Does Plusnet have any happy customers?

[#1]

Since the moderator has shut down my previous thread under this name for criticising, indeed I accept, ridiculing Plusnet for the way they have screwed up and left me without an Internet connection, I thought I'd better start a new one. But be careful not to criticise them too much or they'll shut you up too.

[#2]

One is not allowed to criticize too much. I remember a customer had his broadband taken away and threatened with court action for doing that a few years ago.

I am not sure what Pnet (that's the name on my DD, but it sure sounds appropriate) or these fora expect of their customers and posters.

Pnet mess everything up for us, make us spend hours on the phone, give us wrong answers and then expect us not to be irate, not to try and put other people off falling into this trap, not to ridicule their  advertising, which is far from what some of us have experienced. Yes it does not look pretty on the boards, but is that our fault or is Pnets for making stupid mistakes, giving wrong advice, making promises they don't keep or us the poor customers who have to endure that lot and then get threatened for posting as we feel.

Whilst I do not at this moment owe Pnet anything nor them me, I have serious doubts about what will happen when I next get notified of my DD. So that is ongoing and to post on threads to support other customers who are also experiencing bad times because of Pnet is not spamming.

So I am an extremely unhappy customer, it has nothing to do with my actions, everything to do with Pnet's actions and everything to do Pnet's inactions and has cost me hours of time on the phones, the chat line and trying to sort out what the heck they have done. let alone the stress of having to decide to contact my bank and cancel a DD.

[#3]

Here is a summary of my troubles so far copied and pasted from the earlier thread. Still waiting for the promised call back:

Pleased for you Star-gaze8er. It all seems to be a bit of a lottery and you have been one of the lucky ones who win it. The system, if that's not too flattering a word for it, is, according to Plusnet, that Plusnet give you a switchover date on the basis that a port is available in your cabinet on the day they accept your booking but knowing that there is no guarantee it will still be available come that day, and that you will be left cut-off if it isn't for a period of days or even weeks. It seems to me that ports can only cease to be available between booking day and switchover day if BT are in the meantime allocating them to others who should be behind you in the queue (if they had booked before you Plusnet would surely not have been told a port was available for you). Why on earth Plusnet don't kick up a God-almighty stink about this and demand an offcom inquiry God only knows; perhaps because BT own them? Or perhaps it's because that's not really the system at all; that actually there is a perfectly good system which should work seamlessly except that Plusnet keep screwing up? I just hope that once I am up and running the rock-bottom price for a hopefully reliable broadband service and very nice front-line staff will make me feel it was worth all the pain getting there. It would all be much more acceptable if they just warned everyone that this might well happen so that we all go into it with our eyes wide open.

You may recall I was told on the 9th that the reason Plusnet had failed to connect me as promised when Sky cut me off was because they thought there would be a port available in my local cabinet but there wasn't, but there would be one on the 14th so I would be connected then. Well here we are on the 14th and needless to say I'm still not connected. This time I'm told the reason is that "the order was cancelled because the tie-pairs were not amended" but that "if the order is placed again it should go through without a problem". To add insult to injury this message was no-reply emailed to me by the person who swore she would telephone me back after I had spent an eternity in telephone queues progress chasing. I need to know:

Are they replacing the order?

When will I be connected?

Which of the two excuses about no available port and order cancelled is false and who was responsible for giving out the false one?

The "cancelled" order was one by Plusnet to BT so if BT cancelled it they must have told Plusnet. Why didn't Plusnet tell me?

The email tells me to phone if I have any questions!

Another 15 minutes in the phone queue then another 10 minutes waiting while he tries to find the person I spoke to before who sent me the email. She's busy and will call me back later I'm told. I ask to speak to a senior manager. Another 15 minute wait while he tries to find one. She's in a meeting I'm eventually told. Ask her to call me back then. That isn't possible I'm told; I have to wait for the emailer to call me back then ask her to escalate it to senior management if I still want to. What if she again fails to call me back? Then I have to call the main number (another 15 minute wait no doubt) and ask someone to try to find her for me again.

You really couldn't make this up.

Moral of the story: if you are thinking of switching to Plusnet to save a quid or two a month don't, don't do it unless you feel a lot luckier than the punk in Dirty Harry with Clint Eastwood pointing the .44 Magnum at him that might or might not have a bullet in it.

[#4]

Im happy for the moment altho im not tied into a contract so if i ever feel unhappy i will move. 

[#5]

I opened up another front through Twitter, as a result of which I've just had a tweet from @Plusnethelp saying there's yet another problem with my case which they are looking into and will get back to me. Once again I am not told what the problem is, whose fault it is, what they are doing about it, when they will get back to me, and when I can expect to be connected by. I'm just left completely in the dark. I asked how I can register a formal complaint to senior management (which Ofcom tell me I must do before complaining to them). No reply. No facility on the Plusnet website that I can see for formal complaints.

[#6]

Hi @DC1, I really am very sorry about the problems you've encountered. I have someone looking into your account now and you'll be receiving a call back from our provisioning team later today.

Regarding the closure of your previous thread I feel it's important to point out that Plusnet staff like myself do not moderate these forums, they're moderated by our customers for our customers and that keeps the forums impartial and stops us hiding posts where we did something wrong. If your post was deleted then I can only assume it broke the house rules

[#7]

@Plusnethelp saying there's yet another problem with my case which they are looking into and will get back to me.

That was from me, I saw your message this morning and went to look into it for you,

Once again I am not told what the problem is, whose fault it is, what they are doing about it, when they will get back to me, and when I can expect to be connected by. I'm just left completely in the dark.

Sorry about that, it's because I cant give account specific information without clearing DPA, and so couldn't provide the update over twitter or on here.

I didn't want to call you to tell you that things had failed and have no further information for you. I thought it would be better to tell you I was looking into it, investigate the problem and call you once we have the full picture.

One of my colleagues is investigating the issue as we speak and trying to find out how best to resolve this, because this kind of investigation involves talking to our suppliers its difficult for me to give you an exact time where we will have got to the bottom of this particular issue and a plan for how to resolve it. I can however tell you you will be called today

I asked how I can register a formal complaint to senior management (which Ofcom tell me I must do before complaining to them).

Once we call you later we'd be happy to resister your complaint (you can find our complaints policy here) and do what we can to try to resolve it for you.

Once again on behalf of Plusnet I'd like to apologise for the inconvenience caused

[#8]

Thank you Jonoh H. I await the call - the third time I have been promised one. I hope this time it actually happens.

The forum apparently has a house rule that you cannot ridicule Plusnet by suggesting changes to its name or motto. That is pathetic, and it reflects badly on you because you provide a prominent link to it on your website, recommend it to customers and allow it to dress in your house colours.

[#9]

The call actually came through, the gist of it being that the "fallback position" is that I will have a connection by 24 February but if I'm lucky I might get it by 17 February or 20 February. I said that if I do not have it by 17 February I will proceed with my Ofcom complaint. I think I will probably write to my MP as well and ask him to ask Secretary of State what he is doing to sort out the whole BT/OpenReach/Plusnet incestuous mess.

[#10]

I would be pushing the complaint buttons now. All parties have had enough time to sort things out. From what you have said Pnet have given you the run around and Pnet are the ones responsible for your contract, they take the money.

[#11]

This complaints tool from MSE might also help you.

https://www.resolver.co.uk/companies/plusnet-complaints

[#12]

Now I get this electronic message (which I've redacted). Double Dutch to me. If it means I'll end up even losing my telephone number my anger is going to reach critical mass:

Dear Mr C, As per our conversation today, I apologise for the prolonged delays experienced during this migration. I have spoken to our suppliers and requested that the original order is closed off as the line is working with the telephone number: ***********. If this is not possible, the following new line installation order has been placed as a backup measure with an activation date of the 24th February. ******************?Kind regards, R***M*******(Internal) New order refs not yet placed in install diary as trying to have original order closed off. Spoke to SMC and requested ******************** is closed off as a line test confirmed this as working.

[#13]

Thank you. Much appreciated.

[#14]

Hi @DC1 

I'm glad you were finally contacted by my colleague, the new line installation order is just to make sure you get broadband as soon as possible.  In the event that the supplier fails to clear the problem on the current line before this date it will ensure you have connection.

We're working on getting the main line sorted but If we do end up using the new line installation option it will be a second line into your house with a new number but your other number would remain and we can switch them behind the scenes.

I hope that clears things up.

[#15]

Thank you JonoH. It's good to get a message in plain English. My intruder alarm system depends on the existing line and number. It MUST remain in place permanently. Neither am I willing to have to spend several weeks logging into countless accounts to change the number I have registered with them.