95% happy ..... but

[#1]

Why does it take so long to answer support tickets? 
I've been with Plusnet for a few years and always been happy with the service. I've only ever had a couple of problems with my service and these were beyond your control (trees taking down overhead lines etc.) and the response has always been very quick and professional, so I'm quite disappointed with the "non"-service currently given over support tickets.
I have no phone line at the moment and it seems that the only way to contact you is to find a phone elsewhere that works and sit in a queue for an interminable length of time or (having followed all the steps on the website), use the "report a fault" page which merely gives you the opportunity to "raise a support ticket" which isn't going to be looked at for 2 or 3 days. I did that yesterday and in line with your estimate it hasn't been replied to at all yet. The phone line is quite important to me for a couple of reasons - 1) my 83 year old mother lives with me and the ability to phone somebody in an emergency gives her peace of mind, 2) to get a mobile signal I need to stand on the patio table at the bottom of the garden (just about  )
Wouldn't it be better to have support tickets "triaged"? Maybe even a separate reporting process for service failure? Come on Plusnet, this aspect of your service needs sorting out. Don't tarnish your image with this half-cocked system, you can do better than this!

[#2]

Hi,
Sorry to hear about the fault with your phone service.
I can see we've raised this with our suppliers following your call to us later on Saturday afternoon. We're expecting an update by the end of the day on the 18th.
I'll set myself a reminder to check the status on the 19th for you.
Hoping to see this resolved by then for you.

[#3]

Thanks for the reply Adam. I'm sure the fault will be sorted now it's on the system. I had little option but to sit in my office on hold for 30 minutes or so as I really needed to get the fault logged and moving.
My query was really over why (unless you're able and prepared to wait in a 30-45 minute phone queue) you cannot get your fault logged until someone reads your support ticket 2 or 3 days later. Can't you have a separate report facility (dedicated email address maybe) specifically for loss of service? Or maybe even (as suggested in my previous post) someone to triage the support tickets so that the most severe problems are treated as priority? I just feel that this aspect of your service is short of the standard that I have come to expect and appreciate from PlusNet.

[#4]

It`s been like this for years...... see my thread.... " Employ more staff to answer phones & tickets".... over a couple of years, we have had the same old stock response.... give us time... we are getting there... ... etc etc etc   


Yawn .... Yawn... Yawn... 

[#5]

Quote from: JaneC

Thanks for the reply Adam. I'm sure the fault will be sorted now it's on the system

Of course the only sure things are death and taxes. 6 days without a telephone line now. I'm away over new year and mother is starting to panic that she'll be "home alone" and completely isolated without any means of communication.
Any news Adam (other than the update that says my ticket is being put back in the system again)?

[#6]

Having checked with our suppliers I can see an engineer is due to investigate the fault this afternoon.

[#7]

Thanks Adam, fingers (and everything else) crossed 

[#8]

Bump!
Phone still out - no update on the ticket

[#9]

Casting my mind back when OFCOM opened the market to other providers one stipulation was they had a dedicated fault reporting number like BT. Surely this makes common sense, if your phone goes down you don't want to stand in a phone box for an hour waiting for an answer  to report a fault.

[#10]

85% and falling......... rapidly! 

[#11]

I've just chased this again and unfortunately an engineer wasn't assigned as planned yesterday due to "resourcing issues" I've been advised that this will be reassigned to be worked on tomorrow.
Sorry to see there's been a delay and one of my colleagues should be able to pick this up next week if there's been no further progress, I sincerely hope there is though.
Adam

[#12]

Quote from: _Adam_Walker_

unfortunately an engineer wasn't assigned as planned yesterday due to "resourcing issues" I've been advised that this will be reassigned to be worked on tomorrow. Adam

Unfortunately Adam, that now goes down to 75% - not for the delay, but due to the fact that it appears that someone has now told me a "terminological inexactitude" as Churchill would say. Unless, of course, you would like to clarify and expand on the phrase "resourcing issues"?
As I was due to close the factory for the Christmas holidays at 11ish this morning, I was trying to get this sorted before I left the office. I knew that from this time my access to a telephone would be virtually zero (see earlier post) and as I had received no response to my "bump", I bit the bullet and joined the queue of people on hold to your call centre. The gentleman ("K") that I spoke to seemed a little confused initially. Firstly "K" thought that the engineer had failed to turn up for an appointment, so I explained that there had been no appointment to visit the house as the fault had already been identified as an external fault and as such I would probably never know if the engineer had kept that "appointment" or not. Secondly "K" thought that I had been assigned a new number, but I explained that I had been on the same number for the last 23 months, the number that you assigned to me when I moved house and kept you as my provider. He still thought that my number was meant to be XXXXXXXX657 and said that my number had only just been changed to XXXXXXXXX179 - he even asked me if I would like my number to be XXXXXXXX179 to which I replied "yes, that's what it's been for the last 2 years, that's the number I've got problems with". He said that he needed to check with BTOR and would phone me back. True to his word, he phoned me back, but this is where "K's" version of events doesn't seem to match yours. "K" assured me that the engineer had attended and although he had found the fault, he was unable to rectify it so had put in a request for another engineer to attend and that was due to happen tomorrow. I asked him what the problem was if the first engineer couldn't fix it, but they thought a second one could. "K" said he wasn't sure what the problem had been, but that the second engineer would be a "better engineer or have better tools" 
Clearly "K" says the engineer attended, you say he didn't.
Reading between the lines, there is only one way that you may both be (more-or-less) correct and that would be if the "resourcing issues" involved Plus net not using their resources correctly, asking BTOR to sort out the fault on XXXXXXXX657, the engineer attending that line and saying "This isn't in service, I can't fix this!" (hence, yes, the engineer did attend as asked, but no, the engineer did not attend a fault on my line). If that's correct then I guess "K" has got me an expedited appointment for tomorrow, for which I am grateful, but it does nothing for trust when it seems that someone is trying to pull the wool over my eyes.
Would you care to clarify?

[#13]

and bump again - Now no phone for 10/11 days - no feedback - no info on what's happening - No customer service.

[#14]

Hi,
I'm really sorry we've not provided you with an update on this. I've just been in touch with our suppliers and I can confirm that an engineer was dispatched at 9am this morning to work on the fault. The engineer is currently onsite now.

[#15]

Thanks for the reply Chris, I can confirm that at the time you wrote it, the fault had actually already been fixed. I would like some answers to some questions though. Please, if it's not within your capacity/remit to answer these, can you pass it over to someone who can provide me with the information that I'm after?
1) Why has it taken 11 days to get a 10 minute job fixed?
2) Why did this engineer turn up without an appointment? (It's lucky that we were running late - 30 minutes later and we would have missed him and I'm not sure if that would have affected his ability to trace the fault)
3) Why have I been told that engineers have attended and located the fault when they haven't? (Nobody called at the house before, but even so, it was atop the pole opposite our house - they would have been spotted!)
4) Why has there been such a lack of communication?
5) (and the question in my opening post which still remains unanswered) Why does it take so long to answer support tickets and why don't you develop a better reporting system for urgent matters?
The really sad part about this whole fiasco is that (as you'll see from my opening post) I've been a very satisfied Plus net customer for many years and merely came on this forum to give some constructive feedback that the support ticket system needed sorting out. Rather than use this opportunity to address the issue raised, the thread has turned into a catalogue of how I've been failed, let down, ignored and (in some cases) fed a tale by some Plus net staff. Over the years I've recommended your company to many friends and family (never claiming referral commission), but I'm due for nearly all my renewals in January, so this year, for the first time since joining you, I'll be shopping around for alternative broadband & telecoms providers.
I'm not sure if there's anything that can be done to completely restore my faith in Plus net, but I know of something that would go a long way towards repairing the damage. As Managing Director of a company I think integrity is of paramount importance; if I've made a mistake (or if any member of my staff has) then we hold up our hands and say "we got this wrong", after all, we're only human and mistakes can happen, but it's how you deal with them that is important. If I receive some clear, frank explanations (including admission of errors where appropriate!), then it will help to restore some of my faith in Plus net; if I receive a vague, scripted answer, I will take it that Plus net hold its customers in contempt.
I appreciate that we are now in the holiday period so I'll leave this until January 10th before I chase or escalate.