Should Plusnet suspend all advertising?

[#1]

I'm with Old Jim and Strat on this poll.   Plusnet really do need to sort out the frequently repeated / reported problems as a matter of urgency if they want to retain their hard won plaudits across the Industry.   Reputation is hard to earn, but much easier to lose.
After sorting out the Support phones and manning problems, then perhaps freeing the developers to fix the long standing back-office issues will bring some of these benefits.
E.g.     (Not an exhaustive list!)

• Referalls payments


• Adding 'fast payments'  to the banking system to return overcharging


• BT Ordering I/f  


• Ticket handling

Then a very big 'tweak'  on an appropriate OpenReach Interface to reduce the 'failed to attend'  and  'Order cancelled' issues might allow the ship to regain some steerage way?
It may be a big challenge for the new CEO - but the results of good decisive action should be well rewarded.   The challenge should be achievable given the calibre of staff available - if they are allowed the time.
Maurice

[#2]

I voted yes but agree with OJ point of view.
PN need to catch up on the standard of CS we have come to enjoy before customers start talking with feet.

[#3]

They most certainly do!  The whole system seems to be creaking at the seams, not just the support.  Going fishing for new custom when you can't support the customer base you have is just asking for trouble.

[#4]

Suspending all advertising is not a commercial viability - scaling it back a little might have some merits, however the business will then just go to their competitors.  Retaining and gaining market share is essential.
The biggest issue is that it is BTOR who cannot cope with the demand for fibre installs - this has consequential fall out everywhere - if the truth be known for all ISPs, not just PN.  Therefore PN would be unwise to suspend all advertising.

[#5]

@Alanf
I don't have the numbers to back it up, but from what I can see when I come in to work the call centre numbers haven't declined. It's just literally the volume of calls coming in all the time. I think I speak for the entire company when I say we always aim to give customer the best customer service possible.
Referrals in the past were the main method of growth however the organic growth is very slight. Customer numbers before advertising started grew in very small amounts compared to after advertising started.
It's unfortunate but Plusnet are in a situation where in order to compete we have to be competitive. That means initial customer offers. As you are aware, we operate a fair deal policy where we try our hardest to reward long term customers in order to retain custom. With regards to service degradation, it's been a mixture of things in all honesty that have probably all been highlighted in other threads here, but it's not like the company is willing to settle. There's a clear game plan to remain the best for customer service, personally I believe in that and it will allow the growth through the advertising to continue and the benefits of having a larger subscriber base will start to come to fruition whilst returning the levels of service to previous levels.
Oh, I agree with Townman as well here, it's not viable to just suspend advertising at all, especially not at this point in time, though I am not going to vote in the poll.

[#6]

Why is the obvious so hard to understand at PlusNet towers. When I signed with PN many years ago I did so because it had good C/S and cared for their customers.

Quote from: alanf

Provide an excellent service and new customers will come by referals and word of mouth. No need then to spend much money on advertising and huge discounts. Allow the service to degrade and new customers will become harder to attract, existing previously satisfied customers will up and leave and more and more desperate measures will be required to maintain customer numbers. I wonder if the staff numbers at the new call centre are additional or whether the number in Sheffield has been allowed to fall prior to beginning recruitment for Leeds.

[#7]

Hi George,
I'm certainly not disputing that statement at all.  Previously when we didn't use TV advertising word of mouth might have gt us a few hundred signups a week, compared to a few thousand through TV advertising.
Of course referral through friends and family is massively important and we are working towards delivering the level of service that you expect us to be.  This will take time and I can only apologise for the "blip" over the last few months.

[#8]

Quote from: Oldjim

I haven't voted (I may be classed as biased) but I don't think they should stop advertising just stop the really silly offers which are essentially loss leaders until they can cope with the resulting influx of  customers Now if that was an option I would have voted for it

This is probably close to my view.
The problem is the business world works on the motto if you not growing then you dieing.  standing still is considered failure.  Its how capitalism works.  Clearly plusnet (BT) are operating a land grab operation with the agressive marketing and companies like this dont like to hire staff before growth as its seen as wasted cash, the growth eg. might not materialise.  so this is why we have the current situation.
Also I wasnt aware they previously had a 4hr target of support tickets, thats how it should be, in my view the 24h or whatever it is now is way too high and plus it seems most people dont have a 24 hour response unless they post on the forums.
As I posted on tbb plusnet need to fix their backend API issues as a priority, the bugs on their website will be adding support tickets/calls for sure.  Make the provisioning department open more hours (this doesnt need a new call centre just employ night staff).  Set 4hr target for tickets then people will do tickets instead of ringing.  I run a business and answering tickets is far more time efficient than answering calls.
Plusnet are defenitly not going to shut for new business, I have seen worser isp's (cough VM) take on new business whilst their network is bursting at the seams.  It just doesnt compute to shareholders and CEO's.
Also the cashback deals seem problematic I am now in a battle to get my cashback so thats another system that needs fixing.
So yeah I think all new customer deals probably are best to be wound down a lot and suspend cashback offers whilst quidco problems are fixed.  But as I said the FTTC market is currently at land grab stage, isp's are in a battle to sweep up new customers whilst the openreach rollout is ongoing.

[#9]

4hrs hours to answer a ticket  but 42hrs to answer a question http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,122226.0.html
They are probably swamped with new customers  and don't have the resources available to deal with them, little wonder why peak time slow downs returned after Xmas , it has improopved over the past few days,but not as good as it was prior to Xmas

[#10]

Tickets *are* Questions.
It's two names for the same thing.

[#11]

I hope PN's networking side is able to keep up with the growth of new customers and we do not start seeing capacity problems.
To date, PN have been very good and transparent at ensuring that there is enough capacity in place.

[#12]

Quote from: deathtrap

4hrs hours to answer a ticket  but 42hrs to answer a question http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,122226.0.html They are probably swamped with new customers  and don't have the resources available to deal with them, little wonder why peak time slow downs returned after Xmas , it has improopved over the past few days,but not as good as it was prior to Xmas

Looking at the service status logs, is it true plusnet last added capacity to their network in april?
Regarding tickets I feel they should be prioritised oved calls, in the long term it will be a win as people will move over to doing tickets which are a far more time efficient process.
Personally if I knew my ticket would be answered within 4 hours it would stop me phoning plusnet.
As it stands its nowhere near that, my ticket opened regarding the quidco ripping me off problem still has no reply from plusnet about 3-4 days old now.

[#13]

Last announcement on capacity that I can see was 2nd December: http://usertools.plus.net/status/archive/1385984668.htm
Phil

[#14]

ok thanks I didnt see that one.

[#15]

I think I spotted one in October as well, but didn't take too much notice as I knew there was a later one.
Phil