Hi,
I've had some terrible customer service from Plusnet, and I wondered if anyone could suggest any way to have a complaint responded to within Plusnet, before I escalate it outside the organisation?
I received a bill on the 1st July, which had a higher than expected call cost on it, as my Talk Anytime call plan included all landline calls. I tried to review the itemised bill, but this wasn't (and still isn't) available.
I opened a ticket, asking Plusnet to check the call cost was correct (and pointed out the itemised bill wasn't available. I received a response from Lisa apologising for the lack of itemised bill, pointing out a workaround to view 'Recent Calls' but telling me twice that that she had checked and my call costs were correct.
I went through the pages and pages of 'Recent Calls' with a calculator, and came up with a total cost of calls that was about half what I was billed. I went back to the ticket, asked for the bill to be recalculated (as I wished to dispute it) and for a complaint to be lodged as I was told twice the bill was correct.
I received a response from Zoe, who told me she had also calculated the cost of all the calls on the account, and could "confirm that you have not been charged incorrectly for the calls".
I e-mailed back with the figures I had calculated, and asked what was causing the discrepancy. I also submitted a list of all the calls I had made and their billed costs, which showed a lot of landline calls with costs next to them. What I received in response was another list of calls I had made, also showing landline costs with costs to them. There was no mention of a refund, apology, a recalculated bill or the status of my complaint.
My next e-mail was a note thanking them for the call list, and asking for what would happen next. I received a note from Martha which stated "All the evidence listed so far does show that all the calls have been charged correctly".
The whole exchange was very Kafaesque, so I went back and said I was at the end of my tether, and hoped that Plusnet could make the situation right.
I received a response from James who apologised for his colleagues' errors, and said that I would need to pay the whole (incorrect) bill, at which point a refund of the overcharge (to the penny) would be arranged. There was no apology for the billing error, no gesture of goodwill for all of the time and the stress I had to put in to proving a quite simple overcharge.
I appreciate that telephone billing is a complicated manner and things go wrong on occasion. What I am upset with is the fact that I was told four times that my bill was correct after I had challenged the cost. Either the customer service agents I dealt with all failed to spot the obvious overcharge (being billed for landline calls on a Talk Anytime package), or they were trying to cover up the overcharged bill that didn't have any call itemisation available.
I was expecting a full apology and a bunch of flowers or a credit off a future bill for this inconvenience - instead, I have no idea as to the state of my complaint that I asked to be lodged, and I am being told I have to lend Plusnet the money I was overcharged by paying it, and waiting for a refund. I should be protected under the Direct Debit guarantee against situations like this, but Plusnet say there is nothing that can be done.
I wondered if anyone could suggest any way to have a complaint responded to within Plusnet properly, before I escalate it outside the organisation next week?
