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Radical Shakeup

Steve
Seasoned Pro
Posts: 6,853
Thanks: 336
Registered: ‎13-07-2009

Re: Radical Shakeup

Here's some proof on how this forum LACKS In certain areas, Here Is one example that has not been FIXED and EVERY customer must be experiencing...http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,77925.0.html
Please note last response from plusnet was on the 20th of last month from Adam walker..
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All, I'm not able to speak with Kelly about this right now. One of us will be responding in more detail to this post as soon as we can.

There Is more problems that need sorting after these 13 YRS If you want I will dig up some more.
If life gives you lemons, make lemonade.
Mark
Grafter
Posts: 1,852
Registered: ‎04-04-2007

Re: Radical Shakeup

TBH I hadnt noticed any slowdowns on the portal for ages. That said I've already flagged this issue to my learned colleague Mr Dorset for his attention.
That said, I thought this thread was about customer service and not forum response times. Perhaps we should take this element of the discussion to the original thread rather than take this one off topic?
Steve
Seasoned Pro
Posts: 6,853
Thanks: 336
Registered: ‎13-07-2009

Re: Radical Shakeup

The title Is " Radical shakeup " So I reckon that fit's for just about anything?
If life gives you lemons, make lemonade.
Steve
Seasoned Pro
Posts: 6,853
Thanks: 336
Registered: ‎13-07-2009

Re: Radical Shakeup

And I'm not talking about forum response times I'm talking about flaws with Plusnet In general where nothing Is getting fixed.
Edit. To date this forum alone has 13996 Members, Is that really a small amount of your customers?
If life gives you lemons, make lemonade.
Mark
Grafter
Posts: 1,852
Registered: ‎04-04-2007

Re: Radical Shakeup

Way too general Steve. Problems and issues get fixed every single day. Fact!
Steve
Seasoned Pro
Posts: 6,853
Thanks: 336
Registered: ‎13-07-2009

Re: Radical Shakeup

Not denying that,  You know as your staff so you do have hard facts, But what about important issues that just fade away and don't seem to be getting  resolved? Not to mention members reporting new problems Or niggles here everyday..As Gerry has said, Promised a lot over a period of time but we are not seeing any differences. EX Things Improving, The only thing I see Improving Is the amount of new customers Plusnet are getting each day.
If life gives you lemons, make lemonade.
matt_2k34
Grafter
Posts: 1,300
Registered: ‎09-07-2007

Re: Radical Shakeup

the problem i see with plusnet - it grew too quickly "back in the day" when it was full of p2p'ers and leechers.
PN got a little harsh on caps etc. and pushed alot of these customers away.
Then came a huge surge of less techie people who werent what pn aimed for.
BT bought them (underinvestment after forking out some moolar?)
massive push for new customers
very little push in terms of new staff members
very little back end development (although thankfully things like email were made scalable - easier to increase the ability of the service)
I have had a few issues with the portal in the past, but ive always put that down to load.
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The only thing I see Improving Is the amount of new customers Plusnet are getting each day.

Excellent, the more money people pay into the company, hopefully this will turn into investment. and tbh, you dont have to look far to see they've been investing in capacity for instance.

A new billing platform would be nice, but migrating 300K+ users to  a new platform isnt an overnight task, and aslong as the system 'works' without too many cockups, i can understand why there is reluctance to change.
However, im not looking forward to the VAT change 😉
carrot63
Grafter
Posts: 599
Registered: ‎12-07-2007

Re: Radical Shakeup

Quote from: _Adam_Walker_
We're open and honest and will never play down anything wrong that we've done in the past. Each time we have learned from bad experiences and I believe it has made us more resilient and in a better position to provide a service balanced between good value and good customer service.

Sorry Adam, with respect, I'd have to disagree with that. My point in posting the list of some of the major issues of the past was not to pick at old wounds, but to illustrate precisely that you do not learn. Oh yeah, there's always the contrition in the immediate aftermath, but the next big implosion always plays out with most of the hallmarks of the last, lessons unremembered.
You are indeed more open than other providers, but getting "honesty" in some of the cases above was like getting a drink from a Vogon.
Quote from: _Adam_Walker_
With regards to individual customer experiences that have been posted about on this site, unfortunately the fact that we have this forum (not unfortunate that it exists or I'd be out of a job!) means that people will post mostly negative things on here.

I made it clear I was referring to my own experiences over 5 years on your ADSL service, and I stand by that, although they clearly do mirror the experience of a large number of others. I see the same ticket handling defects that have always existed, although they do sometimes come and go.
Quote from: _Adam_Walker_
...but it's human nature and rare that people go out of their way to give praise, thanks or positive feedback even when it's due.

I think I am generally quick to praise good service where it's given, and have done so in this forum when there is something to be positive about (James Baileys SNR resets and the DLM trial spring to mind), although granted I am more likely to be using the forums during a problem - that hardly excuses that we're often here at all because the ticket system has so spectacularly failed to deliver. In any event, you'd have to split this further into "pleasantly delivered service that achieves the reasonable ends in good time" and "pleasantly delivered service that achieves nothing at all and/or takes forever to achieve little". In terms of fault tickets, I've had plenty of the latter and little of the former where it involves the tickets system.
Quote from: _Adam_Walker_
With regards to your own personal issue I don't mind if you want to PM me a ticket number and I'll see if there's anything I can to to help or speed things along in your case.

Sorry if it's a bit churlish Adam, but that rather makes the point, doesn't it? Thanks nevertheless for offering. If you have a way of getting BT to attend appointments scheduled you may be able to help - they have now missed two visits in the last three working days, although they did manage to arrive for the first visit a week ago. That and other frustrating issues are all summed up in ticket 34998872.
carrot63
Grafter
Posts: 599
Registered: ‎12-07-2007

Re: Radical Shakeup

Quote from: Mark
We have detailed performance measures and these prove that we are improving week on week in OCR (one contact resolution, RFT (Right first time) and repeat faults / general contacts

(my emphasis)
Quote from: Mark
Only by using robust quality and performance measures do we ensure that continued training and improvement is delivered.

Quote from: Mark
Each team leader is required to measure the quality of their teams responses to tickets and calll quality. This is closely measured and where failings exist these are actioned promptly and effectively and training needs or other appropriate action delivered.

Your measurements prove nothing, except that by the standards you set yourselves, you are performing well. I apply the same testing regime every time I cook. KPIs stats, metrics whatever you want to call them will only ever deliver to the assessment you set, and of course as a business you have an entirely different set of priorities to your customers, although there is of course overlap. If we wrote the parameters - even being kind - you wouldn't fare half as well.
The obsession with statistics is, for me, probably the biggest driver of the decline in CS in any number of industries, but especially telecoms. However well intentioned originally, someone always views squeezing the numbers as a shortcut to lower costs by delivering more for less. This approach might improve the amount of labour actually done, but doesn't necessarily increase the number of problems solved - it can actually decrease fixes as staff are forced to spend less time on each task and move on. It can be hell for the staff of pushed too far, raising churn and reducing the number of experienced staff to those with a strong stomach. For the customer, it translates into "ticket tennis", a game  any PN user with a vaguely serious fault will be familiar with.
Many aspects of customer service are subjective and cannot simply be reduced to convenient sheets of numbers; a narrow reliance on figures risks missing the bigger picture, delivering little but a one size fits all "conveyor belt" experience.

Quote from: Mark
The kpi's are in a much better place and the business as a whole is operating in a much better way than we were previously.

The relentless push for hitting arbitrary targets might account for one of your staff declaring my fault fixed when looking at the detail made it obvious it wasn't, and another lying to me on the current ticket about having phoned me when he evidently hadn't.
The ultimate measure of your service is the perception of your customers, and as with your stats, if you ask the right questions you will get the answers that suit your targets. A year or so ago you came top in a poll of customer service perception of ISPs for some industry site or other. The percentage of users who said you had excellent CS was something like 57 or 58 percent. Naturally PN shouted from the rooftops about coming top, but honestly, can you really crow about a figure like that?? Personally, I'd be embarrassed if my business had scored that as a return. If that's as good as this industry can manage,  you - and us users - really do have problems.
Quote from: Mark
Way too general Steve. Problems and issues get fixed every single day. Fact!

And some drag on for nine months . Also fact!
You have your satisfaction surveys, but the "bloke in the pub" test tells me that for every disgruntled customer on a forum, there are half a dozen others who just give up and leave when CS doesn't deliver.
Mark
Grafter
Posts: 1,852
Registered: ‎04-04-2007

Re: Radical Shakeup

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I apply the same testing regime every time I cook. KPIs stats, metrics whatever you want to call them will only ever deliver to the assessment you set,

Thankfully we're a bit more honest and robust than that. Cooking the books only fools yourself. We've some fairly astute people working in this business who can spot BS from a mile away. The ability to challenge (from a knowledge of the business) is something which we do well.
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The ultimate measure of your service is the perception of your customers.

I totally agree.

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And some drag on for nine months .

And some ADSL faults even longer. We fully acknowledge that and unfortunately, by the very nature of ADSL, that can happen. I've seen issues where Openreach have had to wait many months to close and dig up  a motorway to get fresh cables laid to resolve a fault. Absolute nightmare for the customer I appreciate, but it happens.
Unfortunately it is not solely within our gift to improve the issues inherent in using technology which was never expected to deliver the services we as users demand to day. By working closely with the industry and our suppliers, we can and do influence improvements and change.
shutter
Community Veteran
Posts: 22,218
Thanks: 3,777
Fixes: 65
Registered: ‎06-11-2007

Re: Radical Shakeup


Quote

In any event, you'd have to split this further into "pleasantly delivered service that achieves the reasonable ends in good time"
and
"pleasantly delivered service that achieves nothing at all and/or takes forever to achieve little".

In terms of fault tickets, I've had plenty of the latter and little of the former where it involves the tickets system.
Quote from: _Adam_Walker_
With regards to your own personal issue I don't mind if you want to PM me a ticket number and I'll see if there's anything I can to to help or speed things along in your case.

Sorry if it's a bit churlish Adam, but that rather makes the point, doesn't it? Tues are all summed up in ticket 34998872.


These few lines seem to sum up what we, the customer , sees ..... not what Plusnet staff see.....
What amazes me, is that Plusnet continually bat on about how good the Customer service is..... (and it is pretty good when you phone up.... they are polite and helpful).... but then it stops....
what happens after you put the phone down, having been reassured that your problem is being dealt with, (by the kind person on the phone). it seems to go onto an "internal" ticket system, that ends up in a bin at the end of the bench..... similar to the "normal" ticket system....
Only when a customer complains on the forum, do you get it dug out of the bin because of the "personal service" offered by PN staff, as indicated by Adam Walker quoted above, and intervening.....
That sort of post should NEVER have to be made.... it is an insult to everyone else who has a problem..... that Adam Walker, is prepared to put in some extra effort, (which obviously is appreciated by the recipient). and because of that extra effort, everyone elses problem is "less important"..... and shoved further down the queue, before someone else shouts out, and someone else puts in that "extra effort"....
Sorry Mark.... but as pointed out by others on this thread..... YOU may have some PROOF that there has been improvements.... but..... from this side of the computer screen.... little has changed. ..... and when it comes down to it..... it is this side of the computer screen where it matters..... this is the side where the customers sit... ....
carrot63
Grafter
Posts: 599
Registered: ‎12-07-2007

Re: Radical Shakeup

Quote from: Mark
I've seen issues where Openreach have had to wait many months to close and dig up  a motorway to get fresh cables laid to resolve a fault. Absolute nightmare for the customer I appreciate, but it happens.

And I'm in the middle of an issue where BT Openreach can't be bothered to turn up for two appointments in three working days (third no-show pending for tomorrow). Nightmare for me, not great for MY business, and in fact not great for the CS staff who have to excuse the indefensible.
I really do understand and appreciate the limitations of ADSL, which I'm happy to make allowances for - I think frankly that miracles have been wrought with a load of dodgy old copper.  But that wasn't the point of the discussion; the serious limitations of your CS processes was.
I hardly expect you to trumpet your own firms limitations and failings, so I'm happy just to leave it at disagreeing completely on your interpretation of Plusnet's CS "success".
TicnTac
Grafter
Posts: 426
Thanks: 1
Registered: ‎03-08-2010

Re: Radical Shakeup

Shocked
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And some ADSL faults even longer.

Nooooooooooooooooooooo  Cry
Undecided
7 months is long enough  Cry
*is going to sulk*
Roll_eyes