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Customer service

N
Userlevel 3

As a new customer I am seriously unimpressed so far.  Does it get better or should I cancel now?  Irritations so far include: website and app are not intuitive and poorly designed, eg tick boxes virtually invisible, and eg I am lured to type in the wrong place so nothing happens (eg trying to work out how to post here); chat facility not telling me how long a reply will take and not reassuring me that I'll get a reply even if I log off; this text box typing extra words all over the place - some sort of mad predictive text?  I'm hoping for a flood of replies telling me Pure Planet are a lot better than they seem to be so far and that I am not looking at a year of continual frustration every time I need to communicate with them or engage with the website/app egfeg for meter readings. Thank you for your replies.

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Best answer by NotVeryImpressed 13 July 2020, 23:52

Thank you all for your comments. Do carry on adding anything that might be useful to other new customers similarly at sea, but I won't be following this thread any further myself.  I made a couple of suggestions direct to the team and they were very receptive, which is refreshing from any organisation these days, so I will be sticking with PP.

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23 replies

D
Userlevel 1

I’ve not had any need to contact them other than inputting meter readings which has all been straight forward.  The app looks and feels simple and clean looking. 
Sadly wherever you go, customer service in these times can be hit and miss.  I don’t think any supplier will be answering straight away. Just have to lower expectations and be patient!

Angelabikerbabe
Userlevel 7
Badge +8

Hi

As PP is an app based company, it does take a little getting used to.

 I have only had to contact them once since I joined.

But you can get a lot of help from other PP customers via this forum. Everyone Is really friendly and helpful.

Wattbot is not a chat facility, you get standard answers from wattbot but if you contact the team, via the 'message the team' facility, you do not get an instant reply from the team, it may take a couple of days, but you will get a reply, and you just go back to wattbot to see the reply.

But , as I say, you can get lost answers pretty quickly if you ask the community on this forum. 

Submitting meter readings is very simple every month, you will get an email reminder every month and you just go on the app and submit your readings .

.hope this helps, I hope you stay,  and welcome to the community. 

(BTW, I don't work for PP. I'm just a customer, like you)
Bev
Userlevel 7
Badge +10

I’ve been a PP customer, and community member, for two and a half years now, and instantly liked the app based idea, but especially the community forum, where we’re all members in one big ⛵️, trying to learn from each other, and help others where we can.

So yes, to start with, it can be a little daunting, especially as only a week ago, PP community moved to a whole new, different platform. This has been a big learning curve for all us members and staff, and exploring / learning as we go along, picking up new things each day. So if your initial experience of it was not too good,  do bear in mind it’s very very early days; Patience is the key, I guess. 

As far as the bigger picture goes, and the all round experience of PP as a whole, I personally cannot fault. I run my parents account for them too, as they have no idea of technology. Once you’re up and running, and get used to submitting your meter reads, you’ll hopefully have little or no need, to contact PP, and if you do, like Angela says, most answers can be found here, just by searching or asking the other members here.

Works well, in my personal experience, and I think you’ll swiftly grow to appreciate your choice of energy provider 👍

Enjoy the simple things in life
N
Userlevel 3

Thank you for comments so far. (I didn't mean chatbot - I meant to say the online chat facility with an actual person.)  I don't mind cheap (financially) customer service with minimal real person contact as it feeds into lower prices which is all to the good.  What I don't like is if the company doesn't make it as easy as they can (no real cost to them - they just have to care enough to put the effort in).  When we all have to mess about switching energy suppliers every year, it's the least they can do.  I'm glad you all seem happy enough, so I will trust that all will be well, despite the early warning signs that I will now choose to overlook (hope I don't come to regret it . . .?)

Dunroving

@NotVeryImpressed as a new customer, I share your pain! I have posted several times on this forum to identify the many non-intuitive aspects of the PP model, especially to brand new customers (or those who are part way through a switch). 
 

I’m hoping that my any whinges might have been taken on board, but more often than not, the response is that PP doesn’t have a call centre and they are an app-based model, etc. Which is all well and good, but the model could be much more intuitive. The problems only seem to come to light when there is a problem and the customer just wants to know how they can “talk” with someone. The answer is to “Message the team via Wattbot”, of course, but as per my recent thread, as a new customer, this facile reply often seems less than helpful.

 

I think a lot of the bad feeling would be alleviated if the Home Page simply had a “Contact us” link, taking the customer to Wattbot, where they would find a button saying “Message the Team”. Instead, you’re told, Do A, then drag to B, then click on C, if D doesn’t happen, click on E and type Message the Team. Too complicated!

 

(My Moaning Minnie thread is here: https://community.purepla.net/testing-and-feedback-23/just-message-the-team-confusion-feedback-to-pp-and-advice-to-new-members-10418 )

If I knew what I needed to ask, I wouldn't need to ask it.
N
Userlevel 3

Thank you, Dunrovin.  Welcome reassurance that it's not just me!

LUCKY JO
Badge +2

I think the customer service is great.  Notveryimpressed they are really working hard, bear with, you'll be glad you did 👍

Love LUCKY JO
25 quid

I think you make some fair points. The customer journey isn’t always as smooth as it should be. However, overall PP is doing both well and their best. Their staff are aware of limitations and are working through their backlog. 
I hope things improve for you...

woz
Userlevel 7
Badge +11

As a new customer I am seriously unimpressed so far.  Does it get better or should I cancel now?  Irritations so far include: website and app are not intuitive and poorly designed, eg tick boxes virtually invisible, and eg I am lured to type in the wrong place so nothing happens (eg trying to work out how to post here); chat facility not telling me how long a reply will take and not reassuring me that I'll get a reply even if I log off; this text box typing extra words all over the place - some sort of mad predictive text?  I'm hoping for a flood of replies telling me Pure Planet are a lot better than they seem to be so far and that I am not looking at a year of continual frustration every time I need to communicate with them or engage with the website/app egfeg for meter readings. Thank you for your replies.

hi @NotVeryImpressed , late reply sorry, but to ask do you have a smartphone or tablet and are you able to use the app?

It’ll make your journey just a little easier. It does get better by the way and PP have been and are constantly being made aware of where things need to improve. It’s work in progress but they do listen.

I don’t think you’ll regret it, but then everyone has different tolerance levels..

S
Userlevel 7
Badge +9

Hi there

I find these threads fascinating! I write as someone who switched to Pure Planet without any difficulty and have never had any reason to contact the team. I got involved with the community because I quite liked giving a little time to be helpful to others.

Reading posts for nearly two years a number of things are clear. Whenever MSE link up with Pure Planet for a promotion there's a flurry of complaints/comments, nearly all from people who initiate a switch and then discover that there's not a phone number to call or a live chat facility. But by flurry I mean about 20-30 at most each time. I'm guessing that this is a tiny percentage of the number of those who switch using the promotion, so however counter-intuitive the process might be, relatively few people either need it or find it difficult - I suspect the former. It probably explains why MSE can say that PP has a positive score for customer service. People who don't have a problem don't post to say so.

Equally PP are very clear that they don't want to make it too easy to contact the team. They've chosen to go down this route as a way to keep their prices down (and their business sustainability/survival up). The community posts suggest what, about 4-5 concerns/problems a day, and nearly all dealt with by the community staff and fellow customers. My own view is that with 130,000 customers, the vast majority are finding it all works pretty well.

Stephen

N
Userlevel 3

Thank you all for your comments. Do carry on adding anything that might be useful to other new customers similarly at sea, but I won't be following this thread any further myself.  I made a couple of suggestions direct to the team and they were very receptive, which is refreshing from any organisation these days, so I will be sticking with PP.

S
Userlevel 7
Badge +9

Thank you all for your comments. Do carry on adding anything that might be useful to other new customers similarly at sea, but I won't be following this thread any further myself.  I made a couple of suggestions direct to the team and they were very receptive, which is refreshing from any organisation these days, so I will be sticking with PP.

And here's hoping you might feel you can change your username at some point in the future!

25 quid

Thank you all for your comments. Do carry on adding anything that might be useful to other new customers similarly at sea, but I won't be following this thread any further myself.  I made a couple of suggestions direct to the team and they were very receptive, which is refreshing from any organisation these days, so I will be sticking with PP.

And here's hoping you might feel you can change your username at some point in the future!

Haha. I never changed my created when initially having a problem name! 😇

Stenataar

Just experiencing the pain of this shoddy customer service myself. Once my contract is up I will be looking elsewhere. Can’t seem to get any answer or even find out how to contact a real human. Shocking!

Nataly
Rank

Hey @Stenataar 

As we figured out in our direct messages, it looks like the message you received from the team this morning isn’t showing in your account. 

We’re looking into this now and will update the Community as needed:thumbsup: 

Just to reassure you, too, that the team are looking into your smart meters and getting them communicating with PP again, to receive your smart readings :slight_smile:

Away until 28 June - get in touch with @Mads @Marc for any issues! :)
S
Userlevel 7
Badge +9

Just experiencing the pain of this shoddy customer service myself. Once my contract is up I will be looking elsewhere. Can’t seem to get any answer or even find out how to contact a real human. Shocking!

Glad a real human from Pure Planet responded to this post almost instantly! Shocking!!

Strutt G
Userlevel 7
Badge +9

Real huuumaans, bot support, FaQ’s and the community of communities!

Shockinglyresponsivelybrilliantlyfantasticallywonderfully A OK to have you say.

Have a great day

NB:

Sorry had a rush to the head of hyperhappyness

 

 

Everything is impermanent
P

They are absolute pants. They’ve automated everything so no one does nothing. Umpteen emails, messages etc and the only thing I get is the automated rubbish saying they’ll be in touch. Two months and counting and nothing

Gwyndy

They are absolute pants. They’ve automated everything so no one does nothing. Umpteen emails, messages etc and the only thing I get is the automated rubbish saying they’ll be in touch. Two months and counting and nothing

Hi @Pjhowcroft 

I’m sorry to hear you’ve experienced such difficulty with Pure Planet member services.
Unfortunately some things are known to take a long time to get resolved, particularly if it involves issues with your readings when you moved, your meters, or consolidated billing.

 

I'm not a Pure Planet Staff Member, just a customer, like 99.99% of the other people in this community. Any advice provided is based upon answers previously supplied - either by myself, other customers, or Pure Planet Staff (aka @Marc, @Mads, and @Nataly).
P

They are absolute pants. They’ve automated everything so no one does nothing. Umpteen emails, messages etc and the only thing I get is the automated rubbish saying they’ll be in touch. Two months and counting and nothing

Hi @Pjhowcroft 

I’m sorry to hear you’ve experienced such difficulty with Pure Planet member services.
Unfortunately some things are known to take a long time to get resolved, particularly if it involves issues with your readings when you moved, your meters, or consolidated billing.

 

It’s not a matter of time to fix something, it the lack of any basic customer service skills. Automated messages mean nothing if you have nothing to back it up. Not once have a received an actual reply from anyone in the team regardless of how many messages I’ve sent. Useless is the only adjective that can be leveled at them.

Strutt G
Userlevel 7
Badge +9

Did you prefix your messages via wattBot with “Message the Team” as without that prefix then you are talking to a bot, thats there to assist with programmed responses...similar to the FaQ’s. 

PP has always operated this way, it was designed that way…. so proceed to type “Message the Team” etc etc...then a human account handler will respond back in a couple of days during business hours. You will get a text prompt that an account handler has responded, which is good if you haven’t got time to look back where you posted to see if theres an answer.

Plus you can DM one of the two great PP community managers who have no access to our accounts, but will assist during business hours. Thats Marc and Nataly...see their posts.

Hope this assists.

Post back though as fellow members will assist..thats why PP set this community up. Yep its to save money as call centres are costly. And its very transparent hence your post. The more you know the easier it gets and can be very informative. Buts thats my experience and its not for all. Sorry for waffling.

Have a great weekend @Pjhowcroft 

Everything is impermanent
S
Userlevel 7
Badge +9

 

Hi @Pjhowcroft

It’s not a matter of time to fix something, it the lack of any basic customer service skills. Automated messages mean nothing if you have nothing to back it up. Not once have a received an actual reply from anyone in the team regardless of how many messages I’ve sent. Useless is the only adjective that can be leveled at them.

@Pjhowcroft 

This is disturbing - and not in keeping with my experience of Pure Planet.

People who email help@purepla.net have complained that it can take a few days to get a reply. PP themselves promise a response within three working days if you use Wattbot - but the key here is that you have to say message the team and persevere until it says the message has been passed to the team.

Without wanting to raise your blood pressure further, did you get to that stage with Wattbot? In the past there have been people who have not found the response that has been sent - but it sounds as if you have been back to Wattbot a few times.

A two-month delay is unacceptable and in my experience unprecedented. I think it is worth asking team member @Nataly if she can investigate what has been happening.

Stephen

Nataly
Rank

Hey @Pjhowcroft 

Glad to see you’ve already received useful replies from other Community members :thumbsup:

I doublechecked this with our Member Services team, to check what’s happened here! They’ve let me know they last emailed on 30 April, and they’re checking out your IHD again on the 7th to see if it’s kicked into life. Fingers crossed! 

You can reply to their last email directly with any further issues. 

Away until 28 June - get in touch with @Mads @Marc for any issues! :)

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