Worst Customer Service Ever - Loyalty counts for nothing

[#1]

A WARNING TO ALL PLUSNET CUSTOMERS

I had reason to call them (waited 54 minutes in the queue listening to inane "music" over and over again). When finally speaking to an advisor, I explained that despite having fibre connection, the speeds were constantly varying fro 5 to 20mb - the adviser said that they would be sending an Engineer to check my equipment but made NO mention of a charge. Some days later the Engineer called and checked all the equipment and confirmed that all was ok. He went on to tell me that the speed problem was due to the location of the Box in the street (about a mile away) and it is affected by the number of people using broadband at certain times which he likened to trying to push to much through a funnel at a time. He further said that he didn't know why it was necessary for him to come as the Call Centre Advisor should have explained this to me at the time of my call. He hadn't!

This was about 3 months ago and when I returned from holiday I was amazed to receive a text and email from Plusnet to say a charge of £65 was being placed on my account for the call-out!!  When I called (again 46 minutes in the queue), I was told quite curtly that the charge was explained to me at the time of the original call and when I said it hadn't, was told bluntly "that everyone is informed"  - well I wasn't and PlusNet has refused to waive the charge. 

I then said that I was not happy with his manner or the service and gave notice that I wanted to leave PlusNet whereupon he said that I would still have to pay the £65, also a termination fee and would not receive a pro-rata refund on the up-front 12 month line rental paid a couple of mouths ago. All in all the cost for me to leave would be in excess of £200! Highway Robbery for the situation created by PlusNet in the first place for not giving the proper advise or detail of £65 charge 

So I am trapped by this cowboy outfit until next September - We'll do Proud??  - I don't think so. Having been a customer since 17th March 2004 loyal counts for nothing.

BEWARE - I shall tell as many people as I can to steer clear of this company.

[#2]

Moderators Note.
Moved this from Community Feedback to Plusnet Feedback.

[#3]

Why have you moved this post? 

Are you trying to prevent my telling others of the service issues I want to warn them about?

[#4]

The post has been moved to a more prominent board that has feedback about Plusnet, rather than where you originally posted it to which is about feedback for this forum only.

You're welcome.

[#5]

The usual warning is that you'll be charged if the fault is with your own equipment (anything your side of the test socket).  I'm not sure if they warn you that the fee is payable if there is no fault, i.e. in this case just being rather a long way from the cabinet.  As I understand it, being a mile away from the cabinet means your speed will be similar to someone on ADSL being a mile from the exchange since that last mile uses copper, not fibre.  I'm as surprised as you that the person you spoke to didn't check, or ask you, about the distance from the cabinet.  The number of people in your area connected to the same cabinet and using the internet at the same time would, as the engineer pointed out, also have an effect.

[#6]

Thanks for this but I as I posted I was not informed and the Engineer said PlusNet should have explained this at the start regarding variable speeds.

It has made difference to the way that PlusNet have responded to my complaint which I why I want as many others to know what their service is REALLY like when they haven't the guts to admit that their agent failed to tell me of any charges!

STAY AWAY!

 

Moderator's note by Adie (Dvorak) removed spurious html characters 

[#7]

Do plusnet record all phone calls ?

If so can a customer ask for a transcript of the call in cases like this ?

[#8]

I think you've approached this the wrong way here. If the agent who originally sent the engineer made no mention of a potential charge-regardless of checks or reasons then it wouldn't stand up.

A no fault call would be chargeable yes, and this funnelling issue is generally advised at the start of any service as one of the things that can affect the speed, but if that famous statement wasn't given to you then to my mind the charge shouldn't stand since the OP was never told of this potential. The post here says no charge was mentioned until it appears on the account.

I think the issue here is the OP has gone straight to moving to cancel, so has run straight into the cancellation side of no fault, service working fine, fee stands etc. What you really want to push here is to get the initial call listened to-they're recorded. If that agent on the first call doesn't mention a charge then it doesn't stand. Go down the complaint route rather than cancelling and you'll likely have a much better result.

[#9 · Accepted solution]

Sorry to hear you've been charged for an engineer visit.

From what I can see you weren't made aware of the potential charge should no fault be found either on your ticket or at the time of booking the engineer, so I've applied a credit of £65 to your account which will effectively negate the charge.

Apologies for the inconvenience caused.

[#10]

Thank you

[#11]

Thank you for your message and comments.

I am pleased to say that I have just received a message from the PlusNet team to say that they have removed the charge from my account.

[#12]

No worries.

Let us know if you need any further assistance.

[#13]

Moderator's note by Mike (Mav): The fix has been changed to @Gandalf as per post #9.