Kitz Forum

Broadband Related => ISPs => Topic started by: tiffy on March 23, 2020, 01:53:42 PM

Title: Plusnet Administration System
Post by: tiffy on March 23, 2020, 01:53:42 PM
As a very long term Plusnet BB & phone patron since April 2009, initially ADSL, then VDSL service since 2017, have unfortunately now come to the conclusion that PN's administration system is broken.

To be fair, have always received good technical support when required via their "ticket" support system or latterly via staff support on their members forum, have found telephone support for technical matters to be very hit & miss and their chat line just does not work any more even when indicating available.

I have had an issue over two, 1 year contracts since December 2018, initially incorrectly displayed start and end dates, attempts to correct this resulted in the well documented "stuck billing" issue which lasted for 4 months before being resolved leaving the incorrect contract dates issue still standing.
Again, in fairness, the actual, negotiated contract dates were honoured as was the agreed monthly tariff.

Accepting this as a "glitch" in the system which although consuming quite a lot of time and effort on my part to try to rectify did not actually result in any additional charges or change to the negotiated contract, I perhaps foolishly signed up to a further 1 year contract at an attractive rate starting December 2019, also paying line rental in advance at that time.

When the new contract became active the displayed contract dates remained the same as the previous contract.
Strangely enough, the contract start date was now correct by default, had displayed Dec. 19 since the previous contract of Dec. 18 !
The contract end date still displayed August 20, should be Dec. 20.

Have had an open ticket with PN on this issue since Jan 2019 when the issue first became apparent, no resolution to date.
The situation this year is somewhat worse as PN won't issue any assurance that the actual negotiated contract dates will be honoured beyond the displayed end date of August 2020.
The only answers I receive on my ticket which I have to periodically query to keep alive is constantly being "defered until [new date]".
PN would appear to be unable to fix this issue and to date will not give any assurance that my contract dates as negotiated are valid and will be honoured.

Have posted my issue on PN members forum without results (same user name), my last post has been strangely ignored by all staff members who have previously picked up on older posts regarding the same issue.

If I had not payed advance line rental which I believe is definately non-refundable, I would request early exit from my current contract and migrate to another ISP, I think I have very good grounds for early contract exit without penelties but would it be worth the hassle ?

By past performance have no reason to believe that my issue will be resolved before August when potentially my monthly charges will change to current rate and not maintain until December 2020 as contracted.

As already stated, I have no fault with PN's technical support but would strongly advise anyone contemplating migration to PN to be aware that any administration issues that may arise may be very difficult to resolve, cheapest is not always best.
Title: Re: Plusnet Administration System
Post by: tiffy on March 23, 2020, 05:17:14 PM
Another case regarding the current state of PN's administrative systems.

My daughter renewed her contract with PN in January having changed her service from unlimited fibre extra (80/20) to unlimited fibre (40/10), her line was only ever capable of sub 40/10 service so why she was paying for 80/20 service for many years I don't know.

A new contract at discounted monthly tariff was agreed under 40/10 service.
However, at the first bill on the new contract, tariff was still for unlimited fibre extra service and not as per agreed, discounted tariff.
This was queried via an open ticket, over charge admitted and a refund issued.

March bill has again reverted to the incorrect, fibre extra rate tariff.
Again queried, over charge again admitted and refund again issued.
She has been advised that a refund has been put in place for April also so not expecting the issue to be fixed by then.

Reason given for the anomaly, it's a "stuck contract" issue in their billing system which they can't currently rectify.
So last year and earlier we had the "stuck billing" issue since the earlier major update of their billing system, this took well over a year to resolve and would imagine cost PN quite a lot in lost revenue as they could only collect up to 3 months of billing arrears.

It's certainly frustrating that so much time and effort is currently required virtually on a monthly basis communicating with PN's contact systems which is not easy at times in order to achieve/maintain the pre-agreed contract terms.     
Title: Re: Plusnet Administration System
Post by: kitz on March 23, 2020, 08:18:26 PM
 :(   I know their billing system is in a mess especially when it comes to discounts.
I had to contact them about 2 months or so ago on behalf of someone else as the EU didn't get the discount.   They did rectify it and the next bill was ok.  Presumably this months was too or I would have heard by now.   It's a shame really as finally their telephone support is half decent again.
Title: Re: Plusnet Administration System
Post by: tiffy on March 24, 2020, 11:29:18 AM
@kitz:

Thanks for your interest and comments.

Yes, as I said, I don't really wish to leave PN as there tech. support, although very infrequently required, has always been good and I never had any admin. issues until their major "upgrade" to the billing system in 2018.

Although my current standing issue has never impacted my service or charges, I find it so frustrating that the only action I receive is repeated deferment and ignoring my requests to escalate the issue to a higher level of support.

It's really beyond believe that PN would have actually paid a third party, which I believe is the case, for a billing system which has caused them so much chaos and cost them a lot of lost revenue with "stuck billing" issues and very likely customer patronage.

Unless there are considerable improvements with their administrative systems I will certainly be off at end of contract in December when my advance line rental also expires.
Title: Re: Plusnet Administration System
Post by: kitz on March 24, 2020, 01:37:32 PM
>> paid a third party, which I believe is the case, for a billing system which has caused them so much chaos and cost them a lot of lost revenue with "stuck billing" issues and very likely customer patronage.

I believe so.    Whoever they were they've managed to make things worse than the previous system :/
You'd like to think that they would be made to fix it.
Title: Re: Plusnet Administration System
Post by: rongtw on March 26, 2020, 07:44:47 AM
@Kitz
Yes Plusnet are totally in demise  :( with the billing debacle and removal of the Ticket system and now the Online chat has been removed  :no:
I am a customer of nearly 11 years and agree it on a road to its death , i moved house December 2019 and have NOT had a bill since  :o :o
Title: Re: Plusnet Administration System
Post by: GigabitEthernet on March 26, 2020, 09:28:16 AM
The live chat has been permanently stopped until they can find a better use for it. They decided not to communicate this widely or indeed disable the page - they only made this known on their forums in a single post (from my recollection).
Title: Re: Plusnet Administration System
Post by: Starman on March 26, 2020, 10:09:31 AM
One of the reasons why I've just moved to Zen.
Title: Re: Plusnet Administration System
Post by: tiffy on March 26, 2020, 11:31:39 AM
Yes, have to agree with all, Plusnet is a lost cause.

Suppose I am lucky in that my current contract is only 1 year, or 8 months according to PN's systems !
I would have left already if I had not paid my line rental in advance, that's really too much to loose even I did manage to get "early exit" contract penalties cancelled.

Will be interesting to see what happens after August if my tariff increases to full rate from the reduced, 1 year rate I negotiated last December.

With the currrent extraordinary medical situation it is certainly not the best time to contemplate any potential disruption to BB or land line systems so will just sit tight and hope that I am still around to worry about ISP provision come December. 
Title: Re: Plusnet Administration System
Post by: chenks on March 26, 2020, 12:11:55 PM
if only plusnet had a parent company with a billing system that worked that they could just migrate into.
oh wait......
Title: Re: Plusnet Administration System
Post by: GigabitEthernet on March 27, 2020, 05:55:58 PM
Perhaps @Kitz knows more but is the plan to merge Plusnet into BT? They seem to have declined year after year, I can't think it's entirely by accident.
Title: Re: Plusnet Administration System
Post by: tiffy on March 28, 2020, 12:07:07 AM
Quote
Perhaps @Kitz knows more but is the plan to merge Plusnet into BT? They seem to have declined year after year, I can't think it's entirely by accident.

I'am sure there was a post recently refering to BT's CEO now managing Plusnet also with PN's CEO no longer in place ?

Who knows, perhaps there is something in the pipeline, would be difficult to imagine any take over making PN's admin. system any worse that it's present state. 
Title: Re: Plusnet Administration System
Post by: 4candles on March 28, 2020, 10:51:00 AM
Two articles from November -

https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2019/11/ceo-of-uk-broadband-isp-plusnet-exits-as-bt-takes-control.html

https://www.prolificnorth.co.uk/news/technology-news/2019/11/plusnet-ceo-steps-down-company-moves-bts-consumer-division

Seems to have quiet since.   :-\
Title: Re: Plusnet Administration System
Post by: tiffy on March 28, 2020, 05:50:37 PM
@4candles:

Many thanks for the links, didn't think it was as far back as last November.
How time used to fly pre Covid-19 isolation !

Wonder what BT have in mind for PN in the longer term, time will tell.

Have just received my March billing notification and noted that £3.31 has been deducted as a "goodwill gesture", had not received any notification of such on my very long open ticket.
So I suppose that makes up for my long standing (from December 2018) and still unresolved issue with my contract dates ?

Still continue to be "deferred to [date] for further action" on my open ticket with my specific requests continually ignored.

Big decisions now, what will I spend the extra £3.31 on this month !
Title: Re: Plusnet Administration System
Post by: 4candles on March 28, 2020, 06:39:54 PM
@4candles:
Many thanks for the links, didn't think it was as far back as last November
Articles were November - the changes were due on 1 Feb. But yes, time does seem to be different for the last couple of weeks!
Title: Re: Plusnet Administration System
Post by: Alex Atkin UK on March 29, 2020, 12:40:15 AM
What exactly is the point of Plusnet existing if it merged into BT?
Title: Re: Plusnet Administration System
Post by: rongtw on March 29, 2020, 10:54:11 AM
I cannot believe in these days that a ISP cannot fix or replace a Billing system  ::)
December 2018 my last bill  :no: :no: and i know i am not the only one , despite PN constantly saying its only a small minority  :lol: my contract is up next month so i don't know what they will do ?
Title: Re: Plusnet Administration System
Post by: tiffy on March 29, 2020, 12:31:36 PM
@Alex Atkin UK:
Quote
What exactly is the point of Plusnet existing if it merged into BT?

Agreed, probably none, perhaps their customer base will eventually be completely absorbed by BT, who knows ?

@rongtw:
Yes, as someone who has had an issue with PN over a similar time scale it's really frustrating I know, however, provided your system remains fully operational and PN are still supplying technical support should that be required you are receiving free service through no fault of your own and PN can only ever charge you for 3 months arrears when your billing issue is eventually, if ever resolved, their loss, your gain !

I was in the "stuck billing" situation last year for 4 months which was triggered by an unsuccessful attempt by PN staff to correct my contract dates, billing was restored and I was billed for 3 months arrears only, contract dates unfortunately remain incorrect to present.

It is really inconceivable how a major ISP the size of PN with their BT parentage have permitted this situation to go on for so long without resolution, must surely have resulted in significant loss of revenue, many existing customers and potential new customers. 
Title: Re: Plusnet Administration System
Post by: chenks on March 29, 2020, 12:43:12 PM
What exactly is the point of Plusnet existing if it merged into BT?

plenty companies have multiple brands for different markets.
plusnet is the "Budget" product for BT.
Title: Re: Plusnet Administration System
Post by: jelv on March 29, 2020, 01:00:47 PM
What exactly is the point of Plusnet existing if it merged into BT?

They have a brand that can compete with TalkTalk and Sky on price whilst still charging over the top for the "premium" BT brand to the customers that never switch ISP.
Title: Re: Plusnet Administration System
Post by: GigabitEthernet on March 29, 2020, 03:57:33 PM
Plusnet isn’t much cheaper than BT though, not when BT are always doing deals and giving cashback etc.