topic Re: is there no longer a business sales telephone number? in Business

is there no longer a business sales telephone number?

carl0s — Tue, 03 May 2022 17:33:53 GMT

No matter which number I dial, all I can get is support - and the waiting time that comes with.

I am trying to place a new business fibre order, and the address checker doesn't like the address I'm choosing so I have to call.

Re: is there no longer a business sales telephone number?

RealAleMadrid — Tue, 03 May 2022 17:44:17 GMT

@carl0s Have you tried this one on the Business website ..... Sales: 0800 023 2221 open 9:00 AM to 5:30 PM

Re: is there no longer a business sales telephone number?

carl0s — Tue, 03 May 2022 17:48:48 GMT

Yep, and have given up being on hold.

I have tried all these three:

0800 028 0282 (14min 52 sec)

0800 023 2221 (14min 2sec)

0800 587 1744 (17 sec - just to hear the same IVR options - with no option to 'join us')

There is literally no option to join us or sign up - it's all support for existing customers with problems etc.

Is this part of the killing-off of Plusnet (along the lines of pushing all the Full Fibre orders in the direction of EE and BT) ?

Re: is there no longer a business sales telephone number?

carl0s — Tue, 03 May 2022 17:58:28 GMT

I'll have to try again in the morning when there's more staff on.

I need to place an order - about the ~56th one for this customer of mine (they have a few coffee shops), and I see three options for the address that all could all be a match. The one that is definitely a match (it has the name of the previous shop that was in the unit - Top Man, and also says Unit 3, which is what I have been told), will not let me continue (see attached screenshot).

Then I have two other options, one says 'Unit 3, 3 Town Square', and the other says '3 Town Square'.

Of those other two options, one says a new line install is needed, and the other allows a working line takeover. Our fitout guy says there is a phone socket by the water meter, so who knows if I should go ahead with an attempted WLTO or not. Also is there a CP / service in place already (10 working day lead time minimum), or not.

I don't want to end up in a situation where due to some records screwup, it takes 3 months (no exaggeration, this is how long one of our last batch of stores took, with me ringing and chasing plusnet every day, morning, midnight, and plusnet chasing tickets with a hopeless Openreach every 2 - 3 days) to get phone & broadband installed.

Re: is there no longer a business sales telephone number?

corringham — Tue, 03 May 2022 18:01:04 GMT

That "Unfortunately we've hit a problem" page is what you see if you enter a postcode in a Full Fibre only area - Plusnet can't currently supply any broadband in those areas (I believe that's approaching 400 areas now). So if that's what you see when you enter your customer's postcode, it may be that you will have to use a different ISP...

Re: is there no longer a business sales telephone number?

iannewson — Tue, 03 May 2022 19:32:15 GMT

The address isn't in a fiber priority area though. Infact FTTP isnt available.

If the OP searches here https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/#/ADSL/AddressHome he will find that the TOPMAN listing shows XX instead of MR which points more to me of a database error

Re: is there no longer a business sales telephone number?

dvorak — Tue, 03 May 2022 19:42:28 GMT

Moderators Note

This topic has been moved from Everything Else to Business.

Re: is there no longer a business sales telephone number?

Gandalf — Tue, 03 May 2022 20:25:08 GMT

Hi there,

We’re aware of an issue with the business number which looks to be routing calls to the residential line, so not being able to get through to business sales may likely be related and I’ll flag that up as part of the investigation.

In the meantime, if someone plugs a handset into the phone socket, do they get a dial tone? If so, dial 17070 and that should read the number back which may help in identifying the right line to takeover.

If there’s no dial tone, then new line install at the correct address shown on PAF (Postcode Address File) is the way to go ideally, but as you can’t place an order at the right address, there may be a records issue which an ORDI (OpenReach Data Integrity) could fix.

If you can PM me the full address including postcode, I can take a closer look for you.

Re: is there no longer a business sales telephone number?

carl0s — Tue, 03 May 2022 20:40:04 GMT

Yes, quite. And it was a database error that caused the delay last time. It wasn't 3 months, it was close to 4. Order placed October 23rd 2021, service live first week of February 2022. Openreach engineers being repeatedly sent to install an fttc line to a street cabinet miles away - a routing / addressing error which openreach back office admin couldn't be arsed to fix in a normal timeframe.

Of the last 17 orders placed on 23rd October, I had about 4 give the same error page on the website and I had to phone up to place orders, like I was trying to do today.

As you correctly state, it isn't a fibre priority exchange, and in fact fttp isn't available at all. I guess you figured out the address from the little info I gave! Anyway for anyone else following, it's post code ol11xe, Unit 3, used to be Top Man. BT wholesale checker reports numbers just fine.

Re: is there no longer a business sales telephone number?

carl0s — Tue, 03 May 2022 20:41:55 GMT

Yes I believe my call to business support two weeks ago was answered by residential...

Re: is there no longer a business sales telephone number?

Gandalf — Tue, 03 May 2022 21:16:39 GMT

Really sorry for the issues you've had and you've not been able to get straight through to business support/sales.

I'll look at this for you tomorrow when I'm back in the office.

Re: is there no longer a business sales telephone number?

Gandalf — Wed, 04 May 2022 07:54:33 GMT

@carl0s

The address which gives you that error isn't showing up in the supplier database, but the other two are.

If you can find out whether the line is working and the landline number, I can raise an ORDI to build the right address in the supplier systems in line with PAF. Alternatively I've checked both the existing addresses and there are plenty of spare pairs showing in the records which suggests that a new line installation shouldn't be a problem.

Re: is there no longer a business sales telephone number?

carl0s — Wed, 04 May 2022 09:30:22 GMT

Thank for checking Galdalf. I'll have to see if I can get someone with a telephone to head over there.

Re: is there no longer a business sales telephone number?

Gandalf — Wed, 04 May 2022 09:52:59 GMT

No problem and sounds like a plan!

Let me know what they say.

Re: is there no longer a business sales telephone number?

Townman — Wed, 04 May 2022 17:07:14 GMT

0161 626 8110 was the published number for Top Man - does that help any?

Re: is there no longer a business sales telephone number?

carl0s — Thu, 05 May 2022 07:57:10 GMT

Thanks for that Townman.

I went there yesterday, bit of a drive, and the 'phone socket' that the fitout guy told me about was a DP box with no cover flapping around in the breeze next to the water stop tap 🙂

Upstairs there was a Panasonic PBX on the wall with another BT-style DP box and two very-old phone sockets with "BT Cabling Systems" (T with three dots 1980s BT logo) logos on them, and no dial-tones. I suppose those sockets would have been PBX extensions rather than lines. Regardless, all of the upstairs is being ripped out anyway. only discernible number written on box was 6270168 in very faded pencil. other one was impossible to read but could have said 6276407, or perhaps 6236407. All would be 0161 nowadays of course but might have been 061 back when in use.

So I need to go the new-line route either way, and if an Openreach engineer is turning up to do a new line, as long as they go to the right property (the one with scaffolding around it), then things should work out OK. I suppose I just can't choose the Topman option from the list can I ? and will have to go with '3 Town square' and hope the engineer rings me on route like they sometimes do, or reads the order notes.

Re: is there no longer a business sales telephone number?

Gandalf — Thu, 05 May 2022 08:34:53 GMT

I can't find either of those landline numbers at either of the addresses we've got in the supplier database.

I agree, I'd recommend placing a new line installation at one of the addresses you're able to sign up at.

In theory, when the order's placed before it goes to an engineer, it'll be run past our suppliers address matching system to make sure they're sending out an engineer to an address that's registered on PAF.

If you can let me know though once you've signed up, I can keep an eye on this for you and make sure we're sending the router to the right address too as I imagine the slightly wrong address may confuse the postie.

Re: is there no longer a business sales telephone number?

carl0s — Tue, 17 May 2022 09:08:01 GMT

Thanks Gandalf.

We don't use a Plusnet router so it's OK.

New line should be going in tomorrow, fingers crossed 🙂

Re: is there no longer a business sales telephone number?

Gandalf — Tue, 17 May 2022 09:35:28 GMT

No worries, sounds good. Let me know how it goes.

Re: is there no longer a business sales telephone number?

carl0s — Wed, 18 May 2022 19:27:38 GMT

I've just tried to call support about another issue on one of our accounts, and I'm being told that customer support is closed.

I thought Plusnet were aware of these 'phone system problems' and were going to sort them? It was reported on ISPReview about 2 weeks ago, and has been going on for longer than that.

https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2022/05/isp-plusnets-missing-24-7-uk-support-for-business-customers.html