One of my referrals, Sue, is moving house and her husband died last year so she's having to deal with things herself for the first time which her husband had normally done. Sue's sister has helped, and rang Plusnet to try and sort things out. This is what she said about the experiences on the phone:
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When I tried to phone Plusnet, I held for ages, then got through to someone very unhelpful who eventually agreed to pass me to the home moving dept. I knew they would not be able to talk specifics as Sue was not there to authorise it (I had her username and password, but was uncomfortable pretending to be her) but I just wanted general information. After holding for another 10 to 15 minutes (30 minutes in all and 15 mins on another occasion) I gave up! We do have to get through to them eventually however.
I know he was trying to sell me something, but the TalkTalk guy could not have been more helpful and patient, phoning me back on my mobile at the new house at the time he said he would - after I had agreed terms in principal on the landline at the old house, and needed Sue's authorisation.
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If someone from Digital Care wants to try and rectify the situation, I can give you Sue's username. At the moment, the situation is as follows. Sue's sister thinks they want phone & broadband at the new house AND the old house till the end of the month (they have access to both) - I'd have done this with a temporary 3G dongle, but that's an added complication. If Sue were to stay with Plusnet, she'd need to be on different packages (she's on a legacy one at the moment, which is more expensive than it needs to be: Plusnet Unlimited & Talk Anytime) - she needs to be on Unlimited Broadband & Anytime calls, and to compete with TalkTalk's price, you'd have to give her a discount to match the "new customers only £2.50/month for the first 12 months" deal. TalkTalk is due to make the phone line active tomorrow (15th July) in the new house, and their package is called "SimplyBroadband" with anytime calls added. I've told Sue's sister about the line rental saver (a version of which, both companies offer), and she may want the 100 mobile minutes extra (again which both companies offer). Sue's sister hasn't yet spoken to the Customer Retentions team at Plusnet; I've told her about the £30 cessation fee that Plusnet will charge if they cancel without successfully using a MAC to move providers.
Unfortunately my situation means I can't help Sue as much as I'd like and as much as she needs, so Sue and her sister (neither of whom are confident with broadband & computers etc.) are struggling along trying to understand everything with my advice at a distance. While I've told them that my experience and the online reputation of both companies suggests that Plusnet are more reliable and offer better customer service than TalkTalk (though Plusnet isn't as good as it once was), Sue's sister's own one-off personal experience as detailed above is pushing them to TalkTalk.
