Now that Halloween is behind us perhaps it's time for a review that doesn't read quite so much like a horror story.
I migrated my phone and BB (ADSL) to PN in the autumn of 2015, and the advice given on this forum at the time was to give PN a call after placing an on-line order to make sure it was progressing. Technically not being a customer yet, I called the sales team (where there is no waiting time!) who confirmed that my order had been received and was being processed.
According to the information on the website the phone line would be taken over first, then the BB would be added. This made perfect sense, but it actually happened the other way around. Having placed my order late at night, the dates given when I ordered were put back by one day, and I was informed of the revised dates as soon as PN made their initial contact with me. Not a problem, the migrations took place on the dates PN had stated and a small credit appeared automatically on my first bill to account for the first day of my contract when my phoneline was still with my previous provider.
When the usage meter stopped working in July 2016, I tried to report it via Chat, and after several attempts where I was 13th in the queue, I struck lucky one day when I was 3rd in the queue when I logged on. It didn't do much good though, the usage meter took 19 months to return! Having read this forum for a time a year or two earlier when I was thinking of joining, and again before I joined, I noticed that the problems with long waiting times to get through to CS had not improved. I therefore thought it best not to tempt fate by staying on, and decided to look elsewhere when my contract expired. However, a few weeks before my 18-month initial contract expired, I received a very good offer from PN if I renewed for another year, so I stayed on.
At the end of January this year I discovered a problem on my phone line which I duly investigated and reported to PN, and although it was eventually fixed after nine days, I had to use this forum to request a refund for the days I'd been without a line. I was refunded the amount I'd paid for those days; no goodwill payment was offered.
When my second contract came to an end in April I started the process of migrating my phone and BB from PN. The phone line was migrated first, and an amount was credited my account for unused line rental. This amount didn't make sense but there was a ticket on my account regarding my BB migration and that a final bill would then be produced so I decided not to contact PN until that time. I was pleasantly surprised to find that my final bill, produced three days after the migration of my last service, was (as far as I could work out) accurate, and that the refunds due were in my bank account exactly two weeks after my migration (that's nine working days since there was a bank holiday during that period).
As soon as I'd signed up with a new provider I received an offer of broadband at a very reasonable price from PN, but since I'd already started the migration process I decided to keep going. As it turned out I made the right decision; I don't think I could have coped with the mess that is currently affecting PN billing.
So all in all not a terrible experience, probably because I avoided calling support.
Would I rejoin? Well, I shall have to retire one day and live on a lot less than my current salary so I might have to look for a cheaper deal, but I would certainly be most reluctant to return to PN until the new billing system is accurate and efficient.
If I ran PN I'd put Anoush in charge of CS training and monitoring, and (without making it known to the wider world) implement a policy where the staff in accounts pay on demand but subject to rescrutiny any 'missing' referrals. It seems crazy that with the increase in workload experienced by staff due to the failing billing system, they are having to spend a disproportionate amount of time quibbling about £1.25 when there are customers being double and even treble billed for LRS! PN can afford to lose the odd £1.25, a customer who's been overcharged by nearly £200 might not be able to pay his rent or even eat.
