Plusnet? Never again, never!

[#1]

I made the following complaint to Plusnet today. I've simply reproduced it in full. Just a warning after becoming fed up with Plusnet's repeated errors on this occasion, and over the past 2 years. (2 years ago they deleted all my emails in error, and were never recovered. I never received an apology from them then, and nor do I expect one to the following complaint). Read.......
I'm appalled at the really bad service received from Plusnet regarding my instructions to reverse the domain transfer request. In spite of being assured, and reassured, that the request to transfer my domain from Plusnet to GoDaddy.com had been reversed, the transfer still took place. This error was entirely the fault of Plusnet.

The transfer should never have taken place after Plusnet confirmed over the phone that the online instruction to transfer, made a couple of minutes earlier, had been stopped. The instruction to transfer to the IPS tag GODADDY was submitted on or around 5:15pm on 4 March, in spite of the IPS tag not appearing in your dropdown list of legitimate domain providers. I had been told repeatedly prior to this that the transfer could not become active until this tag had been added to the list, and for that reason I thought it would be safe to click on the 'transfer out' tab, having entered the 'invalid' tab of GODADDY.  To my surprise and horror a message instantly appeared saying the transfer had been accepted (or words to that effect).
I had clicked on the 'transfer out' tab during my call to customer services. I immediately asked whether it was possible to reverse the request. He (name unknown) said yes, but went away to double check. He came back seconds later and confirmed that the request had been reversed. I then ended the call, relieved and with the reassurance that the transfer would not now be taking place. This experience did however confirm that the tag of GODADDY was in fact a legitimate one that I could perhaps use sometime in the future should I want to move to a new host. At that point I had no intention to transferring, it was merely a remote option.

Two days later I noticed I was getting no emails into my Plusnet inbox. I feared the worst, that perhaps the transfer away from Plusnet had not after all been reversed. I phoned Plusnet at 8am and at 9:30am on 7 March, and later again that same morning, and my worst fears were confirmed: the domain had in fact been transferred from Plusnet. This left me without emails, and without my website, and with a transfer pending to a host I had not registered with or had necessarily chosen to go with.

Needless to say, the person at Plusnet I spoke to on that 3rd call on 7 March merely confirmed that the transfer had taken place, and that there was nothing that could be done, and displayed absolutely no concern that Plusnet had made an error which were causing enormous negative consequences for me. He gave his name as 'Sayeed'.The new domain provider, GoDaddy, was not set up to receive the transfer, as I had not registered for them to be my new domain host. Consequently I lost all incoming emails to all my mailboxes in the interim period.
To summarise my complaint: Why did Plusnet assure me that the action to transfer had been reversed, when in fact it had not been reversed, resulting in loss of emails, no website, and financial loss?
Prior to this unfortunate incident I had intended to continue using Plusnet as my broadband provider, and even switch my landline to Plusnet. Now, in view of my experience, I will transfer away from Plusnet entirely. What an awful, costly experience! I regret ever becoming a Plusnet customer.
John Kirk

[#2]

So, to paraphrase, you went through all the motions of initiating a transfer of your domain to the point of selecting 'transfer out' with no intention of doing so?  Subsequent to this Plusnet made an error in advice given to rectify your mistake?
To add insult to injury,you submitted a complaint out of office hours and then felt it was necessary to alert other customers a day later about the consequence of your mistake without giving Plusnet a chance to offer any reply to your complaint?
I know where my sympathy lies...

[#3]

.....Not my mistake, pwatson, but Plusnet's! I wanted to transfer a week earlier, but Plusnet said the system wouldn't allow it until the new host got listed FIRST. Tried several times to get this actioned, without success. Then, in desperation, entered the code whilst speaking to Plusnet. Only then discovered the code worked (even though Plusnet said otherwise). That wasn't the real problem though. The real problem was he said the action to transfer had been reversed, when in fact it hadn't. If the action couldn't have been reversed I would have straight away registered with GoDaddy as the new host to avoid loss of emails. Not my mistake at all! Wrong info given by Plusnet, with consequences!

[#4]

Quote from: johnkirk

Then, in desperation, entered the code

This seems to be the issue - If you hadn't got a GoDaddy account setup for the domain why had you been trying to move the domain for a week?  It seems very unusual not to have an account setup tor receive the domain prior to commencing the transfer!
http://support.godaddy.com/help/article/5854/about-uk-domain-names?locale=en  (Assuming it's .uk domain you're moving)
Caveat emptor perhaps?  
What does a DNS check show about your domain now?  Whois?  
There may be little Plusnet can do and you were therefore incorrectly advised.  At the end of the day they have, however, done as you first asked...
Here's hoping the outcome is positive for you.

[#5]

I'm not sure whether pwatson is a Plusnet rep, or just an ardent customer fan of Plusnet. If the former then I'm delighted that at least my complaint appears not to have fallen on deaf ears. But either way, you're missing the point of my complaint, pwatson, which is that Plusnet incorrectly stated that my online instruction given to transfer my domain away from Plusnet had been halted, when in fact the exact opposite was the reality.
If I had known Plusnet could not reverse the domain transfer request, after having clicked on that 'transfer out' button, then I would not be complaining at all, but would have immediately registered with GoDaddy to allow the transfer to proceed to them! Unfortunately Plusnet let me down, as explained above, by confirming and then re-confirming that the transfer instruction I had given whilst still on the phone had been stopped, when in reality this was not so. With the (false) assurance from Plusnet, there was no urgency at all to register just yet with any new provider, since I belleved I could still make my decision at leisure as to whether to switch away from Plusnet, and so I took no further action. It was only 2- 3 days later that I discovered no mail was being received, at which point Plusnet confirmed it was because my mailboxes no longer existed!
In panic mode, I then contacted GoDaddy desperate to register and open a new domain hosting account with them, since Plusnet had already started the irreversible process to switch my domain to GoDaddy. GoDaddy were absolutely brilliant! I was on the phone to them for a full one hour (free call too!), and during the call itself they registered my details, opened the new account, authorised everything that needed authorising, and by the end of the one hour the account was fully active, and my new inbox was receiving new emails (though obviously not the lost ones of the previous 2 - 3 days). I was so relieved to have incoming emails again, and really impressed by GoDaddy's excellent service that far exceeded my expectations. (If I appear to be advertising for GoDaddy it is completely unintentional - I'm merely highlighting how impressed I was with GoDaddy's ultra efficient service. What a contrast to my Plusnet experience!)
So, pwatson, that's my painting of the picture completed, and if you are in the position of representing Plusnet (I can't tell), then shame on you for trying pass the blame on to me for something that is wholly down to Plusnet's failure. Until that point Plusnet had been on the brink of retaining my custom for broadband, even upgrading to fibre broadband and adding the telephone line on a 2-year contract, in spite of their earlier failures. This has now all changed after this experience, and I now have my MAC code all ready to go!
Apologies to other readers that my post is directed somewhat exclusively to pwatson, but hopefully it will be of interest to some others.

[#6]

Why did it take GoDaddy a full hour? I've moved domains and I say that it has only taken 10 minutes to request the move and to set up everything on the receiving registrar.
Have to say that I agree with @pwatson you seem to want to blame PN for your mistake, I can't see why you want to play about on the transfer pages as you have found out the consequences are high.

[#7]

2 days, perhaps longer, was Plusnet's estimate!

[#8]

Quote from: itsme

I've moved domains and I say that it has only taken 10 minutes to request the move and to set up everything on the receiving registrar.

The actual transfer of the IPSTag will take longer but what I do is set up the DNS hosting so I have duplicate entries then set up the transfer of hosting or Registrar to stop any down time.

[#9]

Quote from: johnkirk

I'm not sure whether pwatson is a Plusnet rep, or just an ardent customer fan of Plusnet.

Neither - just a plain customer with a sense of fair play!

Quote from: johnkirk

If I had known Plusnet could not reverse the domain transfer request, after having clicked on that 'transfer out' button, then I would not be complaining at all, but would have immediately registered with GoDaddy to allow the transfer to proceed to them!

And hopefully you now realise that you should have registered with GoDaddy first...
Anyway, I see you're now up and running but here are some tips, should there be a next time -
1. Make sure your domain Administrative contact email address is on another domain.
2. Setup (if you haven't) a secondary MX record
3. Setup the receiving account first!
4. Follow the instructions of the receiving domain registrar/host to the letter.

[#10]

What an interesting set of replies. I suspect that everyone is missing the OP's point here. By my reading, the OP isn't complaining about the transfer process. The complaint is "regarding my instructions to reverse the domain transfer request". As I read this the OP made a mistake. We can perhaps discuss how daft or not that was. But they then contacted Plusnet support and were assured that something would be done, or not done - whatever. In fact this didn't happen. Personally I think that being "appalled" is a little OTT but equally given the "facts" so far I think the OP has cause for complaint. They asked Plusnet to do something. They were assured it would happen. It didn't happen. Spot the poor service in that sequence.

[#11]

Thanks, rja, for highighting the precise issue I was complaining about, which you rightly point out was not the actual transfer itself, but the fact that Plusnet said they had stopped the transfer process from happening when in fact they hadn't and couldn't. It was their wrong communication that directly led to the loss of emails for the 2 - 3 days, and therein is my complaint.
I should point out, mainly for the benefit of pwatson, and in his own words, that I too am ...:

Quote

just a plain customer with a sense of fair play!

[#12]

I would maintain that Plusnet indirectly caused the loss of your email...  You initiated the domain transfer without preparing a suitable account with an alternative provider so you must shoulder some of the blame.  Plusnet, despite assuring you to the contrary, were unable to rectify your mistake which is clearly unfortunate.
Worthy of complaint, perhaps.  Worthy of bringing to everybody's attention as an example of  'appalling service', not.  Making a complaint on a Sunday and then posting shortly afterwards without giving Plusnet a chance to address your complaint is, IMHO, OTT.
Anyway, we'll have to agree to disagree and await this thread getting the attention of someone official

[#13]

Still missing the point, pwatson! No one (myself included) is to blame, even partially, for the domain transfer. My action of requesting the transfer ('mistake'  you insist on calling it, but I don't) would simply have resulted in my taking priority action 2 - 3 days sooner, with negligible consequences, had Plusnet not wrongly informed me.

[#14]

Plusnet messed up my transfer of Registrar but they resolved it within an hour. I had requested the transfer of Registrar but the hosting to stay with Plusnet so it was an internal configuration to correct. I not sure that the transfer could be stopped as I would have thought this is automated.

[#15]

@johnkirk
I'm sorry to hear about this issue. It isn't actually possible to reverse the request such a domain transfer it's a one-way street I'm afraid.
I apologize if you were advised differently by anyone here.
Adam