Hello,
So far, I've had a very frustrating experience with Plusnet. There is not much that can be done now, but at least I can express my discontent and provide some suggestions for improvements, so maybe other people can be saved from similar problems.
I've placed an order for fibre broadband on 22 April.
On 24 April, I've received an email that there was a problem with the direct debit, so I had to call you. I was told that this was a technical problem on your side. Not a great start, but resolved quickly, so not a big deal.
On 26 April, I've received a text message: "There is a stop on your phone line which is due to complete on 04/05/18. As soon as this has completed we can place an order to restart this for you, but there is no guarantee we can retain the same phone number." - That's all; no further information about anything. So I had to contact you to ask if there was anything I need to do.
On 30 April, I've received a text as response to my inquiry, basically saying the same thing as the first text. Note that on both occasions I did not receive an email, which is an issue I will further talk about below. I've responded to the text directly, asking what this means in terms of any delays with the broadband. The texting is probably not a two-way system, so I've opened another ticket two days later asking for some clarification on the matter. I've also called you. (I did not receive any clear answer on my question though.)
On 5 May, I've received a text and email saying that an order for the phone line was placed. Through the link of 'review this question' in the email I got directed to a ticket that was opened on 22 April (Question #173018735). This was the first time I saw this ticket with a whole thread of messages. It's interesting that you can see when any of these messages were sent by SMS message or email. The first four messages were not sent by text or email. They are also weirdly listed as 'your response', as if I had written them. The fifth message in that thread from 26 April was marked as being sent by SMS message, but you can also see that only half of the original message was sent by text. What I did not receive was the information that I could contact my current provider to request to remove the cease on the phone line. This was also mentioned in a message from 22 April (which I did not receive). If I had been aware of this, I would obviously have done that to speed the process up.
So the main issue was that I didn't see anything of that ticket for nearly two weeks. The member centre looks quite differently before the phone line is activated. Now, after the phone line has been activated, the member centre looks normal and there is a link to 'view your questions'. This link was nowhere to be found before. Or at least I didn't see it, and I was looking for it. However, it shouldn't be me looking for this. The first four messages in the ticket opened on 22 April should have sent to me via email - three of them start with 'Dear Mr Schaefer', so were clearly meant for me to read.
The phone line was activated on 8 May and I was informed yesterday that the broadband will be activated from midnight 19 May. It was confirmed to me today that this is the earliest possible date - 28 days after the original purchase! I understand that it may not be your fault that there was the cease on the phone line and you had to wait until this was completed. However, what is your fault is the poor communication in the process. With better communication, a lot of my time could have been saved (all that queuing when contacting you..!!) and you wouldn't have to deal with all my inquiries. Most importantly, it wouldn't have left me completely frustrated with you - I've just become one of your customers and all I want is to leave again!
Hope this feedback is useful.
Robin
PS: I've also received an email today that the router has been dispatched. Not sure what that's about, because we already have the router - maybe we get a second one - but I definitely don't care enough anymore to contact you again.
