Plusnet is wearing my computer out.

Squire_Fulwood

I changed my ISP earlier this year. It seems Plusnet have an award for customer services. I think they should return it because it’s wearing my computer out.


7/2/2011 An email saying that I had paid my initial payment for my new ADSL account
7/2/2011 A second copy of the same email.
7/2/2011 An email saying my broadband is now active.
7/2/2011 A second copy of the same email.
8/2/2011 An email saying that my phone line transfer had been ordered.
8/2/2011 A second copy of the same email.
9/2/2011 An email with a target date for phone transfer.
9/2/2011 A second copy of the same email
21/2/2011 An email telling me what my line speed actually is.
21/2/2011 A second copy of the same email
26/2/2011 Advance notice of direct debit payment for phone.
26/2/2011 A second copy of the same email
26/2/2011 Email, my home phone move is complete
26/2/2011 A second copy of the same email.
7/3/2011 Email, advance notice of direct debit payment for broadband.
7/3/2011 A second copy of the same email.
7/3/2011 Email, details of failed direct debit transaction. Threats of service interruption.
7/3/2011 A second copy of the same email.
7/3/2011 Email saying that the direct debit has been submitted to my bank, pending activation.
7/3/2011 A second copy of the same email.
7/3/2011 Email, Direct debit mandate for phone cancelled.
7/3/2011 A second copy of the same email


NB. It should be pointed out here that the Direct Debit details were given to Plusnet when I signed up for service and as far as I am concerned it is them that are having the difficulty and there is little or nothing I can do to help but seeing that they were having problems I phoned customer service on 7/3/2011, went over the direct debit details and discovered that “someone” had entered a digit wrongly which could be the cause of the trouble.

9/3/2011 Email confirming that I paid for the telephone service. (I intervened and paid it by debit card).
9/3/2011 A second copy of the same email.
11/3/2011 An email confirming that I paid for broadband by debit card and no more money will be called for until 7/4/2011.
11/3/2011 A second copy of the same email.
11/3/2011 An email saying that a question has been raised on my account (40676784) saying that I have paid everything.
14/3/2011 An email referring to question 40676784 apologising for the service issues I have experienced. It says that they have resubmitted the direct debit instruction and are awaiting confirmation.
14/3/2011 Email about a failed direct debit transaction for monies due on 7/3/2011.
14/3/2011 A second copy of the same email.


NB. It seems a second customer service ticket (40765323) has been raised claiming that they still don’t have the money due on 7/3/2011.. This is odd since I paid it by debit card on the 9th (telephone) and the 11th (broadband) and no more is due until April. Furthermore, I have looked into my bank and found the direct debit mandate is there and it has been sitting there since 7/3/2011.
So what I want to know is who do you have to sleep with to get off this crazy roundabout.
I am very glad that the contract is for only one year. I hope my sanity holds out.

kwikbreaks

They are owned by BT - looks like they've updated the old "It's good to talk" to "It's good to email".

Squire_Fulwood

It's also good to juggle since while I am batting emails about I have the two ticket threads going on at Plusnet's web site. One says I have paid and the other says I haven't. I have tried to keep them both in check but they are now both waiting for someone to read them and reply to me. I am thinking that the way my luck is going they will cut me off and there will be paperwork in an attempt to reconnect me.

Did I mention that I also received a snail mail from them on this subject. More threats of cutting me off if I don't pay them (even though I have done so).

kwikbreaks

Once a company cocks up a direct debit getting things back on track can be a pain.

The worst accounts section I dealt with was Eclipse Internet. When ADLSMax was first released my ISP said they wouldn't be selling any packages on it. Eclipse were advertising some packages that looked excellent on a months free trial.

Boots blacked I got my MAC and signed up. They wanted a CC number so I gave them one. Their internet was abysmal - it seemed that they'd installed some shaping kit but didn't know how to configure it - you could get pr0n torrents down in seconds but eBay took longer than most auction runs to load. After a couple of weeks I gave them the heave ho and moved on.

Now remember this was a months free trial and I left in a couple of weeks? That didn't stop the clowns sending me umpteen invoices for seemingly random amounts and debiting the card. By the time I finally got it settled by threatening a small claims court action 3 months had gone by and they had snarfed over £80 from the card.

Good luck with your own personal fight against a useless accounts department. Many companies have them and by reputation PlusNet are not a bad ISP.

Now if you could just get the accounts dribblers dealing with the 2 tickets talking to each other instead of you it would be a triumph.

Plusnet_company_representative

Hi there,

I'm sorry about that - I've responded to both outstanding tickets there.

I'm not sure why given that there is an active direct debit set up, but the emails weren't warning of an outstanding payment - they were advising that a direct debit instruction hadn't been set up properly. As there is a working instruction there you can safely ignore these emails, indeed there should be no more coming through regarding this.

As to the duplicate emails, this is happening because by default we send emails to the address on the account and also to postmaster@username.plus.com - in your case the postmaster address is set to redirect all emails sent to it into your main address. If you create a mailbox in the name of postmaster you'll stop getting two copies of each email.

I hope that helps, and am sorry for any confusion or distress caused - all payments are fine, the direct debit is active and no service disruptions will follow.

I hope that helps,

Kind regards,

Matt Taylor

Squire_Fulwood

Spills drink in amazement. Well at least I have found out who you have to sleep with to get things sorted. Brace yourself Martin ....or possibly Matt.

The two tickets have disappeared so I cannot find out what Matt actually said. The snail mail says "and ensure an uninterrupted service ....." but that could be history now. I will keep it in case it is not history now.

As to the duplicate emails. Thank you for the explanation and advice. Was I given that advice elsewhere and just missed it?

Anyway Matt, if the matter is finally resolved then I thank you. I was joking about sleeping with .....whoever.

Squire_Fulwood

Matt

That email advice looks suspect. I have been reviewing them and there is everything from Main and Postmaster, Main and Cc and every other possible combination. I will do as you advise but I think you should look and what the practice actually is.

Squire_Fulwood

"If you create a mailbox in the name of postmaster you'll stop getting two copies of each email." says Matt

However, it seems that this is a reserved email address and I can't have it.

Fix the boat Matt.

Squire_Fulwood

"but the emails weren't warning of an outstanding payment -" says the Plusnet rep but they had this in them

"To avoid any restrictions on your service you'll need to pay the amount owed within 14 days.

Squire_Fulwood

I got two emails from Plusnet after the events above but they were on two different subjects. In short only one copy of each. The two tickets at Customer Services are now closed and everything is fine.


....................bored now.

arfon

We provide broadband admin for small businesses and local communities. As kwikbreaks mentioned Eclipse Internet are a nightmare in terms of admin.

The website is suspiciously vague when it comes to cancellations, no mention of the terms or notice period, and when you do cancel they charge you to the end of the current period(month) and then to the end of the next - "even when you are out of contract". So it can be a 60 day cancellation notice worst case ! (even BT only ask for 14 to cancel the line). It gets worse though in that they impose a stealth one-off exit fee ~£30 and we're still trying to find out what that is for?

Their customer service won't respond to emails, claiming to be busy, whilst their debt collection team threaten legal action every 7 days even though they cannot explain the charge and only tell their customer (our client) to contact customer service via email !

On a positive note, go for Zen Internet who have integrity, provide a better quality service, easy admin and only charge slightly more (well worth it to avoid the hassle)