PN's future

[#1]

Quote from: Webif

Surprised jelv and other users  who've also "seen it all before"  are not with aaisp ?

I've never used more than 35GB in a month (Home::1 now has a 100GB allowance), I'm on a Market 1 exchange and my is and will be with BT because of the free redirect of calls to a mobile if you have a faulty line - that means the cost of AAISP is not a lot more than Plusnet. The only thing stopping me is sorting out moving my domain and email to somewhere else.

[#2]

voted 2nd option.
as someone else said, they will adopt the bunker mode, and things will have to get much worse before the masses notice.

[#3]

Quote from: Townman

John, Looking around Facebook, one will realise that PlusNet does have a rather young middle management team.  Some are really very good and have remained around and are keeping the front line on an even keel; some have gone on to greater things to fix the causes of in-balance and some have simply gone on or even just gone! So long as the engineers can hold fast to what is right, the organisation has some chance of coming through this. I have a similar drawer of tee shirts too from my 35+ years working in a large UK based IT provider. Kevin

I'll take your word for all that, Kevin, as I know I can, but that is how I see it with all these 'improvements' which seem to be counter productive and customer aggravating. I don't use Facebook, probably due to the rubbish I've seen posted on many of the accounts visited by my sisters and younger members of my family.
In my opinion, and I'm sure you agree with me, they would be better off delivering the  accounts and other positive changes we have been promised for so long but never seen.
I've been with PN just over two years (I think), and even with the current situation, am likely to remain. I need a cheap ISP due to my cash (or lack of  ) situation, and so far the response when I've had a problem has been quick and effective. The thoughts of going back to TT for example fill me with dread - have a problem with them and you may as well kiss your life good-bye.
John.

[#4]

John,
We seem to concur!  On the ground I've found the front line teams excellent, it's the middle and back end stuff that appears confused.  Removal of easy access to the help assistant (tickets) which are core to the operation; cash back programme for which there is not a dependable delivery mechanism and has questionable commercial sense; feedback mechanisms that provide no indication that they are listening; invisible middle managers; constant delays on delivering major business system changes are all worrying indicators of something being far from right.
The "right" things (e.g. SSL, IPv6, fixing the Juniper Gateways, fixing suppliers, delivering business system improvements...) all seem to have come to a standstill - indeed they are not even discussed any more.  To me this is all indicative that 'engineers' are no longer in charge but job hopping (CV box ticking) junior managers are.  Such is the "BT Way".
Kevin

[#5]

Agreed.
Everyone who I've come across working for Plusnet has been brilliant. However it's a shame some of the boardroom decisions made by middle management don't reflect the performance of their employees.

[#6]

Some of PlusNet's problems are self-inflicted, but mostly they're to do with having BT as their supplier - a giant organisation with the manoeuvrability of an equally gigantic iceberg, and which also seems to retain many of the attitudes and practices of its pre-privatisation days.
PlusNet is a low cost provider, and you get what you pay for, although I think you get slightly more for you money than with some (I was with Tiscali/TT until 4 years ago - the trauma of that experience is the main reason I'm still with PN!  ;))

[#7]

I personally haven't had a problem with PN in the 6 years I've been with them, only a couple of niggles.
However I do think PN need to sort out some of their back end problems. The length of time it takes for DD set up is a joke, PN are the only company who need at least 2 weeks.
The cash back is a debacle but that is not just limited to PN it took me 4 mths to sort one from another company for a new pc last year and it has totally put me off buying anything with cash back. I hate to think how many hours have used sorting out customers problem with it.

[#8]

But PN used to be a customer focused company run and staffed by people who new their business and systems evolved to allow them to help people.
Now I sense that they have imported middle managers, probably business graduates with no technical knowledge, who are intent on imposing their dogma. with the result that PN will become just another "corporate" and loose their award winning features which have diffentiated them from the crowd  

[#9]

The worrying thing for me is their inability to move systems forward in a timely manner.
How long have we been waiting for secure email?
The IPv6 trial has been running for over a year and has not moved forward - in fact it's gone backwards with the roll out of more of the bngs.
How long did is take to change the systems to stop provisioning everyone on 21CN with capped upload?
How long have they been promising the new accounting system?
How many years did it take them to stop the web stats blowing up twice each year when the clocks changed?
Edit: How long is it taking to sort out the VMBU issues?
As the company has got bigger you'd have expected the back room departments to grow big enough to move projects forward without people being dragged of to deal with events.

[#10]

To all those who have voted "No they will sort themselves out  soon" I fear you are being rather optimistic - past Plusnet history suggests that won't happen - more likely they just stagger forward.

[#11]

Jelv - I'd love to say you were wrong with your last comment, but I know (a) you've been here much longer than me, and have seen more of the degrading of the service, (b) it is obvious from the lack of top-level information being passed to us, the customers, that PN appear to have ceased to care, and (c) the CRT are obviously instructed to parrot the company line that 'everything is going to plan' when it clearly isn't, so you are probably right.
I'm sure I posted somewhere else on here about my experience of system changes taking weeks, rather than months at my employers, and these were ' mission critical' which had to be approved by amongst others, Rolls-Royce, Boeing, MoD, Nuclear Regulators and associated bodies.

[#12]

I worry just in case I get a line failure that it will take Plusnet days and weeks to get it working again.

[#13]

As BTOR fix the lines for all ISPs and CPs why do you feel that PlusNet will deliver a worse service than any other retail provider?

[#14]

This is my first time using the PN forums really. In my previous PN dealings I used the F9 forum (on dial up and it was Ian that forced my very first ADSL connection through) where the likes of Ian Wild and Dave Tomlinson were invaluable and latterly Bob Pullen.  In fact, when F9/ PN were having capacity problems all those years ago, PN Towers was opened up for a Saturday visit to some subscribers, I was one of those people. It was done to show customers that the issues were being taken seriously and as a bit of a PR exercise.I was then on the MAAF forums with Samara and Metronet_James, who again were very helpful. These PN forums have some very helpful staff too, but it seems that as the company has grown, the staff are being restrained somewhat in their communications, which is a shame.
Mark

[#15]

Found PN Voice faults  response a great deal better than the broadband side. Hence why the voice side is still with them ( &  being lazy).*
Its the broadband side that pn have a "light touch" approach to openreach compared to other isp's.
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*With the new ticket situation,  voice side will be moving as well.....