Support Workflow and Forum Integration

[#1]

Having posted in the Fibre forum and not getting a reply for over a week when these fora are meant to be monitored as part of the workflow I've had an idea!

As you can add tags to these messages would it be possible to provide a list of these that the user can select and use these tags to 'route' the post within the workflow to the correct team / department that can deal with it. As always just a thought.

[#2]

These proposed 'routes' should also include the option to create a "Support Ticket" on the users account !

[#3]

@Anonymous I wholeheartedly agree. What could be simpler!? That  ticket system used to be one of the best features of Plusnet.

@Mook Somewhere on the forums in another thread discussing the paucity of direct (i.e via Plusnet sites and not social media)  routes to get in touch with Plusnet there is a post from a Plusnet staffer or similar which states that if a post is put in the correct forum board (i.e any of the 11No. boards under the sub-heading of "Help with my Plusnet services") then it will be picked up by a CS staffer that deals with that aspect of Plusnet business. So, in theory, there is a system but sometimes it seems that any staff response is along time coming.

[#4]

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@jgb wrote:

So, in theory, there is a system but sometimes it seems that any staff response is along time coming.

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A system @jgb that appears to need a revision as I waited over 8 days for a reply to my OP!

[#5]

@Mook 

Yes, I cannot disagree. 

I suspect that CS staff are getting thinner on the ground with only one or two dealing with each topic. So if someone's away.....

Mind you, there are the numerous issues re billing that are still going on some eighteen months after the introduction of the current billing system, and so that cannot help resourcing.

Another post by another staffer (community gaffer??) said that they had developed or introduced a system that automatically monitors the various sources of customers requests for help / complaints etc., so that they are all picked up and dealt with appropriately. All well and good in theory but if the staff are not there.....

[#6]

It may well me a staffing issue, that I can't say. But with 'proper' workflow processes in place my request for a radius graph could have been generated by an automated reply.

[#7]

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@Mook wrote:

... my request for a radius graph could have been generated by an automated reply.

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Like everything else on this forum, Plusnet staff never fix the underlying problems when they first arise, so are constantly fire-fighting the never ending individual (often trivial) requests from customers for some action to be performed manually.

Time would be better spent making an effort to automate solutions for recurring support team interactions, thereby reducing customer frustration, and freeing up support effort for issues that require some skill to resolve.

In the case of asking for a radius graph, this topic  "suggestion to PN for user connection stats"   (from 2011), proposed that a button should be provided in the Plusnet "Member Centre", so that the customer could generate their own radius graph - without having to contact Plusnet support.

As usual, we are still waiting, with no hope of seeing progress on anything.

[#8]

But like everything else in life (except love of course) it costs money so as a result its dead before it begins.

[#9]

@Mook 

A very short term view by Plusnet but then they seem to be fire fighting all the time with no time or resource to sort out things for the medium to long term - if they have one.

[#10]

Yep, this past couple of years is a sad reflection on Plusnet's decline as regards support / billing that was once the envy of the industry.

Having said that for the actual service when you get it I, at least, can't complain. Once I got a reply on Friday it was resolved within hours thanks to Gandalf, with an engineer arriving this morning. The fault that remains is nothing to do with Plusnet and is wholly down to BT OR to sort.