Top Issues in the CSC : Week ending 27th July

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The top issues affecting the Customer Support Centre this week have been :- Hardware Setup Queries We're seeing an increase in new customers receiving their hardware for the first time who wish to be talked through the setup rather than following the step-by-step process of the instruction guides. We've also seen customers who have not entered the realm at the end of their ADSL connection username, and existing customers who have changed their passwords on the Portal, but not in their connection equipment, are calling up for assistance. We're currently working on a Welcome Guide insert that will be sent out with new hardware welcoming customers to PlusNet and providing a whole host of useful information and setup advice. We can use this feedback from customers to ensure that the information we send out is as useful and clear to understand as possible. The guide will be customised to the hardware ordered so that the information is relevant to the customer. Email Configuration New accounts and mailboxes. There is a wealth of information on the website and in the new Welcome Email, but many customers prefer to be talked through it. The majority of queries come from new customers who wish to enquire about email in general and then require assistance setting up their mail client. Queries were generally from Outlook Express or Windows Mail users, but also a few Thunderbird users cropping up who require help too. We've also seen existing customers get in touch who have bought new PCs and as a result require advice on setting up the mail profile from scratch. The Welcome Guide, mentioned above, that we're currently developing will include instructions on how to setup email for new customers and how to configure all the common mail clients including Windows Mail / Outlook Express and Thunderbird. Fault Updates Unfortunately, due to the "MBORC" (Matter beyond our reasonable control) that BT have declared, we're seeing an increase in reported faults and an increase in lead-time at BT Wholesale's end when responding to fault reports. This has resulted in an increase in calls to our Support Centre from customers requesting fault updates. We are investigating faults within 24-48 hours of them being raised. We aim to have all faults investigated within 24 hours. The extreme weather has mainly resulted in no-sync or intermittent connection faults. We have been advising customers to wait until BT have completed any necessary maintenance work and the weather has subsided before raising faults through to BT Wholesale for investigation. We have provided updates to customers by SMS where possible. We thank customers for their extra patience during this busy period. Provisioning Updates Failed or delayed orders. Customers calling to chase orders or to provide required information to push orders through. We were affected by a Priority 1 Problem this week with regards to inbound migrations getting 'stuck' with no order being placed and no rejection being flagged to us. This resulted in more calls than normal prior to the problem being resolved. This has now been fixed. We've had some calls from customers who we've not been able to get in touch with about their delayed or rejected order. When this happens we place a ticket on their account and send them an email - though they may not see this if they're without internet access. SPAM Not as many queries as last week - but of those we have had they are the same types of query as before. Customers receiving unwanted e-mails and asking about our Spam Protection. Concerned parents asking for advice on filtering spam from their children. In general, customers calling do understand that we are working hard to reduce spam on our network. We've had some good feedback on Blog updates regarding Spam and what we’re doing to help combat it. You can find our Spam Protection guide on the Portal here. – Please Note: This weekly post represents the significant topics our customers have raised with our support team over the course of this week. The information is provided in the spirit of openness for which PlusNet strives. Each day we review pertinent items and this drives internal discussion around what we can do to improve the experience for customers. It’s expected that issues like ADSL faults, service problems and assistance with setting up software or equipment will always be near the top of the list for our support team. If people didn’t have problems and questions we would only need a sales team! Customer feedback or suggestions on any of these items (especially if it helps us improve the experience for other customers) is most welcome via the comments section below.