Plusnet - totally unprofessional

I've been trying for 5 months to migrate 8 Metronet accounts to its (now) parent company, Plusnet. During this time, I've had assurances from 4 or 5 customer service (joke) representatives that my request would be actioned - none of them have delivered! Needless to say, there is little chance of escalating this issue - Plusnet seem to have no process to accomodate this!


The 8 accounts are for a single special needs school who need to migrate to more suitable packages, to save money. As an IT consultant, I regularly have to deal with IT\Telecomms service companies - often many have poor customer services. However Plusnet have reached new depths in my experience and are to be avoided if good customer service is on your agenda when choosing an ISP.

Can't you just get a MAC code and migrate?

Check what is available from the exchange that services the school.

See if there are any of the better LLU providers there.

Hi there,

Sorry to hear of the problems you've had so far. If you want to drop me a PM with the details of the accounts you're trying to move over and a contact email address I'll happily take a look into this for you.

I've not long replied to your thread about the same thing over on ISPr.

Either me or Chris will be happy to look into this for you. You'll only need to message one of us though with the account details.

PM'd you today Chris.Hopefully we won't need to look to another ISP. I'll report back to this forum in the next week or so.

Thanks, we'll be in touch soon. If you want to let me know the best time of day to get in touch, I'll try and arrange it for then.

Hi JxM,

I know you've had a voicemail from Mark K regarding this and as I understand it he'll be calling you later on today. I'm quite sure that should sort things out to your satisfaction, but if there's anything we can do to help please let us know.

Hi there.

I've tried reaching you a couple of times today but not having much luck.

You've got my contact details, my mobile and my DDI.

Let me know when you're free and we'll discuss your requirements and get this progressed.

Mark

For a rep to reply here is expected, and to acknowledge the message from the OP that the requested PM has been sent is normal courtesy.

For the rep who has replied in another forum on another site to say so here seems unnecessary, unless he is assuming the OP will not be checking to see if he has a reply to whatever post was made there. Just about acceptable though.

For the other two to have piled in seems to demonstrate another aspect of exactly the unprofessionalism complained about.

Which of the reps should the OP now choose to deal with in order to get this problem sorted out? Which if any of them were involved historically with no apparent effect?

Shouldn't a professional support system/team be capable of ensuring just one rep takes ownership of the problem so as not to completely mess around with the customer, who no doubt will end up having to correspond in some way with each of the plethora?

Or does each, (barring my earlier comment about references to another site), not believe their colleagues are up to the job? That seems to be the implication.

Highly unprofessional.

It gets painful to watch at times, the Comms team tripping over themselves. We all feared that things wouldn't be as good when James announced he was leaving and we were right. I see many posts on here and the Community forums that should have had a quicker (or any) Comms team response.

I think they all have other responsibilities which at times take precedence which means they are often like buses, none for ages then they all come at once. James' primary task was keeping an eye on the forums and every day he worked you could guarantee that he would work his way through all the new posts responding as needed.

Sorry. I'm lost.

The customer's enquiry relates directly to me. It is I who am dealing with the enquiry and as I have not been able to reach the OP by other means, following several attempts, I post here, ensuring the bases are covered and the customer updated. Matt has neither spoken to nor is he dealing with the customer but merely relayed a message to me. In addition, Chris, who was actuallly off yesterday, specifically asked Matt to follow up on the issue to ensure previous promises made were kept.

Unprofessional? If trying to ensure a customer issue is resolved and that all avenues for contact explored. where that issue is clearly important enough to that customer to post on the forum, is unprofessional then my idea of customer focus clearly differs from yours.

I strongly disagree with your comments and I guess they are down to you not knowing the detail or the background.

If trying to ensure a customer issue is resolved is unprofessional then I'll take that every day of the week!

In reply to a post by mkelly:

Sorry. I'm lost.

Indeed you are. Woods and trees syndrome.

To make it clearer, step back from your involvment and read this:-

1) chrisparr - Wed 20-Jan-10 10:48:04 - Sorry to hear of the problems you've had so far. If you want to drop me a PM with the details of the accounts you're trying to move over and a contact email address I'll happily take a look into this for you.

2) bpullen - Wed 20-Jan-10 14:25:55 - I've not long replied to your thread about the same thing over on ISPr.

Either me or Chris will be happy to look into this for you. You'll only need to message one of us though with the account details.

3) chrisparr - Wed 27-Jan-10 08:58:35 - Thanks, we'll be in touch soon. If you want to let me know the best time of day to get in touch, I'll try and arrange it for then.

(So far not too bad, as the OP seemed to be absent for a week).

4) orbrey - Fri 29-Jan-10 16:05:44 - I know you've had a voicemail from Mark K regarding this and as I understand it he'll be calling you later on today. I'm quite sure that should sort things out to your satisfaction, but if there's anything we can do to help please let us know.

??????

5) yourself - Fri 29-Jan-10 17:20:45 - Hi there.

I've tried reaching you a couple of times today but not having much luck.

You've got my contact details, my mobile and my DDI.

Let me know when you're free and we'll discuss your requirements and get this progressed.

Now - what was the opening post?

I've been trying for 5 months to migrate 8 Metronet accounts to its (now) parent company, Plusnet. During this time, I've had assurances from 4 or 5 customer service (joke) representatives that my request would be actioned - none of them have delivered! Needless to say, there is little chance of escalating this issue - Plusnet seem to have no process to accomodate this!

So ten days after the opening post you pop up. You now tell me "The customer's enquiry relates directly to me."

Where have you been for the last five months?

Why did the earlier posters here and on the other site not say they had referred the matter to you if that is what they should have done, instead of talking as though they were actually going to investigate the matter or do something themselves?

"ensuring the bases are covered" Jabberwocky.

I haven't seem Matt mentioned earlier. So what relevance has that? It just further confuses the issue. Did Matt do as Chris requested?

6) Unprofessional? If trying to ensure a customer issue is resolved and that all avenues for contact explored. where that issue is clearly important enough to that customer to post on the forum, is unprofessional then my idea of customer focus clearly differs from yours.

Very different indeed!

So you consider it professional to have several people independently communicating with the customer and inevitably leaving him not knowing which if any (and according to you effectively none) can personally do anything other than send a message to someone else? That person apparently being you.

It more appears that the customer has got nowhere in five months but when he complains in a public forum he has people falling over themselves to look helpful. (A complaint by the way, not an enquiry which is the word you use). Even though they can't do a darn thing!

In your position as a/the Business Services Manager I assume you have many times had the frustrating experience of several people from a customer company contacting you and possibly other support staff quite independently about the same problem, resulting in your and other departments chasing their tails and going dizzy?

That is exactly what the OP has experienced in this thread, and by the look of it for a long time past.

Professional? Not even close.

You're not aware of the full situation and as such making assumptions. You take your view and I'll hold on to mine. My view on your origianl post stands!

I'll work this through with the OP as it's his issue and ultimately his concern.

Mark - e-mailed you last week and PM'd you today. Not too sure if I need to liaise with you or Chris....but either way, can you contact me to resolve this week?

Post deleted by lenaspell

Good speaking with you eventualy

Thanks for your time on the phone and I'm looking forward to getting this sorted ASAP.

Mark