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Plusnet, My Worst Choice In 22 Years

kjb
Dabbler
Posts: 23
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Registered: ‎23-11-2016

Plusnet, My Worst Choice In 22 Years

Following repeated issues with packet loss, Plusnet finally confirmed there was a fault on my line.

 

Three days ago, my broadband connection was severed without warning, so I contacted Plusnet to find out what was happening.

 

After waiting in a queue for 25 minutes, I finally get to speak to someone. They told me that BT were supposed to be working on the issue, but could not tell me when my service would be restored. Since then, nothing, no contact, no updates, silence.

 

I have only been with Plusnet since Nov 2016, switching to them was my worst decision ever.

17 REPLIES 17
Gel
Aspiring Champion
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Registered: ‎02-08-2007

Re: Plusnet, My Worst Choice In 22 Years

glloyd
Rising Star
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Registered: ‎06-04-2007

Re: Plusnet, My Worst Choice In 22 Years

Voted best customer service 2016 don't you know!

Chris
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Registered: ‎05-04-2007

Re: Plusnet, My Worst Choice In 22 Years

I'm very sorry that you have a fault on your line. I can see one of my colleagues has tested the line again this morning and at the moment it's very likely the next step will be to arrange an engineer visit to your premises. We need to allow the fault to progress in to the correct status for us to be able to book this, I'd expect this to happen later today.

Former Plusnet Staff member. Posts after 31st Jan 2020 are not on behalf of Plusnet.
kjb
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Registered: ‎23-11-2016

Re: Plusnet, My Worst Choice In 22 Years

A BT engineer came round on Thursday and explined that the line fault had been fixed by them two days earlier and the line had been fully tested. He could not understand why Plusnet were still reporting a line issue. He changed the telephone socket, which was brand new anyway, changed cables, disconnected the router and tried new cables, phoned colleagues at the exchange asking for further details and was altogether very thorough. He then phoned Plusnet and reported his findings, which probably bumped up his total time spent to over an hour. Plusnet now tell me it will be a further 24-48 hours before I get any further help.

 

I am now looking for an alternative ISP, I have never experienced such poor service since I first had broadband installed in 1995.

Jonpe
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Registered: ‎05-09-2016

Re: Plusnet, My Worst Choice In 22 Years

How did you get broadband in 1995 if I may ask?

kjb
Dabbler
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Registered: ‎23-11-2016

Re: Plusnet, My Worst Choice In 22 Years

OK, yes, getting carried away with all the angst I am feeling. I meant Internet connectivity. I built my first Pentium PC in in 1995 and of course there was only dialup, but even in those days I do not recollect any issues, apart from cost and speed.

 

Anyway, 7 days now without any internet, no WoW, Netflix, Whatsapp, internet banking, Paypal, Youtube and online shopping. This has left a massive gap in my lifestyle and I am truly outraged.

a_arthur
Newbie
Posts: 1
Registered: ‎25-02-2017

Re: Plusnet, My Worst Choice In 22 Years

Quite honestly I don't think there's anything to put between the providers as far as customer service goes - although my mobile is with plusnet, I use Talktalk for broadband and have had instances of appalling customer service from them. I have various friends and relatives that have also had serious problems with Virgin and with BT.

adrianscotter
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Registered: ‎28-10-2016

Re: Plusnet, My Worst Choice In 22 Years

To be honest, they're all as bad as each other.  Unless you use one company for end to end service, e.g. BT where one phone call does it all (except, of course, BT offshore their domestic first line support which are just a bunch of 12 your old script kiddies that read from their screen and will not deviate from it), you're on a hiding to nothing from the very start.  You'll just get battered from pillar to post while they blame each other.  If I can, I always try and do things via chat so I can keep a record, when they jerk me around, I include the relevant text from any previous conversation and ask them to try again.  Mostly it works because they cannot get you to do repeat things or use the same excuse twice.  In my own personal experience, I have found PlusNet to be one of the better supports that I have dealt with over a range of different types of companies.  BT Business seem to have the best support, ever.

Live long and prosper!
Jonpe
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Registered: ‎05-09-2016

Re: Plusnet, My Worst Choice In 22 Years

@kjb  Yes, I remember the horrendous phone bills on dial-up (£180 one quarter).  I told BT I was such a sad person that I wanted my ISP dial-up number listed as my best friend (20% discount) to which the lady replied, "No, you are not sad, most of our customers do that." Laugh

It's amazing how dependent we've become on this technology, and it always seems to break down when we have important things to do, like paying bills that are due etc.

I hope your problem gets resolved soon.

mage
Dabbler
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Registered: ‎03-09-2016

Re: Plusnet, My Worst Choice In 22 Years

Customer service might be much of a muchness between ISPs, so the option surely is to use an ISP where you don't have to go to them so often. For us, that has been the LLU services such as Talktalk and Sky. Talktalk data security is terrible, customer data leaks out of Talktalk like water out of a colander, but the basic service is solid enough. For me the award goes to Sky, who were flawless in the time that we were with them, but it came at quite a price.

The balance you have to opt for seems to be "how much more am I prepared to pay to minimise disruption and time spent wrestling with customer support?" - since the basic service provisions are very similar these days,

Veggiesoage
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Registered: ‎23-02-2017

Re: Plusnet, My Worst Choice In 22 Years

Yeah LLU services seem to just work, which is the best form of customer service. But Plusnet do make such a big deal about their customer service and in reality it consists alley of using a bloke with a reassuring northern accent in their advertising and hold messages. They're na sham.

adrianscotter
Pro
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Registered: ‎28-10-2016

Re: Plusnet, My Worst Choice In 22 Years

I've worked in IT for 37 years and used all of the ISP's in this country and several in the US and Europe.  The only two I'm really happy with are BT Business Support and (having only had occasion to use them twice), PlusNet.  I prefer to use chat for PlusNet by tethering my laptop to my phone if I've had an issue and both times my issue was sorted in less than 20 minutes.  No queue, no hassle and no further issues.  My BB is stable, maybe not a speedy as it could be, I'm on fibre, up to 70 odd megs and get 54.6Mbps consistently even though I can virtually spit at the cabinet from where I'm sitting but it always works, my ping is nearly always 9 or 10ms.  For me, PlusNet just works, that's all I ever ask.

Live long and prosper!
kjb
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Registered: ‎23-11-2016

Re: Plusnet, My Worst Choice In 22 Years

'Plusnet just works' - well, it doesn't work for me. Last spoke with one of their CSC's on 27th Feb, they tested the line AGAIN and said there was no fault, then said the fault was beyond the BT line, i.e. my wiring or hardware, I explained that everything in my home had been replaced brand new. They went off and came back a few minutes later and said there WAS a fault - at the exchange!

They said a BT engineer would need to fix it and emailed me with some techie test results and promised a further update on 28th Feb. Guess what - no update and STILL no internet access as I write.

I have witten a letter of complaint and sent it to the Head Of Customer Services, now going to cancel my account.

kjb
Dabbler
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Registered: ‎23-11-2016

Re: Plusnet, My Worst Choice In 22 Years

Why oh why did I ever watch that TV advert and switch to this ISP?

Still no internet connection since 20th Feb.

Spoken to CSC's galore, fit new wiring and hardware at my end, had 4 different BT engineers, 3 home visits and they finally managed to fix the fault on 6th March, only to unfix it less than 24 hours later.

When I said I would cancel the account, I was told I had only had a fault for two weeks, that they would charge 118 quid if I cancelled and threatened me with a debt collection agency if I did not pay.

What a wonderful company.