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Avoid plusnet - terrible service and broken promises!!

Just wanted to pass on my terrible experience with PLUSNET -

MY ADVISE TO ALL: AVOID PLUSNET AT ALL COSTS AND CHOOSE ANOTHER ISP!!

PLUSNET took my money for a new broadband order - promised to connect within a week - then after withdrawing the money from my acccount (£49.99 to get the phone line activated) advised me they could not activate the order until 30 Dec 2010 (about 6 weeks after taking my money).

This is unacceptable.

SURLEY IT MUST BE ILLEGAL IN THIS COUNTRY FOR A COMPANY TO TAKE MONEY FOR SERVICES IT CANNOT PROVIDE (and don't tell me PLUSNET are not aware of any backlog or delays to new order - they know how long it takes to get an order provisioned and if they have a backlog they should stop taking money from people!!!!!)

HOW CAN THEY TAKE MONEY FROM NEW CUSTOMERS WHEN THEY KNOW THEY CANNOT FULFILL THEIR PROMISE TO PROVISION THE ORDER QUICKLY.

IF PLUSNET CANNOT FULFILL CUSTOMER ORDERS THEY SHOULD:

1 . ADVISE POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS OF THIS PROBLEM - or

2 . DON'T TAKE ANY MORE MONEY FROM CUSTOMERS UNTIL PLUSNET CAN FULFILL THE ORDER.

AVOID PLUSNET - their customer service is also appalling. I've spent more than 2 hrs (on hold a lot of the time) trying to get my money back - they've made more empty promises of provisioning the order faster - I've been promised that someone would call me back (they never did) - and then was told I couldn't get my money back.

Well it's sorted now - BUT I have to wait 5-7 days to get a refund!

Great service PLUSNET - yeah right!@!!!!!

Please - don't get caught by empty promises -

AVOID PLUSNET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
hancoxuk, what reason have Plusnet given for the length of time? Who are they saying has caused the delay, themselves or another party?

I should point out, based on what you have outlined, that Plusnet have currently not done anything illegal. There not saying there not providing or going to provide you a service, but rather, by your words, in a timely fashion that you believe should be delivered in.
 
Hi there, really sorry to hear you've had a bad experience :(

PLUSNET took my money for a new broadband order - promised to connect within a week - then after withdrawing the money from my acccount (£49.99 to get the phone line activated) advised me they could not activate the order until 30 Dec 2010 (about 6 weeks after taking my money).

This is unacceptable.

A week's lead time is normally what we'd advise for the 'start' of a 'stopped' line. This involves minimal work, is relatively simple to arrange using BT Openreach's systems, and we don't charge for it.

The £49.99 is for a new phone line provision which typically involves an engineer visit.

Sounds to me like a sales agent may have advised you about the lead times for the start of a stopped line, whereas what was actually required was a brand new provision.

Where the latter is concerned there have been delays for some time, mainly due to backlogs and appointing difficulties affecting BT Openreach. You can see their latest announcement about this here.

If my assumption is correct then I do apologise for the information you were given at the point of sale. The tools used to check the state of your phone line are quite accurate but they can't be relied on 100%. Sometimes what appears to be a 'stopped' line can later turns out to require a brand new provision.

SURLEY IT MUST BE ILLEGAL IN THIS COUNTRY FOR A COMPANY TO TAKE MONEY FOR SERVICES IT CANNOT PROVIDE (and don't tell me PLUSNET are not aware of any backlog or delays to new order - they know how long it takes to get an order provisioned and if they have a backlog they should stop taking money from people!!!!!)

It's not illegal, and we *can* provide the service. It's the lead times and poor setting of expectations that seem to have been the issue here?

HOW CAN THEY TAKE MONEY FROM NEW CUSTOMERS WHEN THEY KNOW THEY CANNOT FULFILL THEIR PROMISE TO PROVISION THE ORDER QUICKLY.

IF PLUSNET CANNOT FULFILL CUSTOMER ORDERS THEY SHOULD:

1 . ADVISE POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS OF THIS PROBLEM - or

Agreed, this is something we should have done in your case and I'm sorry if that didn't happen.

2 . DON'T TAKE ANY MORE MONEY FROM CUSTOMERS UNTIL PLUSNET CAN FULFILL THE ORDER.

A bit trickier this one as ideally we need to take the monies before the order is placed. An order can be placed and accepted by Openreach's systems despite the actual engineer visit being weeks in the future.

AVOID PLUSNET - their customer service is also appalling. I've spent more than 2 hrs (on hold a lot of the time) trying to get my money back - they've made more empty promises of provisioning the order faster - I've been promised that someone would call me back (they never did) - and then was told I couldn't get my money back.

There may well be other factors at play here. As I say, it's hard for me to say without taking a look at your account.

It's disappointing to see a customer leave before we've had chance to provision the service, but based on what you've said I can kind of accept why. I just hope you don't have similar lead time issues with whatever provider you decide to go with (let me know how it goes).

Well it's sorted now - BUT I have to wait 5-7 days to get a refund!

Not a great deal I can do about that I'm afraid as it's dependent on our merchant account/billing platform. If it's been refunded to a card then it will probably be closer to 3 working days. If it's been refunded via Direct Debit then yes, it will be 5-7 working days.

If you don't mind messaging me your account username, then I'll see if I can offer something for the length of time you had to spend on the phone finding out what was going on?

Apologies again if we let you down, and I hope things go well with your new provider.

Best regards,
 
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That is basically the problem. Customer support only acts when you get angry. The internet is a very important part of almost everyone's life and a slight delay or a lag may cause a great deal of trouble.
 
That is basically the problem. Customer support only acts when you get angry. The internet is a very important part of almost everyone's life and a slight delay or a lag may cause a great deal of trouble.

"Customer support only acts when you get angry"

Very true and then when you do Plusnet ban you from their forum. They do not want to listen to criticism:(
 
Mike, the only people banned from our forums are those who don't abide by the forum rules set out by the moderators (who are customers and not employees of ours). Anyway, I can see you replied to my post over here so probably best to continue the discussion there...
 
Illogical answer. You and others attacked directly or indirectly but were not banned. The only people banned from the Plusnet forum are those who criticise Plusnet. Doesn't show much confidence in your product, does it? Anyway, I have given a full and reasoned answer and my opinion, your mere denial is not a cogent argument.
 
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@mikej

Can you confine your complaints to just one thread?? It is getting a little boring.
 
Plusnet Shambells

Hi would like to make a comment i to feel angry I paid £25 bb activation no BB was provided never worked when i cancelled my bb oder they wanted to charge me £25 cancelation fee which i refused to pay they waived the £25 canelation fee but never got my original money back

[Admin note - Removed content, duplicate post in same forum]

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/talk/showpost.php?p=219861&postcount=42
 
Last edited by a moderator:
To make a general point about Plusnet, and I say this after much thought. There is a central sadness about the company. You can see that they tried to do everything right, and of course, all companies have problems, but in the end they came to believe their own PR. This has the effect that although they are outwardly helpful, underneath they close their minds when a customer ( like me) do not accept the hype and ask what they see as penetrating questions. I was even banned from their forum. They see gagging critics and an answer. I doubt they will listen, but I would say to them that if they remain in denial then customer care and technical problems are never going to improve. Dialogue is essential for growth and progress and Plusnet at heart are not really listening. I have no doubt their roaming PR people will come on and make the usual response but it will mean nothing. Truth customer contact is only as good as the really sticky questions. I don't know if they large birds in Yorkshire (the feathered variety lol) but Plusnet have long ago decided to collectively put their heads in the sands
 
@MikeJ, I've nothing further to say in response to your post that I haven't already said to you in other replies here on this forum. Your banning from our forums was *not* an attempt to gag you. There are plenty of customers posting negative feedback on our forums (free for anybody to take a look at) and they haven't been banned.

@tridens, I've already messaged you but in case you haven't seen it have a read of my reply to your forum post here.

I'm sorry you had a bad experience, but I'm more than happy to take a look at your circumstances and see if there's anything I can do to help?

On a side note, what is it with people cross-posting round these parts? ;)
 
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To promulgate the idea that a "Plusnet Forum" on their site has nothing to do with Plusnet is so ludicrous as to not to merit a serious reply. But then it only goes to show Plusnet have come to believe their own PR and are more interested in spin and presentation than actual substance. I told you their PR trolls would be along soon.

Just watch Plusnet go the way of Tiscali
 
unlikely as they are owned by BT if l remember correctly.
 
Speeds slower than a veyr slow thing

My latest speeds from Plusnet wouldn’t beat a tortoise. On their site they post the following:

MBORC (Matters Beyond Our Reasonable Control).

Maybe their long suffering customers could declare, PLEASE! (Plusnet Legendary Excuses Are Something Else!)

Waiting for an answer from them. They are probably consulting their book of blame everybody else
 
When they took your £49.99 for providing of a new line, at the same time did they take the first months payment for any service?

If they did that then you do have a legal case as they charged for a service before it was provided and technically they may well have broken the law.

They can unfortunately charge the fee to provide/activate etc a new line in advance, though given the amount of time they made you wait i imagine if it had came to it and you went to court the magistrate/small claims would deal with it in 5 minutes and also agree they were out of order taking money but providing nothing for 6 weeks........ In a legal sense its called reasonable time frame.

The excuse made by the Plusnet rep here about BT Openreach backlog does not wash at all either, and is very poor.

Plusnet are owned by BT and like many ISPs i imagine have access to BT ordering systems, so should of had an idea of any lead time to begin with and advised you accordingly, instead of collecting your cash and hoarding it for six weeks like a squirrel collecting nuts before the winter hits.

I do wish when things like this happen the company and any spokesperson should just totally hold their hands up and take the metaphorical firing of the bullets like they deserve.

Too be fair.... At least the Plusnet rep has apologised here, which is more than you would get from some, but the in-between wriggling was a bit poor IMO.


EDIT:Re Plusnet forums........ If they are nothing to do with Plusnet why is the domain
http://community.plus.net/
registered to PlusNet plc LOL
 
My latest speeds from Plusnet wouldn’t beat a tortoise.

Sorry to hear that. Have you been in touch with our support team? If you have, and can provide me with a support ticket reference, then I can take a look and see if there's anything I can do to help if you like?

On their site they post the following:

MBORC (Matters Beyond Our Reasonable Control).

Yes, that's a BT Openreach announcement and is applicable to any supplier that relies on Openreach/Wholesale for broadband provision. That's pretty much all non-LLU/cable providers. I'm not convinced it's anything to do with your speed problem though as it relates to broadband repair/provisioning rather than broadband performance.

Maybe their long suffering customers could declare, PLEASE! (Plusnet Legendary Excuses Are Something Else!)

Waiting for an answer from them. They are probably consulting their book of blame everybody else

We not trying to mislead anyone. Here's a recent copy of the announcement on Openreach's website.

When they took your £49.99 for providing of a new line, at the same time did they take the first months payment for any service?

We tend to do this yes, however the second month's payment isn't taken until one month after activation of the service.

If they did that then you do have a legal case as they charged for a service before it was provided and technically they may well have broken the law.

I'd refute the claim that we were doing anything illegal to be honest. Pretty much everything we do will have been run via BT's legal teams and I'd like to think that there pretty well-versed in things like this.

Having said that, the point is rendered null now anyway as we've since implemented 'live appointing' during our signup journey so customers know the date of their engineer visit prior to making any financial commitment/registering the account.

The excuse made by the Plusnet rep here about BT Openreach backlog does not wash at all either, and is very poor.

You might think it was poor but there's no denying it was factual (albeit from over a year ago!)

EDIT:Re Plusnet forums........ If they are nothing to do with Plusnet why is the domain
http://community.plus.net/
registered to PlusNet plc LOL

It was MikeJ that implied our forums are 'noithing to do with Plusnet', what I said was...

Mike, the only people banned from our forums are those who don't abide by the forum rules set out by the moderators (who are customers and not employees of ours).

So to clarify, our forums are hosted on our servers and the forum installation is maintained by us. The moderation of the forums though is carried out by a small group of customers rather than Plusnet employees.

Best regards,
 
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Yes, that's a BT Openreach announcement and is applicable to any supplier that relies on Openreach/Wholesale for broadband provision. That's pretty much all non-LLU/cable providers. I'm not convinced it's anything to do with your speed problem though as it relates to broadband repair/provisioning rather than broadband performance.

I can verify this is what BT do every year when weather starts to get bad or heavy snow is forcast, many times befor snow comes. NO ISP can override that once BT put it in place on any region.
 
To Bob Pullen - #50629159

Thanks. I've added some comments to the support ticket.

Your line has dropped a few times recently and has reconnected at a much lower line rate compared to normal.

This has caused BT Wholesale's back-end systems to reduce your throughput speed (your profile is currently set to 2500kbps).

Despite your profile being set this low, your actual connection to the exchange is running at 8128kbps at the time of writing. As long as it stays like this things should recover on their own accord, it can take up to 72 hours before this happens though. To help speed this up I've just reset the ten day training period on your line.

Allow a few days for things to pick up and give me a nudge if things haven't improved by then.

By the way, it looks like you're line is normally pretty good and ADSL2+ is available at your exchange. Would you like me to place an order to have your line regraded? (doesn't cost anything), as I reckon you'll get a significant speed boost out of it. Neither will you be susceptible to the 72 hours waiting for your profile to recover when things like this happen.

Rgds,
 
When they took your £49.99 for providing of a new line, at the same time did they take the first months payment for any service?
We tend to do this yes, however the second month's payment isn't taken until one month after activation of the service.

Irrelevant, if you billed for activation and one months service from the date the person signed up AND SIX WEEKS (as the OP suggests) passed you have then billed a person for ONE month of service that you failed to provide. (I assume your one month period is an average of 4 weeks like the rest of the planet).

Id also be interested if indeed it was SIX WEEKS the OP was waiting and no service was activated did you also issue them with a bill for a second months worth of service during (probably towards the end of it) that SIX WEEK period?

You can bill for activation all you wish and make people wait, you can not, bill for service, rental or similar you did not provide.

If they did that then you do have a legal case as they charged for a service before it was provided and technically they may well have broken the law.
I'd refute the claim that we were doing anything illegal to be honest. Pretty much everything we do will have been run via BT's legal teams and I'd like to think that there pretty well-versed in things like this.

Having said that, the point is rendered null now anyway as we've since implemented 'live appointing' during our signup journey so customers know the date of their engineer visit prior to making any financial commitment/registering the account.

You can refute any claim you wish, if you billed him for the activation and a months service, the ONE months service would have had a date range on the invoice. If the OP was without service during that date range and beyond (IE six weeks) you have taken money and failed to provide what you have billed for, for the period you are billing. There would be nothing to refute, the evidence (that being the payment and the one month date for that bill) would be in black and white on any invoice/bill the user has.

With regards to an Engineer, i have no idea how or where that comes into things unless it was FTTC the OP was subscribing to or a new line needed installing. An engineer visit isnt needed to subscribe to ADSL otherwise.

Its clear a balls up has occured, either your ordering system is wrong and gave a date not available, or BT just couldnt be bothered/forgot about the poster, either way six weeks wait and still nothing is poor and there is no excuse for it.

TO then hear you ban people from your forum, even if they were fuming and breaking every forum rule you have just goes to show further how little you care....... It stinks of an attitude of "we have your money, you have no right to whine we have your money but no/poor service, you are banned from the forum for being OTT we ripped you off, now get lost." Maybe im wrong but thats how i see things from the little info thats been provided.

Forum moderated by staff of Plusnet or just Plusnet fans, doesnt come into it. I dont for a second believe you or your employees are not in a position to unban them and tell those that moderate why you are doing so....... Which should be a priority if your company has in any way shape or form been in the wrong or provided below par service to any poster and want to show you wish to make amends.

You may also be at cross purposes as the six weeks fiasco and the forum banning issue are not the same person, the OP with the six week wait is not mikej with the banning complaint.
 
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