topic Re: We'll do you proud.....wait, maybe not. in Plusnet Feedback

We'll do you proud.....wait, maybe not.

chiso — Wed, 29 Jan 2014 17:37:31 GMT

You've just relocated back to the UK, you call PN and you clearly explain that:
A) the kind of contract and service you need
B) There is already a phone line for the property, which according to the letting contract cannot be changed, moved nor deactivated (quite the norm)
C) No, you do not have any account with any other internet provider as you have just relocated back to the country and you have no idea who lived in this property before, therefore you are unable to provide a MAC key.
PN says:
Yes, you can keep your existing phone number
Yes, we can provide broadband without the MAC key (on the existing phone number), we'll do everything ourselves just ignore our requests for MAC key.
Yes, you can pay by direct debit
Just give us 2 weeks
Within a few hours of signing up and within the following week you find that:
A) PN has got the direct debit details wrong and it takes 3 days to delete that as you cannot edit them in the meantime
B) PN is going to change your phone number within 24 hours (resulting in a breach of contract with your letting agent)
C) OK, since you insist so much, we will keep your existing phone number
D) No, you cannot have broadband on the above number unless there is also a MAC key. Yes, we know there's no way for you to find it, but we want the MAC key
E) If you really want broadband you must change phone number
F) Everything you have been told when you signed up was false.
G)ok, you want to cancel i'll transfer you (who cares if you have to wait on the line for that too and who cares if you are leaving after 6 days).
only possible outcome:
you either breach your contract with the letting agent and get broadband with PN, or you respect your contract and do not get broadband (what would i need plusnet for then?).
You finish your calling credit while waiting to be transferred and cannot cancel. Isn't this your lucky day?
You take a deep breath and a moment to consider that maybe, just maybe there is still someone who could still do something for you and does not want to lose the new customer.
You open the tickets page and find that within 30 seconds of your last call, the "advisor" opened and immediately closed a new ticket saying that as per telcon you want to cancel so you have been transferred.
Obviously you find this by accident, as no email notification for this ticket was sent.
Then you find that without actually waiting for a formal cancellation order from you, the above mentioned "advisor", has already added a comment on another ticket advising of a cease order. (you really want me to leave don't you?).
You take yet another deep breath and add a comment on one of the existing tickets, explaining the whole situation yet again and that you want one final and clear answer of what this company can or cannot do for you and that if you have to call once more, you will do so only to cancel the order.
Wait, there is a reply to your ticket, nice, maybe someone is listening.
Your ticket has been escalated... YAYYYY, someone is working on it!
Scroll down a line or two and you find the following message:
"Sorry, we cannot help you any further, please call......"
Am I wrong in thinking i have been misled and that it might be better to sign up with another company even if it is more expensive?
Dear Plusnet.......is this for real?
Seriously.
It would be nice to actually have someone telling me once and for all if i can have exactly what was promised me on the day i have signed up.
If you can, great. If you can't, then just admit it. And STOP asking me to call you. In a week you made me spend double the money i would have paid in a month if you had done things properly from the beginning.
You can either contact me here, or YOU can call me, you have my mobile number.

Re: We'll do you proud.....wait, maybe not.

picbits — Wed, 29 Jan 2014 20:14:19 GMT

Not a good start.
Hopefully a member of the digital care team will pick this up tomorrow for you (if there aren't any working late tonight).
On a positive note, calls are recorded so if you have been misled by the initial customer support advisor, they can confirm this and break his legs or similar
Hopefully you get this all sorted - maybe post when you initially made contact and were told the above (so they can listen to the call) and also when would be the best time for them to call you during the day on your mobile ?

Re: We'll do you proud.....wait, maybe not.

chiso — Wed, 29 Jan 2014 23:43:49 GMT

Thank you DomS and good points.
I joined on the afternoon of the 22nd Jan and maybe the best time to call me would be between 1pm and 3pm.....though i don't think they are going to call.

Re: We'll do you proud.....wait, maybe not.

deathtrap — Thu, 30 Jan 2014 05:25:37 GMT

@chiso: This phone line you have, who is paying the bill for it you or the letting agent? if it's you,then it's your choice which provider's you want services from , Which service provider do you pay line rental to at the moment? if sky or talk talk then you won't get a MAC code as it doesn't apply to fully unbundled lines, If its not with either of those ,you can still get the current /old ISP's Tag removed,through you new ISP it can take a while though,
Your other alternative is to have a second line installed, this wouldn't usually mean a new run of cable into the property , as most have 3-4 pairs in the cable, they would just connect another unused pair at the street cab(PCP) and an additional Master socket next /near to where the existing one is
At the end of the day if you are paying for the phone line(line rental/calls ) then it should be up to you which provider you have , it's a bit like them saying that you must continue to have the same utility suppliers, letting agents scumbag leeches is what they are what would happen if you didn't want or need the landline? it would get disconnected unless the person named on the bill continued to pay

Re: We'll do you proud.....wait, maybe not.

orbrey — Thu, 30 Jan 2014 09:25:07 GMT

Hi Chiso,
Really sorry about how this happened. We should have been able to transfer it over and keep the number, but unfortunately the previous provider ceased the line before our order could complete. We then placed a provide order to reactivate the line and have also tried to restore the number, but unfortunately it had already been assigned to another line by the time your order was complete and we were able to request it. I must stress at this point that it's all down to the previous provider cancelling the line - we did all we could to get this working, and had they not ceased it we'd have been able to transfer it over with the number, which is why you were advised as you were.
Nontheless I'm sorry things happened that way.

Re: We'll do you proud.....wait, maybe not.

KK — Thu, 30 Jan 2014 11:13:52 GMT

Chiso - if the landline has been disconnected, then arguably, it is the landlord or letting agent who has broken the terms of the contract. I reckon that if you took the lease on the understanding that there would be a working phoneline in the property, then you might be owed compensation for the time you are without a phone, and for any re-installation charges which you might incur.
Your experience with PN's call centre is unfortunately quite typical of most call centres (especially the utilities companies). It is only occasionally that an issue will be dealt with promptly and at the first attempt.

Re: We'll do you proud.....wait, maybe not.

chiso — Thu, 30 Jan 2014 12:19:20 GMT

@Matt,
Thank you for getting back to me.
The line has not been reassigned, in fact, that line is still on this property and is still active (I checked with both BT and the landlady).
I had already explained this in detail during my last phone call to you guys and that is when I was told that I cannot have any broadband unless i give you the MAC key or change phone number (and I cannot do any of those two options).

To recap,
the line is on this property (no matter what kind of discrepancy you see),
i need to keep the phone number and
i need broadband (on the existing number) without the MAC key.
Can you provide that or not?
Just to be even more clear, so that there is no doubt, i called BT again today and they have reconfirmed that the line is here and it has not been reassigned at all.

Re: We'll do you proud.....wait, maybe not.

chiso — Thu, 30 Jan 2014 12:24:40 GMT

@Deathtrap
I'm not paying line rental to anyone at the moment. I haven't got any contract at all.....which is what I am trying to get with PN
@KK
the line has not been disconnected.

Re: We'll do you proud.....wait, maybe not.

HPsauce — Thu, 30 Jan 2014 12:27:48 GMT

Quote from: Matt
it had already been assigned to another line by the time your order was complete

Quote from: chiso
The line has not been reassigned, in fact, that line is still on this property and is still active (I checked with both BT and the landlady).

Someone somewhere is being "economical with the truth".
Time for someone in PlusNet who really knows what they're doing to make some authoritative calls.

Re: We'll do you proud.....wait, maybe not.

KK — Thu, 30 Jan 2014 12:30:54 GMT

Chiso - you have a touching faith in the replies you received from BT's call centre. The fact that you have received the same answer from them on two different occasions is mildly encouraging, but it is no guarantee of anything!
I wish you well!

Re: We'll do you proud.....wait, maybe not.

HPsauce — Thu, 30 Jan 2014 12:38:46 GMT

Quote from: chiso
the line has not been disconnected.

That proves little or nothing I'm afraid.
Many lines remain "active" even though they are no longer in contract, it's just that the changes to disable it haven't been made in the exchange.
Normally on a "terminated" line you won't be able to make outgoing calls but will be able to receive incoming ones, but even that limitation may not be in place.
A dial tone proves nothing whatsoever that is relevant.
And even if a number has been reassigned that doesn't mean it's actually been moved, or if it has that it's been done correctly.
Have you tried dialling 17070?

Re: We'll do you proud.....wait, maybe not.

chiso — Thu, 30 Jan 2014 12:39:47 GMT

@KK
i know what you mean, but as I am not the account holder for this number (yet), there is only so little I can do.
thank you for the wishes..i sooo need them.
This is not the first time i take over a phone number and add broadband, but, it's never been so difficult.

Re: We'll do you proud.....wait, maybe not.

chiso — Thu, 30 Jan 2014 12:41:50 GMT

Quote from: HPsauce
Quote from: chiso
the line has not been disconnected.
That proves little or nothing I'm afraid.
Many lines remain "active" even though they are no longer in contract, it's just that the changes to disable it haven't been made in the exchange.
Normally on a "terminated" line you won't be able to make outgoing calls but will be able to receive incoming ones, but even that limitation may not be in place.
A dial tone proves nothing whatsoever that is relevant.
And even if a number has been reassigned that doesn't mean it's actually been moved, or if it has that it's been done correctly.
Have you tried dialling 17070?

I think you've just killed my only hope of solving this thing.

Re: We'll do you proud.....wait, maybe not.

HPsauce — Thu, 30 Jan 2014 12:43:49 GMT

How, I'm just explaining a little?
Lines will almost always remain connected to the exchange unless there's a massive local shortage.
Someone at PlusNet with access to the innards of BT ought to be able to get a more authoritative answer given the conflicting messages.

Re: We'll do you proud.....wait, maybe not.

chiso — Thu, 30 Jan 2014 12:48:11 GMT

i wasn't blaming you.

Re: We'll do you proud.....wait, maybe not.

HPsauce — Thu, 30 Jan 2014 12:54:11 GMT

I didn't read it that way. Just trying to help clarify and ensure you didn't waste effort by taking as firm evidence information that has minimal value.
The phone calls to BT (Retail?) are probably the most important, and what PN are saying, because they (as I'm sure you know) are totally constrained by BT (Openreach?) systems and processes.
So remember that you and PN are actually getting information from very separate businesses.

Re: We'll do you proud.....wait, maybe not.

KK — Thu, 30 Jan 2014 12:59:21 GMT

Chiso - the madness that surrounds the provision of phonelines and broadband is similar to the madness which surrounds the supply of energy. The companies involved are supposed be in competition with each other, but in practice they follow procedures which have changed little since they were a nationalised monopoly.
Issues like yours come up time and time again on consumer programmes etc, and it is not uncommon for a politician to come on and say that there is a need for change. But nothing ever happens.
I recently had an issue with changing my energy suppliers, and eventually I contacted my MP. I was pleasantly surprised with the result.

Re: We'll do you proud.....wait, maybe not.

davidj66 — Thu, 30 Jan 2014 13:07:53 GMT

I disagree KK; Utility switches are generally child's play compared with the unholy mess of telephone and broadband .
MACs ,LLU or no LLU, having to switch via a third party to keep a phone number -it goes on -and in the middle of this spider's web sits Openreach -apparently unaccountable to anyone !!

Re: We'll do you proud.....wait, maybe not.

orbrey — Thu, 30 Jan 2014 13:13:01 GMT

Chiso, if you dial out from the line to a mobile (if possible), what number shows on the mobile? If it's the same one that was on there previously then you're correct, I was getting the info from our provisioning team who were checking the details on your account in our ordering system.

Re: We'll do you proud.....wait, maybe not.

chiso — Thu, 30 Jan 2014 13:49:58 GMT

Hi Matt,
I cannot test that as there is no phone in the property yet and i am going to buy one only after i am able to get the contract sorted (if we can find a solution to this).
I am not going to use the line until my name is on that phone number.
As i have just relocated from abroad i have to buy everything. Including the phone.