Slow fibre download speed

[#1]

I seem to be having an ongoing nighmare. Since November (approx.) my download speed dropped down from a consistent 38Mbps to 19Mbps. For the last two months I have been backwards and forwards with Plusnet support and am now really at the end of my tether.

The line has been checked and a fault could not be located. I tested the cabling/faceplates etc etc etc inside the property and can find no fault. An engineer was called and I took the day off work. The engineer did not arrive. I asked for some evidence that the engineer had visited and many days later I received a photograph of my front door (no 'photo date' metadata was included nor could be supplied with the photo).

Rather than sacrifice the loss of another day's pay, I decided that the easiest resolution would be to try a repalcement modem. Everything else has been tested inside and outside the property so this seemed to make good sense.

Oh no - that appears to be too straightforward for Plusnet. They will not supply me with a replacement modem for testing purposes (despite the fact that I said I would return it in perfect condition if it did not resolve my problem). They will only send me a replacement modem if I sign up to a fixed-term contract - ortherwise I'll have to pay £100 plus for the modem. I already pay £40+ per month for unlimited fibre and have done for many years.

Is this the way Plusnet are now doing business with their loyal customer base?  Knowing that I'm only receiving half the bandwith that I currently pay for, they will only send me a modem to test if I take out a new fixed-term contract. When your current product isn't working, why would anyone jump into a new contract. No sane consumer would do this with any kind of product. Surely this is some kind of joke - I hope. 

Here's hoping Plusnet 'do me proud'. As my eperience is quite the opposite at present.

[#2]

Hi @stevemccl,

I'm really sorry to hear about your experience. I've taken a look into this today and raised a response via your ticket, which can be viewed here. Please let us know once you've had the chance to read and respond to the ticket and we'll pick this back up for review as soon as possible.

[#3]

Thank you for your reply. The response is that 'you are not willing to supply me with a test modem' unless I pay a fee of £100+ or take out a fixed term contract - despite being a customer for almost 10 years. I will not take out a fixed-term contract whilst I am only receiving half the bandwidth that I am paying for, and would advise any sane person to do the same. I am not willing to take the chance of losing another day off work (waiting for an engineer that never arrived). I cannot afford this. I lost over £100 on the previous occasion. I have spent over £5000 with your company over the period of 10 years - and have had enough of this slogan that 'we'll do you proud'. I also brought another 8 custoners to your company because you used to give a really good service. As I have mentioned previously in my support tickets - myself and the clients that I recommended had no choice but to use an FTTC option because cable was not serviced in our area. This has now changed. I'm not willing to take out your suggestion of providing me with a replacement modem 'as long as I take out a new contract'. I'm only getting half my previous speed - why would I? 

As cable is now being rolled out throughtout the country, including hard to reach areas, I suggest you look very carefully at your original loyal customer base. Myself, and others who didn't have a choice had to use Openreach fibre because we had no other option. You provided a good alternative for myself and those that I recommended, primarily because we could not obtain cable. I find that you have given me a glaringly obvious lack of support. When the cost of sending a replacement modem out to a loyal customer of 10 years becomes an issue I really think it's time to wrap up as a competitive ISP.

[#4]

Thank you for your reply. The response is that 'you are not willing to supply me with a test modem' unless I pay a fee of £100+ or take out a fixed term contract - despite being a customer for almost 10 years. I will not take out a fixed-term contract whilst I am only receiving half the bandwidth that I am paying for, and would advise any sane person to do the same. I am not willing to take the chance of losing another day off work (waiting for an engineer that never arrived). I cannot afford this. I lost over £100 on the previous occasion. I have spent over £5000 with your company over the period of 10 years - and have had enough of this slogan that 'we'll do you proud'. I also brought another 8 custoners to your company because you used to give a really good service. As I have mentioned previously in my support tickets - myself and the clients that I recommended had no choice but to use an FTTC option because cable was not serviced in our area. This has now changed. I'm not willing to take out your suggestion of providing me with a replacement modem 'as long as I take out a new contract'. I'm only getting half my previous speed - why would I? 

As cable is now being rolled out throughtout the country, including hard to reach areas, I suggest you look very carefully at your original loyal customer base. Myself, and others who didn't have a choice had to use Openreach fibre because we had no other option. You provided a good alternative for myself and those that I recommended, primarily because we could not obtain cable. I find that you have given me a glaringly obvious lack of support. When the cost of sending a replacement modem out to a loyal customer of 10 years becomes an issue I really think it's time to wrap up as a competitive ISP.

[#5]

Hi @stevemccl,

Thank you for getting back to us and I'm sorry to hear that you feel this way, though I can't say I don't understand why you feel as you do. I fear there may have been a misunderstanding with my previous reply, as I don't feel that a replacement router would be necessary under these circumstances and I'm baffled as to why it was suggested in the first place. I have passed along feedback to the relevant department to improve our support and troubleshooting processes in the future and I would like to again apologise that time was wasted discussing this rather than searching for a proper resolution to your fault.

As per my ticket update, the only way forward at this stage would be to arrange an engineer visit to investigate the fault further and the offer I had made in my ticket still stands. If you would like to take us up on this offer, please send a further reply to the ticket on your account and we'll pick this back up for review as soon as possible.