Once the contracted service has been provided, I haven't experienced too many issues with Plusnet. But my dealings with "Customer Services" have been an entirely different matter.
Last year I sought to upgrade from ADSL to FTTC. There were numerous issues with conflicting advice, rejected orders, and delays which meant that my eventual start date was about a month after I was promised. I followed the complaints procedure, went to some length to identify all the issues, and trusted that Plusnet might take my well-reasoned comments on board and seek to address matters.
My FTTC broadband has subsequently been OK, so recently I advised an elderly couple - who I assist with their computer, - to do the same. Big mistake !
My first embarrassment came when the previously deemed essential managed install which I specified, filtered faceplate, etc. were refused. "We don't do that any more" they said. I have previously described the issue in more detail here: https://community.plus.net/t5/Fibre-Broadband/Help/m-p/1362129#M44973
I forsee problems with this, in that I know my friends' telephone wiring to be old, and given that FTTC is less tolerant of line conditions than ADSL, I am dreading the point when they could be asked for a large sum of money to provide what was previously included as an almost integral part of an FTTC install (and an ADSL one too, before that). A telephone engineer recently told my friends that he believed an engineer visit was standard, but I now acknowledge that the indications on the Openreach site differ. At a time when the Government is calling on providers to increase broadband speeds, I fail to understand why it is acceptable for required standards of wiring installation to be reduced as a matter of policy, (and probably a cost-saving measure) with a predictable impact on achievable speeds. However, it does seem likely to increase revenue from "chargeable visits".
But my friends haven't reached that point yet. Their contractual start date was 1st September, and indeed they received an email on that date informing them that their "broadband product change is now complete". So I found time in an otherwise busy schedule to go and install the new router so that they weren't without broadband. I needn't have bothered, because the line speed was unchanged and it took two very long waits on the phone to ascertain that ADSL was still on the line. Plusnet have been told before about the misleading email, and it has been discussed on these forums, but nothing had changed. We too were misled by the ambiguous wording.
It took even more long waits in the ensuing days before I could speak to "Provisioning" who undertook to expedite matters. (Ticket 132933626) Five days later, the old speeds were unchanged. The ticket just mentioned had not been added to, and there were no other open tickets. It took me a while to discover that a ticket (286490046) had been opened and closed two days ago advising that the start date had been put back 20 days from the contracted one. However, true to form, Plusnet had not provided any explanation or even told the customer. I have complained before about these "internal tickets" which don't reach the customer unless he goes looking for them, and remembers to look in the "closed" section, - despite containing information of direct relevance to the customer.
Unable to waste more time listening the the insincere "Sorry for making you waayyt" (if Plusnet were that sorry they would do something about it,) I resorted to the "Chat service". I was over an hour in the queue, and I saw my position fall back as well as advance. Despite providing the ticket number, the "advisor" looked at an incorrect ticket, and told me the order had been cancelled, before correcting himself. At the precise moment I provided the second ticket number and identified the problem, the "advisor" ended the chat session, and a customer survey page appeared. Needless to say, my responses were not very complimentary having just wasted an hour and a quarter achieving nothing. I have retained the chat transcript but cannot quote a reference number as none was appended.
I hope that a member of Plusnet staff will read this post, and come to the assistance of my friends and myself (who recommended Plusnet to them). Of course, I would also be interested to hear the observations of other forum members. Thanks.
