Bad start for plusnet, but the situation is improving

[Biscuit]

I signed up for their FTTC service a couple of weeks ago, at which point i booked a time for the engineer to come and do the work and told them i would give them my MAC code when it would no longer incur a service cost (something to do with having to give O2 a weeks notice).

All this was fine, i called them and gave them my mac code, they said the BT engineer was coming on march the 2nd. I booked a day off and got everything prepared however my wireless router never arrived. Not a big deal really as im not going to use it but its better to have it for troubleshooting purposes so i gave them a call just to find out what was going on with it.
Turns out there was NEVER a BT engineer booked to come and do the work even though it was booked and then later confirmed on the phone.

Im extremely pissed off with them.
1. What happened to my booking?
2. If it was never booked, why didnt they call me to arrange it?
3. Im now going to want to cancel the service completely because if they cant get this right i dont even want to think about what else they might get wrong. This is including line rental and everything... but i need to wait till tomorrow to call a different number which is is only open during office hours.

Very very disappointed, everything was going so well and i was genuinely quite excited

[abaxas]

Has plusnet said they didnt book? Or just that openbasterd didnt turn up?

[jim]

I have to say, my dad signed up with PlusNet ADSL a while back, and we had a total nightmare with installation. Didn't work for about a fortnight.

However, PlusNet were very good throughout the whole thing, very helpful, good advice on the end of the phone - a world away from many of the ADSL companies I've dealt with in the past. And it was solely BT's fault in the end, they'd made a massive hash of it at the exchange end.

BT also lied to me when we were getting ADSL installed at this address (still livid about that), so I wouldn't blame plusnet just yet.

[Biscuit]

hes supposed to come tomorrow, thank god i thought to call up and check about the router. Im mostly annoyed because i booked the day off and now its wasted. The chances of me being able to book any more days are slim for the next few months.

I have to say, my dad signed up with PlusNet ADSL a while back, and we had a total nightmare with installation. Didn't work for about a fortnight.

However, PlusNet were very good throughout the whole thing, very helpful, good advice on the end of the phone - a world away from many of the ADSL companies I've dealt with in the past. And it was solely BT's fault in the end, they'd made a massive hash of it at the exchange end.

BT also lied to me when we were getting ADSL installed at this address (still livid about that), so I wouldn't blame plusnet just yet.

Plusnet didnt even make the booking! It hasnt even been put into BTs hands for them to **** it up yet which is why im gunna try and get out of it now. If they cant even make the booking for BT to add their crap service to the situation then im clearly just wasting my time with them.

My call to their customer service tomorrow will be long the lines of 'if you cant even get it right from the first step after taking my money, how can i trust you to be any good in the future...?'

[g8ina]

Please tone it down with the swearing please chaps, or Tigs will come get you

[HalloweenJack]

Again dont automatically adsume it was plusnet , i had similar adsl issues with o2 even had the bt job number. they didnt show abd said it was not booked. turns iut they cancelled it and still charged o2 and said to them i had refused!

[pauleden]

Not quite on topic, but demonstrative of why I left them in a hurry...

Many years ago, back in the days of 56 Kb dialup, I had a plusnet account. It was very good, with genuine fast performance, great customer service and good value.

The one day, a lot of customers, including myself, started getting engaged tones when dialing up. Plusnet said they had previously been buying an unlimited number of ports from BT and had stopped doing that. "we suggest you simply redial". Yeah right.

A week or so later, there was a couple of total outages, which Plusnet said were fire alarms, floods, sudden visits from immigration dept, power failures. The excuses, frankly, were getting more and more outlandish.

Then a month or two later, they took payment from my credit card twice in a month. This seemed to be happening to a number of customers. Given their past, overall good performance, I thought this would be a simple phone call fix, but oh no. They wanted fax (or registered post delivered) copies of credit card bills to prove they'd taken the payment twice. Apparently simply looking at their own billing system was out of the question.

I got fed up of the Plusnet BS and got the credit card company to recover the money. Visa slapped them with an undisclosed, but I'm told, sizeable administration charge.

That was the very last straw so I quickly moved to BT dialup and then a year or so later, to BT ADSL.

[Biscuit]

Please tone it down with the swearing please chaps, or Tigs will come get you

right you are chap, i was pretty irate last night so i do apologise

Again dont automatically adsume it was plusnet , i had similar adsl issues with o2 even had the bt job number. they didnt show abd said it was not booked. turns iut they cancelled it and still charged o2 and said to them i had refused!

well i never even got a job number, i didnt even know i needed one. They told me yesterday that there is no notes on my system to indicate there was a booking at all!

Anyway im about to call them and put in my complaint so i will see what happens

Not quite on topic, but demonstrative of why I left them in a hurry...

Many years ago, back in the days of 56 Kb dialup, I had a plusnet account. It was very good, with genuine fast performance, great customer service and good value.

The one day, a lot of customers, including myself, started getting engaged tones when dialing up. Plusnet said they had previously been buying an unlimited number of ports from BT and had stopped doing that. "we suggest you simply redial". Yeah right.

A week or so later, there was a couple of total outages, which Plusnet said were fire alarms, floods, sudden visits from immigration dept, power failures. The excuses, frankly, were getting more and more outlandish.

Then a month or two later, they took payment from my credit card twice in a month. This seemed to be happening to a number of customers. Given their past, overall good performance, I thought this would be a simple phone call fix, but oh no. They wanted fax (or registered post delivered) copies of credit card bills to prove they'd taken the payment twice. Apparently simply looking at their own billing system was out of the question.

I got fed up of the Plusnet BS and got the credit card company to recover the money. Visa slapped them with an undisclosed, but I'm told, sizeable administration charge.

That was the very last straw so I quickly moved to BT dialup and then a year or so later, to BT ADSL.

That sounds bad although given that its so long ago... you would think they would have improved

[HSK]

I've had issues with them in the past. Its been a love hate relationship. chucking BT in to the mix doesn't help either, often they are messing things up. But when plus net are good, they are helpful.

[pauleden]

That sounds bad although given that its so long ago... you would think they would have improved

Hope so. Oddly enough, I'm with Virgin now who are similar. When they are good, they are great. When they are bad, they are dreadful

[Biscuit]

I've had issues with them in the past. Its been a love hate relationship. chucking BT in to the mix doesn't help either, often they are messing things up. But when plus net are good, they are helpful.

Once you are getting sevice i can cope with a few mess ups, havent even got that far yet

Hope so. Oddly enough, I'm with Virgin now who are similar. When they are good, they are great. When they are bad, they are dreadful

Dont even get me started on virgin, having a technical support person who doesnt know what ping or latency is.... drove me mad.

Im on the phone to cancellations and they confirmed it was never put onto the wholesale site properly. they are trying to get an engineer out on a weekend and are offering 3 months half price aswell. Not bad compensation i suppose but its unlikely they will get someone at a weekend i reckon

edit - yeah no weekends. seein when te next appointment is, if i can get it before the mac codes run out i might give them a chance

[Biscuit]

Ok they managed to get an appointment for next friday morning so im giving them another chance. I sincerely hope they dont let me down.

[Dareos]

Dont even get me started on virgin, having a technical support person who doesnt know what ping or latency is.... drove me mad.

Ping - When you play table tennis by yourself

Latency - That rubbery stuff you make LARP swords and sexy bras out of

Lag - stuff that goes round pipes


Thats right, aint it?

[Biscuit]

Ping - When you play table tennis by yourself

Latency - That rubbery stuff you make LARP swords and sexy bras out of

Lag - stuff that goes round pipes


Thats right, aint it?

Wouldn't surprise me if that's what she thought i was on about, it would also explain why she hung up on me

[Biscuit]

Well i had a bit of a polava today with the openreach engineer turning up an hour after the slot of 8am-1pm... but he was pleasant chap when he turned up so i will let him off. Got it all set up now and here is the speedtest result:



Not quite the 39 accurate within 1Mb they quoted however im not complaining and they did say speeds would fluctuate the first few weeks. Is it normal that it thinks im in Leeds when im actually in Maidenhead? Perhaps thats something to do with it.

[jim]

Well i had a bit of a polava today with the openreach engineer turning up an hour after the slot of 8am-1pm... but he was pleasant chap when he turned up so i will let him off. Got it all set up now and here is the speedtest result:

http://www.speedtest.net/result/1823691240.png

Not quite the 39 accurate within 1Mb they quoted however im not complaining and they did say speeds would fluctuate the first few weeks. Is it normal that it thinks im in Leeds when im actually in Maidenhead? Perhaps thats something to do with it.

It's just using the Leeds server as it think it's the best one to use, you can pick any one you want. Mine often routes to the Channel Islands IIRC, I have to manually switch to London.