Problems with Webmail

[#1]

@bobpullen

Some people are saying it is OK and for others it is definitely not OK. Is the issue the back-end storage and is it only affecting certain TLKs?

[#2]

@jelv @MKSlinky

Hi Guys, I know it's frustrating but Plusnet will not be going into specifics about what is wrong.

We know there are problems, we're working to resolve them however there is unlikely to be one piece of work that fixes everything and it's much more likely that you will see a number of incremental improvements.

[#3]

@JonoH Why? What's the big secret and why is it causing PN so much difficulty to resolve.

PN's lack of openness is now a big part of this issue because PN is making such a big deal of keeping whatever the problem is under the covers.

I don't get what the big issue is when all I'm asking to do is retrieve small amounts of data from one hard drive to another.

Given that people can go on YouTube and watch HD content in a second the act of receiving email via Webmail consumes a fraction of the broadband required.

Why don't PN just tell us what the issue is and provide some sense of hope that it will be resolved soon?

[#4]

Ok JonoH, if you can't go into the specifics of what's wrong (and has been for the last year or so) can you let us know why you're unable to provide this information? Is it that you still don't know what the problem is? or a commercial confidentiality issue?

 To be clear, I appreciate that you can't tell us what's wrong, but why can't you tell is?

[#5]

To my mind if PN can't say what the issue is it will be because commercially it will be hugely damaging and fly in the face of all the self advertised greatness that PN purports.

The issues we have been complaining about for the past year have been grossly mismanaged and communicated by PN which adds to the dissatisfaction that at least I have with PN and this ridiculous saga.

[#6]

Whatever the problem is , they just cant Fix it  

it must be a serious problem when all they can do is small incremental test fixes , in the hope eventually it will fix itself

[#7]

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@jelv wrote:

@bobpullen

Some people are saying it is OK and for others it is definitely not OK. Is the issue the back-end storage and is it only affecting certain TLKs?

---

Whilst there is a noticeable difference between certain accounts, we don't believe it to be TLK related. Optimisation/changes have been made to the storage, but bone of contention is network-related we suspect. We've made some routing changes over the last day or so that's resulted in visible improvements from a load perspective. I'd be interested to know if this has translated to a better customer experience for anybody?

We're awaiting some more kit to make further alterations to the network side of things over the coming weeks.

[#8]

@bobpullen Yesterday, for me, was awful. Today there is noticeable improvement. But, it can be like this time and time again.

One minute things are OK and the next it's back to slow or no access.

There's no uniformity and, therefore, no guarantee as to what is to be expected from one day to the next.

BTW - What's TLK?

[#9]

Hang on, that was a direct answer to direct question, in answer to jelv. What's going on bobpullen ? A change of tact? Will we get more of these type of answers? And why is it mostly yourself bobpullen that seems to show a level of dedication that other PN representataives run away from / throw their teddy bears fully out of the pram? Have they left PN employment as it's that bad at PN towers? Are they on training courses having identified their deficiencies at customer service? Whilst bobpullen appears to be able to answer direct tech questions, can those more tech savvy please ask more questions. 

Just for those that aren't aware - 22/03/17 "Britain's telecom watchdog said on Wednesday it fined BT Group Plc's  Plusnet division 880,000 pounds ($1.10 million) for continuing to bill more than a thousand ex-customers." from a reliable source today. You're in a real shambles PN aren't you? Can't give a full detailed answer on the problem(s) here cos you're all at sea aren't you? Fines now, as I had hoped for & stated previously, increasing figures for customer complaints/satisfaction, unable to live up to their own statements of service. Please tell us bobpullen that you've seen/heard of senior management giving back car keys in the car park over the fine?

By the way, it's us paying customers that are really going to pay these fines. It'll be built in to our payments eventually, whilst we suffer the collapse of PN's systems. The thing is PN, you're getting worse, unwilling to explain your obvious deficiencies to your customers, and this is just over webmail. The real concerns here are "how will they perform when they have issues with other services, like internet connection/ provision? As badly as this?" 

You are becoming, and have become already to others, not a viable option.

[#10]

@bobpullen

Bob, won't heavily populated TLKs require more network access to navigate the directories? If so I'd expect network issues to affect them more than the sparsely populated ones.

[#11]

TLK is a TLA (and that's closer to a full description than it might appear at first).

Here's a post from some years ago where I described it (although as noted at the end I got it slightly wrong, it is 3 not 2).

TLK

[#12]

@JonoH

Not wishing to seem cynical but aren't you just conveniently dodging your customers questions here ?

What about my previous posting and that evidential screenshot showing that Plusnet DID take the website down?

It was mentioned quite recently by PN that taking the website down to fix this problem with Webmail is NOT going to happen so WHY was it? Was it done during the early hours in the hope nobody would notice you did a u-turn on your decision?

We're constantly told in this thread that we as customers are encouraged to continue posting our concerns as it provides valuable information to your engineers, I did believe that to begin with but again not wishing to seem cynical what I think is really happening is a little reverse psychology, i.e. while we continue to post comments it takes the heat off you guys and you can continue with your campaign of silence. 

@annthomasltd

I agree with your comments, @bobpullen seems like the only person here offering any sensible comments, the rest of the staff input seems geared to 'non disclosure' and a general apathy towards saying anything of any sense.

I've seen all this before with a company much larger than PN and who have global dominance in the technology market. Customers were continually fobbed off over faulty products and yet that company did nothing to resolve those issues. Moreover it continually lied about the problems in the hope that customers would simply tire of complaining. Does that problem still exist? Yes and if you were to read their forums the threats of legal action against this retailer are many, I even made similar threats for what good it did. 

Sadly it seems like with the company above, PN are just another faceless organisation who take comfort in hiding behind their wall of silence.  

[#13]

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@bazzer wrote:
BTW - What's TLK?

@See @jelv's post up there ^

@annthomasltd, sorry you feel so passionately about the situation. The recent Ofcom announcement has nothing to do with Webmail though. It affected ~1000 customers over the last decade or so, we reported it to Ofcom ourselves and we've made every effort to issue customers with a refund (plus interest).

Where we couldn't get in touch with customers, we've donated the money to a number of local charities and steps have been put in place to avoid a recurrence.

@jelv wrote:
@bobpullen
Bob, won't heavily populated TLKs require more network access to navigate the directories?

You're right to a degree but we've seen noticeable differences between test accounts that all sit under the same TLK. 

@MKSlinky wrote:
What about my previous posting and that evidential screenshot showing that Plusnet DID take the website down?

It was mentioned quite recently by PN that taking the website down to fix this problem with Webmail is NOT going to happen so WHY was it? Was it done during the early hours in the hope nobody would notice you did a u-turn on your decision?

This was why the website was down. It had nothing to do with Webmail.

[#14]

bobpullen We're aware of what the fine is for. It's another indicator of PN's crumbling systems & customer care. We'll keep pointing them out as we go. It builds an overall picture for paying customers, not just this subject of an enormous farce by the hands of a communications specialist. And again PN seem to think that a small apology fixes the fact(s) that they have caused frustration, stress (small or large dependant on circumstance), wasted time which equals money wasted in a business environment, missed appointments, taken monies where not due, dishonest about known deficiencies, disrupted communications with important medical partners, etc.etc.

For all the above & the rest of it we don't have time for, whilst paying hard earned money for the above, as a Yorkshireman with national reputation to live up to, we will remain passionate about receiving some sort of value for money. And PN have only made donations after the event, seeking appeasement after being found out & forced to make a good their deficiencies. A PR/marketing move. Not a move of conscience. And we all here know fully that "steps have been put in place to avoid a recurrence."  can take over a year for PN to tackle, let alone complete.

[#15]

annthomasltd wrote:

PN have only made donations after the event, seeking appeasement after being found out & forced to make a good their deficiencies. A PR/marketing move. Not a move of conscience. And we all here know fully that "steps have been put in place to avoid a recurrence."  can take over a year for PN to tackle, let alone complete.

Plusnet were not "found out" we were the ones that noticed this, we reported ourselves to Ofcom and we made every effort to contact the customers we owed money. However this thread is about webmail and I'd appreciate it if you could remain on topic.

If you'd like to talk about another issue, like our recent fine please feel free to make a new thread n the relevant boards.

@MKSlinky it looks like Bob has answered the question for you 

bobpullen wrote:

This was why the website was down. It had nothing to do with Webmail.