Failed Billing

[#1]

Hi Warbleeder,
Mark is off until next week.  I'll try and free up some time later on today to listen to some calls and get back to you.
I'm neck deep in spreadsheets at the moment but I'll do my best to have a look into things for you.

[#2]

Hi,
Thanks for your time on the phone.
As I mentioned, I'll need to catch up with Liam when he gets back from holiday, but things seem to be in order currently and I've left you my direct line if you need anything further.

[#3]

well failed billing and still restricted????
so much for this fix ....... how much longer is this going to go on for?
its fine for plusnet to apologies time after time but what the point in doing that when it will never be fixed
and why make your own T&C's when all your doing is breaching them!
im on the phone now and if my account is not unrestricted i will be making a formal complaint and taking this further

[#4]

ow and P.S im am NOT paying my bill untill you alter it take off the item that should not be there and give me a correct invoice
2 months in a row i have been given incorrect invoice i let u give me refund last time and im not doing it again.....
GET YOUR SYSTEM SORTED!

[#5]

@warbleeder,
I'm extremely sorry to see that you've been impacted by the same issue again.
It goes without saying that I'm firstly looking at getting any restrictions removed ASAP as a priority. I'm also spending some time today (as long as is needed) to take an overview of your account history and assess what's been causing this issue. From our point of view there doesn't seem to be an overriding factor that's been causing the same issue for 2+ years but I will find out all I can as I know that doesn't mean to say that you've not been affected by the same problem on a regular basis.
FYI problem 71865 is where we're currently tracking the issue that's caused this problem for you again and I hope that we can drill into what exactly is causing this and find out/agree on a course of action to best avoid this in the future.
PS, cheers for your brief time on the phone, I'll call you back around 15:45 as promised.
Also just wanted you to know that I've broached the issue of this happening regularly for the past 2 years with a member of our billing team, we will be meeting up either later today or failing that tomorrow morning to look back at the history of problems relating to this issue.

[#6]

I have a colleague who has always said that it is much easier to not bother doing a job and apologise afterwards than to  do the job correctly in the first place. I get the impression Plusnet have the same idea. The apologies seem to flow much more freely than any corrective actions.
Specifically, I believe Plusnet should commit to a timescale for curing this bug and  when the bug is fixed and tested as fixed, they should clearly state that it has been fixed somewhere where we will all notice it and can stop worrying. The same should apply to any other bug that forumites point out to Plusnet.
Secondly,  remarks of the sort "I will ensure that the CS agent is educated appropriately" are far too common on these forums. I have recently had two conversations with CS where I suspect they knew no more than I did and chose to bluff their way through. At least in my case the CS agents were trying to be helpful. In Warbleeder's case, it sounds the epitome of bad handling by any customer service agent working for any company. How about educating them before they are allowed on the phones?

[#7]

Hi EnglishMohican,
I do see what you're saying, unfortunately it's not that simple. It's our development team who are investigating the problems that are raised but they also have other things to be dealing with, and until a fix is actually identified it's not possible to advise when something will be fixed - in the same way as with a broadband fault.
There's also the fact that any bugs raised here, while important, may not take precedence over other things that are being built/fixed/developed.
Regarding our support agents, of course they're trained before they go on the phones but there's some things that you can only pick up from experience and that's always going to be the case, no matter how long you train people for.

[#8]

@EnglishMohican

Quote

I have a colleague who has always said that it is much easier to not bother doing a job and apologise afterwards than to  do the job correctly in the first place

I'd not be too happy with any of my colleagues taking that approach. I'm not going to commit to a timescale for resolving this particular issue simply because there's more than one factor at play here, it's also worth bearing in mind that whilst warbleeder is affected by problem 71865 which is affecting others too, in the past they've been affected by a couple of as-yet unidentified issues which myself and a colleague are taking a close look at today.

Quote

Secondly,  remarks of the sort "I will ensure that the CS agent is educated appropriately" are far too common on these forums

Personally I'd argue that human nature dictates that given an open forum complaints are more likely to surface than any praise that might be out there.
As Matt mentions agents are of course trained before going onto the phones and also begin work in our graduation bay as a phased way of hitting the phones. In an ideal world no one would make mistakes and nothing would break but unfortunately we all have to face the reality that such challenges are there to be reacted to and surely the way that's done is what counts

[#9]

I do not want to hijack warbleeders thread especially as I do not know the details of his particular problem so I will post this and then let it rest here.

Quote from: Matt

...unfortunately it's not that simple. It's our development team who are investigating the problems that are raised but they also have other things to be dealing with, and until a fix is actually identified it's not possible to advise when something will be fixed..... There's also the fact that any bugs raised here, while important, may not take precedence over other things that are being built/fixed/developed.

I used those exact same excuses throughout much of my recent career so I have some sympathy. However, my unwillingness to come up with dates led to huge difficulties for various project leaders who had bigger fish to fry. Maybe the dates have to come in stages, firstly identify the problem by a certain date and then you have the information to cure it by a certain date. Ultimately the dates are not vital but what is vital is that something gets done sometime soon - and setting dates are a good way of ensuring that happens.
I notice Oldjim is having a go at Plusnet on another thread because you have failed to fix the 21CN profile updating after a lot of time has passed. Same sort of problem isn't it - time passes and nothing happens. You will tell me that lots have happened but that's a bit lame when it does not show.
Adam comments that open forums attract complaints rather than praise. Fair enough but part of this is to do with expectation. I expect Plusnet to do their job. I pay for them to do that and do not expect to have to praise them for doing what I consider to be their job. When Plusnet do not do their job, I feel forced to complain - I am paying for something I am not getting. BT say that my line is capable of 17Mbps. Is it unreasonable of me to take BT seriously and  expect to get 17Mbps (with a bit of tolerance I agree). My line is currently running at 2.2Mbps and Plusnet are shaking their heads and saying "BT do not know what they are talking about" and "Oh dear, not much we can do about that". I commented previously that they are saying that nicely - but its not much use is it. I have several other threads running where I am trying to gain knowledge on how to solve a problem that should really be for Plusnet or BT to solve. Its BT's systems that are not working correctly - not mine. Do you wonder that I side with warbleeder, whatever the specific details of his case are.

[#10]

adam sorted the billing side for me and he is looking into why i have had it on going for so long
hope it gets sorted
thanks for your help so far adam

[#11]

Quote

thanks for your help so far adam

Thanks and no problem, I'm sorry I didn't call yesterday but I think my colleague that you spoke to may have explained why.
I'll keep you posted as per what I'm still looking into and also re the task for that change I mentioned to you over the phone on Monday.
Adam