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Appalling Customer Service and Support from Plusnet

XBumble
Dabbler
Posts: 24
Thanks: 3
Registered: ‎13-08-2008

Appalling Customer Service and Support from Plusnet

Once again I am left adrift and not allowed to talk to anyone in a senior position within Plusnet.
My support ticket which I filled out last Wednesday (5th Feb) was only answered TODAY (10th Feb). So that is FIVE DAYS I have had to wait for an answer, despite me paying a premium for being a business user.
So what pearl of wisdom do I get from them? - please send us a support ticket!!!
I ring them up and am told by one of the support staff (Chris) that I can't speak to a supervisor or anyone in customer service about the fact I am unhappy. I can hear his supervisor standing behind him telling him what to say to me, but apparently I have to create yet another ticker via your website just to make a complaint and there is 'nobody in a senior position who can speak to you'.
It seems that I have to fill out an online form again to progress support, and they will get back to me in another two days - a whopping SEVEN DAYS after the initial fault report. So I go to the form I have to use, and guess what? - the form doesn't work as I have a fault with my broadband. Genius - I can't get it sorted on the  phone, and I can't get it sorted via their support form.
Seeing as you are so keen on hearing bad support on your website, I have duly printed it here.
Your customer service and support are totally unacceptable, and I am looking to move away from you. Don't even think of trying to hold me to a contract - you have broken that contract with your appalling support.
If any potential business customers thinking of moving to Plusnet - my advice is don't.
Despite their fat bloke on the adverts telling us we all deserve proper customer service - It appears Plusnet don't actually follow their own advertising message that their marketing department company creates.
Avoid Plusnet!  Angry Angry Angry Angry
13 REPLIES 13
Pettitto
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 6,346
Fixes: 5
Registered: ‎26-11-2011

Re: Appalling Customer Service and Support from Plusnet

Hi XBumble,
I'm really sorry for the service that you've received here, it's really not the level of support that we aim for. We have very high standards that we look to achieve and in this instance we haven't hit the high standards that both yourself and we would expect, for this I do apologise.
As you've mentioned, you spoke to Chris on the phone this afternoon and a ticket has been created internally for a Senior Advisor to call you back, this takes place within 4 hours of the call. Neil will be calling you back in due to course to help you with the issue and to answer any concerns you might have with the service - this can then be fed back so we can continue to make improvements on the service we offer.
I've spoken to Rob, who is one of the Team Leaders on the Business Support Team who will be providing feedback to the advisors concerned. This is something we take extremely seriously. As mentioned, Neil will be in touch shortly and I am confident we will be able to get this issue sorted out for you.
If there is anything further we can do to help at all, please do let us know and I'll ensure best efforts are made to get this resolved for you.
XBumble
Dabbler
Posts: 24
Thanks: 3
Registered: ‎13-08-2008

Re: Appalling Customer Service and Support from Plusnet

It seems a shame that I have to post on here to get any kind of response from anyone.
Your senior support supervisors seemingly tell the frontline people what to say, and how to fob them off back into your support queue so they don't have to deal with it. If it was my company and I realised what they do - I would fire their sorry backsides out of the door.
You lot screwed me over on my phone previously, which cost me a fortune and saw me take it back to BT, so please don't try and feed me your company line, as what you say, and what happens as a customer are not the same thing.
There is no point in me paying a premium price for support when it clearly is not delivered, so I please expect you to put me on a residential (and cheaper) tariff and please don't insult my intelligence and test my patience by telling me downgrading will see a new contract.
Your customer and support service over the years has been consistently poor, and I've had enough of the excuses and the company soundbites that you and the others who hang around the forums come out with whilst customers like me have to waste valuable company time being pushed from pillar to post.
If I want to receive such an appalling level of customer service, I would go back to BT, but then I had to contact BT via a support form last week for a customer, and they rang me within 4 hours - just for a residential broadband line.
Seems you lot are worse than BT -and that is quite an achievement.

Amendment
I have just spoken to Neil, who tells me that he can't do anything tonight as it's 5pm. However, on the package I have from you, it clearly states that I pay for 24/7 support. Seems nobody told your support staff this.
My view has not changed, I am not prepared to carry on paying for a premium service I am not getting. I expect someone to contact me to downgrade my package - contract free. If you can't or won't do that, I will be leaving your company and I will  take appropriate action as necessary.
fd3s
Newbie
Posts: 4
Registered: ‎12-02-2014

Re: Appalling Customer Service and Support from Plusnet

I am a new Plusnet Business customer and have had similar terrible customer service.
On the 8th of February I asked for two things.
1) To investigate why on my previous o2 LLU connection, due to my proximity, and with AnnexM, I could sync at the maximum 2.5mbit, and why on Plusnet AnnexM service, I only got around 1.5mbit. Despite syncing around 21mbit downstream, I never saw anything about 11/12mbit on speed tests. I was not losing connection or having any kind of stability problem.
2) To turn off interleaving. I assumed it was on as what would normally get 9-11ms latency was now getting 23-25ms latency.
I had no response, so I adjusted some settings on my modem over the next few days, which was in bridge mode, and it now connects at 2mbit upload, which is not as good as with o2 LLU equipment, but it's acceptable. I'm also now downloading at 16/17mbit, which while not as good as the 18/19 I'd get on o2 LLU, is still something I'm just going to have to accept.
I updated my support ticket reflecting this, and again asked for interleaving to be switched off, and if possible to change the target SNR margin to 3dB. Something I'd had running fine for years on previous ISPs. I'd even had direct control over it with Be Unlimited and ADSL24.co.uk.
Today, on the 12th, I get my first signs of life:
Quote
We have asked our wholesale broadband suppliers to turn interleaving on on your phone line to try and fix your current broadband problem.
Interleaving is a form of error correction that helps to improve the stability of high-speed broadband. One drawback of interleaving is that it can increase ping times, which may cause problems for online gamers.
We think that turning on interleaving may help with your connection problems. Interleaving usually takes 24 hours to turn on, but can take up to 5 days to take effect.
If you are still seeing problems with interleaving switched on please get back in touch with us. Thank you for your time and patience


How does this make any sense what-so-ever? It seems like my ticket wasn't even read, or someone who hasn't a clue what they're doing is dealing with it.
Not only was I not having any stability problems or disconnections, I even got back in touch two days before this email to tell them the speed issue was better, and just to turn OFF interleaving now.
I've replied to my support ticket, and the email I got, but it looks like to get Plusnet moving, or at least listening or reading, instead of skim reading, you need to ask in public.
This is terrible service for a business account.
I had better service at home, on a residential account on Be Unlimited. Far better service. Instant service, and with technicians actually paying attention to what you ask for.
I'm glad I paid the extra to be on a rolling monthly contract. With the shutting down of the o2 LLU equipment, ANY 21CN reseller is good enough for me, as long as they're competent.
Pettitto
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 6,346
Fixes: 5
Registered: ‎26-11-2011

Re: Appalling Customer Service and Support from Plusnet

Good morning fd3s,
I'm really sorry to hear of the bad experience you've had with us thus far.
I can see the ticket which you are referring to, which is the Fault Ticket you've logged with us. The Fault Tickets are generally picked up quicker than this and I am sorry that this hasn't been the case. I'll be having a chat with the Team Leaders on the Business Team to ensure this kind of thing doesn't happen again.
The Interleaving email you received is an automated one. The reason you have received this, is because DLM seems to think your line is a little unstable so have automatically switched on Interleaving:
<img src="http://community.plus.net/visualradius/generated/image1392196910274.png"/>
We can quite easily get that switched off as you have requested anyway - in essence, the email you received about Interleaving has no correlation to the Fault Ticket you raised with us.
This isn't the level service we aim to provide and I am sorry for the delay in response to your Fault Ticket. I will ensure this is picked up ASAP for you. I will pass these details on as feedback to the Business Team.
fd3s
Newbie
Posts: 4
Registered: ‎12-02-2014

Re: Appalling Customer Service and Support from Plusnet

Thanks for getting back to me here Chris. If only the support ticket system was as detailed and responsive.
Those disconnections are my own doing as I've been changing modems, routers and various settings, along with some reboots due to some internal things I've had problems with, unrelated to the DSL.
That the email was an automated one makes the most sense.
I can only see one connection failed, and that's probably when I yanked out the DSL lead with the modem still powered up maybe.
How much control do you have over the line profile? On my previous providers I had full control, or could request certain profiles, but they were on LLU equipment owned by the ISP. I'm not sure how much you guys have control over using BT's network. If you do have control, if you could put me on a 3dB target SNR with interleaving off, I should be roughly back to where I was before o2 sold everything.
Pettitto
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 6,346
Fixes: 5
Registered: ‎26-11-2011

Re: Appalling Customer Service and Support from Plusnet

No problem at all, I just wanted to get everything sorted out for you.
We have quite a lot of control over DLM, which is very helpful. I'll arrange to get Interleaving switched off for you and  for your SNR Target to be set at 3db too.
fd3s
Newbie
Posts: 4
Registered: ‎12-02-2014

Re: Appalling Customer Service and Support from Plusnet

That's excellent, thanks Chris.
Sorry for hijacking your thread XBumble.
XBumble
Dabbler
Posts: 24
Thanks: 3
Registered: ‎13-08-2008

Re: Appalling Customer Service and Support from Plusnet

No problem.
I'm still waiting for any kind of response, both technical support, or for anyone to address my issues about changing my package.
I think it is now safe to look for a company who is actually prepared to look after their customers.
Chris - I will be moving my Broadband from you ASAP, and don't you dare try and hang me for contract periods. The terrible service you have given me supercedes this easily.
I am very, very disappointed throughout all my time with PlusNet. You have cost me hundreds of pounds and many wasted hours.
Pettitto
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 6,346
Fixes: 5
Registered: ‎26-11-2011

Re: Appalling Customer Service and Support from Plusnet

Hi XBumble,
I'm leaving this case for the Business Team to deal with.
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Appalling Customer Service and Support from Plusnet

Hello XBumble
I know that Chris has already addressed some of the points you've raised, however I've decided to review the whole thread and respond to each of your points.
1. That you had to wait for 5 days for response to support ticket 80874958
>> At the point of you raising that ticket, I'm afraid we were behind where we wanted to be with replying to these. The situation has now improved and we're working hard to make sure that this doesn't happen again. I completely agree that having to wait 5 days for a response is unacceptable and I'm sorry for this.
2. You're unhappy with the support your received on the phone with one of advisors and you didn't seem to have an avenue to escalate the call.
>> I'm very concerned to hear this as this should never happen. When Chris alerted me to your forum post, I had a look into this particular issue and I have now dealt with this internally with the advisor in question.
3. You would like us to move you to a residential account
>> If you'd still like to explore this option, I'd be happy to discuss it with you and we would not hold you to a minimum term contract if you decided to switch. We also have some newer business products which are more competitively priced than your current product. Again, I can look to switch you onto one of these products without a minimum term. Please let me have a number and best time to contact you and I'll be in touch (I'm on annual leave this afternoon so I'd probably give you a call on Monday if that's OK).
Clearly you've had a bad experience so far, but I believe you've now had a few positive conversations with Steve on my team who has been personally looking into the latency issue that you reported. I hope that we're able to come to an amicable conclusion here.
I hope this reassures you that we take over customer support very seriously and we'll always act to feedback or change processes where required to make sure we live up our customers' expectations.
Please accept my apologies once more for the inconvenience to you but I hope we've now turned a corner on the latency investigation. As I say, let me know if you'd like to discuss changing product.
Rob
AlaricAdair
Champion
Posts: 5,658
Thanks: 647
Fixes: 1
Registered: ‎21-03-2011

Re: Appalling Customer Service and Support from Plusnet

XBumble; I've found the PlusNet Support Team generally effective, but occasionally there is a weak link in their chain. When that happens you need to break out from their routine procedures and workflows to ensure appropriate action is taken. I'd be happy to share some detailed advice with you  on how to achieve this if you private message me.
I pay for enhanced support on my business account, but hope to never have to use it.
Now Zen, but a +Net residue.
Mark
Grafter
Posts: 1,852
Registered: ‎04-04-2007

Re: Appalling Customer Service and Support from Plusnet

It's very rare to see less than great performance from Plusnet Business Support. Fault tickets being delayed for this long is not what we've come to expect.
I cant help but wonder what pressure they, BT Openreach and BT Wholesale, must be under due to the sustained bad weather, storms, flooding etc. The infrastructure across the country must be in a right state, engineers completely maxed out and line faults increased beyond belief. Normally BT Openreach would declare a MBORC (Matters beyond our reasonable control) situation but I can see no acknowledgement of this on the Plusnet Service status nor in any official communication.
I've no doubt that the workload, not only for Plusnet, but for all CP's has increased beyond belief. I'm shocked that there is no proactive comms about this though.Hard to set and manage expectations without setting the scene Wink
Edit. MBORC declared mid Jan, updated 30 Jan but nothing since, from what I can see. I can only imagine the fault and ticket volumes hitting PN biz and the repair time delays as a result. perhaps an updated announcement setting the scene would help us all understand the impact on Biz support?
Chris
Legend
Posts: 17,724
Thanks: 600
Fixes: 169
Registered: ‎05-04-2007

Re: Appalling Customer Service and Support from Plusnet

The MBORC post is overdue an update, Chris is sorting that now however there are very few areas officially in MBORC now.
Former Plusnet Staff member. Posts after 31st Jan 2020 are not on behalf of Plusnet.