How to raise a support ticket with Plusnet

[angryrichard]

After several attempts at getting support from Plusnet, I'm hoping that this will help other customers to get their issues dealt with. Please note that I really don't like the methods that I've had to develop to get support, but Plusnet have such an appalling attitude to their customers that this is what is required and I encourage every Plusnet customer to follow these guidelines in order to affect change.

1. Don't bother logging in to your Plusnet account as Plusnet do not provide any method to create support tickets. 
2. Go on Chat, if you can find it buried on the support section of the site
3. If it's actually active, talk to a chat agent. You will need to provide your account name and 2 letters from your password. 
4. Tell the chat agent that you need to raise a complaint ticket and that you know it is possible. State your issue and demand that they create a ticket. 
5. You will eventually receive an email with a link to the support ticket site allowing a portal to manage your support request. 
6. Please note that the chat agent will lie and state that it is impossible to raise a support ticket or correspond by email. In which case, keep insisting and tell them that you need to be transferred to a supervisor and are prepared to raise the issue with the ombudsman. 

How to raise a complaint with Plusnet

1. Plusnet have a complaints page but it doesn't allow you to raise a complaint. So don't bother with it.  (This is covered by jelv's post.)
2. Raise a complaint directly through the ombudsman (details below) and outline the issue, making sure to state that Plusnet have made it impossible to raise complaints through their website or email. 
3. You should get a reasonably prompt response from Plusnet. 

What to expect from Plusnet customer support. 

1. Support will lie and claim that things are not possible. 
2. Support will not work with you or attempt to suggest methods, solutions or compromises. 
3. Support will state and restate facts like an automated service. 
4. Support will extremely begrudgingly escalate issues if you repeat the request often enough. To save time, it may be useful to copy and paste "THIS MUST BE ESCALATED IMMEDIATELY" until they comply. 
5. Support will assume you are a total idiot. 
6. Support will do nothing to help with any request. 
7. Support will not read any notes fully so expect them to not understand the seriousness of the issue, or to wilfully misinterpret your support request or twist it to point blame at you. 

How to get any action taken on your support request:

1. Keep a record of what was said and when. Ensure to get all chat requests emailed to you. Avoid phone conversations unless you are able to record them. Be prepared to send everything to the ombudsman. 
2. State what you need to occur, and don't be afraid to tell support that things MUST happen. The support agents will not listen until you have stated this at least 5 times.
3. Do not expect support to offer any discounts, refunds or actual solutions. If you want these things, state that you need them. 
4. Support won't offer any solutions, be prepared to think of solutions yourself. Support agents will completely ignore these requests but complaints agents may be able to act on your ideas for a resolution. 
5. Question every action that support claim they have taken. If they say they've done something, check that they've done what you actually wanted done. Also note that they will lie and not do what was asked so be prepared to raise this again later and see if requests were actioned. For example, if they say they have changed something, ask them if they have actually changed it or merely put in a request to have something changed. 
6. Don't be afraid to raise points about the company. Plusnet hate their customers and delight in torturing them, so take any opportunity possible to call them out on every lie and remind them frequently of how difficult they have made it to get any support in the first place. Tell them directly that they must provide: 
1. Email addresses for support and complaints
2. A link in the user home to the support ticket system
3. A link to complaints in a prominent place on their complaints page
7. Most importantly, expect to have to write at least three times daily until your issues are resolved. Do not wait for action, repeat your need for action to be taken. 
8. Be nice to anyone genuinely helpful. There are a few. Unfortunately, mostly in low level positions where they cannot take any action.

Observations. 

1. Plusnet fabricated a conversation between themselves and Openreach to attempt to placate me and lied about action having been taken. 
2. Plusnet lie about issues being escalated
3. Plusnet took absolutely no action at any point during my interaction with them. I took every action myself. 
4. Plusnet will constantly blame others for problems, especially the customer. 
5. Plusnet will not help in any circumstance. 
6. Plusnet will apologise for how you are feeling but never for what they have done. No one at Plusnet will take any responsibility for your issues or any poor support you receive. 

Outcomes.

We need to put pressure on Plusnet to fix their failings. 

• Plusnet must provide support for all customers equally
• Plusnet must make their ticketing and complaints systems easily accessible. 
• Plusnet must address the systematic failings of support staff to listen to customers or treat then with dignity 
• Plusnet must empower their support agents to be able to take necessary actions. 

Moderator's note by Adie (Dvorak) redacted factually incorrect information

[jelv]

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@angryrichard wrote:

How to raise a complaint with Plusnet

1. Plusnet have a complaints page but it doesn't allow you to raise a complaint. So don't bother with it. 

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That's not correct.

On the page https://www.plus.net/help/legal/complaints-code-of-practice/ which tells you about the various ways to raise a complaint there it says:

If you prefer to contact us in writing, you can use the Help Assistant to raise a ticket (you'll need your account username and password). A member of our team will investigate and respond to your complaint within 5 working days.

The link in that paragraph takes you to the page where you can raise a complaint ticket.

[angryrichard]

More lies.

Please don't add to this with LIES, it's here to HELP Plusnet customers, not LIE to them more!

[BrightonRock]

Link to raising a ticket on the complaint page works for me

[Mustrum]

It works for me too, and can be accessed from the bottom of every forum page, so not sure why it needs a guide.

[angryrichard]

It needs a guide because Plusnet IGNORE their customers, LIE to them, and provide NO HELP.

If you READ the guide, you'll see that there is advice for how to ACTUALLY GET RESULTS

[Browni]

Last time I had a problem I simply went to faults.plus.net (such an easy URI to remember :)) and created a ticket which was worked on and fixed the next working day.

[jelv]

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@angryrichard wrote:

More lies.

 Please don't add to this with LIES, it's here to HELP Plusnet customers, not LIE to them more!

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With one post you've totally destroyed any remaining credibility your original post had.

Your choice of user name had already done it great damage as people seeing the topic listed may well have decided it was the rantings of a hothead without even opening it!

[angryrichard]

Jelv, I posted this after a drawn out and really horrible battle with Plusnet to get any resolution to an issue. I spent hours trying to get help and was ignored and found everyone I felt with useless.

Your experience may be different, but please do not belittle another user. I posted this as o have been left extremely upset and hurt and frustrated by the experience and I wanted others to get an insight into the suffering that I was subjected to and to help those in the same boat as me. You are obviously not in that boat. Please don't mock people or say hurtful things to them when you are not affected and they are not harming you but merely expressing their pain and sharing their experience.

[Mav]

Moderator's note:

Unhelpful post removed.

[JonoH]

Hi @angryrichard

There obviously a lot of hostility in your post, lots of the content is clearly untrue. That being said I still want to help as clearly we've let you down somewhere and for that I'm really sorry. If you can PM me your account details I'd love to take a look into it for you.

There is one statement that I would like to highlight though and it's this

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angryrichard wrote:

Raise a complaint directly through the ombudsman (details below) and outline the issue, making sure to state that Plusnet have made it impossible to raise complaints through their website or email. 

If any customer wants to complains to Ombudsman Services, obviously they can that's why we use their services. It is however important to note that the advice here will lead to a worse customer experience as Ombudsman Services will respond to you telling you to raise your initial complaint to Plusnet and will not intervene on your behalf until we've been given chance to rectify the issue. If as suggested here your first complaint is raised to the Ombudsman then that will delay resolution of your issue.

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[pureedfruit]

Adie

You may feel that AngryRichard's post is "factually incorrect" but when you are on the receiving end of poor service from PN CS, and he is clearly not the only one - just look of the huge number of different posts that are saying much the same thing one way or another - that's very much the way you feel, and it becomes your reality (= factually correct from your perspective). I have expressed it slightly differently in another post "It seems to me that PN CS is now more focused on "How quickly can I get this customer off my back ?" rather than "How can I best solve this customers's problem ?"

Adie, I don't think we can all be wrong. Moreover you only have to look at the way PN is responding to this fairly widespread criticism of CS: there are no signs that it is trying to improve CS, no statistics to show that CS is improving, only attempts to make it more and more difficult to raise an issue - witness the recent burying of the ticket system.

As I have remarked before PN seems to have no concept of what "Well do you proud" actually means. It is now no more than a meaningless, marketing catch phrase.

[Strat]

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@pureedfruit wrote:
Adie, I don't think we can all be wrong.

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Equally all those many thousands of customers who are satisfied and don't post on here to express their satisfaction can't be wrong.

I would be happy to place a large bet that they are in the majority.

This is not to detract from the very real problems that some customers do have and need attending to in a timely manner.

[pureedfruit]

Strat

And you will know equally well that there are many unhappy customers that can't be bothered, or find the time to post, either, even when they are unhappy.

But that is not the point. There simply should not be so many unhappy PN customers.

3 years ago when I was last with PN my recollection is that there was nowhere near this volume of complaints.

And what is particularly telling is that I can see no evidence of PN actually trying to improve the situation, merely trying to reduce the ways in which you can complain.

I left VM to return to PN because VM got taken over my a huge American organisation which was hell bent on ploughing all its money into trying to expand the network hugely, neglecting the established network, and correspondingly cutting back on CS.

What's PN's excuse for deteriorating CS ?