I phoned the helpline this morning (20-minute wait) and after tests it was established that my Technicolor router has indeed failed. I have temporarily connected using an older Thomson router. That had been replaced several years ago due to a tendency to drop the connection so I cannot rely on it and am considering calling the Customer Options team about an upgrade to fibre. It all now depends on what they can offer since the standard upgrade offerings for existing customers are not acceptable.

I should add that apart from an automated response to the question I raised I never received any other responses and I have now been notified that the question has been closed. As I commented earlier in the past I have received responses to questions usually within 24 hours. It's evident from other replies to this thread and to others on this forum that this service has significantly deteriorated.

[#9]

From what I can see the ticket 179618991 you've raised is definitely still open.

I'll reply to that shortly for you.

Let us know if you would like a call back to discuss a new deal.

Thanks.

[#10]

Hi Anoush,

You're right, that is not the one that's been closed. I didn't notice the different number because I wasn't aware of any others. I was initially really confused because the two attached messages arrived this morning timed at 11:08 and 11:09. I didn't know where either of these questions originated but having checked My Questions on the website that has now become clear. I see they have both since been closed by [CSA Removed] who I assume is the person I spoke to when I telephoned.

Don't worry about organising a call back. [CSA Removed], if it was she, gave me the number of your Customer Options team and I will be telephoning them in due course, probably tomorrow.

There is no need to respond to 179618991 as the issue looks to have been resolved so you can close it if you wish.

Moderator's note by Mike (Mav): CSA name(s) removed (to an area staff can see) as per Forum rules.

[#11]

@Buggwrit

All I can suggest is what I did.

You may have a fault, worth reporting or you may not. It is worth checking how far you are away from the exchange too, I'd put your landline number into a site such as this:

https://availability.samknows.com/broadband/exchange_search

It'll give you an idea on how far you are away from the exchange with a map, if you are far like I was then it could be a problem and Fibre may help.

Also the old BT checker too:

https://www.btwholesale.com/includes/adsl/adsl.htm?s_cid=ws_furls_adslchecker

If you want to post to results, it'll contain personal information you'd need to remove. Otherwise I am sure you can send a mod your post who can put it into a staff/mod only non public area of the forum.

[#12]

Ah fair, no worries.

While we can't close tickets that you raise yourself, this ticket will now close automatically after 14 days of inactivity as I had responded to it.

Alternatively you can close it by clicking Here.

Let me know if you have any further queries or issues.

[#13]

Moderator's note by Mike (Mav): CSA name(s) removed (to an area staff can see) as per Forum rules.

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Apologies for that.

[#14]

Don't worry @Buggwrit, easy mistake to make I am sure the mods won't mind too much 

The ticket closing system makes sense in that only the original person who raised it should be the one that can close it. So if you say "PlusNet I have this problem", they say "We have changed something has it fixed it?". If Yes then you close it, if No you reply "No it hasn't", leave it open and provide a bit more information and it goes on.

I have see the issue where if PlusNet could close a ticket you raise - they've think they have fixed it, close it. Turns out it hasn't and you (not you personally anyone I mean) can annoyed it has been closed when a fix hasn't worked.

Similar system at my company for raising defects. Developers (me) and Testers (other team) can raise defects and enhancements. When we change something to fix a defect only developers can mark the defect as 'Fixed', the test team retest them to see if what fix we've made has worked, if so only they can marked it as 'Closed' if they're happy the fix has worked or 'Reopen' if it doesn't and then it goes back to us.

Quite simple but works quite well.

[#15]

Yes, I was going to respond to Gandalf's comment that they couldn't close questions because I'd discovered two questions had been raised and then closed within two days, so obviously there are staff with the ability to close them.