Below is an email I have sent via the portal to plusnet in desparation, basically says it all.
I have been a Plusnet customer one way or another since 1999, and have recommended Plusnet to numerous other people, I currently myself have 5 accounts at my home and business addresses, and have come to the conclusion that Plusnet no longer offers the level of service that I expect.
Plusnet has never been the cheapest ISP in the market, but has always provided a much better than average level of customer services, along with products that offered excellent added value.
I have over the last 18 months noticed that the added extras that I took for granted in the past are no longer available to new accounts, even though the prices have remained about static. I could just about cope with these changes, but what I cannot forgive is the deterioration in the quality of customer service that you offer, for products with what is in effect a premium price tag.
I have currently been experiencing problems with my broadband connection for in excess of a month; this fault was originally raised as ticket #57615289, and was eventually diagnosed as being a fault with the voice side of the line but only after I had to chase plusnet to get the fault escalated to the correct department.
An Openreach engineer arrived who could not find any definite fault with the line, but replaced the NTE5A and the cabling from the DP located in the plant room of our offices, this appeared to resolve the situation, but recently I have been suffering with SYNC drops, and SYNC speeds varying between 4000 and 7000kbps, where this line previously held a flawless 7000kbps+ connection.
We are small business that relies on its internet connection to function; we have staff that work from home and need to be able to transfer data in real-time back to our office. We also stream a Radio Service using this ADSL line, and there have been times in the last few days where the line hasn't been able to sustain a 128k upload speed, where it normally managed in excess of 700kbps.
I raised a new fault as ticket #58679833, on Sunday evening reporting the re-occurrence of our previous fault, and was extremely disappointed not to have had any contact from plusnet on Monday to acknowledge the reported fault, and to offer any form of resolution. I was further disappointed by the fact that when I called plusnet for an update, late on Monday afternoon to be told that faults have a 24-48 hour contact time, and that you where within SLA. I was basically told by Plusnet to "Piss off and stop complaining" but in nicer language.
I now for the first time as a Plusnet customer feel that the support you offer your customers no longer justifies the higher cost of your service, and have for the first time since 1999 looked at alternative options, which basically seem to be the following.
a) Switch to one of the LLU providers operating from the exchange that serves my premises, and pay just£23.00 a month for a service that offers higher speeds than those available from Plusnet, dedicated 24x7 business support and a guaranteed traffic priority over residential customers.
b) Switch to another operator operating on the BT platform, that offers the same speeds as Plusnet, dedicated 24x7 business support, Level 4 cover on the voice circuit, and a guaranteed 6 hour fix time on the broadband connection. This is also backed up with a USB 3g dongle that can be used to provide a backup internet connection in the event of a fault all for a total monthly charge of £57.00
c) Stick with Plusnet, and continue paying £54.00 a month for a service that now offers nothing to justify its high cost; this is currently a no brainier.
Basically Plusnet needs to get a grip of the business broadband market place and decide where it want's to be, it can either sell it's products on price, or on service. At the present time it's doing neither.
Why on earth would I stay with Plusnet, when there are customers offering a similar level of service for less than half what I am paying Plusnet or I can pay a tiny fraction more and receive a level of service that I had not expected to be available?
In order to keep my custom Plusnet basically needs to get to grips with its customer service and once again offer something different in the market place, I am currently tied into a 24 month contract on this specific account, but that comes to and end in December, you've basically got until then to convince me that it’s worth staying. If nothing changes I'll be ordering my MAC code and heading for pastures new.
