Customer service call wait times

[#1]

Why are plusnet still advertising everywhere and telling them about the great customer service when it takes on average 15mins to speak to an advisor??

[#2]

You did well with 15 mins....I've just clocked up 21. Amazing how the sales number can answer in seconds.

[#3]

Now 27...totally unacceptable. I'm seriously thinking of cancelling my order. I never had this problem with BT.

[#4]

Sorry guys.... Been waiting  8 years for something to happen regarding this problem.... see my thread...

https://community.plus.net/t5/Plusnet-Feedback/Suggestion-employ-more-staff-to-answer-tickets-and-ph...

#But, before you start reading make yourself a pile of sandwiches, get a duvet ready, and also keep the kettle on the boil, to make repeated cups of coffee....

YUP !... it is THAT LONG>.. and still they say... " Sorry for the wait, we are working on it..... "  according to @MatthewWheeler     ( https://community.plus.net/t5/Plusnet-Feedback/Call-centre-waiting-times-are-horrendous/m-p/1292148#... ) 

he obviously hasn`t read the thread yet..

but he certainly has learnt a different way of saying......  "Give us time..... and we`ll get there"...

[#5]

It has been mentioned several times by Louisa martin that they are short of staff

but this should not be a excuse for a long awaited improvement

[#6]

If you think that is bad, you're lucky they don't run like HMRC. 

When I had to call them, after an hour waiting I gave up. Following day it took 40 minutes.

At least you can change ISP, but not HMRC.

15 minutes I wouldn't have minded.

[#7]

---

@rongtw wrote:

It has been mentioned several times by Louisa martin that they are short of staff

but this should not be a excuse for a long awaited improvement

---

Which, begs the question,...... WHY ?

Why have so many staff left?

  if PlusNet is "soooo gooood"... ?  

perhaps.... just perhaps, working FOR plusnet is not such an ideal career move....which is not found out, until after the employment has started... maybe it is not living up to the advertised benefits of working for Plusnet...

Senior Management should be looking into the cause of their "staff shortages"..

. not just in the manner of how many they can recruit,.... but how to hold on to those they do manage to recruit....

.

what is wrong with the working conditions?

          is it  a management problem?  i.e. overbearing?  . statistically led  ?  target levels ?

                     poor training?

                              poor promotional prospects?

  WHAT is causing so many staff to leave, and subsequently, leaving the customers with little or no support.  ?

Bearing in mind.... they opened a second front, office in Leeds, to cope with the telephone calls...a couple of years ago  ? ? ? ? ?     . but that, has not made any difference whatsoever to the call waiting times....

(Is it still in operation ?  or has that also fallen down  ? )

[#8]

It is a bit presumptuous to conclude that "staff shortages" arise from staff attrition rather than an insatiable demand for support due to an ever expanding customer base.  It is very evident that a significant portion of the need to contact customer services arises during the early part of the customer life cycle - joining - when one is most exposed to the vagaries of supplier's abilities.

The real challenge around here is to eliminate the undesirable causes which give rise for the need to contact support.  The real problem in the industry is that there is one common element who keeps dropping alligators into the swamp so many ISPs are struggling to drain.

More support agents is not the answer - problem elimination is - but Ofcom seem to be unwilling to act.  These days, in so many sectors, dealing with the consequence of failure (rather than its elimination) has become an industry in its own right.  Sad times! 

[#9]

Pay for what you get I expect, obviously everything is the same as bt as they own plusnet apart from the customer service, but I didn't find bt staff as friendly but like you say a dam site quicker

[#10]

i believe one of the biggest reasons for the increased call volumes was the removal of the ticket system

one of the reasons for the lack of staff obviously is lack of planning from senior management , obviously when they started giving free BB offers to increase customers they never increased support to match

[#11]

Problem is that staff were also required to answer tickets. Wasn't the reason given that all those people could then be released to answer the phones?

However, in reality, I suspect that in the parallel world of the bean counters it was thought that by doing away with the tickets system "we don't now need the staff for that". Anyone leaving was then not replaced leading to the ongoing unaceptable state of long call wait times.

[#12]

Ah now there’s the rub ... there are always enough bean counters to recount and double count the beans, knowing the cost of everything and the value of nothing.

These days businesses have far too many counters of beans and not enough capacity to make beans.

[#13]

@TownmanThe "assumption" that the lack of staff to answer phones, and work on Live Chat, is due to ( as you put it ) attrition, is formed from a couple of things I have read ( can`t remember where ) on line, about the pressures put on those good folk who were employed to answer the phones, etc,. bemoaning the fact that there was an underlying pressure mounted on them by the "team leaders" who were also pressured by the senior management of their division.

This "culture" led them to resign, and find a "better" working environment.... 

Whilst I appreciate that there will always be some "unhappy" people working wherever, it does coincide with the disabling of Live Chat a couple of months ago.... AND THAT WAS DONE TO ALLEVIATE THE PRESSURE ON THE PHONE STAFF, i.e. moving the work load of the "live chatters" on to the phone system...   After a couple of weeks campaigning, the senior management relented, and restored the Live Chat so that disabled people could communicate better with PlusNet.

Because of this... once again... the waiting times on the phones has increased, prompting the O.P.

I agree with you that the "causes" of the need to contact PN via the phones, or Live Chat, are generally due to the inefficiencies of "our supplier"... ( as PN call it ).. and mostly, once the initial problems have been sorted, PN does seem to be working ... ( otherwise I would not have been here 10 years  ! ! )..

What annoys many people is the fact that this company is blasting the UK with its advertising of "Award winning customer service"  ( as a positive thing ) ... when in reality ....it is absolutely the opposite, if you need to get in touch with them.....

  Yes... companies such as PN do need to keep advertising for new customers, to maintain it`s share of the market, and profitablility,  but at the same time, they should also be investing in curing the underlying (repeated and repeatable) faults that cause customers a need to phone in to get resolved.

When the phones are busy, it is generally expected that you "may" have to wait a few minutes for someone to answer... but when those few minutes have become more than 10 and often more than 30 to 45 mins, then Senior Management should be addressing the need to employ ( and train up )more staff to answer the phones, BEFORE advertising ( or continuing to advertise ) for more customers.

  ( IS THE LEEDS OFFICE STILL WORKING  ? ) 

It is, I think, called "forward planning".... which PN does not seem to be able to do very well..

imagine trying to run trains to cope with extra passengers, ( due to advertising low cost fares ) on routes that do not yet have the infrastructure to deal with them...i.e. no tracks laid down....  ? ? ? 

well that seems to be the way of PN for the past 10 years... 

All we get from them, is "Sorry to keep you waiting... we are working to improve the situation"... or

Give us time, and we`ll get there ...  ( to quote a well known phrase or saying....

[#14]

15 minutes?  You are lucky, it takes us between 30 and 45 minutes to get a response.

[#15]

There is a trick to calling HMRC, try calling 15 minutes before they open.  I did that and they answered immediately.  Now if someone can tell me the best time to call Plusnet ...