PlusNet Experience
Well I said I'd test Mon and Tues and report back, so here goes.
On 13 Jan I raised a ticket to complain my speed /ping/latency on BF2142 was horrible (high and unstable), (it had been going on for weeks and I blamed it on our server initially.) I received very poor service via the ticket system and this has been aknowledged and hopefully some education is occuring in plusnet towers on the needs of PC gaming customers.
Anyway on and on the tickets went with me getting more and more irrate with the lack of intelligent responses and progress.
I made some of my feelings known here.
Eventually Mand and Chris managed to get on to it and they've (or plusnet) sorted the issue out by adjusting how the packets on the Pro service are read/prioritised. This occurred at the beginning of March.
Tested Mon and Tues and had some of the best and most stable pings EVER at around 23-30 accross various UK servers.
So a big thank you to Mand and Chris for getting on and sorting it. I'll PM you about the offer in a minute.
On the downside the ticket system is currently not fit for purpose for whatever reason. Nothing was done or actioned until I asked for my MAC and that is entirley wrong. Taking on more staff is one solution but this also increases the training burden if they are not already experienced. I'd rather wait 3 days for a decent response than 12 hours for a response from someone who doesn't understand, through no fault of their own if they've not been trained.
As soon as a ticket is received for bad ping to a game server a wireshark capture could be requested at FIRST response along with the usual "please test master socket blah blah blah" That way while the customer is making checks their end the capture can be being looked at by plusnet. Esepcially on the Pro service which is "dedicated to gamers" apparently. I see the support as part of the "service" and do feel pro customers with gaming problems tickets should be streamed to a team of people who understand gaming traffic etc.
There seems (form reading the tickets I received) to be a lack of information sharing within plusnet, do you have an issues board or something? As ticket responders seemed unaware of ongoing issues both on the website and here in the forums.
Another bug was that when responding to a ticket it's a DIFFERENT person each time, they DO NOT appear to read the the whole thread and as such the replies become more and more insane.
Well, all's well that ends well and I am now (for the time being after only 2 tests) happy that it has now been sorted and long may it continue.
My thoughts are that if I have an issue next time I'll know right away to make 1 ticket then come here and shout my mouth off to get anything done. I don't like doing that, but needs must.
So thanks again to Mand, Chris Parr and Bob Pullen who were about the only people to make any sense on the tickets and get anything done.
I said I'd stay if it was fixed and compensation was offered and to be fair they have met those demands so I will not migrate this time. I'll keep my end of the deal.
On 13 Jan I raised a ticket to complain my speed /ping/latency on BF2142 was horrible (high and unstable), (it had been going on for weeks and I blamed it on our server initially.) I received very poor service via the ticket system and this has been aknowledged and hopefully some education is occuring in plusnet towers on the needs of PC gaming customers.
Anyway on and on the tickets went with me getting more and more irrate with the lack of intelligent responses and progress.
I made some of my feelings known here.
Eventually Mand and Chris managed to get on to it and they've (or plusnet) sorted the issue out by adjusting how the packets on the Pro service are read/prioritised. This occurred at the beginning of March.
Tested Mon and Tues and had some of the best and most stable pings EVER at around 23-30 accross various UK servers.
So a big thank you to Mand and Chris for getting on and sorting it. I'll PM you about the offer in a minute.
On the downside the ticket system is currently not fit for purpose for whatever reason. Nothing was done or actioned until I asked for my MAC and that is entirley wrong. Taking on more staff is one solution but this also increases the training burden if they are not already experienced. I'd rather wait 3 days for a decent response than 12 hours for a response from someone who doesn't understand, through no fault of their own if they've not been trained.
As soon as a ticket is received for bad ping to a game server a wireshark capture could be requested at FIRST response along with the usual "please test master socket blah blah blah" That way while the customer is making checks their end the capture can be being looked at by plusnet. Esepcially on the Pro service which is "dedicated to gamers" apparently. I see the support as part of the "service" and do feel pro customers with gaming problems tickets should be streamed to a team of people who understand gaming traffic etc.
There seems (form reading the tickets I received) to be a lack of information sharing within plusnet, do you have an issues board or something? As ticket responders seemed unaware of ongoing issues both on the website and here in the forums.
Another bug was that when responding to a ticket it's a DIFFERENT person each time, they DO NOT appear to read the the whole thread and as such the replies become more and more insane.
Well, all's well that ends well and I am now (for the time being after only 2 tests) happy that it has now been sorted and long may it continue.
My thoughts are that if I have an issue next time I'll know right away to make 1 ticket then come here and shout my mouth off to get anything done. I don't like doing that, but needs must.
So thanks again to Mand, Chris Parr and Bob Pullen who were about the only people to make any sense on the tickets and get anything done.
I said I'd stay if it was fixed and compensation was offered and to be fair they have met those demands so I will not migrate this time. I'll keep my end of the deal.
