Access to support!

[#1]

So my broadband is suffering random drops AGAIN and I can't respond to the previous ticket since it's been 14 days since so it's automatically closed.

So I check what contact options are available and chat is disabled it would seem but phone lines have "around 40 minute delay"!

I can't spend 40 minutes waiting on what is likely to be an unhelpful 5 minute conversation which goes along the lines "we'll raise the fault and sombody will get back to you in X days".

Come on Plusnet; you could have a callback option? At least then I can get on with my day. Despite your good prices I'll simply have to look elsewhere if I don't get a solution to this on-going problem (both in customer service availability AND the actual fault issue).

[#2]

YES !!!! come on Plusnet its about time you started to improve, despite your several promises of give us time we will get there 😕
In fact it seams you are getting further away from there 😞

[#3]

I had to wait for over half an hour on the phone today. Thankfully the advisor was good and fixed the issue I was calling about, but to hear a message telling me wait times could be 45 minutes is just unacceptable. You used to be better than this, Plusnet.

[#4]

Oh Dear.... NOT AGAIN>.....

@LouisaMartin  What is going on.... ?  This state of affairs is becoming ridiculous. and PLUSNET should be ASHAMED to be advertising "Award winning customer service"... when they put THIS kind of statement on the LIVE CHAT page after clicking  "JOIN THE QUEUE"...4

Sorry a Plusnet chat agent isn’t available at the minute, please refresh the page to try again.

Chat is available 7 days a week from 7.30am – 10pm.

Outside of these times, call us on 0800 432 0200, or if you want to talk about moving or faults, call us on 0800 023 2221 Thank you

@LouisaMartin..... and @Chris  PLEASE... I beseech thee.... get your act together and provide the customer with the service YOU  ( @Chris ) have been promising (me) US ( the customers ) for the past 9 years ....

Yes... that is a "BIT" Strong....but you must agrree,.... it`s disgusting  to be told "consistently" to

GIVE US TIME,.... and WE`LL  GET THERE.....

How much more time do you need?  Get around the table,.... draw up a plan.......set a completion date...... . and then execute it ....

before the board execute you for failing to provide the service you have promised....

Moderator's note by Mike (Mav): Edited to remove offensive remarks made towards staff as per Forum rules.

[#5]

@shutter its the Bean counters on top of the escalator who need removing ,, not the staff here .

the staff here are only working with breadcrums thrown down from above

[#6]

Using, so-called, "bean counters" as an excuse for not providing the service advertised, is not acceptable.

Management is a "two-way" job.... on the one hand they must control the workload/workforce they are "managing", but they must also control those who pay them, by comitting themselves to the improvement of the company`s reputation... they do this by making sure that the job they are doing is successful on both sides of their remit..

failure on one side reflects back on the failure of the other, and this in turn means that the company is failing..

Perhaps after 8 or 9 years of getting there.... that is where it will end up....

So... yes... bean counters have their job to do, but not at the expense of the customer service, which is paramount in the reputation and viability of any company. ... without customers, and customer satisfaction, there will be no company.... no company.. no bean counters... no bean counters no upper and middle/lower management... ultimately , of course...... ... no complaints from customers...

[#7]

@baja2215

Can you confirm the exact wording shown on chat please, as we certainly haven't disabled chat since we turned it off for a couple of weeks back in August. So if it's not showing at all that is concerning.

Have you read this message explaining the new ways of working for chat and the different options you should see:

https://community.plus.net/t5/Latest-Plusnet-News/Chat-New-ways-of-working/m-p/1489152#M22

We have placed maximum queue lengths on the chat queues to ensure people are not sat in a queue for very long periods of time. When the queue is full you will see a Busy message shown, asking for you to try again in a few minutes. 

Since we implemented this new way of working 3 weeks ago, we are dealing with over 2000 more chats per week.

Thanks

[#8]

@LouisaMartin I don't recall the exact wording but it was definitely not anything along the lines of full or busy. It was greyed out and probably something like "Unavailable". You'll need to get your web designers/coders/experts to see what possible text is available on that button.

One of the issues I find is that if (like now) I want to raise an issue; there is only options to call or (possibly) text chat ... both of these as you say have queues and excuses aside don't permit me if I am short of time to actually raise the issue. Why isn't there a (obvious?) way to raise a ticket - e.g. email/webform/callback so the customer can get on with things rather than being tied to a phone/computer screen?

In cases like mine I'd not say its vitally important to get a response straight away but at the same time I do want to get a response in such a way that I don't have to wait 40 minutes or whatever is deemed 'acceptable'.

Seems to me that this is the way most modern customer service departments work - why not PlusNet, what sort of justification can be given?

[#9]

Sorry for all the questions, I just want to try and get to the bottom of this and help you too @baja2215.

Was this on the Residential or Business chat queue? We haven't made changes to the Business chat queue, so for very small periods during the day you will see 'unavailable' on the business queue but not on Residential. Unavailable text isn't an option in the Residential queue. 
I've attached screenshots of all the buttons which will be seen on the Residential queue.

You can shout out on the community for someone to help with your query. If you don't think it can be answered by the general community, you can tag a 'Staff' member and reach out for help that way.
The decision to remove the 'ticketing' system wasn't taken lightly and was done because the platform in place wasn't fit for purpose. It's not off the table that we would reintroduce ticketing in the future.

Let me know if you still need help and I'll get one of the team to pick this up with you.

Thanks

[#10]

Its worth noting that some ad blocking browser extensions also block the chat facility so its worth checking those if possible.

[#11]

Are you on a fixed IP address?

[#12]

@Townman yep I am on a static IP - should that really make any difference though?

[#13]

It is not unheard of ... @LouisaMartin

[#14]

@baja2215

I thought I'd reach out from a support point of view.

In absence of seeing your account details (as I'm at home at the moment), are the connection drops you're experiencing happening over a wired or wireless connection to your router?

[#15]

Thankyou @Gandalf for replying when at home; this is over a wired connection; the drop is between the router and the exchange. Obviously the drop is apparent from wireless too.

The router is plugged into the master socket. This situation happens even if on the test socket of the master socket.

No other devices are plugged into the phone line (though I do have a static phone attached via the microfilter at the master socket - but have tested it without - plusnet seem to be the only ones who use my phone anyway), and in fact all internal wiring has been disconnected so the master socket is the only working socket (there is/was a problem with bridge tap when the internal wiring was connected).

Last time it was dropping a lot I did disconnect wireless and so I only had my laptop directly wired to the router - not that it made any difference. There is little else I can do from my end!

It seems to settle down for a while but within a week or 2 or 3 I'm sure it'll spend half a day or more dropping like flies again. At which point if I can contact support and get a ticket raised tests show evidence of the issue but no resolution and then it mysteriously goes away (I've not been told if anything was done on Plusnet side of things) but then the ticket goes into the 14 day timeout state till next occurrence.

Extremely frustrating and annoying.