Trying to get a MAC code from Plusnet when you decide to leave them!!!

[#1]

Decided to day to change both my broadband suppliers, both at home and work. Left the Post Office for Sky and the MAC was given to me on the phone within 30 seconds of requesting it.
Phone Plusnet and was told 5 working days for the MAC code to be generated.......5 days!!!!. I don't care what reason staff give ( mainly that the system takes that long to generate it, it is a company policy that should be abolished now!!!!! ).
Trust me, I shall ensure anyone and everyone that ever asks me about broadband suppliers will know of this practice and PN will forever be blacklisted in my opinion

[#2]

Hi there,
I'm sorry you feel this way. Regulations do mean that providers do have up to 5 days to provide a MAC key when requested, some ISPs take advantage of this and some don't we do I'm afraid, this is mainly to give the customer a chance to think about it and to give us the chance to try and retain their valued custom.
We have no intention of denying you what you asked for at all and I'll make sure you do get your MAC key within the aforementioned lead time.

[#3]

This is unbelievable!
I've recently moved away from 2 ISPs, one that was bought out, the other that didn't have a big enough bandwidth cap for our house and all its devices. Both (Be There & IDNet) were understanding on the phone, polite and honest, and gave me my MAC code the very same day. Be's dying but I'd recommend IDNet to anyone.

After being interrogated on the phone as to why I want to move away, and them insisting I won't see any faster performance, even though I demonstrably will as it's the same phoneline and equipment, that syncs at the same rate it always has, that got significantly faster throughput and less slowdown only weeks before on two other ISP's compared to Plusnet, I was then told it will take 5 days to get my key.

I asked why it takes Plusnet so long and he just fobbed me off about it taking that long to get the keys from their suppliers. In wanting to know why it takes Plusnet so long compared to everyone else, I typed '5 days plusnet MAC' in to Google and it brings me here.

Looks like this thread is more revealing.

Well let me just say there's not a thing in the world you could do to keep my custom. I do not want your broadband service. It might work great for some, but it does not for me. I'm also moving to an ISP that doesn't employ traffic shaping and management. But I'm not even obliged to tell you why I'm moving a way but was being polite and friendly with your guy on the phone as I know it's just his job and not his policy. Had I known your policy I'd have told him I'm moving away because I don't like the smell of your modem or the colour purple.

So yeah, thanks for doing nothing but delaying the inevitable and putting my back up against an ISP I thought was pretty reasonable and nice to deal with, but not the best for my own needs. It's a real shame, and so different to how helpful you were when regrading my packages etc.

[#4]

Realistically, you will probably get your MAC within 24 hours.
Requests are handled by an offline team and like I say, it's generally done within 24 hours.
I'm sorry that your conversation has frustrated you and if there's anything we can do to help, I or another member of the team will be more than happy to do so.

[#5]

This is what I don't understand, you've been super nice to deal with all the way through, even now. It was just a shame and it did annoy me. Here's hoping it's a slow cancellation day and it comes through more promptly, but it took me 40 minutes to get through so maybe not

[#6]

I'm really sorry about the waiting times - recently our call waits have been much lower than that.
Chris and I were just discussing your account and we're going to have a chat with the guy that you spoke with.  Really sorry that things didn't end very well

[#7]

Well thanks anyway guys. I didn't like the policy, but everyone has generally been very nice to deal with.
If ever you create a real premium home service with:
AnnexM - something I need for international video conferencing, and a lot of video/photograph uploading
Minimal traffic shaping
A rolling monthly contract - something I need due to spending quite a lot of time out of the country, but I know others like the freedom it gives with FTTC being rolled out currently
A control panel option to shoot for a target SNR (with full disclaimer on any problems that can cause)
A control panel option to disable interleaving
- I'll be interested in it, as I didn't move away for anything cheaper, I'll actually be paying significantly more than I did with Plusnet now, but I accept it. Not sure how big the market for that would be though.

[#8]

I'm quite disturbed by this.  I have just left Sky and they gave me my MAC straight away.  There is no reason whatsoever for delyaing up to 5 days providing a customer a MAC code other than to be deliberately obstructive.  I'm sure like me, most would have thought long and hard about changing provider and by the time they phone up they have already made their decision.  Delaying the inevitable migration seems very petty.
The more I'm learning about Plusnet the more I'm thinking I've made a big mistake.  I'm already dissatisfied and I have yet use use Plusnet as I've been waiting since 7th May for activation  

[#9]

To be honest it wouldn't be half as bad if after they asked you why you're moving, they used some judgement and got a MAC key out promptly (like everyone else does) IF that person is migrating away for otherwise sound reasons, WHILE retaining the right to delay it to those that sounded unsure or were calling to try and negotiate a cheaper price or changed their mind but wanted the key anyway just in case or something.
But on the whole I agree, you only go through the trouble of calling cancellation line if you've got something else lined up. Either because it's cheaper, in which case maybe there are deals to be made and 5 days can make sense, or because you're changing for different features, in which case nothing can keep you and being told it takes 5 days, when every other ISP I've dealt with seems prompt, seems a little ...dirty. It seems almost done out of spite.
dick:quote

[#10]

Before I joined plusnet, I was with AOHell.  Trying to get my MAC out of them was like getting blood out of a stone.  The first time I rang them, I got a very disinterested foreign woman who didn't even try to retain me as a customer.  She told me I would get my MAC in a week by post. 
A week later I hadn't received it so I rang again - guess what, the woman I spoke to the previous week didn't even bother applying for it, in fact, she didn't even record what my call was about!!!!  The gentleman I spoke to was very nice and understanding and he pushed through my MAC request and told me to ring back in 12 hours and they would have it for me.
So, 12 hours later I rang - the person on the phone tried fobbing me off and told me it would be posted out to me.  I went through the whole saga again and eventually they reluctantly gave my MAC over the phone.
Later that day, I persuaded my mum to move to plusnet (even though I hadn't been connected yet) as it seemed AOHell was still charging her market 1 prices from a house she had been living in a few years previously!!!  So for £5 less a month, she could get fibre.  I phoned AOHell on her behalf and this time it was a different story - they wanted to keep her as a customer and offered her a new contract at £6.50 a month - I said sorry, you've been ripping her off for years by charging her over 3 times what she should have been paying, are you going to give her free broadband for the next 5 years to make this up?  No, was the short and sweet reply!  Eventually they conceded and processed the MAC, which took 5 days to arrive by post.
What I am trying to say is, not all ISP's will give you your MAC immediately, and some will even fight you tooth and nail over it, or in my case not even bother to put the request through, but at least with plusnet, you are not speaking to a person in a different country and you have this forum where help is at hand.

[#11]

All, whilst I appreciate the concern, please note that this thread was nearly 2 years old! We've actually been giving MACs within 24 hours once a customer has called in for a long time (over a year IIRC - certainly the case on residential accounts). That's the reason that James has shown so much concern about the information you've been given about the 5 days, as it's simply not correct.

[#12]

Hiya,
I've just been and had a chat with the department head for the retentions team.  A lot of the guys on that team don't have access to the system that generates mac codes and it's also really slow so adds a lot of time when they are best served talking with other customers to help keep waiting times as low as possible.
What does happen is they send a request to a system which then runs a script that generates all of the mac requests made on that day.
I'm sorry that you were told 5 days, that's really not the case.

[#13]

Yeah but come on.... AOL though... Even I'm not compared Plusnet to AOL.
As for speaking to people in the UK, that's all well and good, but Be There (now sadly being dismantled by Sky) used an outsourced Bulgarian customer service department, but they were truly fantastic. They arranged a BT engineer visit on the merit of what I described rather than making me go through 50 obvious steps, and ended up getting me put on a new copper pair, solving the problem!
They also had excellent English, were supremely polite, and hung around on the unofficial IRC channel sorting out problems and chatting about the world.
When I called them to get a MAC code and explained that the reason was as Be was becoming Sky, and I wanted to get out now before I forgot about it and got "automatically" put on to a contract, the response was something like 'Oh OK sir, I understand. Sorry to see you go. I'll email you your MAC code over to your registered email address in a few minutes. Is there anything else I can help you with today?'  Be you will be sorely missed...     However Sky are only hoovering up subscribers while leaving the LLU network with Telefonica, allowing resellers who I won't mention here to offer essentially the same service, but at a higher cost. If only they had the same Bulgarian call centre...
Moving away from IDNet and I didn't even need to phone anyone up. They emailed it right away. They were too limited on bandwidth for me, but I'd recommend them in a heartbeat.
I always think it's a sign of transparency when you can cancel a contract with the same process and effort as you can set one up. Too many services now can be subscribed to at 3am in the morning on a Saturday, at complete leisure on a laptop, credit cards, direct debits and all, but if you want to cancel, you often need to phone up during your own working hours, Monday through Friday, and wait on hold for 30 minutes or so. But it's not just Plusnet at that game, everyone (but IDNet) are doing it, so that's just a general moan  
But basically just because you're speaking to an Englishman, doesn't mean you'll get good service. Even if they do have a really likeable and approachable Northern accent  

[#14]

Quote from: James

I'm sorry that you were told 5 days, that's really not the case.

If this is really the case, then I have no quarrel at all, but it was definitely what I was told on the phone. 
I guess that's why you record calls for training purposes then! Thank you to James and Chris.
I have a nan on a terrible talk-talk connection with only a USB modem and no wireless that just bought an iPad that she can't use so I'll probably send her this way.

[#15]

Just to be fair and to pretty much finish this thread, my MAC code has now come through in only a few hours. So I guess I got wrong information on the phone. Nice to leave on a nice note Might even be back if my circumstances change again. So long everyone!