Top Issues in the CSC : Week ending 3rd August

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Apologies for the later-than-usual arrival of this (last) week's CSC Top Issues. However, we can confirm that we will be continuing the 'trial' going forwards to identify whether or not these posts are worthwhile. Any and all feedback would be gratefully accepted and considered - so do let us know what you think! The top issues affecting the Customer Support Centre this week have been :- Mail Config Customers setting up their email clients for the first time have been calling for instructions on how to do this. Hardware Setup Enquiries Still a common query on inbound contacts to our support centre is how to setup hardware to connect to Broadband. Some customers simply prefer to be talked through the process step-by-step, instead of following the setup guides. One common issue we have identified is that some customers have not realised the necessity of the ADSL realm (e.g. @plusdsl.net) in their broadband connection username. As mentioned last week, we’re currently working on a Welcome to PlusNet insert that will be sent out with new hardware welcoming customers to us and providing a whole host of useful information and setup advice. The guide will be customised to the hardware ordered so that the information is relevant to the customer. Whilst there is little we can do to help customers who do not wish to, or do not, read this information - making it as easy to understand as possible for those that do is very important to us. Fault Updates Always a common cause for calls and tickets, when supporting a broadband service, are Fault Reports and calls requesting updates on faults we have logged with our wholesale providers. We always do the best we can to keep customers updated with regards to faults, and the majority of customers requesting updates do understand that we often have to wait for wholesale providers to carry out checks. Some customers, however, do not understand this and we may receive several calls in quick succession. Given the MBORC (Matter Beyond Our Reasonable Control) declared by BT Wholesale, fault updates in some cases are taking longer than normal to resolve currently as there is a larger volume of faults raised. Many inbound calls come as a result of our SMS updates to customers. This is mainly customers providing additional information that we require. Provisioning updates Failed or delayed orders. Customers calling to chase orders or to provide required information to push orders through. A small percentage of the orders for broadband that we place are rejected or delayed by BT Wholesale. In these cases, customers may contact us regularly for updates as we chase BT Wholesale or resubmit any rejected orders. A common cause for a rejected order is where a "Tag" already exists on the line from an LLU or previous provider. Existing customers moving house and contacting us to arrange a move of their broadband service is generally a fairly common reason for inbound contacts. SPAM We have seen a slight increase in customers reporting that the Spam Protection filters are not working as well as they have previously. We had a problem this week which meant some of our incoming mail servers were failing to detect spam messages and this is probably the cause of the increased number of calls. In addition, we have had a number of enquiries from customers as to how they can block or mitigate the impact of spam in general. You can find out more about our Spam Protection 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.