Worst Customer Service Ever

[#1]

Quote from: johnhaleso

Good Afternoon Mayfly, Thank You for your post. Glad people are happy and getting a resolution. My problems are far beyond any sort of resolution, as in "getting service" I just want to be able to use a different provider. I haven't had one second of internet service from Plusnet. The customer service received has made this situation irretrievable, as a new customer I didn't realise threats, arguing, and raised voices was all part of the customer service experience. At one point the gentleman on the other end of the phone opined that it was "your fault" in relation to me and what was going on. Not quite the first day welcome I expected. Have now complained to Plusnet, and asked to be released without financial penalty. I will update here, when I have received a reply... Thank You to all who have commented.

You can always get in touch with James the Plusnet Complaints Manager, that is if you want to of course. 

[#2]

Good Afternoon, Thank you to all who have looked in.
I will message James mentioned here.
I suspect what will happen is  I will not hear much from
Plusnet  until the service is up and running again.
Then their response will be that they are supplying a service
as per agreement. I may be wrong, but that is what I envisage...
I just don't want to be in an agreement with this company after
all that has happened, and not really sure why we don't just go
our separate ways.
They only time they have shown any concern, is when I want to
leave. Will keep you updated...

Thank You Apprentice, I have messaged James...

[#3]

looks like a good idea to jump ship when my contracts up, what which is going off I can't imagine.

[#4]

Whilst there is no excuse for the reportedly poor manner that you were dealt with by the CS rep - all calls are recorded, thus I am surprised that there is no "I've listened to the call and the conduct will be reviewed with the person concerned" response here from PN - if the TECHNICAL problem is a BTOR failing, running off to another ISP is not going to fix that  issue.  Indeed it might just complicate matters more.
No matter which ISP you choose, it is the same problematic BTOR doing the work in the back ground.  They have a monopoly on the physical delivery of service and invariably it is their failing not the ISP's (in this case PN) which results in the non-provision of service.
Clearly PN's customer service has not been perfect, but their call centre is in the UK.  Their support forums are responsive and you can draw on a great wealth of user knowledge.
Unfortunately you have had a bad start, however I would counsel sitting tight, let PN get your BTOR technical issues fixed and see what comes back from James.  There are far worse ISPs out there in respect of customer service.
Might I suggest you take a look at this thread - http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,119374.0.html

[#5]

There are ISPs with a better record for providing service, for example AAISP. They don't do unlimited but FTTC 80/20 with a 300GB allowance would cost you £60 per month.
For ISPs at comparable prices to Plusnet you will struggle to find comparable service!

[#6]

Good Morning, a quick update.
No response from Plusnet, as far as letting me leave goes.
No response concerning complaint, and no response from
complaints manager, so far.
Fault due to be looked at yesterday, after Plusnet assured me
last week Open Reach wouldn't need to enter property.
Nothing yesterday service wise, so phoned Plusnet last night,
Engineer now needs to come to property, I originally told Plusnet
there was no dial tone on the line when placing order mid October,
but was told line WAS working fine...
On the plus side, the gentleman I spoke to last night in Tech Support
was Anthony link:csa removed, who was incredibly helpful, and explained
what was happening so even I could understand, so a big Thank You
to him.
Will update when I hear anything (Possibly when I call them again!)
although keeping you updated doesn't seem to be a high priority...
Adie:orange csa surname removed

[#7]

I've spoken with Anthony and passed your thanks on too, I can see an engineer is arranged for this Friday 1st November when we should be able to get your services active.
Your complaint ticket is due to be picked up and responded to shortly, if there's anything I can do please let me know.

[#8]

Good Morning, final update from me.
Thanks to all who have replied, I appreciate it.
Received a call from Plusnet complaints last
night and was able to leave without financial
penalty. Was tempted to change my mind, as
service would have probably been up and running
tomorrow. My gut feeling was to leave this episode
behind though and now looking for a new provider,
so a few more weeks without service, but that I guess
is one of those things.
Gentleman I spoke to last night, was really helpful
and polite, same service I received this past Tuesday.
Thanks Again.
John.

[#9]

John,
Good luck with your onward journey.  Sadly I do not think you fully understand that (aside from your difficult episode with the CS agent in respect to exit charges) little of this is PlusNet's fault.  The substantial issue here is BT Openreach who supply the circuits to ALL ISPs, not just PN over whom no ISP has any direct control.
I expect that you will encounter exactly the same issues with your next ISP, because the problems are within BTOR as seen on last night's BBC Watch Dog.
If you decided to go with BT Retail do not think that they will be any better just because BT Retail and BT Openreach sound like they are the same company / brand.  All BT Retail support is off-shore where no one gives a dam, after which you have the same BTOR issues to contend with!  See here http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2478638/A-superfast-way-mad--ring-BTs-centre-Bangalore.html which tells of the complete inability of BT Retail customer support to deliver customer service - they cannot even get the caller's name consistently right.

[#10]

Quote from: townman

........ little of this is PlusNet's fault.  The substantial issue here is BT Openreach.....

It is not a case of "fault". It is a case of responsibility and Plusnet are the people who take our money and it is their responsibility to provide a service. Whatever problems Plusnet have in doing so should not be our problems. They should have staff and expertise to manage the whole thing satisfactorily and that includes replying politely under all circumstances.
I am tired of all these posts trying to excuse Plusnet of their responsibility. Either they need tighter contracts with Openreach or they need to do a better job of explaining their abilities to us, the customer and not overselling themselves.
In fairness to Plusnet, the reps on here have always accepted that it is Plusnet's responsibility when things go wrong.

[#11]

Quote from: EnglishMohican

It is not a case of "fault". It is a case of responsibility and Plusnet are the people who take our money and it is their responsibility to provide a service. Whatever problems Plusnet have in doing so should not be our problems. They should have staff and expertise to manage the whole thing satisfactorily and that includes replying politely under all circumstances.

I completely agree and if you happen to see any of my posts on service issues you'll see me pressing this point.
However, it's worth wondering why do I bother? 
The answer is that, despite you (and others) poor experiences I genuinely think you are more likely to get a satisfactory outcome from PN than almost any other consumer ISP.
There are a few premium/specialist suppliers who can do better, but you pay for what you get.
So, if you can step back from your initial poor experience it is worth persevering here; hopefully you will get progress in a reasonable time. If you go elsewhere it is indeed true that the problems are likely to follow you and into a service that is less able to resolve them. 

[#12]

People seem to think that Plusnet being part of the BT group is an advantage. I actually think (from experience) that the reverse is true. Because Plusnet are part of the BT group they are less likely to give BT Wholesale or OpenReach a hard time than an ISP who is not part of the BT group.

[#13]

@EnglishMohican
I agree the difference between fault and responsibility, which is why I referred to "fault" rather than "responsibility".  PN are responsible for managing the situation but the failure of their monopoly contractor who is common to all ISPs is not really their fault and the point I sought to make to John is that going to another ISP who can only use the same infrastructure as PN is not going to change the issue impacting him.  As for PN managing their contracts with their suppliers, if you read the media it seems to me that BTOR is waving two fingers to all of the ISPs and Ofcom are doing sod-all about it.  One of the big ISPs needs to find balls and take BTOR to the regulator.

@HPSauce
I agree with you too - my experience (over a protracted 6+ month issue - rural line with aluminium) is that PN will go to hell and back with BTOR to fix issues, but it can take time because of the way BTOR (not PN) functions.  In my case my line went from a typical performance of 1.4mbs to its present 5.5mbs.  I truly doubt another ISP would have bothered.
@Jelv
I would go further and suggest that PN have been gagged from going to Ofcom in respect of BTOR's performance.

Until the CP / ISP retail industry finds the means or will to take 'on' BTOR in respect of their miserable performance there will be no change in the quality of service seen by end users.  The 'approach' of treating a failed installation as a "new fault" is frankly outrageous, but if that is the way BTOR run THEIR business to their customers, I see very like that PN or any other ISP can do to improve matters.
Strangely everyone clearly recognises that who you pay your gas bill to has nothing to do with servicing and managing the pipe and meter via which it enters your house, so how come perceptions over telephone lines is so different?  With the exception of cable and LLU services, all phone lines are owned and serviced by BTOR, the CP / ISP simply rents the use of them.

[#14]

@Townman
Your arguments are a trying to go both ways at once. You go further than jelv to say that Plusnet are gagged by their relationship to BT yet do not appear to accept that other ISPs, who are not so gagged have a better chance of forcing Openreach to take the appropriate action to solve a problem.
I have no relationship with AAISP but their reputation (and advertising) claim that they know enough about Openreach's system to take on BT and win. They also seem to put their money where their mouth is so perhaps there is at least one ISP who can do better than Plusnet.
Finally, as you want an ISP to take on Openreach then we, the customers must continue to push the ISP and hold them responsible. Every time we let them off by agreeing that it is really Openreach that is at fault then we reduce the pressure on the ISP to do anything. They can just agree with you that there is nothing they can do because it is Openreach's fault.

[#15]

Good Afternoon, thought I'd look in.
A lot of what is being said in above posts is way over my head,
and most average consumers. It seems a straightforward
service is generally hard to come by, this is maybe because
everyone seems to have to rely on Open Reach.