Feedback to PN re changes lets fill the thread. PN Mangaement this is for you!

[#1]

Having joined PN over 10 years ago I have stayed loyal and enjoyed being with a company with great CS  while innovating and providing reliable and fantastic service
Until now PN have always strived to improve and innovate now in the last week PN customers have found out pretty much by accident PN are pioneering on backtracking on their leading service by way of making serious changes to the once true and ground breaking service.
1. 40/20 to 40/2 an upload speed lower than adsl2
2. Customer service hours 7:30 am to 10pm in place of 24/7
3. Price hikes

I'm calling on all PN customers to join with me on this thread and state their support on PN to seriously consider the effect of these changes.
PN have prided themselves on the customer base growing organically through word of mouth for years before the recent TV adds. The users of these forums represent a great number of this customer base and I urge that the comments in here be seriously considered. Pn have trials with many customers taking part. Reading through the forums it is clear that a large number of these faithful and reliable customers are now looking to move such being the dramatic change in provision.
If PN are the same company with values then I trust you will listen and reply constructively regarding such dramatic changes.
Pn forum users feel free to pass on a link to this thread and lets make PN realise what they are doing.

[#2]

Plusnet are clearly going for high volume, low cost. It seems to me it is the TalkTalk model. With that model comes cheap broadband prices and poor service. We are starting to see the effects of that strategy. Reduction is customer service hours, reduction in product speed (40/20 to 40/2), price hikes on phone related products, peak time congestion issues, changes to ticket system, crazy cashback offers, less staff contributing on the forum, horrendous wait times when calling customer service.
If the trend continues, long standing customers that valued PlusNet's original approach will start to look elsewhere. I don't think that will be an issue for Plusnet because they will have the volume, and along with that a high churn rate.
End of an era really for Plusnet.

[#3]

Quote from: podman

Out of contract in Oct probably out of PN's door too.

Old pn is not coming back.  Your best off jumping to another isp   (there are far better ones
1000's more joining with each marketing promotion.
To sound like AndyH    

Management are doing an excellent job.
Well on the way to 1 million customer target base and  implementing the necessary structural changes and synergies for ee.

[#4]

Where PlusNet is heading is pure speculation, what we can be sure about are the negative changes in perceived service delivery, which have been widely commented on around here but not accepted as being issues.
Adding to the initial 3...
4. Effectively replacing a 24/7 problem reporting tool (ticketing system) with a part-time limited capacity chat service ... Not for improved service, rather reduction of negative stats
5. The change from DCT to CRT (no disrespect to the team members) has brought about a less visible, less responsive and less open dialogue on the forums - it seems that the openness of some personalities has been gagged.
6. The complete failure to force BTOR to improve service delivery - no complaints made to Ofcom, where there is clear evidence of a justification to do so.
7. Total stall on the IPv6 programme
8. Total stall on the email SSL implementation
9. Demise of fax2email
10. Demise of VOIP service
11. Demise of cgi platform
12. Demise of web space component on residential packages
13. No updates on major failure events as used to happen in the good old DCT days
14. Complete failure to deliver new business support systems - billing, ordering, CRM, user portal and forum refresh  - have all been on the cards for a long time, but none have seen the light of day
15. No real improvement in call answer times in spite of the new call centre and recruitment of new staff - if the assertion is wrong, please show stats which indicate that - business call answer times are longer than they have ever been and average wait time on residential is so poor that it cannot be published.  Sorry I no longer accept that this is a technical problem with the "new" telephone system, as business division publishes that statistic.
All in all the litany of cuts undermines customer confidence.  PlusNet seems incapable of managing its main supplier and its CEO seems to be fiddling whilst Rome is burning.  I would be more than happy to be told that I'm wrong, supported with examples of the changes in supplier behaviours which have been changed by Plusnet pressure.

[#5]

I used to champion PN on their no long contracts and excellent support. I've got almost half off my monthly bill in referrals for that.
I've not recommended PN to anybody for almost 2 years because of the gradual decline in support and service and I'm considering my options once my own FTTC contract is up. The thought of getting £5/mo from PN in my bank account is the icing on the cake.
You were good once Plusnet, but now I can't help but feel that you're being dressed up as the budget provider designed to drive people to BT once people are out of their contracts and want good support and hardware.

[#6]

Quote from: Townman

Where PlusNet is heading is pure speculation, what we can be sure about are the negative changes in perceived service delivery, which have been widely commented on around here but not accepted as being issues. Adding to the initial 3... 4. Effectively replacing a 24/7 problem reporting tool (ticketing system) with a part-time limited capacity chat service ... Not for improved service, rather reduction of negative stats

I have no mouth and I must scream!

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5. The change from DCT to CRT (no disrespect to the team members) has brought about a less visible, less responsive and less open dialogue on the forums - it seems that the openness of some personalities has been gagged.

Digital Care Team becomes the Can't Reply Team.

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6. The complete failure to force BTOR to improve service delivery - no complaints made to Ofcom, where there is clear evidence of a justification to do so.

BT Is still a monopoly, OFCOM are just a wagging finger.

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7. Total stall on the IPv6 programme

The Internet Watch Foundation isn't ready to police IPv6 addresses yet

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8. Total stall on the email SSL implementation

Remembering to renew certificates is hard! (To be fair, I fall foul of this every 3 years)

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9. Demise of fax2email

Meh, hardly anybody used it anyway, we can turn off the service and the losses from customers leaving us are less than running the service anyway.

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10. Demise of VOIP service

BT will have a replacement service soon, which we will consider offering.

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11. Demise of cgi platform

The person who set this up has left and we don't have anybody capable of maintaining it. We'll outsource it to another of our own companies which will then fall apart.

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12. Demise of web space component on residential packages

Everybody uses Facebook now and nobody has a personal website. Let's start archiving websites that haven't had a hit for 5 years.

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13. No updates on major failure events as used to happen in the good old DCT days

To be honest, I don't remember this in the DCT days, maybe I wasn't affected?

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14. Complete failure to deliver new business support systems - billing, ordering, CRM, user portal and forum refresh  - have all been on the cards for a long time, but none have seen the light of day

They are coming soon!!!!!!!

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15. No real improvement in call answer times in spite of the new call centre and recruitment of new staff - if the assertion is wrong, please show stats which indicate that - business call answer times are longer than they have ever been and average wait time on residential is so poor that it cannot be published.  Sorry I no longer accept that this is a technical problem with the "new" telephone system, as business division publishes that statistic.

*waves hand* This are not the statistics you are looking for.

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All in all the litany of cuts undermines customer confidence.  PlusNet seems incapable of managing its main supplier and its CEO seems to be fiddling whilst Rome is burning.  I would be more than happy to be told that I'm wrong, supported with examples of the changes in supplier behaviours which have been changed by Plusnet pressure.

I think we all would!
To add to the list.
16. Blaming the blocking of websites on their peering partners rather than not using their peering partners to route to those websites.

I may be just one person reply sarcastically to Townman's post, but I doubt I'm the only person who shares these sentiments.
Check my sig, I've been using PN for 16 years and (see my previous post) I've lost faith.

[#7]

not renewed certificates doesnt stop ssl working anyway it will just throw a warning at a user connecting.

[#8]

What concerns me is that at the end of my current contract will I be silently forced or slipped onto the 40/2 product with little or no notification or being an existing customer does my current package continue?
I don't want to be locked down into another contract period at 1.9mbps. That's a ridiculous speed for superfast fibre broadband even though it is just the up element.

[#9]

I have been with plusnet only for the last 5 years came from TT  and when i started it was good to find a ISP that helped customers .
The staff on the forums were always here some even helped from home when not working , but now  they are noticeable from their lack of input 
PN now are are on the downward slope of becoming the new TT    too many silly cheap / cashback offers is all they seam to offer and the good parts of their service they remove ?? why oh why PN you have shot yourself s in the foot  .
The thing is PN customers who are regular here are far too few for PN to listen to , and most likely will never even post on this thread .
RIP PN    hello PNTT

[#10]

Unfortunately, everyone who has replied here before me has said everything I have been thinking.
Until someone higher up the tree than CRT reply (if they ever do, which I doubt), PN will see an increasing number of these threads/comments from once happy customers.
In my own personal view, I think BT, as the parent, have decided that having a good, reliable brand is not something they want, so have installed incompetent and unreliable management/policies to force the demise of Plusnet.

[#11]

The direction Plusnet was going and the socio-economic demographic they were aiming at should have been obvious the moment they started advertising on 'Big Brother': which is a few years ago now.
But that is the way broadband as a market has evolved - as do all markets.
It starts off a a niche/higher priced/early adopters product.
Then it becomes more mainstream with multiple other players now in the marketplace all with different offerings and addons.
Finally as competition becomes more severe and the number of genuine 'new' customers reducing the product now is just a mass market commodity like petrol, we get price, product and service cuts - as price and best deal on the day becomes the sole objective of consumers with no interest in long term considerations (ie future fault repairs).
At this point we also get mergers and rationalisations as the new lower priced 'market rate' for the product can only be sustained by huge companies with economies of scale.
We also see growth for growth's sake becomes the dominant force as each of the now fewer product provider seeks to maximise their market/customer capture numbers - 'cos if you don't do it the competition will - there are now no genuine "never before" new customers and growth can only be sustained via churn or pinching customers from other providers via short term offers.
At this point only the big will survive and all the smaller player and local providers have gone or been takeover as the quest for market dominance becomes the driving force.
They may well be within such a market a place for a high priced niche players who can offer some sort of special service if there are enough customers willing to pay - such as AAISP in broadband, or for another example specialist Hi-fi-shops who will give you a bespoke package/home setup.   However it maybe that these niche players also go to the wall leaving the few and ever dwindling number of customers who were willing to pay for exemplary service totally out of luck. (Petrol stations with attendants who will fill your car up for you and take your money being one totally lost service I can remember from my childhood!)

[#12]

@x47c +1
I'd been with business ISPs since before there was a separate definition between business and domestic. When I joined Plusnet I thought it was too good to be true and it was! 

[#13]

I've been with PlusNet through thick and thin and I stuck through all the problems because it WAS a decent ISP. However, since the take over by BT it's gradually got worse with inclusive elements being removed. I can understand why they now need to advertise on TV I suspect referrals have dried up. I know it's been years since I recommended PlusNet to anyone. 

[#14]

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I know it's been years since I recommended PlusNet to anyone

But where to go? Can anyone recommend a really outstanding isp?

[#15]

Yes Zen and AAISP