Do Force9 ever listen?

Every year we have good service with Force 9 (Plusnet) for one of our
school broadband lines - yet every year they never fail to let us down
with their invoicing procedures.

Since day one - they have been told that we are a school and as such we
need invoicing when the yearly bill comes around. It's not something I
keep an eye on, so as with most companies I expect a reminder (which
they do send).

What I don't expect is a reminder at 4pm on a Sunday and being
disconnected by 8am on the Monday. So once again I phone and tell them
to send me the invoice and a cheque will be sent by the school. As with
all schools (I hope), we need around 7 days to raise the cheque as the
Bursar does a cheque run.

So we are given a few days grace period. F9 once again failing to
understand that we are a school/business. By 3:30 on the same day they
have cut us off again with a reminder e-mail that the payment people
cannot take payment. So once again 30 minutes on the phone explaining.

So I run around like ablue arsed fly trying to get cheques written and
sent. Needless to say we have been cut off gain on Friday.

This week I request my MAC code and start looking for a company that
understands the way schools work.

Maybe I am being unreasonable, but it's not as if we are going to
disappear. A Local Education Authrity building - we're not going to
close. You'll get your cheque!!!!! It may take 14 days, but that's the
turnaround in a school. I've told you before - and every time the rep on
the phone has understood and told me that the records will reflect this.
Obviously not so.

Gareth

Hi,

You may wish to check out the Becta web site as there used to be a list of
educational broadband providers posted there.

There were some which offered a specific service for schools including
configurable ISP side content and virus filtering which may be more relevent
for your needs.

If this works then you could then hopfully ditch your content filtering
software on the PCs's / LAN.

In addition your Local Authority may have access to something similar to
JANET which you could tap into for your Internet access needs for lower
costs than a commercial ISP.

Kind Regards

Simon

Gareth Edmondson wrote:
> Every year we have good service with Force 9 (Plusnet) for one of our
> school broadband lines - yet every year they never fail to let us down
> with their invoicing procedures.
>
> Since day one - they have been told that we are a school and as such we
> need invoicing when the yearly bill comes around. It's not something I
> keep an eye on, so as with most companies I expect a reminder (which
> they do send).
>
> What I don't expect is a reminder at 4pm on a Sunday and being
> disconnected by 8am on the Monday. So once again I phone and tell them
> to send me the invoice and a cheque will be sent by the school. As with
> all schools (I hope), we need around 7 days to raise the cheque as the
> Bursar does a cheque run.
>
> So we are given a few days grace period. F9 once again failing to
> understand that we are a school/business. By 3:30 on the same day they
> have cut us off again with a reminder e-mail that the payment people
> cannot take payment. So once again 30 minutes on the phone explaining.
>
> So I run around like ablue arsed fly trying to get cheques written and
> sent. Needless to say we have been cut off gain on Friday.
>
> This week I request my MAC code and start looking for a company that
> understands the way schools work.
>
> Maybe I am being unreasonable, but it's not as if we are going to
> disappear. A Local Education Authrity building - we're not going to
> close. You'll get your cheque!!!!! It may take 14 days, but that's the
> turnaround in a school. I've told you before - and every time the rep on
> the phone has understood and told me that the records will reflect this.
> Obviously not so.
>
> Gareth
Hi there,

I'm sorry to hear that you're having problems with invoicing.

If you'd like to let me know a ticket number I'd be happy to look into
this and get it sorted for you once and for all.

--
|Mand Beckett Broadband Solutions for
|Comms Home & Business @
|PlusNet PLC www.plus.net
+ ----- PlusNet - The smarter way to broadband ------

Gareth Edmondson wrote:
> Every year we have good service with Force 9 (Plusnet) for one of our
> school broadband lines - yet every year they never fail to let us down
> with their invoicing procedures.
>
> Since day one - they have been told that we are a school and as such we
> need invoicing when the yearly bill comes around. It's not something I
> keep an eye on, so as with most companies I expect a reminder (which
> they do send).
>
> What I don't expect is a reminder at 4pm on a Sunday and being
> disconnected by 8am on the Monday. So once again I phone and tell them
> to send me the invoice and a cheque will be sent by the school. As with
> all schools (I hope), we need around 7 days to raise the cheque as the
> Bursar does a cheque run.
>
> So we are given a few days grace period. F9 once again failing to
> understand that we are a school/business. By 3:30 on the same day they
> have cut us off again with a reminder e-mail that the payment people
> cannot take payment. So once again 30 minutes on the phone explaining.
>
> So I run around like ablue arsed fly trying to get cheques written and
> sent. Needless to say we have been cut off gain on Friday.
>
> This week I request my MAC code and start looking for a company that
> understands the way schools work.
>
> Maybe I am being unreasonable, but it's not as if we are going to
> disappear. A Local Education Authrity building - we're not going to
> close. You'll get your cheque!!!!! It may take 14 days, but that's the
> turnaround in a school. I've told you before - and every time the rep on
> the phone has understood and told me that the records will reflect this.
> Obviously not so.
>
> Gareth

I've dropped you an email, hopefully we should be able to get this
sorted for you quickly.

--
|Mand Beckett Broadband Solutions for
|Comms Home & Business @
|PlusNet PLC www.plus.net
+ ----- PlusNet - The smarter way to broadband ------

Mand Beckett wrote:
> Gareth Edmondson wrote:
>> Every year we have good service with Force 9 (Plusnet) for one of
>> our school broadband lines - yet every year they never fail to let
>> us down with their invoicing procedures.
>>
>> Since day one - they have been told that we are a school and as
>> such we need invoicing when the yearly bill comes around. It's not
>> something I keep an eye on, so as with most companies I expect a
>> reminder (which they do send).
>>
>> What I don't expect is a reminder at 4pm on a Sunday and being
>> disconnected by 8am on the Monday. So once again I phone and tell
>> them to send me the invoice and a cheque will be sent by the
>> school. As with all schools (I hope), we need around 7 days to
>> raise the cheque as the Bursar does a cheque run.
>>
>> So we are given a few days grace period. F9 once again failing to
>> understand that we are a school/business. By 3:30 on the same day
>> they have cut us off again with a reminder e-mail that the payment
>> people cannot take payment. So once again 30 minutes on the phone
>> explaining. So I run around like ablue arsed fly trying to get
>> cheques written
>> and sent. Needless to say we have been cut off gain on Friday.
>>
>> This week I request my MAC code and start looking for a company
>> that understands the way schools work.
>>
>> Maybe I am being unreasonable, but it's not as if we are going to
>> disappear. A Local Education Authrity building - we're not going to
>> close. You'll get your cheque!!!!! It may take 14 days, but that's
>> the turnaround in a school. I've told you before - and every time
>> the rep on the phone has understood and told me that the records
>> will reflect this. Obviously not so.
>>
>> Gareth
>
> I've dropped you an email, hopefully we should be able to get this
> sorted for you quickly.
>
>> Mand Beckett Broadband Solutions for
>> Comms Home & Business @
>> PlusNet PLC www.plus.net
> + ----- PlusNet - The smarter way to broadband ------

Pity you didn't read the complete post....they've already asked for
their MAC & after being bitten more than once how can they risk
believing your words after they've had falsehoods thrown at them
before.

On Tue, 08 May 2007 11:10:40 +0100, [Mand Beckett] said :-

>Gareth Edmondson wrote:
>> Every year we have good service with Force 9 (Plusnet) for one of our
>> school broadband lines - yet every year they never fail to let us down
>> with their invoicing procedures.
>>
>> Since day one - they have been told that we are a school and as such we
>> need invoicing when the yearly bill comes around. It's not something I
>> keep an eye on, so as with most companies I expect a reminder (which
>> they do send).
>>
>> What I don't expect is a reminder at 4pm on a Sunday and being
>> disconnected by 8am on the Monday. So once again I phone and tell them
>> to send me the invoice and a cheque will be sent by the school. As with
>> all schools (I hope), we need around 7 days to raise the cheque as the
>> Bursar does a cheque run.
>>
>> So we are given a few days grace period. F9 once again failing to
>> understand that we are a school/business. By 3:30 on the same day they
>> have cut us off again with a reminder e-mail that the payment people
>> cannot take payment. So once again 30 minutes on the phone explaining.
>>
>> So I run around like ablue arsed fly trying to get cheques written and
>> sent. Needless to say we have been cut off gain on Friday.
>>
>> This week I request my MAC code and start looking for a company that
>> understands the way schools work.
>>
>> Maybe I am being unreasonable, but it's not as if we are going to
>> disappear. A Local Education Authrity building - we're not going to
>> close. You'll get your cheque!!!!! It may take 14 days, but that's the
>> turnaround in a school. I've told you before - and every time the rep on
>> the phone has understood and told me that the records will reflect this.
>> Obviously not so.
>>
>> Gareth

>Hi there,
>
>I'm sorry to hear that you're having problems with invoicing.
>
>If you'd like to let me know a ticket number I'd be happy to look into
>this and get it sorted for you once and for all.


Now answer the question Gareth posed :

Do Force9 ever listen?



Are you going to explain exactly why your operatives are useless ?

(E-Mail Removed) declared for all the world to hear...
> Now answer the question Gareth posed :
> Do Force9 ever listen?

I think the fact that Mand has replied is a clear indication of the fact
that they do listen.

> Are you going to explain exactly why your operatives are useless ?

How do you know an operator is at fault? Maybe it's a system issue?
Without all of the facts at your command you are in no position to make
these sort of judgements.
--
Regards
Jon

On Wed, 9 May 2007 07:17:55 +0100, Jon <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>> Are you going to explain exactly why your operatives are useless ?
>
>How do you know an operator is at fault? Maybe it's a system issue?
>Without all of the facts at your command you are in no position to make
>these sort of judgements.

Or maybe the OP should review his own operation. By the terms of his
contract, he knows when the amount becomes due so he could arrange to
get the cheque ready in time. Sounds like he wants Force9 to
compensate for his poor memory.

Jim.

Jon wrote:

> (E-Mail Removed) declared for all the world to hear...
> > Now answer the question Gareth posed :
> > Do Force9 ever listen?
>
> I think the fact that Mand has replied is a clear indication of the fact
> that they do listen.
>
> > Are you going to explain exactly why your operatives are useless ?
>
> How do you know an operator is at fault? Maybe it's a system issue?
> Without all of the facts at your command you are in no position to make
> these sort of judgements.

He's going by his own experience presumably.

Graham

Mand Beckett wrote:
> Gareth Edmondson wrote:
>> Every year we have good service with Force 9 (Plusnet) for one of our
>> school broadband lines - yet every year they never fail to let us
>> down with their invoicing procedures.
>>
>> Since day one - they have been told that we are a school and as such
>> we need invoicing when the yearly bill comes around. It's not
>> something I keep an eye on, so as with most companies I expect a
>> reminder (which they do send).
>>
>> What I don't expect is a reminder at 4pm on a Sunday and being
>> disconnected by 8am on the Monday. So once again I phone and tell
>> them to send me the invoice and a cheque will be sent by the school.
>> As with all schools (I hope), we need around 7 days to raise the
>> cheque as the Bursar does a cheque run.
>>
>> So we are given a few days grace period. F9 once again failing to
>> understand that we are a school/business. By 3:30 on the same day
>> they have cut us off again with a reminder e-mail that the payment
>> people cannot take payment. So once again 30 minutes on the phone
>> explaining. So I run around like ablue arsed fly trying to get cheques
>> written
>> and sent. Needless to say we have been cut off gain on Friday.
>>
>> This week I request my MAC code and start looking for a company that
>> understands the way schools work.
>>
>> Maybe I am being unreasonable, but it's not as if we are going to
>> disappear. A Local Education Authrity building - we're not going to
>> close. You'll get your cheque!!!!! It may take 14 days, but that's
>> the turnaround in a school. I've told you before - and every time
>> the rep on the phone has understood and told me that the records
>> will reflect this. Obviously not so.
>>
>> Gareth
>
> I've dropped you an email, hopefully we should be able to get this
> sorted for you quickly.
>
>> Mand Beckett Broadband Solutions for
>> Comms Home & Business @
>> PlusNet PLC www.plus.net
> + ----- PlusNet - The smarter way to broadband ------

The words horse, bolted, door come to mind.