Questions to Plusnet - expelling critical customers

Yesterday Plusnet expelled two customers; one for repeatedly asking
the same question on its forums:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/08..._diconnection/

The individual concerned (no connection to me) wanted to know why
Plusnet have refused to email their existing customers about the
launch of a cheaper package that could save them up to £216 pa for an
identical service. I'm going to take the liberty of repeating his
questions here (pasted from a post in ADSLGuide). Perhaps a helpful
member of the Plusnet support team would finally address them? In the
absense of some answers (pigs may fly!) then prospective customers of
Plusnet should take note.

1. Do you admit that Carol Axe gave a written undertaking to Premier
customers to send them details of the new Premier products (in her
"FUP Withdrawn" email sent to all Premier customers on April 21 2005 -
read it here:
http://portal.plus.net/supportpages...._id=&page=12)?

2. Why has that email never been sent?

3. (In response to the oft-used 'Privacy policy defence') Which
paragraph of your Privacy policy prevents you from sending an email
about restructured Premier products to existing Premier customers?

4. (If you buy the Privacy policy defence) In which case why did the
email never get sent to those Premier customers who opted out of the
Privacy policy?

5. Would you say that this is the only topic which has preoccupied
pr100 recently - and it was therefore this discussion which caused you
to terminate his contract?



John

"John" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Yesterday Plusnet expelled two customers; one for repeatedly asking
> the same question on its forums:
>

So am I understanding this correctly that they expelled them from the actual
service - kicked them off adsl account for asking those questions?

"Beck" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> "John" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>> Yesterday Plusnet expelled two customers; one for repeatedly asking
>> the same question on its forums:
>>
>
> So am I understanding this correctly that they expelled them from the
> actual service - kicked them off adsl account for asking those questions?
>

yes dump them asap DO NOT USE them apparentle lee strafford has been in
the industry for 15 years hmmm he looks more like michelin man to me and
ive seen him in the flesh PMSL

On Fri, 26 Aug 2005 12:16:36 +0100, "Beck"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>
>"John" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>news:(E-Mail Removed).. .
>> Yesterday Plusnet expelled two customers; one for repeatedly asking
>> the same question on its forums:
>>
>
>So am I understanding this correctly that they expelled them from the actual
>service - kicked them off adsl account for asking those questions?
>


Yup!.....see the 'front page' and the Plusnet forum on
www.adslguide.org.uk for all the gory details.

Plusnet have regressed a long long way in less than twelve months.
When I was a customer they were generally regarded as having one of
the best Customer Support departments of all the ISPs in the UK. They
built up their customer base on the sheer strength of their reputation
and the high quality of their service. I introduced more than ten
friends as new customers back then. The suicide note of a once great
ISP reads as follows:

First they shot themselves in the foot with a botched introduction of
a Fair Use Policy (at which time I moved to another ISP)........

......Then they lost some of their best CS staff (Ian Wild among
them).....

.....Then they introduced 'traffic shaping' (aka throttling) on their
'Premier'(supposedly 'unrestricted) service.....but did it by the back
door and didn't admit to it until they were forced to do so with red
faces....

......Then they restructured their packages in such a way as to make
some cheaper but failed to tell existing customers about the change so
thousands of customers (on 1mb and 2 mb connections) are currently
paying over £200 pa more than they need to for an identical
service.....

......Then they announced their intention to introduce 'idle timeouts'
so that if you don't use the service for 30 mins you get cut off! It
beggars belief that they even think they might get away with that
one......

..... And now they are disconnecting customers who criticise them!

The really interesting question is how long a certain Carol Axe
(Customer Support Manager) will last before her namesake comes down on
her pretty little neck? What planet does the woman live on? Is she
really a Pipex spy hell bent on making Plusnet self destruct? It's
better than any soap opera,....well worth watching the fun unfold over
in ADSLGuide!


John

John wrote:
> On Fri, 26 Aug 2005 12:16:36 +0100, "Beck"

> .....Then they announced their intention to introduce 'idle timeouts'
> so that if you don't use the service for 30 mins you get cut off! It
> beggars belief that they even think they might get away with that
> one......

That wouldn't bother me in the slightest, unless when I wanted to connect
again it was "engaged."

I use my BB exactly as I used dialup, connect and disconnect when I am
finished so Plusnet's idle timeout would be ok. I'm guessing that would
be the same for a lot of broadband modem users. Different for customers
with routers from what I can gather.

I would be more concerned about their traffic shaping which is what has
stopped me signing up. I don't do much downloading, just stuff like
software updates but I like it to be at the full speed of the connection.

On Fri, 26 Aug 2005 12:16:36 +0100, "Beck"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>
>"John" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>news:(E-Mail Removed).. .
>> Yesterday Plusnet expelled two customers; one for repeatedly asking
>> the same question on its forums:
>>
>
>So am I understanding this correctly that they expelled them from the actual
>service - kicked them off adsl account for asking those questions?

Generally being a nuisance by repeatedly posting on their forums
and/or emailing with the same questions and thus taking up too much of
their customer services resources.

On Fri, 26 Aug 2005 12:16:36 +0100, "Beck"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>So am I understanding this correctly that they expelled them from the actual
>service - kicked them off adsl account for asking those questions?

asking similar questions repeatedly every few days since the beginning
of May, for the full picture. Repeatedly bumping up a thread that
ought to have died about May 16th.

I would have barred pr100 from the forums about June, but they let it
run.

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.

"Richard Sobey" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> On Fri, 26 Aug 2005 12:16:36 +0100, "Beck"
> <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>>
>>"John" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>>news:(E-Mail Removed). ..
>>> Yesterday Plusnet expelled two customers; one for repeatedly asking
>>> the same question on its forums:
>>>
>>
>>So am I understanding this correctly that they expelled them from the
>>actual
>>service - kicked them off adsl account for asking those questions?
>
> Generally being a nuisance by repeatedly posting on their forums
> and/or emailing with the same questions and thus taking up too much of
> their customer services resources.

But surely someone has a right to answers from customer support? If they
are not getting any help then they are bound to be a nuisance and continue
to ask them questions until someone helps/

"Phil Thompson" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> On Fri, 26 Aug 2005 12:16:36 +0100, "Beck"
> <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>>So am I understanding this correctly that they expelled them from the
>>actual
>>service - kicked them off adsl account for asking those questions?
>
> asking similar questions repeatedly every few days since the beginning
> of May, for the full picture. Repeatedly bumping up a thread that
> ought to have died about May 16th.
>
> I would have barred pr100 from the forums about June, but they let it
> run.

So the real question is, is PlusNet being an arse or are there actions
acceptable?
Looking at possibly going with PlusNet, I don't like the idea of them
stifling customer complaints, but from the looks of it, what you say puts a
different slant on matters.

Beck wrote:

> So the real question is, is PlusNet being an arse or are there actions
> acceptable?
> Looking at possibly going with PlusNet, I don't like the idea of them
> stifling customer complaints, but from the looks of it, what you say puts a
> different slant on matters.

Why?. They were asking questions that they felt were important and,
when PN refused to answer those questions, they kept pushing. You can't
get away from the fact that PN have ejected two customers who were just
asking questions that PN didn't, for their own reasons, want to answer.

FWIW, I was with PN on dialup for over 5 years but have gone elsewhere
for my ADSL, something I have not regretted. Over the last 6 months
with them I continually had the feeling that they were getting too big
and were finding themselves unable cope with a large user base.

I suppose it depends on what you want from an ISP but I've certainly
decided that "big and cheap" is a lot less desirable from a users point
of view than "small and (slightly) more expensive".

--
Ian

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Mail sent to the From address is ignored.