Telephone support hours changing at Plusnet

[#1]

Not all the board members will have come from telecoms backgrounds, but this is normal in any industry regulator.
The OFCOM directors of telecoms and wireless technology have been extensively involved in the telecom's industry for many, many years.

[#2]

Quote from: AndyH

I don't think any of the board come from finance based backgrounds.

Quote from: http

Sharon White Before joining Ofcom Sharon had a long career in the civil service. She was second Permanent Secretary at the Treasury, responsible for overseeing the public finances. Before that she held Board level positions at the Ministry of Justice and the Department for International Development.  She has worked as a civil service adviser at the Prime Minister's Policy Unit and in Washington DC as a senior economist at the World Bank. Sharon is a trained economist

Civil Service = no experience of anything real
PS @Treasurer = Accountant
Economist = Knows the cost of everything and the value of nothing

Quote from: http

The Baroness Noakes DBE Baroness Noakes was appointed to the Ofcom Board on 1 June 2014 for a four year term and was also appointed as its Deputy Chairman. She is a member of Ofcom's Remuneration Committee, Risk and Audit Committee and Nominations Committee. Sheila Noakes qualified as a chartered accountant and spent 30 years until 2000 at KPMG. During that period she was seconded to the Treasury and to the Department of Health, where she was the Director of Finance on the NHS Management Board. She headed KPMG's European and international government practices. She was President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales in 1999/2000.

That's at least two with finance back grounds, another two or three are media types - there is very little engineering experience on the board.

[#3]

I think Ofcom does have other duties besides getting everyone better broadband.
Perhaps have a look at OTA2.

[#4]

ejs,
They sure do - it is though a pity that they have not yet got people better, more reliable broadband.

[#5]

Quote from: ejs

I think Ofcom does have other duties besides getting everyone better broadband.

Since when did they actually do that
Their other duty is to ensure we pay more for our landline & most chargeable phone calls. But this is all off-topic. What about -

Quote from: Anotherone

............Business Support is there 24/7 now, and as Plusnet's "case" for this reduction in hours for Residential customers is no doubt that so few people call, why can't the Business Support handle any Residential customers but in a lower priority queue?

[#6]

Quote from: Anotherone

............Business Support is there 24/7 now, and as Plusnet's "case" for this reduction in hours for Residential customers is no doubt that so few people call, why can't the Business Support handle any Residential customers but in a lower priority queue?

Still no Plusnet response to this. 

[#7]

nor when I posted in the Announcement thread

Quote

Why don't you just schedule the staff on phone answering so that a small number are available over night for the small number of calls This could be combined with the Business Support which, until the latest change, used the Residential Support outside business hours This seems a rather silly way to go about it

[#8]

The distinct lack of response frm PN on this and the price hike threads has made my decision what to do when I receive the e-mail.
Long time Madasafish customer and three years with PN.
I was going to stay with the devil you know but not now.

[#9]

Well, I'm hopeful there may yet be a response

[#10]

we were hopeful about a response Re the tickets system we still hoping 

[#11]

The package descriptions have all been changed. They now say

Quote

Award-winning support 365 days a year, either online or over the phone. It's free to call from any UK landline or mobile.

[#12]

But the Plusnet Code of Practice still says:

Quote

By Phone We offer our customers a 24 hour helpline. To speak directly to our Support Team you can contact: Technical Support*: 0800 432 0200 or 0345 140 0200 Residential Sales*: 0800 432 0080 or online at Residential Sales Business Sales*: 0800 023 2221 or 0330 123 4433 or online at Business Sales * We may monitor or record calls to and from our Support Team. We do this for training purposes, or to improve the quality of our customer support.

[#13]

I wouldnt reveal here where they leave old info, as it then can be useful later.

[#14]

I am coming to the same conclusion. It is now quite apparent that the "cut in support hours" proposal will have no cost benefit whatsoever as Business Support has become 24/7. It was probably put forward by these new "middle management" types that Plusnet seem to be proliferating, and the idea being sanctioned further "up the tree" as a good cost saving measure. The 2 or 3 staff that took the residential calls overnight were in any event dealing with other off-line workflows, so even if they are all moved to daytime support, it's unlikely to have any significant impact on daytime wait times but the workflows they dealt with will presumably suffer. Where are the cost benefits!
Not only this issue, but reasonable suggestions (or questions) have been put on this forum by customers who are highly qualified Engineers and IT people, who also have many years of experience. Yet this "middle management" are either constrained or too arrogant to provide CRT members who can respond to us, with a reasonable explanation of why a particular suggestion won't work or an answer to the question. It's obvious from the number of mistakes that they continue to make, that they don't have the experience.. On the rare occasion that a response is given, it's often clouded in "commercial-in-confidence" BS  (the Capacity thread is just one example, what's being done about continuing OpenReach failures is another).

[#15]

despite the reduced hours Plusnet's phone support is still preferable to BT's which was horrendous and one of the main reasons I switched from BT Infinity.