Appalling customer service

[#1]

I've just had the worst possible experience with Plusnet's so called customer service. Someone called [CSA Removed] who wouldn't give his surname cut me off and was so rude. I wanted to record the conversation but he wouldn't agree, presumably because it would clearly demonstrate how ineffective and unhelpful he was being. 

My experience with Plusnet since I transferred my service from Talktalk has been horrendous and today's experience has exacerbated the situation. It took Plusnet 16 days to transfer my service so I was without a phone or broadband for that period.

I phoned today to seek help in how to formally complain but it was a waste of time. I was calm and controlled throughout my phone conversation with [CSA Removed] but he was determined not to help even though I am not experienced in using the internet and needed support.

I have managed to complain on line through the links but that is no thanks to customer service. Plusnet should be ashamed of the lack of service they give. Once my contract ends I will leave and hopefully never have to deal with Plusnet again.

Moderators Note: CSA name removed as per Forum rules

[#2]

The migration has to take at least 14 calendar days, and assuming you used the gaining-provider-led procedure, you should only experience loss of service for a short period on the day of migration.  It would not be in PN's interest to delay your migration to them since you are only billed from the date the service goes live; the delay would most probably be down to BTOR.

A member of staff will no doubt give you a fuller response in due course, and perhaps one of the mods will move this to the Customer Feedback section of this forum.

[#3]

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@barriejsmith wrote:

 I wanted to record the conversation but he wouldn't agree,

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Not that it would have done you any good for the following reason but you CAN record phone calls without consent of the other party - it's playing that recording to a 3rd party without the consent of those in the recording that is illegal.

EG you could legally record a call between me and you. If you then wanted to play that recording to Joe Smith you would need to obtain my consent in order to do so. The only time you wouldn't need my consent is in the case of a police investigation or in a court of law where the judge explicitly orders you to make the recording available however be warned that also typically means you must have the transcripts of the call in writing too - and that can be a PITA.

[#4]

@7up 

Interesting point there as I always assumed it was a sort of quid pro quo something for something in that if 'they' were recording you then by implication, it was in order for you to record 'them'. Any third party sharing was also in order should a dispute arise. 

Sauce for the goose and all that? 

[#5]

My loss of service of 16 days was post the agreed transfer date. Total incompetence. Plusnet tried to incorrectly put the blame on Talktalk and then Openreach, neither of which was correct.

How can you justify one of your supposedly customer service agents cutting me off when I was polite and was just asking for some guidance on using the complaints procedure.

You must keep a record of each call so it would be interesting to hear the playback.

Thanks, a most dissatisfied customer.

[#6]

Moderators Note

This topic has been moved from Chat to Feedback

[#7]

@dvorak 

MIght have been interesting to keep this subject here, everybody has a view on customer service. 

[#8]

Thanks for getting in touch @barriejsmith

I'm sorry to see it took us a month to provide you with a service and you were without a service for half of that time. 

I've reviewed your order and I can see it was delayed due to number portability which means that it was the number import from your previous provider that delayed this somewhere between our suppliers systems and their systems. 

While this isn't to pass the responsibility onto our suppliers or your previous provider, I'm just being a bit pragmatic and realistic as we haven't directly caused a delay by handling the problem incorrectly, the order was delayed in the supplier systems. 

Having said that, I understand you've ordered a service from Plusnet, so the buck ultimately fell to us to work with our suppliers and get your service back up and running as soon as possible.

So with that in mind I've added a reply onto your support ticket https://www.plus.net/wizard/?p=view_question&id=194912933 with an increased offer for a gesture of goodwill which I hope helps.

Finally, the customer service you've described you've had isn't what I'd expect at all so I'll be listening to the call you've had and will arrange for feedback to be passed on where appropriate.

[#9]

@barriejsmith 

Number porting can be horrendously complex, sometimes having more than just the losing and gaining suppliers involved in the process.

Just in passing … was the number you sought to transfer from TT ever previously with (or originally provided by) some other telephone provider, for example Sky or Virgin Media?

[#10]

I have switched each year on a regular basis for more than 6 years without issue. Prior to Talktalk I was with Sky.

If service providers gave existing customers the same deal they give to new ones then we wouldn't have the need to switch!

[#11]

Interesting - who have you flip-flopped with in the past?

Who 'owns' your number does not change, ownership and providing service for are not the same.  See http://www.phonecodeinfo.co.uk

Having a Sky owned number and flip-flopping between LLC providers (Talk Talk and Sky) is likely to be somewhat different internal process to changing to a BT base supplier.

Superuser citation

This topic has been cited by one of the Superusers; the purpose of which is to provide a note for information which might help to focus continued discussion (but might not result in a staff response).