topic Re: Do not join Plusnet in Plusnet Feedback

Do not join Plusnet

nic32 — Fri, 05 May 2017 10:18:14 GMT

I have never registered to a forum only to complain about an experience. This is a first, thanks Plusnet.

I have moved from Sky as I wanted to upgrade my broadband to fibre and Plusnet had a good deal.

I wish I have never done that.

Since then I have experienced:

• Activation date miscommunication: When enquiring for the ETA I was promised my broadband would have been smoothly activated on the 27th of April. It turns out the activation date was actually a week after, on the 4th of May

• Payment issue: I had to chase these guys to pay them the activation fee (2 days of chasing). I have never chased anyone to give them money for an issue they have had.

• Activation issue: This is the cherry on the cake. On the 4th of May, whilst waiting for my broadband to be activated, I decided to touch base with the customer service, since I have had issues already in the past. Guess what? My order was delayed and no one bothered to tell me anything about it until I called in. Which means that unless you keep chasing them for anything they don't care. Well done.

The day after, 5th of May, I get in touch again with the customer service to get the issue fixed, or at least that's what I thought as I've been told that for some "glitch" my order is delayed again and it can take up to 5 days to be sorted out, which means, including weekend, another week with no internet for me. Again, well done.

Long post, but bottom line is, do not join Plusnet, unless all you want is to pay for issues and then pay for another provider to provide for what this guys can't do.

I hope this post propagates through the net so other users can be aware of what they will go through if they ever ponder to join Plusnet

Re: Do not join Plusnet

abails0105 — Fri, 05 May 2017 10:33:58 GMT

Please accept my apologies for the issues you have encountered in transferring your services over to Plusnet, this is not something we like to see.

With regards to the activation date changing to 04/05/2017 there was a cease on the line from your previous provider which was preventing us from placing our orders, once this was removed we placed them as soon as we could but I do apologise the date was not what you were originally told.

I can see there has been a delay with completing the broadband order on our supplier system and this has been raised with them, however because they have to manually complete all open activities they do have a lead time of up to 5 working days. I am extremely sorry about this and the inconvenience this is now causing you. I can assure you we will do everything we can to get this rectified for you as soon as possible.

Our provisioning department will continue to keep you regularly updated and I do hope this can be sorted for you shortly.

Re: Do not join Plusnet

nic32 — Fri, 05 May 2017 10:54:37 GMT

For all of you reading, this is what you gonna get. Excuses, which you shouldn't really care about. Imagine going to the supermarket and at the till taking the goods without paying because you have had an issue with your wallet. I'm sure you could get away with an apology. Laughable.

With regards to the activation date changing to 04/05/2017 there was a cease on the line from your previous provider which was preventing us from placing our orders

This was not communicated to me, in fact I was reassured that the activation would have taken 15 minutes. 15 days is what you meant in reality.

Same goes for the rest of the issues, I have not received any communication regarding all the issues mentioned, I had to get in touch with you randomly just to figure out there was some new problem happening.

Again, I hope for all you reading, this would serve as an example.

Re: Do not join Plusnet

chenks76 — Fri, 05 May 2017 12:11:43 GMT

Why are you hightlighting some text as bold and some as underlined?
It just makes for poor reading.

Re: Do not join Plusnet

Mustrum — Fri, 05 May 2017 12:17:04 GMT

Did you tell Sky you were leaving?

Re: Do not join Plusnet

nic32 — Fri, 05 May 2017 12:20:21 GMT

Nope, Plusnet told me they would have handled the whole process as I was not locked into a contract with Sky anymore

Re: Do not join Plusnet

chenks76 — Fri, 05 May 2017 12:26:37 GMT

if sky put a cease which they should not have done.
but may be due to you leaving an LLU ISP and moving to a non-LLU ISP.

to be honest, you've left a decent ISP with a decent network and moved to a tin pot ISP with a shared network.

Re: Do not join Plusnet

nic32 — Fri, 05 May 2017 12:30:28 GMT

That only adds to the regret of joining this provider. But thanks for the detailed explanation.

Re: Do not join Plusnet

ITWorks — Fri, 05 May 2017 12:32:14 GMT

PN new network is dedicated not shared

Re: Do not join Plusnet

rongtw — Fri, 05 May 2017 12:42:21 GMT

????? since when have been Sky a decent ISP with a decent network ?

I chat to people online every night and the consensus is that Sky is worst ISP if you Game online

Re: Do not join Plusnet

chenks76 — Fri, 05 May 2017 13:04:02 GMT

@ITWorks wrote:

PN new network is dedicated not shared

it's not their own LLU network.
still part of BT wholesale isn't it?

Re: Do not join Plusnet

chenks76 — Fri, 05 May 2017 13:04:32 GMT

@rongtw wrote:

????? since when have been Sky a decent ISP with a decent network ?

I chat to people online every night and the consensus is that Sky is worst ISP if you Game online

what about those who don't game online?

Re: Do not join Plusnet

rongtw — Fri, 05 May 2017 16:05:07 GMT

@chenks76

26 million Xbox One units and 55 million PS4 units sold in past 12 months , and thousands of Game PC sold so the game players are not in the Minority !

Re: Do not join Plusnet

chenks76 — Fri, 05 May 2017 16:25:12 GMT

i didn't ask how many gamers there are.
i asked what the non-gamers said.

and out of those 81 million "gamers" how many are on sky broadband?
that's the thing with anecdotal evidence, it's just that.

Re: Do not join Plusnet

DaveyH — Fri, 05 May 2017 16:41:35 GMT

@rongtw wrote:

@chenks76

26 million Xbox One units and 55 million PS4 units sold in past 12 months , and thousands of Game PC sold!

Globally...

And Sky's network has always been very good IME.

Re: Do not join Plusnet

Townman — Sat, 06 May 2017 13:22:09 GMT

@adamwalker, (I think it was you I raised this with elsewhere)

Is this a good case to add to the ex-Sky provisioning issues analysis I suggested elsewhere (not responded to)?

If one accepts all of the statements on this topic...

user did not tell Sky they were leaving
this was entirely a gaining ISP led migration
the process was delayed because of a line cease order supposedly placed by Sky

Then one has to conclude that...

Upon receiving notification of the intent to transfer, Sky are placing cease notices on lines as part of their 'notify their own customer' process, thereby inhibiting the migration, causing cutomer frustration and dissatisfaction whilst damaging the reputation of their competitor
Or there's something screw-ball in PlusNet's or BTw's processes which gives rise to a phantom cease notice on the line presently 'owned' by Sky

Something in this case does not add up.

Re: Do not join Plusnet

higgy1981 — Sun, 07 May 2017 11:38:57 GMT

I am in exactly the same position as the OP, same days, same lack of contact.

I'm still waiting on a service

Re: Do not join Plusnet

nic32 — Wed, 10 May 2017 08:51:39 GMT

Quick update. If you're thinking of joining read this as it may contain useful information plusnet won't communicate to you otherwise.

From the 5th of May Plusnet "guaranteed" me I would have been connected on the 8th of May.

As of today 10th of May no connection. Got in touch again with the customer service and apparently they found a fault somewhere. Now, they have to send someone to check the line and I was basically forced to accept to be charged £65 if the fault is in my premises (forced as the other option is to cancel). Apparently calling their own fault team will take up to 3 days and the engineer will be assigned in 2 days. That sums up to another 5 days of delay + fixing the actual fault which can take "from 48 hours to a few weeks". A few weeks, how sad is that? I ordered plusnet broadband first week of April, if I'm lucky I'd get my first byte in June. What a regret.

I was connected with Sky like a month ago and there were no faults or glitches of any sort. This whole situation sounds like a joke to me. Again I strongly advise not to join this provider.

Re: Do not join Plusnet

Townman — Wed, 10 May 2017 09:37:00 GMT

Readers also need to be aware of a few important points here...

Apparently Sky placed a service cease notice on the line - how or why is not clear, the OP states they did not tell Sky of their plan to migrate away - whilst the cease order remains unfulfilled no ISP can place an order for the provision of an alternative service. In this respect the user's experience would have been little different with any ISP ... Other than possibly a more proactive communication of the Sky instigated bad news.
Moving from Sky to BTw's WBC service (as used by the majority of ISPs) requires a physical change to the line termination within the exchange, hence the assertion that all was well with Sky before the swap is no assurance that BTOR (who do the same work for all ISPs) get it right every time or might have done it better for a different ISP
The £65 user fault charge acceptance is a standard general condition for calling out an engineer. The fact that the risk has been accepted needs to be balanced against the risk that the fault is in the user's premises / equipment - the pre-call out checks generally eliminate that risk

The bulk of the issues here arise from the user's previous suppliers and issues internal to BT Wholesale ... It is very debatable if their experience would have been different with another ISP. This forum is rife with "departure from Sky" related issues - either blocking cease orders or BTw / BTOR switch away from LLU difficulties - both physical and database records. PlusNet's main failings have been a lack of communication on why things have failed ... at the time they failed ... it is hoped that internally behind the scenes they are actually squeezing the throat of BTw for their shambolic performance.

Re: Do not join Plusnet

nic32 — Wed, 10 May 2017 09:31:19 GMT

Thanks for the explanation and thanks for confirming that their lack of communication here is the real issue. If moving from Sky (or any other provider) appears to create issues or delays of any sort the user should be informed beforehand.

This also confirms my suspect that Plusnet's agent deliberately lied to me at the moment of ordering the service as they stated that the movement would have been smooth and it would have taken 15 minutes to be completed.

Then again, as a user I don't think I should be bothered/concerned with what goes on behind the scenes, their glitches or their internal faults. I should pay for the service and receive the service, end of the story.