Telephone support hours changing at Plusnet

[#1]

+1
If anything around here is causing a cost squeeze, it's the Cashback payments which exceed the minimum term subscriptions ... to say nothing of the resource cost dealing with BTOR provisioning issues which lead to cancellation before delivery.  I fear my client might be taking that path this afternoon. I await responses on my 2nd & 3rd emails to Andy Baker asking what is he doing personally to sort out the mess called BTOR.  Until the cause of issues are addressed, call times are not going to improve.

[#2]

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.

Thanks Tony for confirming what I said - you're cutting the call centre hours and pretending it is in our benefit - which we all know it isn't.
How for example, when you have an account with elderly parents who often sleep during the day would they contact PlusNet at say 2am if their broadband goes down?
Good job you haven't scrapped live chat too, although you're already trying it with the ticket system.
If your connection has gone how do you expect us to use live chat?
(Yes I know there are alternatives such as data tethering to 4G but you try explaining that to my parents).
Sorry, this is not an attack on you personally, I know you have to pretend this is a good thing to keep your job, I'm more annoyed at senior management making those cuts which we will never hear of on here.

[#3]

Live chat has more limited hours than the proposed hours for the phone lines!

[#4]

Quote from: vilefoxdemonofdoom

Would anyone make any fresh referrals? You would have to reveal that the customer support is a bit rubbish and certainly not a priority.

No.

[#5]

Quote from: AndyH

If you're suggesting scrapping the 'refer a friend' payments, then you'll find a lot of forum users on here who would be very very unhappy with such a change.

Well I see AndyH has managed to take the thread way off-topic and cause a total distraction from the issue being discussed. Plusnet must be rubbing their hands with delight at not having to respond to anything important raised about the Support hours. Funny that, I seem to recall this happening in the Capacity thread 
Meanwhile back on topic -

Quote from: Anotherone

However, there is a very easy way out of this "mess" for Plusnet which I suggested very early in this thread - Quote from: Anotherone .... Business Support is there 24/7 now, and as Plusnet's "case" for this reduction in hours for Residential customers is no doubt that so few people call, why can't the Business Support handle any Residential customers but in a lower priority queue? and I shall keep repeating that until I get a definitive answer from Plusnet in direct response to that question.

[#6]

It wasn't me who started complaining about the 'refer a friend' payments - so I have no idea why you're moaning at me for taking the thread way off-topic. Another unnecessary dig at me perhaps?

[#7]

It started here.
Let's not have (yet) another thread descend (again) into tit-for-tat bickering please.

[#8]

mod:note
the referrals bit was interesting to a point with regarding costs and implications that may have to funding support (which is zilch), but lets not derail the thread please.

[#9]

Things are not bad, apparently...
Plusnet tops broadband and home phone customer service charts - article from uSwitch
http://www.uswitch.com/broadband/news/2015/06/plusnet_tops_broadband_and_home_phone_customer_service...

[#10]

Can't get excited about the reduction in telephone support hours - I'm sure I'm just one of the majority who have never, nor are ever likely to, ring PN support during the overnight hours in question..
The TT figures referred to in the link in the previous post don't surprise me having been a reluctant (migrated) TT customer before joining PN 5 years ago, but I'm sure PN's superior ratings would drop rapidly if they were to move phone support overseas, start messing up billing, further degrade online support arrangements, in fact anything at all which made me feel as if I was suddenly back at TT! 
Good Customer Service costs money, which is why smaller ISP's have better ratings but are more expensive, but it's still clearly seen by many as PlusNet's greatest asset so I hope they don't throw it all away in their drive to boost their customer base whilst cutting costs.

[#11]

You never know when you may need it JayG

[#12]

Exactly Anotherone , as per usual you never need it until its gone 

[#13]

is 45k a month pennies for plusnet?
My view is no, first I think the savings from scrapping the night shift are likely less then that, second to a CEO every penny is worth saving.
I have mixed views on refferals, I wouldnt support abolishing it with a click of the fingers as thats screwing over people who had it as part of their contract.
The 2 options I would maybe support are either have the refferal payments cease after 12/18 months basically when the new customer reaches end of the signup contract.  Or scrap it for new customers.
Cashback I agree probably is a much higher expenditure than referrals and I expect that can do with some serious cut backs.  But again the problem is a CEO will always value marketing spend more than quality of service spend, they only care about the bottom line.

[#14]

Got it in one, chrcoluk .

[#15]

Surely there is no cost saving if they are now implementing new 24/7 business support?