Plusnet Issues

[Deleted User]

I'm not sure what I hope to achieve by posting here as I am locked into Plusnet (both broadband and telephone) for at least another year.

I seem to be struggling being given conflicting information by Plusnet several times (different issues) and it is inconvenient and a bit frustrating - as well as time consuming trying to get things sorted out. It's also a problem knowing exactly what to believe. If I am truthful, I suppose I've lost confidence in their service.

Live chat sounds convincing then I find that the information is incorrect. This has happened over billing, renewing annual line rental and being provided with wrong (subsequently found to be incorrect) information about a line fault. I telephoned (different matter) and again was given wrong information. As a last resort the billing problem was sorted out (after a long time) by making a formal complaint. Although the issues are genuine, I can't keep complaining or I'll just seem to be a nuisance.

If any fellow Plusnet users can give their experiences (or maybe I am just unfortunate) please let me know. Any comments about how to deal with such situations would be helpful. When things go wrong it is frustrating and trying to get through on the 'phone is very time consuming. Once I held on so long in the queue for live chat that the service closed until the next day. Another time (not Plusnet's fault) my cordless 'phone ran out of charge I'd been holding so long and I lost the call and my place in the queue. I had to try again the next day.

I want to give up because I don't have time to keep holding on the telephone for so long - yet I need reliable information from them - more-so now that I feel 'locked in'.

Sorry if I seem to be vague - I am just struggling to know how to deal with this in an effective way. Thank you for any suggestions.

Crimson

wongataa

What issues are you having?

Lorian

I find escalations in such situations are best (more effective/less time consuming) when done on their community forums.

[Deleted User]

As @wongataa says, you'd need to state what the issue is to get any help, otherwise you're just going to get generalised "Plusnet are terrible" messages (BTW you can replace Plusnet with any companies name and find the exact same posts).

It sounds like you actually know what to do anyway and if you have issues you're not "being a nuisance", you're trying to get the service you're paying for sorted.

Have you tried the forums?

https://community.plus.net/t5/Broadband/bd-p/Broadband

I've used the mobile forums and found them very good, it also means once you're in a dialogue you can go about your business and reply when it suits you.

[Deleted User]

wongataa wrote: »

What issues are you having?

Thanks for replying wongataa. Mostly problems relating to conflicting information e.g. for many months my bills were wrong. Every time I telephoned I was assured it would be corrected the next month. This did not happen. I spent a long time on the telephone waiting and on live chat. Often being reassured then given wrong information and still no accurate bill.

After the complaint the issue was resolved - but it took months to reach that point. I tried to renew my line rental and was told I would lose a month if I paid a month early. I was going on holiday and eventually went on to live chat - was told I could have renewed a month early without penalty. Just confusing not being able to rely on accurate information.

My land line went down and my broadband was affected - but only intermittently. The same problems arose in that I was given conflicting information being told I would have to pay Openreach £67, I would have to be in for the engineer to call. I contacted Plusnet to agree to go ahead and was told that I did not need to wait in - it was an external problem.

I then received a text telling me to be in to wait for the engineer. When I telephoned to ask I was told that the person who said it was an external fault could not have known this, disregard that information and stay in for the engineer. Thankfully my telephone is working again. I feel discouraged because when, as they do, things go wrong it seems to be so difficult to be sure that correct information is being given.

The worst problem was the prolonged billing errors and I was very often given different reasons. - after months I was eventually told that the Billing Team did not deal with the problem - it would have to be dealt with by the Referrals Team.

Thank you for asking.

Crimson 60.

[Deleted User]

Lorian wrote: »

I find escalations in such situations are best (more effective/less time consuming) when done on their community forums.

Thank you Lorian - that is something I could look into in future.

Crimson 60

[Deleted User]

Colin_Maybe wrote: »

As @wongataa says, you'd need to state what the issue is to get any help, otherwise you're just going to get generalised "Plusnet are terrible" messages (BTW you can replace Plusnet with any companies name and find the exact same posts).

It sounds like you actually know what to do anyway and if you have issues you're not "being a nuisance", you're trying to get the service you're paying for sorted.


Crimson 60

Have you tried the forums?

https://community.plus.net/t5/Broadband/bd-p/Broadband

I've used the mobile forums and found them very good, it also means once you're in a dialogue you can go about your business and reply when it suits you.

Thanks Colin Maybe. I know you are right. I was feeling frustrated and felt as if I was wasting a lot of time - going round in circles. Thank you very much indeed for the helpful link. I'll look at it and explore the forums - I should have looked long before now. I really did not want to complain formally but, regarding the billing, I felt I had to as I was getting no resolution.

I was given information about a package I was interested in - then, later, was told that I had been given wrong information and that the package was not available. There have been so many instances of information not being right - almost as if some of the staff do not know what is available etc.

One person told me the overpayment would be refunded the next month. When it did not happen the next person said it was a month in arrears and would be after I paid my next bill. When that did not happen and I contacted Plusnet again I was told they had sent it to the wrong bank account - but I had not changed my bank account and they could not tell me where the money had gone. I really lost confidence in them.

When I could not get through on the telephone I felt, regarding the live chat, as if the replies were from a script. Often they repeated exactly the same answer - without addressing the question I was asking. Once, when I said on the chat that my question was not being answered - I was told I could complain.

I hope I am not being too hard on Plusnet - there are many staff who are very helpful but, when information is wrong, it can be very difficult to track down the correct details.

Many thanks.

Crimson 60

However

Deleted_User, no you're not being too hard on PlusNet.

Last Friday, I switched from PlusNet to John-Lewis Broadband (run by Plusnet) because I live in one of PlusNet's high-cost areas and JL is half the price. I started the process in good time in January and expected the switch to be simple after my two-year contract ended. I even wanted to keep PlusNet email so I wasn't leaving PlusNet 100%. Everything that could go wrong went wrong - things you wouldn't even think could go wrong went wrong. And it's not over yet - I was billed three times over for Feb/Mar and I am not at all confident I'll be refunded despite promises and confirmations last Friday evening - oh, and ten seconds after being told on the phone I would be refunded, I received the same bill by email - again). JL customer service are exactly the same people that run PlusNet - each person can deal with both accounts - yet messages are lost, diary entries are ignored, promises are puff. When my refunds happen or don't happen, I will be formally complaining not only to PlusNet of appalling customer service but also to John Lewis head office because it's their brand name being sullied.

It seems to me that one of the reasons for the shambles is PlusNet's ticketing system - it's utterly broken - either it's misunderstood by the operatives or it's unusable. Replies (supposedly to me) are 'ticketed' and immediately closed and lost. On Friday, some thirty or so separate tickets were raised and closed, all for the same event. Some were notifications meant for me (some I received, some I didn't), some were internal cross-department messages I wasn't meant to see but I did, some were inexplicably technical, some were concerning (like " move from Application Rejected Status to ..." - excuse me, since when was my application to switch rejected, by whom, why, and why did no one inform me...). I could go on.

There are two positives:-
- the customer service staff were always polite
- my broadband and phone service weren't actually interrupted, although how the phone kept working after PlusNet had transferred it prematurely (I got the bill for discontinuing the phone service before contract end) yet JL hadn't picked it up, defeats me.

I've been with PlusNet since before they were acquired by BT. Never had a problem. I thought changing from PlusNet brand to John-Lewis brand, all within PlusNet would be easy. How wrong!

[Deleted User]

However wrote: »

Deleted_User, no you're not being too hard on PlusNet.

Last Friday, I switched from PlusNet to John-Lewis Broadband (run by Plusnet) because I live in one of PlusNet's high-cost areas and JL is half the price. I started the process in good time in January and expected the switch to be simple after my two-year contract ended. I even wanted to keep PlusNet email so I wasn't leaving PlusNet 100%. Everything that could go wrong went wrong - things you wouldn't even think could go wrong went wrong. And it's not over yet - I was billed three times over for Feb/Mar and I am not at all confident I'll be refunded despite promises and confirmations last Friday evening - oh, and ten seconds after being told on the phone I would be refunded, I received the same bill by email - again). JL customer service are exactly the same people that run PlusNet - each person can deal with both accounts - yet messages are lost, diary entries are ignored, promises are puff. When my refunds happen or don't happen, I will be formally complaining not only to PlusNet of appalling customer service but also to John Lewis head office because it's their brand name being sullied.

It seems to me that one of the reasons for the shambles is PlusNet's ticketing system - it's utterly broken - either it's misunderstood by the operatives or it's unusable. Replies (supposedly to me) are 'ticketed' and immediately closed and lost. On Friday, some thirty or so separate tickets were raised and closed, all for the same event. Some were notifications meant for me (some I received, some I didn't), some were internal cross-department messages I wasn't meant to see but I did, some were inexplicably technical, some were concerning (like " move from Application Rejected Status to ..." - excuse me, since when was my application to switch rejected, by whom, why, and why did no one inform me...). I could go on.

There are two positives:-
- the customer service staff were always polite
- my broadband and phone service weren't actually interrupted, although how the phone kept working after PlusNet had transferred it prematurely (I got the bill for discontinuing the phone service before contract end) yet JL hadn't picked it up, defeats me.

I've been with PlusNet since before they were acquired by BT. Never had a problem. I thought changing from PlusNet brand to John-Lewis brand, all within PlusNet would be easy. How wrong!

Thanks for posting However. I agree with you 100% that Plusnet customer service staff were always polite- always. I find their technical support also very good - although very often I also receive and appreciate great help from the 'Techie Stuff' Forum here.

I hope you manage to get everything resolved. - it can be so stressful when so much is going wrong. For now I am just so grateful that my land line is working again and, hopefully, no more problems in the pipeline.

Thank you again for posting.

Deleted_User