Account Closure

[#1]

Dear Plusnet Staff
I have submitted notification via the ticket system, asking for the closure of my account with Plusnet.  However knowing how slow these tickets can progress I would be grateful if someone on here could pick it up and sort it out for me.
My billing date used to be the 9th of the month but for reasons only known to yourselves you changed it to the 7th of the month.  I am now receiving my broadband through my new ISP as of 31 August.  It is a shame that it had to come to this and a once satisfied customer has been forced to go elsewhere but after the garbage response to my complaint and Plusnets failure to accept responsibility I felt I had no option but to change ISP.  I know from these forums that I am not the first to leave following terrible customer service and I doubt I will be the last.
For any other user reading this and wondering what happened, my service was disconnected on 28 June, plusnet said it was a faulty router, sent a new one and tied me into a new contract (since cancelled) It was then discovered that the service was disconnected, according to plusnet they do not know why or how this happened.  Over the next month following a new broadband order my service did nothing but keep going off.  Each occassion Plusnet refused to accept responsibility for it, they blamed everyone else.  They refused to get an engineer out, then booked it told it was coming and it never did because it wasn't booked properly by them.  All in all I suffered 5 disconnections in 3 weeks.  When they eventually got my broadband back they throttled me back to half a meg download speed, after a week of this they blamed BT Wholesale when it turned out it was them throttling me back.
Then to top it all they replied to a complaint, blamed every man and his dog for their failings and refused to accept responsibility.  So I feel I had no option but to give my custom to someone who might value my custom.  The grass may or may not be greener  but at least I will have confidence in my new ISP.
Thank you
Simon7685

[#2]

If you ask for your account to be downgraded to dialup PAYG you will be able to continue to receive emails to your Plusnet email address (although you won't be able to send emails via the Plusnet servers when connected to your new ISP).

[#3]

Thanks very much for that info jelv.  However following the garbage reply received to my ticket which reads:
Dear Mr Bagley,
Thank you for your query. To cancel your contract you have two options. You can call our customer options team on 0845 140 6002. The customer options team is open during normal office hours which is 9am - 5:30pm Mon - Fri. Or you can write to us at,
Plusnet
Internet House
2 Tenter Street
Sheffield
S1 4BY
Please do not hesitate to get back in touch online at http://contactus.plus.net or by phone on 0845 140 0200 if we can be of further assistance.
Kind regards,
[mremoved]
I now remember exactly why following my recent experiences I decided to bin Plusnet in the first place.  To be fair I am not bothered about receiving emails through Plusnet they can close the email account along with everything else and the sooner the better!  Needless to say I will not be ringing Plusnet, been there, done that have now migrated and notified them so my DD will now be cancelled forthwith and they can do as they wish.  This is exactly the garbage customer service that has now come to be a trademark of Plusnet.  Apart from cutting off your service withoout cause or reason that is and then refusing to to admit responsibility or supplying a valid reason why it was done.
If anyone from Plusnet reads this I would appreciate my account closing please, not that you are even supplying me anymore!
jim:csa

[#4]

Just to add.  MY DIRECT DEBIT HAS BEEN CANCELLED WITH MY BANK.  If someone from Plusnet could sort out the closure of my account all well and good.  If not I am not receiving any service from Plusnet since the 31st August and I will not be paying you any more money, so if you leave it open cluttering things up that is up to you.  My new ISP should have informed you of my migration and I have as well so the rest is up to you.
Thanks

[#5]

Hi simon7685,
The content of the ticket was correct as this is the only way we accept cancellation requests. I'm sorry to hear you had a rough time with plusnet. I wish you all the best for the future.
Jojo

[#6]

Another reply received from yet another  plusnet person advising me I can't cancel without phoning the customer options team or writing.  Also telling me they will continue to charge me until I cancel.
So here we go again, another example of Plusnets legendary customer service.
I have no intention in telephoning customer options and spending 30 minutes or more on hold waiting for an answer, as happened when trying to obtain a MAC code.  Neither am I writing.  As far as I am concerned I have followed the correct procedure to migrate my service away to a new ISP.  I am not legally required to contact Plusnet but have done so as a curteousy.  It is not acceptable to me to telephone or write and I do not cancel in that way.
This is going to rumble on and if necessary I will go to court over it.  Plusnet have abused me as a customer over and over again.  I have migrated away in the correct manner and advised them I have done so, it does not say in the T&C's that I have to telephone customer options or write to them.  You cannot charge someone for a broadband service they do not have and as such I will not be paying anything.
Quite frankly after the service I have received I would rather bankrupt myself than pay another penny!
As for it not being possible to cancel without telephoning or writing, I can find numerous instances on this forum where following customers sucessful migrations Plusnet staff have intervened and got accounts closed thereby proving my point.

If you wish to leave the account open go ahead but you will not get any money out of me, that I can guarantee, so it will only be your systems you clog up.
Thank god I have now gone elsewhwere!

[#7]

Did you migrate using a MAC? If so when did you request the MAC? When did you give the MAC to your new ISP?
I suspect the answers to these questions will prove that the person who spoke to you is talking spherical objects!

[#8]

Hi Jelv
Yes I migrated using a MAC.  I ordered the MAC on 20 July 2010 after spending 36 minutes on hold waiting for someone to speak to.  After 5 days it had not been supplied so on 26 July I phoned up again and spent another 17 minutes waiting to speak to someone.  That person then went away and got me the MAC which was valid until 25 August.  On 01 August I welected my new provider and supplied the MAC.  I had to wait for my phone service to transfer over before the broadband order went through so that all happened on 16 August and my broadband went live on 31 August.
I was told by my new provider that I had no need to contact my old ISP (Plusnet) as they would.  Having read that there can be issues with this sometimes, I decided to advise Plusnet that my migration was complete out of curteousy and then the rest is as documented.  I do not owe Plusnet any money, my phone service was paid until 06 September, it transfered on August 16, my broadband was paid until 06 or 08 September (depending on which date they decide to use this month and the migration happened on 31 August.
I have no intention of giving them another penny after the treatment I got from them and I am not phoning their customer options again to spend an age waiting for someone to speak to and incurring call chaarges at 10p a minute.  I expect if my new ISP has not informed them then BTW will do it in due course anyway.  The whole migration process is supposed to remove all these issues and the end user is not supposed to have to do anything other than obtain the MAC and then sit back and wait for their new service.  I was not inside any contract with Plusnet, despite their best efforts to con me into another 12 months in June when they disconnected my service for reasons they say they don't know.
When I joined Plusnet they were a decent company, the customer always came first and they were 100% reliable.  Now their customer service has gone down the toilet, when there is a problem each person you speak to has a different theory and from my experience none of them take the action they say they will.  They left me high and dry in June/July and didn't care less!

[#9]

Err.. I rather think Plusnet owe you money!
Your 10 day notice period started when you first requested your MAC so your migration was after that. You are due a refund for your broadband between 31 Aug and 06/08 September.

[#10]

HI simon7685,
I've been doing some digging and it appears your provider didn't actually use the MAC code for your migration and this has caused some confusion. I have been discussing this with a member of our customer options team to confirm that you do not have to contact us again - and I have passed the ticket over to have this actioned for you as well as providing you with an update.
Sorry for the confusion and good luck for the future.
Jojo

[#11]

Quote from: Joanne

Hi simon7685, The content of the ticket was correct as this is the only way we accept cancellation requests. I'm sorry to hear you had a rough time with plusnet. I wish you all the best for the future. Jojo

Strange that the contract between the customer and PN does not match the CS policy. (And this is an argument I've had on many occasions with PN!)
PNs terms state that notice must be 'written'.
There is no stipulation that written relates only posting a physical letter.
Ofcom rules require that two methods be permitted for MAC requests.
Given the rules above, its reasonable for a customer to assume that they can give notice using the ticketing system.

I know PN will continue to state that they comply (correctly) with the Ofcom rules; however they do so at the expense of breaching their agreement with their customers.
Why not stop playing games, and revert to letting people cancel by ticket if they choose? (It complies with the legal agreement you have with the customer - if you fail to ignore that, the customer could leave the contract without giving any further notice, and with no liability - any cessation costs would be caused by PN breaking their contract, and therefore PN would be liable for them. The customer could technically pursue an activation charge against PN too if they incur one as a result of PN failing to honour their contract.)
Unfortunately PN always back down and issue my MACs via ticket (after much shoutiness in tickets!) - I think there would be a certain pleasure in forcing PN to realise how stupid they are sometimes.

[#12]

Hi james_G
Below is an excerpt from our MAC code FAQ's, the full version of which can be found here

Quote

7. How do I get a key? You can either:   1. Call our Customer Options Team on: 0845 140 6002. Lines are open between 9.00am-5.30pm on weekdays (except Bank Holidays).   2. Write to us at:     Plusnet Plc, Internet House, 2 Tenter Street, Sheffield, S1 4BY Note: we can't reply to cancellation requests made using the Help Assistant. Please contact our Customer Options team on the telephone number above who will be able to deal with your query.

Jojo

[#13]

I cancelled by phone received my MAC key migrated on 01/09 and hey ho an 'urgent request' from PN  for September's payment despite them not providing me with a service.
I was told by CS on the phone that anything outstanding would be taken by Direct Debit and that my account would be closed when my MAC code was used. However in the email containing the MAC code it stated that payment COULDN'T be taken by DD and that I should store credit or debit card details on my account (as if!). When I enquired I was told my account couldn't be closed as I sill had an open ticket!! (the ticket in question was the ticket containing my MAC code).
It's just as well I cancelled my DD as PN attempted to collect September's payment from my bank despite not providing me with a service.
I did say that if I didn't like my new ISP I would return to PN - reconsidering that now!!  

[#14]

PN, an early warning. I have used my MAC key and am moving both my Home Phone (already acknowleded by PN)  and my broadband (worryingly, NOT acknowledged by PN) on 15/09/10.
First thing on Monday (06/09/10), by first class, recorded delivery, you should receive WRITTEN confirmation of the above simultaneous transfers. I have a possible advantage, I work about 1 km up the hill from your office front door and shall be turning up in person to sort out any problems, should they arise. I shall also be borrowing Mand's "persuader", if needs be! 

[#15]

Firstly:  Thank you Jojo for hopefully finally getting something done, as long whoever picks your request to close my account does it, I live in hope.
It never ceases to amaze me though how some of you at Plusnet will actually be bothered to do a job properly, take the time and effort to get things done while the majority of staff (in my experiences) basically read from the script and absolve themrselves of the responsibility to do their job.  It was exactly like that throughout all my problems in June/July.  So many staff that don't actually give a damn whether you have the service you pay for or not, they don't listen to your issues, just apologise and and try to get you off the phone with hollow promises and nil conviction.
Jelv, I don't think Plusnet will refund me any money on the broadband front, as this current month Aug/Sep was covered by a one month credit given due to all the cock ups Plusnet made, namely disconnecting me at the exchange.  Sorry that wasn't their fault apparently, they don't know whose fault it was but it wasn't theirs but they gave me a free months credit for it not being their fault anyway.  So I don't see any refund wending its way anytime soon.
I will just be happy to finally get this chapter closed and hopefully continue to receive the service I am from my new supplier SKY.  Given that they have just installed their equipment into my exchange (29/07), hopefully it may be sometime and hopefully never that I have any problems with them.
Did I want to have to switch supplier ................ No!  Was I happy with Plusnet until all the problems .................. Yes!  So why switch, where did it all go wrong?  It went wrong for me when Plusnets customer service went aslow as it can go.  They refuse to accept responsibility for anything, the left hand doesn't know what the right is doing, they fail to act when things go wrong and try to hide behind OFCOM and worst of all lie to you the customer.  All these things rolled together equals a total loss of confidence and no option but to take my custom elsewhere for Broadband and pnone service.
Maybe someday soon Plusnet will listen to their customers and get their service back to where it used to be.