I opened a Plusnet broadband account just over a year ago. I was very impressed in the efficient way my account was set up and the direct debit speedily arranged . My inew nternet connection was intermittant ( to be expected on a rural landline) , being an engineer myself I quickly diagnosed the problem as excessive noise on the incomming line ( not my master socket or equipment) which I reported. It took 4 weeks for Plusnet to arrange an Open reach engineer to confirm my diagnosis and anothe week to fix it! No compensation for the loss of service. Finally I had a troble free internet connection for a whole year and correct regulat direct debits from my account.-- until my introductory bargain basement contract ran out.
Thats when the trouble began. I renewed bmy 12month contract, paying abour £1.00 more per month than the expired one delivered This was all set up and the direct debits were taken, comensurate with the new contract rate ----- for just 2 months, then I started to be billed at full non contract rate of about £33.00 pcm. I immediately contacted Plusnet through thier phone help line - the "online" menu based system is frustrating to use - totally useless for such issues - as there is no email contact either!!
Having explained my problem Plusnet account help person said "Did you set up your new contract on line?" - yes was my reply. He then said well we have a problem and it has been lost or cancelled, he was not specific. He said Plusnet will need to set up a "Repair Account" and I would be refunded any overcharge on my new (now cancelled) contract. All well and good - I was then passed to someone who took all my previous account details ( well it seemed that way!) and said that a new acount would be set up in 2 weeks and i would be transfered to ressume my new low rate contract . All sounded fine.
Next thing I receive an email saying that I needed to identify my landline number - as there were 2 numbers asociated with the account - or 2 numbers at the location of my router. "Please identify which phone line number to set the new broadband account to". All this information is available in my previous contract which Plusnet have relayed back to me.
I was also issued a question number via email - asking me to define the required line number -- to which it was impossible to reply!!!! - got an "automated email" response saying it can not be used !! Grrrrr, Last year this "question "system worked well with a button at the bottom of the email saying "reply" - which allowed sane direct communication with the Plusnet persons dealing with the problem
I contacted Plusnet once again via telephone help line - the help person checked my previous account and said whoever was transfering my account was taking short cuts and not reading my records carefully. He then said i will need a new router !!?
Why!!!? - and what a load of rubbish -- and think of the impact this kind of problem has on our resources - thats another piece of " high tech" due for landfill !! - nothing wrong with it worked perfectly untill Plusnet screwed up my contract!
What worries me most being an engineer who works in the IT industry, was that the friendly help guy said that the central IT system the Plusnet uses, is on the "verge of collapse", because of too many minor incompatibilities and poor system analysis . He explain that setting up a new user account when one fails , is totally frustrating for the customer in terms of the wasted time and poor communication service offered - but is the only safe way for the system to continue! Hence the Repair Account " I wonder how many other online systems are simularly flawed. I lost my online banking access in a similar way a few months back
I accepted the solution after he said everything will be sorted in 2 weeks and a new router sent out today - and put the phone down.
Gaaaaah - I then realised that I had not specified which address to send my new router!! as it is different to my account address!. There is ABSOLUTELY NO WAY to pass this information to Plusnet without suffering going through the help phoneline again !! Why oh why is there not a simple way for an account holder to simply directly message those that are dealing with your account problem, vial email untill all is resolved!!?? In the phrase of Plusnets irritating simple minded advertising - "That'll Do" So come on Plusnet - pull your finger out and live up to all that very expensive TV advertising
It seems that all services we use are being steared towards online communication -often with no email contact, very poor illogical and menu resolutions which offer no detail to allow simple questions to be asked. It costs way too much in wasted time and frustration - welcome to the brave new incompetent digital world - and trust me - this is just but one example - it will only get worse !!
