topic Re: Hellooooo.....anyone there..... in Broadband

Hellooooo.....anyone there.....

bwatkins — Tue, 22 Feb 2022 10:37:19 GMT

Am I mistaken or has Plusnet customer service completely vanished and been replaced by a text messaging system that is only capable of saying 'most faults get fixed within 4 hours'. When I have no service whatsoever living on my own in a rural area unable to raise the alarm if there is an emergency I want the company responsible to tell me what they are doing about it and when not offer philosophical sound bytes. After the [-Censored-] I've had from this company over the past year I thought it couldn't get any worse but I was clearly wrong.

Moderator's note by Dick (Strat): Avoidance of swear filter edited as per Forum rules.

Re: Hellooooo.....anyone there.....

jab1 — Mon, 21 Feb 2022 21:15:13 GMT

If you explain your issue, maybe someone could offer advice?

Re: Hellooooo.....anyone there.....

bwatkins — Mon, 21 Feb 2022 21:37:51 GMT

My issue is that 10 hours ago I lost broadband and phone and the only way of communicating with Plusnet is to send a text saying HELP to a number and all you get back is a message saying 'network issues are usually solved in 4 hours'. I have no idea if the fault is logged, if any diagnosis has been carried out, what the problem is/might be, what action is being taken, how long it might take....nothing. Nobody answers the phone when you call. They've removed all other methods of contacting them. I'm completely in the dark.

This is not an isolated incident for me. I've had so many problems all down to incompetent customer service. I absolutely HATE this company.

I live on my own in an isolated area. The phone/internet is my only connection to the outside world. If my house catches fire tonight I won't be able to contact the fire brigade. If I have a heart attack I won't be able to phone for an ambulance. I am currently sitting in my car on the top of a cold windswept hill in the middle of nowhere using a mobile phone trying to get help. This is serious.

Re: Hellooooo.....anyone there.....

jab1 — Mon, 21 Feb 2022 21:48:36 GMT

So - you have a mobile - which I am guessing doesn't get a good signal at home? If you lost connection 10 hours ago why didn't you (a) post earlier or (b) call earlier - the call centre is only open 0800-2000 M-F, and slightly shorter hours at the weekend.

I appreciate it is a problem if you are in an isolated area, but if you report either a phone or BB issue via the automated system, I understand there will be more information than what you have reported. I don't know as I've never used it. It does sound from that cryptic message you received that the system is aware of a network issue in your area, which will have been reported to BT/OR.

Re: Hellooooo.....anyone there.....

Townman — Mon, 21 Feb 2022 22:35:40 GMT

Did no one notice the two major storms which have just savaged the country?

There are lots of BT Openreach circuits which are down, the repair of which is not in the hands of any individual ISP / CP. The automated service does I believe raise the issue direct to BT Openreach who own the wires.

Re: Hellooooo.....anyone there.....

bwatkins — Tue, 22 Feb 2022 09:14:55 GMT

Yes I phoned and listened to hold music as long as I could but nobody answered. It's a 10 mile round trip to get a phone signal. I have work to do. I don't have time to keep driving to the top of a hill in a storm to sit and listen to hold music.

The last THREE times there have been network issues Plusnet have NOT notified BT when I reported the fault. Last time Openreach were completely unaware of the fault for 10 days because Plusnet's 'automated' system doesn't work. The ombudsman awarded me £120 in compensation. I have no confidence whatsoever that the fault is being dealt with.

Yes of course I noticed the storm. The power was off here for nearly three days. Obviously a tree has gone through the line or something which makes it all the more ludicrous for Plusnet to send a nonchalant text saying 'oh well, never mind, we're sure someone will fix it within 4 hours' and expect me to just sit here in the dark.

And yes of course I realise this is an Openreach job but I can't contact Openreach. I have to go through Plusnet. And that's where all the problems originate. If you think this marvellous automated service just jumps in to life and Openreach spring in to action you are deluded. I have seen the internal investigation. I have seen the logs. Senior people at Plusnet have admitted outright, half the time it doesn't work. Repairs are delayed by days solely because of Plusnet's administration.

Still no internet/phone, still listening to hold music, still only a single text message received from Plusnet.

Re: Hellooooo.....anyone there.....

SammyM — Tue, 22 Feb 2022 10:30:56 GMT

Hiya @bwatkins,

I'm really sorry to hear you are experiencing an issue with your service and for the inconvenience this is causing. I really do understand the frustration this is causing and I am sorry it has caused you to lose faith in us as your provider, which I hope we can regain this.

Unfortunately there is an outage affecting all the customers in your area and our suppliers are working hard to resolve this.

They have advised that we are due another update tomorrow by 2pm and they are working hard to resolve it by that time, but it is an estimate.

I have placed a ticket with my faults team here so that they can check for an update tomorrow should the issue still be ongoing and provide you with an update.

Please get back in touch at that time if you would like us to pick this up for you.

Re: Hellooooo.....anyone there.....

pvmb — Wed, 23 Feb 2022 16:41:23 GMT

@jab1 wrote:

So - you have a mobile - which I am guessing doesn't get a good signal at home? If you lost connection 10 hours ago why didn't you (a) post earlier or (b) call earlier - the call centre is only open 0800-2000 M-F, and slightly shorter hours at the weekend.

Err... Possibly because he "lost connection 10 hours ago"? And we've all heard tell of the waiting time of phone calls to the call centre. And that's in normal times! 😁

Possibly worth quoting the automatic testing & reporting system number, for OP and others? I have found it useful in the past.

Plusnet Line Test:

Text 'PHONE <landline number>' To 07800 008121