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Frustrating customer service and the unable-to-helpdesk

zymurgy
Newbie
Posts: 3
Registered: ‎07-07-2010

Frustrating customer service and the unable-to-helpdesk

So after 8 days of no service i'm so frustrated at the customer service i have/am receiving that i feel compelled to leave this feedback and would be interested to hear an official answer to the questions raised.
All started last Monday with a lack of service. So i leave it 24 hours to see if it returns and then raise a fault with the team after basic diagnostics completed. I am advised that an automated line test will be carried out and i will be contacted as a result.
Question 1 - When you mean contact, it seems you mean updating the fault on the website without any form of notification which i can't view cause i have no internet! Not a lot of help that, surely a phonecall might have been an idea?
Luckily, the next morning i accessed the ticket via my works connection and noticed that the automated test had completed (in 10 mins not the 2-4 hours advised) and that it was awaiting a response from me. I duly responded on the wed morning and received an update from the faults team that afternoon asking me to confirm the login details i was using.
Question 2 - Why are the faults team asking for information that had already been confirmed to the helpdesk in both the initial call diagnostics and the subsequent fault raise?
Anyway......Thursday evening (24 hours after confirming details) i am advised it's a BT fault and that you would raise a call with them. Fair enough, sounded good to me. Even better when on Friday evening i received a call advising BT had identified the issue and an engineer would attend the local exchange during Saturday to resolve the issue and contact me to confirm the work had been done. Now that to me sounded wonderful. I was away all weekend therefore not really missing the lack of service and would look forward to internet when i returned on Sunday evening. Of course, that would have been the case if there was internet when i returned Sunday evening. Or of course a phonecall. Or even an update to the call.
Question 3 - Why promise a fix and phonecall for a certain day and not even follow up with a 'sorry, it won't be today but will be done tomorrow' ?
So, Monday morning i phone the helpdesk and advise that there was still no service and find out what was happening. And this starts the wonderful world of customer support pain i am now in. Monday evening i haven't heard anything so i call again. Only to be told that the helpdesk can't advise the latest status but would get faults team to call me. Tuesday midday and guess what,  no phonecall or update. Am i surprised with what happened when i called the helpdesk? Of course not. Again i am told that they would get faults team to call. More worryingly i am advised that there SLA to respond to each individual update is 48 hours!
Question 4 - why can't the helpdesk give updated on the progress of the fault and why can't they transfer me to someone who can actually help rather than fob me off with a 'someone will call you back'?
Tuesday evening and finally i get a response (probably prompted by a twitter comment or two). However, instead of advising why it wasn't fixed on Saturday, it asks me to try some more diagnostics tests. So, doing as requested, i completed them, phoned the helpdesk with the answers and then asked how long for faults team to get back to me. Imagine my surprise when the response again was up to 48 hours!
Question 5 - up to 48 hours for you to pick up my response to a question you asked to help diagnostics? Seriously?
And now onto the present time. Of course there is no update on the call status and i don't really expect one quickly given the current experience. And when i do get an update, i'll probably end up talking to a poor chap on the helpdesk (now personally renamed the unable-to-helpdesk) who'll take my details and then advise another 'up to 48hour' wait for a response. I foresee a cycle hear that i don't think will be broken for a while!
On a plus side (and there is one) all the unable-to-helpdesk operatives i have spoken to have been polite and understanding to my cause. It seems though that their hands are tied in being able to do what they are supposed to do and that is help people!
4 REPLIES 4
Chris
Legend
Posts: 17,724
Thanks: 600
Fixes: 169
Registered: ‎05-04-2007

Re: Frustrating customer service and the unable-to-helpdesk

Quote
Question 1 - When you mean contact, it seems you mean updating the fault on the website without any form of notification which i can't view cause i have no internet! Not a lot of help that, surely a phonecall might have been an idea?

I've taken a look over your fault and with the exception of 1 period we were updating you daily via SMS or phonecall. Did you not receive any of these text messages?
Quote
Question 2  - Why are the faults team asking for information that had already been confirmed to the helpdesk in both the initial call diagnostics and the subsequent fault raise?

I can see that when the fault ticket was initially raised you were asked the questions we needed, however when one of the faults agents tested your line it was showing a strange username which is why you were asked to double check and confirm the details stored in your router.
Quote
Question 3  - Why promise a fix and phonecall for a certain day and not even follow up with a 'sorry, it won't be today but will be done tomorrow' ?

We can't promise a fix for a specific day on *any* fault, there are too many different factors to take into consideration for this to be feasible. I'm sorry if you were given the wrong information.
Quote
Question 4 - why can't the helpdesk give updated on the progress of the fault and why can't they transfer me to someone who can actually help rather than fob me off with a 'someone will call you back'?

The faults team should be updating you each time they update the ticket, this is via SMS or phone call.
Quote
Question 5 - up to 48 hours for you to pick up my response to a question you asked to help diagnostics? Seriously?

It can take 48 hours to respond, unfortunately there are sometimes circumstances that mean this is longer. For example recently there have been a few MSOs (Major Service Outages) across the wholesale network which has led to more faults being raised and therefore slight increases in turnaround time.

Having said all that, your fault is currently being looked at by one of our faults team and you should receive an update this afternoon.
Former Plusnet Staff member. Posts after 31st Jan 2020 are not on behalf of Plusnet.
zymurgy
Newbie
Posts: 3
Registered: ‎07-07-2010

Re: Frustrating customer service and the unable-to-helpdesk

Hi Chris, thanks for your updates.
Quote from: Chris
I've taken a look over your fault and with the exception of 1 period we were updating you daily via SMS or phonecall. Did you not receive any of these text messages?

With this i was more getting at the initial instance when the fault was made. No SMS or phonecall to me was made and the fault was returned to me via the online question system(entry at 6.25 on 29th June). Had i not have logged in and checked the next day whilst at work i wouldn't have known about it.
Quote
I can see that when the fault ticket was initially raised you were asked the questions we needed, however when one of the faults agents tested your line it was showing a strange username which is why you were asked to double check and confirm the details stored in your router.

Makes sense. Why couldn't that have been explained better at the time rather than just being asked to confirm details that i believed had already been confirmed?
Quote
We can't promise a fix for a specific day on *any* fault, there are too many different factors to take into consideration for this to be feasible. I'm sorry if you were given the wrong information.

Sounds like the chap who called me on Friday needs this explaining to him then
Quote
The faults team should be updating you each time they update the ticket, this is via SMS or phone call.

Sorry, not quite the point i was getting at. When the faults team are updating, i am getting SMS and/or phone calls (with the exception of point 1). However my issue is the fact that once they have updated i have no way of getting back to them directly to respond to questions or confirm issues. I either speak to the helpdesk who pass the message on with no guarantee of when someone will be back in contact or update via the website which is difficult to do with no internet! Direct comms with the team dealing with the issue would have cut around 2 days worth of waiting out if not more already.
Quote
It can take 48 hours to respond, unfortunately there are sometimes circumstances that mean this is longer. For example recently there have been a few MSOs (Major Service Outages) across the wholesale network which has led to more faults being raised and therefore slight increases in turnaround time.

Again, i understand this. Working in a similar environment MSO's take priority and impact lower severity response times however why has nobody during the numerous contacts i have had explained that this is the case? Even a note on the fault call every once in a while explaining there is currently a delay is better than not hearing anything for 36 hours and wondering if anyone is looking at it.
Quote
Having said all that, your fault is currently being looked at by one of our faults team and you should receive an update this afternoon.

Many thanks

jojopillo
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 9,786
Registered: ‎16-06-2010

Re: Frustrating customer service and the unable-to-helpdesk

Hi zymurgy,
I've been getting this checked out for you and one of the faults guys have left you a message and updated your ticket.
Jojo Smiley
zymurgy
Newbie
Posts: 3
Registered: ‎07-07-2010

Re: Frustrating customer service and the unable-to-helpdesk

Quote from: Joanne
Hi zymurgy,
I've been getting this checked out for you and one of the faults guys have left you a message and updated your ticket.
Jojo Smiley

Thanks! On the phone to them now to get an appointment sorted