Telephone support hours changing at Plusnet

[#1]

Quote from: chrcoluk

Basically your approach seems to be, is the court likely to be involved (basically will a customer take it that far) if no then its good to go.

You assume wrong.
When you have a contractual dispute, you first raise it with the other party to resolve the dispute. If that does not go anywhere and want to take it further, then your options are to go to the regulator/ombudsman or a court.
If someone wants to leave Plusnet over this change penalty free and Plusnet will not let them, then what other options do they have?

[#2]

plusnet would never let it go to court.  This decision would have been made with a risk assessment, the risk of regulators been contacted and so forth.  This is a slam dunk breach of contract, its very close to 100% that's how confident I am.  The 24/7 uk support is very evident on the broadband products page.  That alone is enough but to make it more of a slam dunk its actually in the t&c's as well.

[#3]

If it's a slam dunk case, then OFCOM will be slapping Plusnet's wrists - I await to read them doing this.

[#4]

as I said first ofcom have to have complaints logged.
They dont sit there watching everything isp's do.
It is annoying for us customers but it is what it is.
Its why the ASA are always behind the game, they have to first get complaints, then investigate and then finally action.  They dont employ people to proactively look for changes in service and inspect all new adverts.

[#5]

The best bet is going to be for people to go to ADR. I understand the fee Plusnet have to pay per case (win or lose) is likely to be more than the amount outstanding on people's contracts.

[#6]

Plusnet would like to reassure customers that our award-winning customer support will absolutely remain based in the UK.
We’ve taken the decision to have more staff answering calls during peak times, when customers need it most, as the number of people that call between 10pm and 7.30am is extremely small. Increasing our resources during the most busy periods should reduce call waiting times and we anticipate that, rather than being detrimental, the changes will improve service for our customers.
Just to clarify, any calls made before 10pm and in a queue will be answered, and there are no changes to our existing live chat opening hours, which will remain open 365 days a year. JLP will also remain a 24/7 operation.
We are in the process of updating our website to reflect the changes to our operation and these will be going live shortly.

[#7]

So will Plusnet be allowing customers that signed up for 24/7 support early termination without fee's or do we have to take this further.... I and many others have very good reason to believe our contracts are at breach with these changes!

[#8]

Its cost the ISP £ 350 per case to go to ADR win or loose (back in 2012) don't think that it has changed .
http://www.revk.uk/2012/02/adr.html
@plusnettony,  do you know when you will be able to answer, some of the key questions that have been asked ?
Regards
Mike

[#9]

Quote from: plusnettony

there are no changes to our existing live chat opening hours, which will remain open 365 days a year.

But only from 9.00am to 9.00pm so not much use when the phone support isn't available

[#10]

Quote from: plusnettony

We’ve taken the decision to have more staff answering calls during peak times, when customers need it most, as the number of people that call between 10pm and 7.30am is extremely small. Increasing our resources during the most busy periods should reduce call waiting times and we anticipate that, rather than being detrimental, the changes will improve service for our customers.

Thanks for the update. I have a few questions.
How quickly to you expect the call waiting times come down to a reasonable period during peak times? I saw recently a couple of people complained about waiting more than an hour just after 10pm.
What shall we expect the longest waiting time to be after 13 July?
Can you please indicate how many additional advisers would be available during peak times after 13 July?
Thanks again. Alex

[#11]

Quote from: plusnettony

Plusnet would like to reassure customers that our award-winning customer support will absolutely remain based in the UK. We’ve taken the decision to have more staff answering calls during peak times, when customers need it most, as the number of people that call between 10pm and 7.30am is extremely small. Increasing our resources during the most busy periods should reduce call waiting times and we anticipate that, rather than being detrimental, the changes will improve service for our customers. Just to clarify, any calls made before 10pm and in a queue will be answered, and there are no changes to our existing live chat opening hours, which will remain open 365 days a year. JLP will also remain a 24/7 operation. We are in the process of updating our website to reflect the changes to our operation and these will be going live shortly.

when will you notify customers?

[#12]

I doubt Plusnet will provide any details of their staffing levels or give any estimates of what call wait times will fall to.
It will not be long before we know if there is any substance to what has been said, or whether wait times will still be unacceptable.
I used to be a big advocate of Plusnet but so much has changed (degraded) that I no longer recommend them.

[#13]

PN tony ,, said "We’ve taken the decision to have more staff answering calls during peak times, when customers need it most, as the number of people that call between 10pm and 7.30am is extremely small. Increasing our resources during the most busy periods should reduce call waiting times and we anticipate that, rather than being detrimental, the changes will improve service for our customers."
Now if i remember this was said when they opened the new call center in LEEDS but since it opened all we got was we are Recruiting ?? then we got they have to be trained
But this never made any difference to call waiting times ,, as promised it would .
So now it looks like the  NEW  staff at Leeds have left or been made redundant , otherwise PN would not be recruiting for more call center staff as stated ?
Maybe its just me but something dont sound right

[#14]

It looks like its time for COURT!
I wonder how a judge will look at the following,
1. Mis-selling me my service (based on saying lag free gaming and simultaneous usage within household) and then saying that it's not guarenteed
2. Potentially misleading Price Guide Prior to June 2015
3. Poor Performance Since Activation of the service, that still on going.
4. Removal of multiple features that remove the end users ability to contact support in the event of a fault or accounting issue (ticket system & 24/76 support lines)
5. and whatever else pops up in the coming weeks!

[#15]

I've had to call support in the wee hours a few times over the years. The calls were usually answered within a few seconds and the support second-to-none. It would be a shame to lose that after all this time.
As someone mentioned earlier, if there is a major outage during the night there will be a sudden surge of calls 07:30 possibly with many simply not getting through if the system can't cope.
Probably not a good suggestion but, if call rates are so low during the night, why not have an on-call rota where agents could work from home answering calls and logging issues that can then be dealt with first thing if they can't be sorted over the phone?