Calls from 0114 307 3836

[#1]

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@cleandishee wrote:

Harry.

Why don't you look at the list that Anoush looked at earlier today to confirm I was no longer going to be contacted?

Take a look at that one and just see if Anon is on there.

Simple.

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Because I'm afraid it doesn't work that way. I can (and have already) asked for people to be removed from the dialling list. But that's managed by an entirely different department and neither myself or Anoush actually have access to that or immediate responses when requesting for updates to the dialling list.

When asking for someone's number to be removed, it needs to be on the list in order for it to be removed, so it seemed worth asking Anon if they'd actually experienced any problems with unwanted calls first, to determine if it is actually on the list to be removed from it.

[#2]

When I set up this post I  did not expect it to get almost 10000 hits. I stopped the calls to me by banning the number. Had I not had that ability and continued to receive the calls each call would have resulted in a report to ICO. If you have set your preferences to not receive direct marketing then my advice would be to raise a report with The ICO each and every time you receive a call. You may have seen the fine that talk talk received, maybe that is the only way to hit back.

As a membrr of The Consumer Organization (Which) I  am aware that  Plusnet is not getting as good a review for customer service and this type of treatment of customers will only see it drop lower down the list of satisfied customers, do they want to keep our business or are they going to be happy to see us go?

[#3]

Why did you not make that statement, the way you answered sounded like you were asking if I had been called, because then I had reason to ask for my name to be removed.

It should not be on, the op has said that he had ticked all the right boxes. So have I, but that would seem not to have the desired effect ie that I do not wish to be contacted by Pnet, unless you KNOW that there is something wrong with my line, my billing or anything else.

[#4]

So now it is a single dialing list?

Interesting.

Well that is even worse, this means you totally ignored my contact instructions.

Of course it could be this "dialling list" you have checked is meaningless or broken.

I was actually told by the first agent I contacted that it was not possible that I could have had an attempted call from Plusnet as this would be 100% logged on the account.

This was later proven to be total rubbish as your complaints department admitted the calls were made.

While it could be he was indulging in guesswork or telling porkies, it could be your internal system is so poor that now Plusnet's right arm doesn't know what its left is doing so to speak.

From my point of view, it does not matter. Errors have been made and issues have been caused by them doing so.

I will have to decide what is most productive at a personal level with regards to my complaint or if it would be best to move elsewhere.

I just wanted to pass on my own experiences and what I was told regarding this new call category, in case it would help people puzzled by cold calls from this number.

Cleandishee.

[#5]

This topic just goes to show that there is no way to please all of the people all of the time.  I'm quite sure that some complaining about being contacted at the end of their contract would complain equally loudly if left on contracts at less advantageous terms than might be available now.  Like for example all those users still on legacy capped usage products paying markedly more than the cost of current unlimited products.

There is a marked difference between marketing calls (trying to sell me something I don't have in exchange for more money) and service / customer care calls which might give me more for less or the same money.  If Plusnet held off making such service calls until such time as a full opt in / out facility could be implemented, they could find themselves in different hot water from other regulators.

Just how difficult is it to politely accept a call and just say "Thank you for calling, but no thank you"?  At times it appears that the fight is more important than the substance ... there's more to life than this!

[#6]

So why should I take the trouble to tick the right boxes, ensure that my phone does not leave a number print, be ex-directory if I wanted spam calls from Pnet? Or indeed from anyone else.

[#7]

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@Anon

@Anon wrote:

Why did you not make that statement, the way you answered sounded like you were asking if I had been called, because then I had reason to ask for my name to be removed.

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I hadn't sent it on my first response.

As per my previous response, I asked if you had been called to try and determine if you were actually receiving these unwanted calls. I'm aware you've been with us for quite some time, and if you've not had one of these calls yet, it seems less likely that it's about to start now.

There's no sense someone going through the work to remove something that's not there.

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@Anon wrote:

It should not be on, the op has said that he had ticked all the right boxes.

I completely agree.

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@Anon wrote:
So have I, but that would seem not to have the desired effect

I'm still not sure if you've received any of these calls. Have you actually received any unwanted marketing calls?

@cleandishee

@cleandishee wrote:

So now it is a single dialing list?

Interesting.

Well that is even worse, this means you totally ignored my contact instructions.

I honestly couldn't say. I think you're taking dialling list too literally.

As per my previous response:

@HarryB wrote:
that's managed by an entirely different department

I don't have access to their list(s) or systems etc. I can literally send an email and at some point over the next day or two (usually) I'll get a response advising it's been removed from the dialler or one asking if I've provided the right number since it couldn't be found on the dialler.

@cleandishee wrote:

I was actually told by the first agent I contacted that it was not possible that I could have had an attempted call from Plusnet as this would be 100% logged on the account.

That agent was wrong.

I believe the department in question are fed a call through (Just as if it was an inbound call) and they get information on their screen regarding what new offer they can provide. However they would not have even accessed the account at the time of calling through. As the dialler would have pushed the call through to them as far as I'm aware.

[#8]

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@Townman wrote:

Just how difficult is it to politely accept a call and just say "Thank you for calling, but no thank you"?  

How difficult would it be to send service messages in billing emails rather than make phone calls?

The phone caller requires the customer to pass security before informing them of what is on offer hence the suspicion that a con artist is calling.

As a matter of principle I will not agree to any offer made in an uninvited phone call. I want a written offer to consider at my leisure. One of the reasons that I came to Plusnet from BT 10 years ago was that I received such a call from BT making an offer to save me £x per month. It turned out that a) it involved committing to a new contract period (which the caller had failed to mention) b) the "reduced price" was not as good as the reduced price I was already paying! I did not take kindly to the attempt to con me.

[#9]

"Just how difficult is it to politely accept a call and just say "Thank you for calling, but no thank you"?"

Oh I don't know, maybe if you have an elderly person, who was already nervous after being stuck on a spam cold calling list earlier in the year, so was actually frightened to pick up the phone.

Maybe the autistic gentleman who left a post for this number on whocallsme actually asking Plusnet to only call when his Mum was there?

Please try to respect that many vulnerable people rely upon their phone line. What may seem a mild irritant to one person could be confusing or alarming to those with different needs.

When great efforts have been taken to set up a phone line, so that only family and friends have the number (with others given a different number), only for the telephone provider itself to start making unwanted cold calls, things can get more complicated than the average person might realize.

[#10]

Harry,

2 final things.

The "incorrect" agent works for Plusnet, employed in a customer facing role.

How am I supposed to magically know that the person I call in good faith actually is spouting nonsense?

Like most people I make an assumption that someone employed in this position can answer the question, or at least admit they don't know but will find out.

It isn't appropriate for them to pass off guesswork as answers.

The second point regarding "dialling lists"

I did not take anything literally.

I am aware through the contact options you can define different contact levels and preferences.

I have been told there was a destinction between "Sales" "Marketing" and "Service" calls.

I was told these were defined, but it appeared you were stating a single yes or no for outbound cold calls.

This is where my confusion was to your last post.

To me it doesn't matter if it was a single box for cold calls that was ticked or just the "Service Call" box that was done with the "Sales" and "Marketing" unticked as I originally was informed.

This department or program caused us to be on a cold call list of some kind and this caused the issue.

I don't have time to play detective regarding, who at Plusnet just appears unprofessional, but is actually truthful and those who are just bluntly incompetent.

I have a reasonable expectation of competence which seems to have been lacking recently.

[#11]

I have not been contacted, but as I pointed out above, I go to a great deal of trouble to ensure that I am not getting up to go to the phone to take, what for me, is spam calls. And I object to someone telling me that I can just politely decline. I need to answer calls, my brother is seriously ill and so I cannot ignore calls and I don't want junk calls.

[#12]

Let me rephrase the question that I raised in post #37 above. If one has PlusNet Call Protect,and put the number  0114 307 3836 on the blocked list, is one also blocking calls that one might someday actually want to receive from PlusNet customer service in the event of communication about a fault? If blocking this number doesn't block customer service - or anything else important - then this is one solution for people who positively want to avoid these calls.

I say nothing in this about whether PlusNet should be making such calls nor whether one should have to adopt such a mechanism to block them. But just ask whether they have provided a system that blocks their own marketing?

[#13]

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@alanf wrote:

How difficult would it be to send service messages in billing emails rather than make phone calls?

Yes, would it not be possible to add a couple of lines to the last billing e-mail before a contract expires informing the customer that it's their last bill under the current contract and reminding them to contact Customer Options before the next billing date if they would like to look into getting a better deal than the out-of-contract one?

[#14]

Forget it, Pnet do not care. They would not even treat their customers in the way these calls do, if they did. Asking for confidential information and security details. That is what spammers seeking to extract money from poor muts do and Pnet behave in such a way that helps the spammers to do that, by encouraging their customers to feel safe when they do that.

[#15]

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@Strat wrote:

@cleandishee I have released 4 of your posts from the spam filter.

If you wish to have any removed please give me the message numbers.

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Moderator's note:

I have removed those posts marked as Duplicate.