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poor customer service

stevemills84
Grafter
Posts: 29
Thanks: 5
Registered: ‎13-05-2018

Re: poor customer service

And as an aside, there has been an attempt by staff on this forum to make contact and get this settled, and regardless of the previous on this, it's now actually the customer refusing to engage in this by refusing to give a reasonable time to make contact, which while I appreciate stevemills frustration, is hardly an unreasonable request.

 

This will grind at me if i don't respond to that - there has never been a single point where i refused to engage with PN, i had made every possible effort over the last 3 months to resolve this issue, I have never refused to provide a time for contact (if you read a previous post i said any time that they can call me) it is more of a matter of being unable to commit to any such time, i simply don't have that information to provide because of the nature of my job. It is literally if the phone rings and i am able to answer it i will do.

and just to expand on @pureedfruit point

one sided set of T&Cs.

 

Absolutely, this is not how "normal" business is done, the T&Cs is a negotiable process within reason. You have to be stupid to think that big businesses like PN, Tesco, or any other company would set a rigid T&C that a supplier or customer must follow. If our business did this (we do business to business), we wouldn't have any customers - we have a baseline, but we customize on top, there must be flexibility. Yet when it comes to business to consumers, there is no negotiation, there is zero flexibility. It is the easy going nature of customers who do "roll over" immediately that are to blame for the mess we're in. Far too many customers just suck it up and pay the bill for poor service, it provides no incentive to make the provider better and it never gets as far as government/independent bodies like ofcom, ofgem, trading standards, ombudsmen etc so there's never any improvement in the rules. I am a little different because I am a man of my word, i will do or will not do whatever it is that i state, i don't have to be a criminal or break the laws and cause harm, but i make sure I am treated fairly by standing up for what is Just and right, I refuse to be bullied or taken advantage of and in a case like this where i have a huge amount of evidence to support me (forums, chat logs, phone logs, ticket system logs, emails, i could even get my bank to provide me with evidence that the direct debit exists but PN never drew on it), I will take it as far as is required to make sure i get my own way. That's not being a "spoilt brat" attitude, that's refusing to be bullied, harassed and treated unfairly - it's a basic human right.

 

I did mention maybe Steve should consider engaging the ombudsmen if he feels he cannot make progress directly with Plusnet. If this has been ongoing for at least 3 months then plenty of time has passed for him to be able to take this step.

 

the reason that this never got this far is that I (the customer) was very willing to give chances for the provider to address the issues at hand, it was only recently in the last month that threats were made to me regarding debt collectors, but believe me if it had to go further then there would be no hesitation on my part to do so. There has not really been "plenty" of time to do this, since I was fobbed off each time that the payment "will" go through, "try this, try that and it should work" but once those threats came through that is when i did not respond nicely given what i had already tried in order to resolve this.

 

yet admits later that he will not answer any withheld number-even blocking them. He mentions a ticket, but was this brought in before is became a problem or after. There's no way we can know, so this I'm not claiming to, or saying who is right

 

I think you'll find that most phones by default automatically block withheld numbers, and if they don't then the majority of people will block them anyway. We've had years (yet again big business) of cold calling. If there is a genuine company who needs a genuine reason to call someone there is zero reason to with hold their number unless they have some malice intend. I have never worked for a business which with holds the number (granted that's mostly because im in control of the backend phone system and don't care what the likes of marketing tell me, i'll always advertise our number).

Tickets were opened before, and during this process, and mostly by PN staff since the option was either removed or made extremely difficult for me to find on my account once my account started to get into a restrictive mode.

 

And to your last statement regarding the details, arguments and politics are irrelevant - i feel totally the opposite. they are even more so and highlights injustice to a stronger degree when backed with evidence that attempts were made to be paid. remember legally (and a lot of people don't know this) but you do not have a contract or business arrangement with a baliff or debt collector, the contract is with the original creditor, but so many people fail this point and just pay up. I believe my case would totally stand up in a court if it went that far due to the huge amount of evidence that i have of wanting to have made the payment in the past, also with the fact that i have never been in debt, i have never had any bad financial history and I have sufficient funds to pay up. I have no reason not to pay other than the offset of my time wasted dealing with people who had no interest in resolving it - until of course i left, then they realized they had no control over me and then wanted their money.

anyway, as mentioned another post which the OP opened after this was wrongly closed, @Gandalf sorted this out for me and all is dealt with and we can all move on from this. I do hope i never had to go through this experience again but if i do i think you guys know exactly what i will do to ensure justice, and i encourage you to fight and demand for what is right. don't be a pushover because things will never get better.

Gandalf
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Re: poor customer service

I just thought I'd post back to say thanks for taking the time to speak with me today @stevemills84 (After I found out how to un-withhold our number), and thanks for posting back.

Again I'm sorry for the experience you've had and I appreciate the frustration. As always, I welcome feedback as it greatly helps us improve the service we deliver to our customers, so I've taken onboard the points you've made here and here.

I'll ensure that feedback is passed on accordingly and appropriately before finalising things/closing the ticket.

Regarding the failed call back on the 18th, this absolutely wasn't the kind of service we aim to provide, and the team leader you spoke to prior sends their sincere apologies for not following up on this occasion.

I'm happy that I've had the opportunity to resolve this for you, and while I appreciate you've said you've no plans to return, I hope you'll reconsider and to choose Plusnet as your home phone/broadband provider at some point in the future.

If you ever need any further assistance about this(Or your mobile account), please feel free to let me know.

Anoush

From 31st October 2022, I no longer have a regular presence here as I’ve moved on to a new role.
Anoush Mortazavi
Plusnet
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Registered: ‎26-01-2018

Re: poor customer service

Sorry if you've taken a few of my lines as digs at you directly @stevemills84 that wasn't what I was aiming at. I was simply trying to highlight that I wasn't attempting to take sides as there was too much back story that I wouldn't know-that point in particular being a case where I said Plusnet could well have been blocked, or not called at all. I wouldn't have known.

Believe me, I have run ins with collectors myself when I cancelled a mobile dongle contract I had, and moved house. Two years later a collector turns up. Apparently the company hadn't ended the contract or updated my address, so they'd been wrongly billing to my old house for two years. Eventually I managed to get it wiped following a massive argument with the data company, but the collectors themselves weren't interested in the slightest, and getting the damage caused by the defaults reversed was an absolute mare, even though I had all the evidence I needed. I was simply trying to help you avoid something similar. Yes you may well have been able to win in court, but did you really want it to go that far?

To be honest I actually agree with pureedfruit in that disputed debts shouldn't be sold on until the dispute is settled, but no amount of strong feeling on a forum was going to change the system for this case.

Anyway, glad it's finally been sorted out for you.
stevemills84
Grafter
Posts: 29
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Registered: ‎13-05-2018

Re: poor customer service

So, months later I am in further and deeper regret that I ever had dealings with this terrible company. The balance on my account which:

  1. Was in the process of being paid (by me, I made every attempt to pay it and resolve any issues)
  2. Was then in dispute (because the amount of time I wasted trying to pay it far exceeded the value of the debt owed)
  3. Finally was waived due to internal incompetence (they sugar coated it as a goodwill gesture, but in fact it was an offset of debt that PN owe me due to the time I had wasted with them. No goodwill involved, they just didn’t want to settle the full balance they owed me)

 

Well… we’re now in December and I received a letter from a debt collection agency more than 2 months after the alleged debt was cleared. So PN had passed the debt onto a third party, yet whilst I was arguing the point of not having to pay it due to the enormous cost in lost time this matter has incurred, I was still being pressured and tried to persuade me that I had to settle it on that phone call back in September. Even though PN had already passed this onto a DCA (which I was only told about at the end of October so I have no way to confirm if this is true or not). I find this totally disgraceful and inexcusable.

 

So a debt that doesn’t exist has been passed to a DCA and I have then been told I have to settle the debt with the DCA and then PN will reimburse me by cheque. I’m sorry but there is less than zero trust that PN is capable of fulfilling this promise, money first cleared in my account then I will pass it onto the DCA. The simple solution is to simply refund the DCA with the purchase of the debt they made (by the way, selling a product or service which doesn’t exist is fraud, if I tried to sell something that didn’t exist I’d be in prison).

 

I received two letters from PN stating that the debt had been passed onto TWO different debt collector agencies (you might be in trouble for that), neither of which were dated but both were received at least one full month after the debt was waived)

 

I have given so many chances to PN to resolve this issue, I have given them a very reasonable timeframe to resolve this by the 1st December which has now passed, so am forced to take this matter further to the financial ombudsman, Ofcom, trading standards, and the office of fair trading. I think this is such a huge matter of incompetence that I can only hope that PN is fined a substantial sum. These greedy corporates need to learn a lesson.

 

The fact that I tried several times to pay the account balance long before it got this far, the fact that I have been unable to reach the head of billing and debt management, and nobody seems to pick up the phone. I get little to no response in any avenue I pursue is just simply a total disgusting way to treat customers. There has been deliberate intent from PN to ensure the debt was unable to get cleared up by a willing to pay customer, so much so that they feel they have justification to have sent the debt to a DCA. Well I have every thread, every ticket, every phone call and every chat transcript recorded that proves I made every attempt to settle this.

 

I very, very strongly advise that nobody ever goes with PN and if you are with them then leave. I am rather pleased with the position I am in within my sector and career that people listen very carefully to my advice in matters of IT services, I’m glad to say that dozens and dozens of potential customers of PN have gone elsewhere due to my recommendations. PN have already lost thousands and thousands of pounds worth of broadband services due to this (all for £60, 65, 70 – whatever figure you want to keep changing it to each month) – and I will forever continue to advise any potential customers to stay well clear of PN services. I can only hope that this business collapses and ceases to operate to avoid inflicting any further distress onto the countless customers which must suffer their incompetence on a daily basis, the sooner this happens the better. PN were already fined over £800k in 2017 for incorrectly billing customers, many of which were never tracked down for compensation – this is a company which never learns its lesson, never adapts flexibility and misrepresents their slogan of “we’ll do you proud” in order to trick and entice customers falsely.

pureedfruit
Grafter
Posts: 27
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Registered: ‎29-03-2013

Re: poor customer service

Hi Steve

 

I know that this is no consolation but IMHO all the ISPs that I have used are as bad as each other, and practice what I consider to be Rampant Commercial Bullying (RCB).

I had  a very similar problem to yours with my previous ISP. Following a long dispute over service levels I gave notice to leave, as one is required to do. Result: they abruptly terminated my service the very next day without any warning, followed shortly by a bill that included charges up to the date I had given notice to terminate. I carefully explained that I was not liable for a service that they had terminated, sent them an email showing the balance that was actually due to me because of credits that they had granted, and would they please pay by cheque. I received a tart response which totally ignored the figures I had put forward and opined "we have not changed our mind". Unsurprisingly I replied that I had not changed my mind either.

 

Next thing I knew  was a letter from  a debt collector some weeks later. Not even a warning> explained to them that it was disputed, reminded them that if they continued to peruse the debt after that had been explained then It becomes harassment. They clearly took notice because I heard no more from then, but instead from a second debt collector to whom they had clearly sold the debt. Repeated the process and now on to third debt collector.

 

All part of RCB, IMHO. The Consumer protection law needs to be given REAL TEETH to protect Consumers like you and me from the RCBs.

 

Regards

MatthewWheeler
Plusnet Help Team
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Re: poor customer service

Sorry to hear about the issues you've had.

Unfortunately, the team we need to speak to regarding this aren't in at this point in the evening but we've escalated this for it to be picked up in the morning 

If this post resolved your issue please click the 'This fixed my problem' button
 Matthew Wheeler
 Plusnet Help Team
Gandalf
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Re: poor customer service

Looks like my colleague @EmilyD picked this up on my behalf this morning after discussing this with management. We've agreed to send you a cheque for the amount that the collections agency are requesting.

I've processed the refund now. You should receive the cheque within the next 14 days. Once you do receive it you'll be able to use that money to pay the collections agency.

If you have any further issues, please feel free to let us know.

From 31st October 2022, I no longer have a regular presence here as I’ve moved on to a new role.
Anoush Mortazavi
Plusnet
KevH
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Registered: ‎30-07-2007

Re: poor customer service

I realise that this has absolutley nothing to do with me, but I've been around large companies long enough to know what can be done. If you think this issue is that important to resolve as a matter of the greatest urgency, your finance department can write a cheque today (or send somebody to get some cash out and expense it). You can put it in the post and send it Special Delivery 9am so the OP can get the money first thing. You've just got to want to do it. 14 days is pathetic.

Gandalf
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Re: poor customer service

Cheques are usually dispatched a lot quicker. The 14 day timeframe I've provided is just an official timeframe to set expectations and account for any possible processing delays.

From 31st October 2022, I no longer have a regular presence here as I’ve moved on to a new role.
Anoush Mortazavi
Plusnet
pureedfruit
Grafter
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Registered: ‎29-03-2013

Re: poor customer service

Gandalf, EmilyD & Matthew

re "I've processed the refund now. You should receive the cheque within the next 14 days. Once you do receive it you'll be able to use that money to pay the collections agency."

I am a little unclear whether your kind offer is being addressed to me (Pureedfruit), or SteveMills84, but since I have received an email linking me to this post, it is looking like me. In which case a little clarification and correction is required.

I have no issue with PN over money, my DD is in place and I continue to pay my sub. It is SteveMills84 who has left and is owed money, and to whom the offer should be addressed. My money issues are with my previous ISP. 

I do however have other performance issues with PN, hence 2 outstanding tickets which have been awaiting responses for over 2 weeks, so if you could nudge someone into dealing with those it would be much appreciated.

Gandalf
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Re: poor customer service

@pureedfruit I was referring to @stevemills84

I'll get your tickets picked up as soon as we can.

 

[edit]

Looks like we replied to your fault ticket 184726443 on the 22nd November.

I'll pick the ticket 184692788 up now

From 31st October 2022, I no longer have a regular presence here as I’ve moved on to a new role.
Anoush Mortazavi
Plusnet
stevemills84
Grafter
Posts: 29
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Registered: ‎13-05-2018

Re: poor customer service

See i told you there's bound to be someone somewhere up the chain of management who can resolve this (otherwise i'd be pretty damn worried about the future of the human race in general if this was an impossible situation to resolve, and would advise no further breeding from those involved). Anyway, it's certainly not ideal that this ever got as far as DCA, it should have been resolved long ago. Due to your lax attitude of getting this pushed along, a few days ago i had already told the DCA that i didn't acknowledge the debt and to stop harassing me, i just hope in this case they haven't sold the debt on to another DCA and added yet more fees, I will see what the situation is with them. once the cheque has cleared i will forward it onto the DCA as i previously stated and hope this will be the end of it.

Even if this case does get resolved for me (which i won't hold my breath at this point), i am sure some other poor sod who's a loyal customer will get screwed over with all this corporate nonsense again. the cycle will continue, you will never learn from it I am sure.

It's a good job you caught this today since i was half way through compiling a complaint to the official bodies regarding this matter, depending on whether settling with the DCA is going to cause me more hassle or not i might still continue with it, even if it's just out of spite so you learn a lesson, or i'll flip a coin perhaps. who knows, the suspense is akin to the feeling i've had for the last 12 months getting all my issues resolved.

 

SammyM
Plusnet Help Team
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Re: poor customer service

Hello @stevemills84,

 

I can fully understand the concerns you have raised and the lost of faith that would have occurred between us. I can see that both my colleague have taken the necessary steps to come to get the issue resolved outlined in the tickets that @Gandalf has referenced.

 

Please get back to us should any further issues arise.

If this post resolved your issue please click the 'This fixed my problem' button
 Sammy M - Sheffield Team
 Plusnet Help Team