General Feedback

[#1]

Having interacted with Plusnet Customer Service reps A LOT over the last three weeks (hopefully less so from tomorrow, all being well), I've got some general feedback.

- The reps who I've spoken to on the phone, on the forums and via direct messaging have – without exception – been courteous, empathetic and (despite the odd error or hiccup, and we're all human) as helpful as possible. Thanks to Anoush, [CSA Removed], Adam, [CSA Removed] and many others whose names I've not managed to keep track of.

- Getting through to the team hasn't always been easy. Some days you get a quick reply on the forums or PMs. Some days (today) there doesn't appear to be anyone around here. I'm lucky enough to work from home (or unlucky enough, given my lack of connection), so can have a mobile on loudspeaker for 45min+ in the background while I wait for a pickup. I know it's easier said than done, but more staff please. I remember Plusnet used to have a webchat support system, which felt quicker than the phones and could certainly deal with some simpler issues perhaps if reinstated?

- A minor thing. Can the forum code be tweaked so you can see line breaks in DMs on mobile. A minor thing but would help me read messages.

- OpenReach. I know that OpenReach is a standalone subsidiary, and the fact that BT owns both Plusnet and OpenReach is by the by. OpenReach does what it wants, when it wants. It's the price we pay for the nonsensical privatisation of a quasi-monoply inheriting the entire state-built telecoms infrastructure of a country with minimal competition (VM flying a sad flag).

With that said, Plusnet is OpenReach's customer, and when OpenReach are being rubbish, it makes Plusnet look rubbish. I get that not much can be done at customer service level, but at executive level (regulatory level?) something really should change here. At the highest levels Plusnet should be banging down doors and making it clear from OpenReach that they expect a certain level of service, punctuality, response time, not just dropping appointments for no stated reason etc.

I know that Plusnet can't go elsewhere, but maybe even banging on the doors of parliament is an answer here? Plusnet (and other ISPs) should be advocating as hard as possible for their customers, rather than just shrugging and saying "OpenReach eh".

Moderator's note by Mike (Mav): CSA name(s) removed (to an area staff can see) as per Forum rules.

[#2]

Some of these points have been explored before.  Frankly in this space, it does Plusnet and their customers no good being part of the BT Group.  Yes CPs and ISPs do have a regulatory route of complaint into Ofcom ... but does anyone really see Plusnet reporting BT Openreach to the industry regulator for abject bad service?

Any employee doing so would be fast tracked to the job centre with a P45 in their hand.

[#3]

Cheers for the feedback Mayer!

Firstly the forums, as they’re like my second home. Yeah we’re aware of how long it’s taking us to pick stuff up recently, it’s due to how small my team is, we also respond to messages/posts on Facebook and Twitter.

We’ve however just expanded the team by bringing a good number of new people on board, so once they’re comfortable we can hopefully soon get back on track.

Call queues are also something we’re aware of. We’re doing things like hiring and promoting automation where possible to help reduce the number of calls waiting.

As for seeing line breaks on a mobile, that’s easily fixable. If you switch on desktop browsing that’ll enable the rich text editor which will let you write messages more elegantly without turning into a massive wall of text.

I don’t know how you do this on Android, but if you have an iPhone (arguably better…) there’s instructions here: https://community.plus.net/t5/Community-Site-Feedback/Adding-attachments-to-a-post-using-a-iPhone/m-...

Regarding suppliers, the most common reason for delays is due to resource, much like us. In your case, appreciate the frustration caused by the remote activation failing and we’d struggled to understand the reason behind this, so it looked like we had to arrange an engineer appointment far into the future. In the end, it was thanks to the good people in the supplier helpdesk, who effectively managed to bring forward the appointment date for you.

(I’m still off until Sunday btw)

[#4]

Thanks Anoush for the considered reply.

That all seems very fair, and I hope for your sake as well as the customers that you get a bigger team soon. You all do such a great job, and always stay calm in often not very calm circumstances.

My very pleasant interaction with an OpenReach engineer today has softened my opinion (I'm so easily bought!) though he was fixing something OR had initially messed up of course.

I'm still pro nationalisation though, for a mix of ideological/practical reasons. National infrastructure without the capacity/means for genuine competition (trains, energy, telecoms, water) has no business being in private hands. All the arguments for market forces go out the window if there's no real market.

But that's probably a bit much for a Plusnet forum on a Saturday morning though, so I'll park that and get on with my life and try to get all my devices online 🙂

[#5]

No problem Mayer and cheers again for the feedback. 

If you’re happy with what the engineer’s done for you, fill out this form https://www.openreach.com/help-and-support/thank-an-engineer-form to say thanks as I’m sure Openreach would appreciate it a lot!