PlusNet staff avoiding accountability??

An issue raised recently in the PlusNet forums concerns the attribution of
statements made by PlusNet staff to their individual staff member BY NAME.

Apparantly, objections have been raised about staff being named when being
quoted in a public forum, which (it is claimed) results in the villificarion
of, and embarassment to, that particular member of staff.

Talk about hiding behind a corporate logo!!!!

Recently, PlusNet admitted to traffic shaping connections on their Premier
service, and further admitted that they had been doing so for two weeks
prior to their admission. In the meantime, when people asked (as I did) 'is
packet shaping applied to Premier customers' and received a resounding 'no',
it wouldn't quite be the truth, would it?

When quoting PlusNet, it is IMPERITAVE to state who you are quoting if at
all possible, as the arse doesn't always make the same noise as the elbow!

- Mike

On Sun, 21 Aug 2005 21:06:54 +0100, "Mike H" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>When quoting PlusNet, it is IMPERITAVE to state who you are quoting if at
>all possible,

always best to cite a reference or URL to a statement so people can
read it in its original context rather than a carefully spun version
that may be quoted elsewhere.

One has to wonder if hassling individuals will just result in them
withdrawing from public debates and adopting a Demon-type stance on
communications - where tablets of stone are occasionally passed down
from the mountain top.

Phil
--
Tiscali - dialup speeds at Broadband prices, see
http://bbs.adslguide.org.uk/postlist...&Board=tiscali

AOL - the unlimited ISP of choice for heavy downloaders.

"Phil Thompson" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote

> >When quoting PlusNet, it is IMPERITAVE to state who you are quoting if at
> >all possible,

> always best to cite a reference or URL to a statement so people can
> read it in its original context rather than a carefully spun version
> that may be quoted elsewhere.

Absolutely, and I guess that your wisdom can be applied to my post, too!
Unfortunately, the originals are often somewhat 'spun'.

http://www.adslguide.org/newsarchive.asp?item=2314

"Broadband Premier offers fast access to all types of services, including
file-sharing. In March, we described Broadband Premier as a "clean service",
with no traffic shaping. This was correct at the time and we have not been
shaping traffic on Premier until very recently.

We would like to confirm that within the last two weeks we have chosen to
apply a low level of shaping to file-sharing traffic on Broadband Premier.
We have done this to positively improve the overall peak-time experience for
Premier customers."

- Mike

On 21 Aug 2005 21:40, Phil Thompson <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>always best to cite a reference or URL to a statement

similarly, when posting a complaint here, it seems pretty useless if one
is not already aware of the discussion (and not knowing what it was, the
"significance" can be increased or decreased - I have read the original
post again, and there's not a hint of what the comments were about to
be able to even start to hunt for it. Anyway, my guess is that this
is another complaint about there being some traffic shaping going on,
affecting someone (perhaps a little, perhaps in a major way, who knows!)
or is it about people who have been paying 29.99 or 39.99 and wanting an
explanation about why they weren't paying the 21.99 charge for the last
X months like any new customers would be...

>One has to wonder if hassling individuals will just result in them
>withdrawing from public debates and adopting a Demon-type stance

Indeed. I remember the staff at Enterprise being helpful and in wide
dialogue. Then it was as if any time their head was above the parapet
they were a target for critics. Then they didn't post any more :-(

There have been negative comments in newsgroup posts and web site
contributions, almost libellous, so I certainly wouldn't wish to be
a member of staff, at least when certain (rotten) policies seem there
for attack by customers / ex-customers. FWIW, I find it puzzling that
some of the complaints are about things which have been discussed at
length (often on u.t.b but certainly on ADSLguide and probably on the
Plus.Net web forum) yet the ones who are the heaviest users and most
affected by change would appear to be the ones so heavily into the
activities they pursue that they are the last to know they could be
affected... they chose to use some of the more costly accounts as
'early adopters' or whatever, and then seem to be in a parallel
universe, oblivious to changes going on with their ISP. Peter M.

--

UK ADSL <http://tinyurl.com/5jpa4> - Happy to save cash with Plus.Net!!

I wrote:
>and there's not a hint of what the comments were about to
>be able to even start to hunt for it.

I mean the comments from Plus.Net and the website.. (subject of the thread)

I've just spent a while reading about the forced throttle on some heavy users
and am quite surprised that "Dave" hasn't been in to vent his spllen of late!

Plus.Net portal "reduced usage profile" topic... I think "I'll get my MAC"
will be echoing around the heavy downloaders' clubhouse this month... Peter M.

On Sun, 21 Aug 2005 21:06:54 +0100, "Mike H" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>An issue raised recently in the PlusNet forums concerns the attribution of
>statements made by PlusNet staff to their individual staff member BY NAME.
>
>Apparantly, objections have been raised about staff being named when being
>quoted in a public forum, which (it is claimed) results in the villificarion
>of, and embarassment to, that particular member of staff.
>
>Talk about hiding behind a corporate logo!!!!
>
>Recently, PlusNet admitted to traffic shaping connections on their Premier
>service, and further admitted that they had been doing so for two weeks
>prior to their admission. In the meantime, when people asked (as I did) 'is
>packet shaping applied to Premier customers' and received a resounding 'no',
>it wouldn't quite be the truth, would it?
>
>When quoting PlusNet, it is IMPERITAVE to state who you are quoting if at
>all possible, as the arse doesn't always make the same noise as the elbow!

FFS here's a clue:

If you snipe at people who are trying to help you they'll stop trying
to help you.

PS: Can none of you dimwitted tosspots afford a spellchecker?

<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote

> If you snipe at people who are trying to help you they'll stop
> trying to help you.

Do you mean resign? After all, helping PlusNet customers as a member of the
support team is a paid position.

However, you're missing the point! The issue is that when PlusNet do
communiicate with their customers, sometimes communication lines between
themselves are flawed. This results in different staff offering different
responses to straight questions, and it is only by research and comparison
that one can establish the validity of what is correct.

PlusNet staff, like it or not, are earning themselves individual
reputations - some are well informed, some are less so, some are technically
'able', some may mislead, others may rely on 'spinning' an essentially
truthful story - and it is by weighing differing statements by who has made
that statement that can get closer to the truth.

- Mike

> PS: Can none of you dimwitted tosspots afford a spellchecker?

Sew what, and I certainly don't have the unabridged patch!

On Sun, 21 Aug 2005 23:14:43 GMT, (E-Mail Removed) wrote:

>On Sun, 21 Aug 2005 21:06:54 +0100, "Mike H" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>>An issue raised recently in the PlusNet forums concerns the attribution of
>>statements made by PlusNet staff to their individual staff member BY NAME.
>>
>>Apparantly, objections have been raised about staff being named when being
>>quoted in a public forum, which (it is claimed) results in the villificarion
>>of, and embarassment to, that particular member of staff.
>>
>>Talk about hiding behind a corporate logo!!!!
>>
>>Recently, PlusNet admitted to traffic shaping connections on their Premier
>>service, and further admitted that they had been doing so for two weeks
>>prior to their admission. In the meantime, when people asked (as I did) 'is
>>packet shaping applied to Premier customers' and received a resounding 'no',
>>it wouldn't quite be the truth, would it?
>>
>>When quoting PlusNet, it is IMPERITAVE to state who you are quoting if at
>>all possible, as the arse doesn't always make the same noise as the elbow!
>
>FFS here's a clue:
>
>If you snipe at people who are trying to help you they'll stop trying
>to help you.
>
>PS: Can none of you dimwitted tosspots afford a spellchecker?

Oh dear this village idiot must work for PlusNet.

When we were with Plusnet the service was crap and the customer
service even worse. Fine if your problem fitted into a nice neat slot
on their list. This was a few years back, they started out fine but
now seem too big for their boots and really dont care.

Go elsewhere there are better and cheaper.

On Mon, 22 Aug 2005 02:01:02 +0100, "Mike H" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

><(E-Mail Removed)> wrote
>
>> If you snipe at people who are trying to help you they'll stop
>> trying to help you.
>
>Do you mean resign? After all, helping PlusNet customers as a member of the
>support team is a paid position.


They're paid to offer help through their own channels. Offering extra
help through newsgroups is a bonus which seems to be unique to them
and not something that they're obliged to do.

Mike H wrote:

> Recently, PlusNet admitted to traffic shaping connections on their Premier
> service, and further admitted that they had been doing so for two weeks
> prior to their admission. In the meantime, when people asked (as I did) 'is
> packet shaping applied to Premier customers' and received a resounding 'no',
> it wouldn't quite be the truth, would it?

So what ?

Do you know all the circumstances surrounding the traffic shaping?

for instance. might it have been a limited trial prior to a full
implementation?

Might it be that support staff you contacted didn't know about it,
simply because it wasn't applied overall or generally?

I don't use Plusnet but it seems to me that they provide a decent
service for the price, have a good after-sales support staff and have
the balls to reply on usenet to anyone who wants to take a pop at them
or who has a query that hasn't been answered in the normal channels.

I think I've just talked my way into deciding who my supplier will be
when my curent NTL Freedom contract runs out ........

--
The Caretaker .........