Anthony Vollmer... do you exsist?

[#1]

*could staff please get this message to the amazingly invisible Anthony Vollmer...

Anthony Vollmer, nice to know who is in charge of such a company. I would like to inform you, as your staff seem to refuse to, that your broadband service is second to... everyone. I am not being sarcastic, even though it may seem so but I have been a customer (well, if thats what I can be described as) since September 2009 and have had no less than 3 faults/problems a month ever since.
Your staff are very generous with your money as they are always happy to throw credits to my account. These are fine by me but it would be a lot easier if I didnt have to spend 3-6 horus each month explaining over and over and over again, the same problems to different staff.
By all means, let them keep giving me free internet but that still doesnt fix the problem.
I had the unfortunate pleasure of speaking to a customer service "manager" named [removed] who has given me the run around for the past few days. I feel dizzier than a 6 year old straight off the waltzers at the fairground.
What started out as a routine fault has turned into a laughing matter and several staff having to cover each others mistakes so you and the others at the top never have to find out.
I have given all my patience up to plusnet and can no longer keep my opinions to myself. I thought I would give yourself a chance to contact me before going to the press as well as using social networking sites to make my voice heard.
I have asked, begged and pleaded with the staff to let me speak to someone in the directors office as it seems the only way to get things done. Just ask Warren Buckley and Ian Livingstone at BT in the directors office as they know who I am.
I am now going to give you the opportunity to contact me and maybe from there we can sort this whole mess out before it goes to the public for them to see what the problem is. It takes very little time for bad press to spread and I am sure you do not need it at the moment with the current situation within plusnet.
I therefore ask that you contact me via my email address or my numbers which are held on record.
I will wait a few days before the social networking campaign takes full effect, although I have already started emailing people to join a facebook page about the problems with internet providers.
I will leave the ball in your court now and hope you have the decency to respond.
Regards,
Jason.
[Moderator's note by Dick(Strat) CSA name removed as per Forum Rules

[#2]

Companies House wouldn't like him to be registered as a Director if he didn't exist.

[#3]

Jason,
I'll drop you an e-mail shortly and get a brief from the team.
Sorry we have let you down.
Anthony

[#4]

Hi Jason,
I'm sorry about all the trouble over this. With regard to the fault, unfortunately broadband is supplied using rate adaptive technology - you can read more on this here but basically if a number of drops in connection are recorded, the exchange equipment will automatically lower the line speed. This is because slower speeds are affected less by noise and interference, and will therefore drop connection much less often.
The reason you were informed there would be a three day wait is because this is how the exchange equipment works - if the connection remains stable for three days this is recorded, and the next time the user connects the profile will be increased.
We have no control over this system I'm afraid.
I am glad to report however that we've been able to escalate your fault and as of now it has been reported resolved - please let us know if this is not the case.

[#5]

This posting just goes to show that people who shout the loudest get special treatment from the Plusnet staff; shout even louder and the CEO gets involved. This is very unfair on the normal Plusnet customers who are prepared to take and act on advice given here without resorting to threats.

[#6]

Possibly, possibly not - but at least the CEO monitors these forums, he was on here a while ago .
That has to be a positive thing and is one reason I like PN.

[#7]

Composer: I have had to rant and rave because all my normal complaints have fell on deaf ears. The only way forward was a shout to the boss. Amazing how I shout loud enough and all of a sudden, I get a shout back from the CEO. Although, his promise of an email was false... still waiting, which is no supprise.
As for you Mr Taylor... 72 hours you said, 3 days running. The fact you look at a screen and say an issue is resolved when it clearly isn't shows how well trained the staff at plus net are.
I have had nothing but problems from day one. Now they make a major cock up and I have to suffer with dial up internet while people try to work out the difference between their backsides and their elbows.
Shout if you need to. I needed to. I waited patiently for the likes of Matt to come back with the plusnet bible script and all that has happened is NOTHING.
Well lets see what tomorrow brings. Apart from the press and lots more people joining the new facebook group.

[#8]

Quote from: thelonerider

As for you Mr Taylor... 72 hours you said, 3 days running. The fact you look at a screen and say an issue is resolved when it clearly isn't shows how well trained the staff at plus net are.

Hi there,
Having not been party to your problems I can't say for sure until I speak to Mat,t but his reply suggests to me that BT Wholesale have made a change that suggests the problem is resolved.

Quote from: Matt

I am glad to report however that we've been able to escalate your fault and as of now it has been reported resolved - please let us know if this is not the case.

He has also asked you to let him know if the fault doesn't seem to be resolved from your side. If it isn't then I'm quite confident that he will continue pushing for a resolution.

Quote from: thelonerider

As for you Mr Taylor... 72 hours you said, 3 days running. The fact you look at a screen and say an issue is resolved when it clearly isn't shows how well trained the staff at plus net are.

I don't think Matt's response is indicative of a lack of training, is it?

[#9]

I'm glad Mr Vollmer reads the forums.
My download speed this evening is 0.2Mb/s - yes that is 200kbits/second.
I have raised two tickets about broadband speed over the last 6 weeks. The first ticket concluded that there was nothing wrong with my line which I told PN to start with. The second ticket - still ongoing -has concluded that my Virtual Paths are hot. Well they must be glowing white hot to reduce a line that normally runs at 2.5Mb/s by a factor of 10. Surprisingly when I checked just before Christmas the exchange checker showed my exchange was ok  while it now shows that the VP has been hot since November.  Strange that, but if its been overloaded for 3 months then its high time BT sorted it.
What are PlusNet doing to bring their sub-contractor under control -  well not much - they are waiting until last Thursday and then they will review the situation. Only its Monday now and there is no new information on my ticket so I assume they have just given up.
I raised my Ticket on a 10th January by phoning Customer Services. It is 15 days later and there is no improvement. So much for PNs target of 7 days. And as for tickets within 4 hours - more like 4 days in reality.
PlusNet have managed to spread the idea that they cannot control their sub-contractor - even when my line is working outside BT's minimum specification (600kb/s on my line). They claim they cannot offer a discount because BT don't give them a discount when BT fails to provide a reasonable service. What a story. Retailers carry the risk of making good when their subcontractor lets them down. PlusNet in this context are retailers.
PlusNet are totally  failing to provide a reasonable service.  Mr Vollmer - you need to get this miserable company sorted out. Its not Matt Taylor's fault or the fault of any of the others. Its your fault - you carry the can. If you want to be the new Tiscalli, then you are doing a good job - but I think you should start earning your pay and get this ISP back to being a good one - consider it a challenge.
Jim

[#10]

Quote from: composer

This posting just goes to show that people who shout the loudest get special treatment from the Plusnet staff; shout even louder and the CEO gets involved. This is very unfair on the normal Plusnet customers who are prepared to take and act on advice given here without resorting to threats.

The meek shall inherit nothing.

[#11]

Quote from: EnglishMohican

What are PlusNet doing to bring their sub-contractor under control -  well not much - they are waiting until last Thursday and then they will review the situation. Only its Monday now and there is no new information on my ticket so I assume they have just given up.

Sorry about that, I'll see is I can chase this up for you tomorrow...

[#12]

Jim
Take your feedback on board. Bob and the team will help you with your fault. Sorry about the delay.
Rest assured I do accept your challenge - there is a lot of change underway at Plusnet currently. We have had a busy couple of weeks on the faults team due to a number of contributing factors, but we are increasing the number of people in the team and I'm confident our response times, where they have slipped, will be back on track very soon.
I find the forums a really helpful way of understanding the issues our customers are having. Clearly I want our service to be excellent for all our customers, not just those on the forums, and we're working very hard to achieve and then maintain that.
Anthony

[#13]

Hi thelonerider,
As per the messages I've left on your mobile, we've tested the line and the results show you should be experiencing a good quality connection.
If you are not then please could you go to the BT speed tester (at http://www.speedtester.bt.com), run the tests and let us know if you have any problems.

[#14]

*note  to self
in future, when starting a post, always start the subject line with "Anthony Vollmer....."

[#15]

As a former MD you should appreciate it doesn't always work