PN longest wait time of any ISP - according to a new study

[#1]

PN are the slowest ISP in the country for answering the phone , according to a new study .

Quote from: http

A new study has phoned some of the United Kingdom’s biggest and smallest broadband ISPs in order to work out how quick their call answer times were. The results reveal that the big boys (e.g. PlusNet and KC [Hull only] etc.) are among the slowest, while smaller providers tend to be the fastest (e.g. Exa Networks and B4RN etc.).

The result are truly shocking , PN is an average of 988.57 secs (16 mins 47 secs ),they are 607 secs  (10 mins 12 secs) slower than the second longest company to answer the phone KC.
What do PN have to say ?
If these result are correct, it just shows whatever PN are doing to bring the times down, is clearly not working
Regards
Mike

Quote from: http

Average Call Waiting Times for UK Internet Providers (seconds) Exa Networks – 9.83 B4RN – 10 FastNet – 17.16 Daisy – 17.66 Timico – 26.66 Gigaclear – 32.5 Andrews and Arnold (AAISP) – 36.66 Easynet – 39.16 Fidonet – 43 Claranet Soho – 58.66 Gamma – 65.66 Zen Internet – 73.33 Gradwell – 89.66 TalkTalk – 95.75 Hyperoptic – 103.16 Manx Telecom – 123.83 Virgin Media – 142 BT – 170.85 JT – 186.33 Eclipse Internet – 261 Fuel Broadband – 273 Sky Broadband – 330.75 KC – 381.16 Plusnet – 988.57

[#2]

OM...G!

[#3]

That really is appauling!. The much heralded second support centre just doesn't seem to have made any difference whatsoever

[#4]

No doubt closely related to growth in customer numbers.
The 'cash-back issue' won't have helped either.

[#5]

I had a MUCH, MUCH longer wait for VUE cinemas helpline and that was on a 0844 (several pence per minute) rate.
Not excusing Plusnet at all for this, it is definitely a weak point of (IMO) an otherwise excellent (especially value for money) ISP.
Not a solution to Plusnet's performance as such but WeQ4U can certainly help.

[#6]

This is really sad news.
May be reinstating the ticket system might help reduce the phone line wait times?  
And no please do not suggest that CHAT is an suitable alternative.  I'm trying to sort out an email problem for one of my referrals who is presently over seas.  A ticket would have sufficed, instead I'm presently in a chat session...
29 minutes waiting for the session with an agent to initiate.
Told them the problem and they said sorry, transferring to tech team and I'm now again waiting a pick-up - and additional 5 minutes and still waiting.

PlusNet, you really do need more bums on seats and management fixing issues instead of creating them.  You need fresh leadership!
Kevin

PS: Took 6 minutes to get through to tech support to be told...

Quote

unfortunately our systems are currently down to check the email mailbox, however if you wish to pop back on chat within an hour, we can look into this for you. I do apologise for the inconvenience that this has caused.

Looks like something is in melt down!
Edit 2:  And when it came to try to give feed back I got...

Quote

Chat key cookie does not match visitor chat key

I suppose that might be down to me returning to the chat window at 13:40 some while after the session was closed by the agent at 11:15 some 7+ minutes after the last message from the agent (above).

[#7]

Shame it doesn't list one of PlusNet's white label offers, specifically WAITROSE/ JOHN LEWIS
which I'm sure is miles better...but at a £cost£

[#8]

Quote from: Strat

No doubt closely related to growth in customer numbers. The 'cash-back issue' won't have helped either.

Maybe Plusnet should be offering some kind of 'cashback' incentive to their call centre employees if they achieve waiting time reduction targets across phone, chat and ticket systems.

[#9]

this is the worst part of the report

Quote

Our longest call answer times from all types of providers come from  PlusNet. When we call and ISP we “max out” at 15 minutes. In other words we aren’t prepared to wait longer than 15 minutes for someone to answer the phone. Calls to Plusnet are maxed out more often than to any other ISP.

http://broadbandrating.com/news/call-answer-times/

[#10]

Seem like PN do not wish to comment ??, i think it would be helpful if PN could say what is been done to address this , to stop them been the longest ISP in the country to answer the phone.
This does not go hand in hand with "We'll do you proud"
Regards
Mike

[#11]

Thanks for posting the links to this.
The survey has been flagged up internally and we agree that long waiting times are not good enough, we have seen improvements over the last few weeks and hope to continue making improvements. There's nothing more I can really add at the moment though.

[#12]

I know I can come across as a grumpy old git (or can when on the phone to support), but to me PN are the best ISP I've dealt with. OK, some things take time but if the additional time means its done right then we all benefit.
However I do suspect that PN are victims of their own success, and throwing staff at it isn't really the answer. Unless the staff they use are familiar with the systems within PN new staff could end up doing more harm than good. Moving staff from Dept. A to Dept B. may simply move the problem elsewhere.
If it's new bodies then these have to be trained, which of course takes real working time from existing staff and simply adds to the congestion, in the short term meaning the solution takes even longer!

[#13]

Agree Mook 
But PN did say when they open the new call center things would get better ,,,  still awaiting any difference

[#14]

Haven't seen a Plusnet rep replying to a forum thread today. Are they on strike or prioritising phones now?

[#15]

There are at least 3 watching