Why I have left Plusnet

[#1]

Just because its Cheap , should NOT mean they skimp on Support

My connection is 99% perfect , and i enjoy visiting here and trying to help BUT its annoying when its the same mistakes that occur at PN every week.

And frequency is increasing

[#2]

All those points are true and I could think of a few more.

The real problem is Plusnet and most of their staff already know. As many of the problems are contrived.

Nothing will happen until new customer numbers fall off the cliff edge, then it will be too late.

[#3]

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@rongtw wrote:

I wonder how long before this post is Locked ?

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There is no reason to lock this thread; it's thought out, not abusive and factual. 

Only replies that fall foul of the rules would cause any action to be taken.

[#4]

I have been with PN for just over 13 years at home, and the business I work for for 3 years.

I have to agree with Jelv, he has written an excellent post, there are so many problems that could easily be fixed, which in turn would help with support time. I don't frequent the forums very often, so do not see the issues on a day to day basis, but do see them mentioned elsewhere.

From my own experience I get the distinct feeling that the back end software  (billing platform etc) that PN runs is very dated and fragile, and hence causes a lot of issues and is long overdue an update which Jelv mentioned. In this day and age I cant believe I have to login, view a webpage and print it just to get our monthly invoice. This has been raised on the forums many a time over the years and nothing has changed. I also remember the billing system holding up the rolling out of a new package, can't remember the specifics but it certainly sounded like it wasn't flexible at all, and adding the new package was causing problems.

Fortunately at the moment both connections are running OK, but I hate to think what would (or wouldn't) happen if I needed support, the business line is on a business contract so hopefully support will be better there.

Having just the two options of 40/2 or 80/20 is just plain ridiculous, it also seems the business options are lacking with a choice of two 80/20 and 80/10 (PN must be throttling an 80/20 package), fortunately both my connections were ordered long before this farce came into being. But my home connection only really warrants a 55/10 package, rather than the 80/20 I pay for. AT least they still have fixed IP's available, and currently IPV6 is not a problem for me.

I don't want to change as I'm tight when it comes to money, and I get a bit of discount with referrals I've made in the past, but with anybody I try to refer recently I always tell them support is lacking.

[#5]

@jelv

Thanks for such a detailed post , as I have been fortunate enough to have had no recent problems I was unaware of the extent of problems many users faced, of course I have seen posts from users complaining about issues but it's clear the problem is much bigger than I thought, clearly caused by the detailed reasons you give..

I recall that in my first few years with PN the service was excellent, in fact PN actually phoned me regarding a few issues I had and talked me through them these days it sounds like you would be lucky to get throught to talk and even then few staff seem to have the skills to deal with specific issues.

These days everything is about profit and the customer is just a nusiance unless they are phoning to join or renew their contract in which case staff are very helpful in describing what excellent service and speeds you will get on signing up.

The only question is which ISP to go with in the future and whichever you choose might they not also go the same way as PN

[#6]

I'm grateful for the responses from other users - when the response comes from Plusnet it would be nice if Andy Baker (CEO) actually stuck his head above the parapet and made a personal response!

John

PS It would probably give strength the the Plusnet Help Team who are likely to be using this topic to push for some of the changes they see as needed if everyone could use the like button on both the original post and replies you agree with.

[#7]

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@nbk wrote:

like voda but...who knows what their service is like? Their customer service on mobile at least is pretty awful (my brother has asked 2 dozen times to stop with the marketing calls and texts but still gets them!)

Him too eh? I've asked them, I've cajoled them I've even reported them to Ofcom and the ICO but still they do it.

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[#8]

Now here's something I didn't cover in my initial post:

ISPreview: Ofcom UK Finds Broadband ISP Plusnet May Have Botched its Bills

A probe by telecoms industry regulator Ofcom has today found “reasonable grounds to believe” that Plusnet may have continued to incorrectly bill customers of their fixed line broadband and phone services between 7th March 2008 and 3rd September 2015, even after they left.

The probe, which began in May 2016 (here), set out to examine whether or not the ISP had failed to comply with its obligations under General Condition 11 (specifically GC11.1), such as by potentially charging for a phone and broadband service that “was not live for a period of time between 2008 and 2015“.

GC11.1 states: “The Communications Provider shall not render any Bill to an End-User in respect of the provision of any Public Electronic Communications Services unless every amount stated in that Bill represents and does not exceed the true extent of any such service actually provided to the End-User in question.”

Ofcom Statement

Ofcom has reasonable grounds to believe that Plusnet contravened GC 11.1 by rendering bills to end-users in respect of broadband and telephony services for amounts that did not represent and exceeded the true extent of the service actually provided to them. Plusnet had continued to bill certain end-users for broadband and telephony service after their service had been cancelled.

At this point it’s very important to highlight that Plusnet initiated the investigation itself, as opposed to waiting for Ofcom to uncover it through customer complaints. Very few operators have been quite that open and honest with the regulator in this way, so credit where credit is due.

Plusnet will now have a chance make representations to Ofcom on their preliminary ruling and a final verdict should follow soon. We wouldn’t be at all surprised if Ofcom lets Plusnet off without a big fine, especially given their honest approach, although much will depend upon the scale of the problem.

At the very least Plusnet may need to reimburse the affected customers and introduce some improvements to their billing system, which they might have already done.

How likely is the sentiment expressed in the last paragraph to be met?

One wonders if they only put their hands up because an ex-user told them they were going to report them to OFCOM!

[#9]

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jelv wrote:

At the very least Plusnet may need to reimburse the affected customers and introduce some improvements to their billing system, which they might have already done.

How likely is the sentiment expressed in the last paragraph to be met?

Well it hasn't happened in the 7+ years that it has been an oft reported problem.   

Maybe OFCOM on the case will spur some activity?

[#10]

How is Zen much more expensive?

for a tenner a month more than what I'm paying with plus.net I'd get FIFTEEN times the download speed (currently on 4-7 when I'm MEANT to be on 37-39 TEN times the upload speed, a FREE static IP address, that is worth a tenner a month in my eyes! especially if I don't have to listen to hold music for 30 minutes to speak to one of them

[#11]

When something goes wrong at PN its always a Small number of customers ?? we will never know how many

But i like this reply from PN ,,,,,A number of new robust measures have been implemented to prevent this from happening again.” 

[#12]

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@Mr_Ormerod wrote:

How is Zen much more expensive?

for a tenner a month more than what I'm paying with plus.net I'd get FIFTEEN times the download speed (currently on 4-7 when I'm MEANT to be on 37-39 TEN times the upload speed, a FREE static IP address, that is worth a tenner a month in my eyes! especially if I don't have to listen to hold music for 30 minutes to speak to one of them

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Or for me on fibre (80/20), I'd have to pay more than twice as much for Zen (even allowing the cost of a static address). I'm fortunate in that I've not encountered big problems with Plusnet since it started on the slippery slope to oblivion. I am not contracted to Plusnet, nor do I use their phone so a move to Zen seems obvious, at some point in the future.

There are 10 kinds of Plusnet customer:

a) Long-standing ones like me (who joined in 2007) and

b) Recent ones who simply go for the cheapest headline rate and don't care about rubbish customer service.

One day Plusnet may find that most of their customers have deserted them because a very slightly cheaper company has appeared out of nowhere.

Plusnet seems to be playing a very high risk game.

[#13]

An excellent post that raises some very clear issues.

I have been with Plusnet 11.5 years (though look like a newbie from having to change my Forum handle when couldn't get old one unlocked). Very recently (due to a house move) decided to upgrade from ADSL to FTTC. As a result, I have experienced many of the issues noted, including order, support and packet loss issues. Bottom line is that I am now tied into a new contract that I am already starting to regret. Such a shame, as I had had a very good experience on ADSL for so many years.

I even got my aging mum hooked up on it, as support was good enough for her........something I now think may come back to haunt me after my recent experiences.

[#14]

Agree with you. I joined PN nine years ago, after being with Tiscali, Demon, Freeserve and Virgin. Then, the service was so much better. It has seriously deteriorated in recent months: support questions are skim read; support is difficult to access, with awful wait times; emails have gone astray, and PN denies this happens; and the webmail has become so unreliable it is not available at all. Thanks for posting the graphs - a great help when looking for an alternative.

[#15]

Excellent summary jelv. Someone at the top really needs to take note of what's going on.

I said just 2 months ago that they cant keep relying on the fact that they were voted best Customer Service a couple of years ago.  Since then things have gone downhill drastically.

I first joined Plusnet in 2003 and it really says something when long term users are beginning to be dissatisfied with the service. I've seen some prominent names mumbling discontent over the past year.

Out of curiosity I decided to look at the Plusnet customer ratings on my site, and it soon becomes very clear where the major problem lies.

These are the results for this year (Avg score 15.92).

Plusnet ratings for 2016

These are the results for all years since a reset on 01-01-2008 (Avg score 19.29)
Now the interesting thing here is Im sure I can remember that not too long ago the average score was circa 21-22, obviously ratings for the past few years has been bringing down the total average.

Plusnet average of all ratings since 01-01-2008

It would be interesting to do a detailed breakdown to see when the decline started. I may do that later.