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13 days and counting without internet...

athirat
Newbie
Posts: 6
Registered: ‎09-12-2013

13 days and counting without internet...

This relates to tickets 77842352 and 77803405
I've been a customer of Plusnet since April, on the Unlimited Fibre plan. Despite it taking three engineer call outs to install my internet I've had no complaints until now - Plusnet's technical support staff always seemed friendly and competent, and everything lived up to expectations.
On Wednesday 27th November, my internet stopped working. A member of staff told me that my fibre order had been left open and subsequently 'cancelled' by BT - he sounded a bit confused by it. They couldn't explain why this had happened 7 months into the contract, or how I had been receiving fibre for the past 7 months without issue. I was transferred to the home-moves team (I've not moved), who told me that I would have my internet back by Friday 6th. Fine, I thought. 10 days without internet is inconvenient (I need it to work from home), but I can live with it.
Then during the last week I got various messages. "Thank you for calling in today and requesting a housemove." Not reassuring. "I have placed the simultaneous phone and fibre order for you and provisionally booked the appointment for 17/12/2013 between 1PM and 6PM. " An appointment for what? Why couldn't Plusnet just reconnect me? What happened to being reconnected by Friday 6th as Plusnet initially suggested?
I called Plusnet on Tuesday 3rd - I was told that from a technical point of view, there was no reason that an engineer should be required at the property, but that I should double check this with the house moves team. Could they call me tomorrow I asked? Yes, they will do that. Great.
I didn't receive any call. I called back slightly earlier on Saturday 7th. Ah, house moves have gone home. OK.
I call back today. I got to speak to someone at house moves. The first person I spoke to told me they weren't sure of the reasons an engineer was needed, but one definitely was needed, so I needed to be available on 17th December. The second person I spoke to, who was a manager, said pretty much the same thing in a slightly more authoritative voice.
So the reason I'm posting here, is I can't help but feel that there has been a bit of a mix-up somewhere. Plusnet have sent me messages about my house-move, even though I'm not moving. No-one has explained what this engineer is meant to be doing at the property, given my fibre is already set up, albeit disconnected. I may have misunderstood the problem, but I thought the fault lay entirely at the exchange?
As much as I want my internet back, I'd really prefer not to spend half a day off work hanging around for an engineer unless it was entirely necessary. Especially as my experience with Openreach engineers are that they are extremely unreliable - I'll probably be waiting until February to get reconnected.
Does it really take 20 days (as it will be by the 17th) for issues like this to be resolved? Can a Plusnet support agent give any more details as to what might causes issues like this and the steps Plusnet need to take to get it fixed, just so I can understand a little better why it is taking so long?
9 REPLIES 9
athirat
Newbie
Posts: 6
Registered: ‎09-12-2013

Re: 13 days and counting without internet...

Plusnet have today let me know that the engineer's appointment is necessary, and that the 17th December is the earliest appointment available.
They will continue to bill me, despite loss of service, but will refund me later.
I can't say I'm very happy about it. An estimate of 20 days to fix a fault feels excessive.
orbrey
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 10,540
Registered: ‎18-07-2007

Re: 13 days and counting without internet...

Hi athirat,
I am sorry about that. Unfortunately if our suppliers deem an engineer visit is required to resolve the fault we can't actually progress it without a long time spent on the phone arguing - though it's rare that an appointment is requested but isn't required. I'm afraid from there it is all down to availability, and sorry to hear that an engineer won't be available until the 17th. As you've said we'll be sure to refund you for the time without service once the fault is fixed.
athirat
Newbie
Posts: 6
Registered: ‎09-12-2013

Re: 13 days and counting without internet...

Hi Matt,
Thanks for the reply. Are you able to shed any light to what exactly happened for my internet to get disconnected and why an engineer is necessary? I'd feel a lot happier about it if someone could explain that to me.
MisterW
Superuser
Superuser
Posts: 14,575
Thanks: 5,411
Fixes: 385
Registered: ‎30-07-2007

Re: 13 days and counting without internet...

Quote
A member of staff told me that my fibre order had been left open and subsequently 'cancelled' by BT - he sounded a bit confused by it
Surely, if BT cancelled it in error then they should be offering an expedited fix!

Superusers are not staff, but they do have a direct line of communication into the business in order to raise issues, concerns and feedback from the community.

athirat
Newbie
Posts: 6
Registered: ‎09-12-2013

Re: 13 days and counting without internet...

Quote from: MisterW
Surely, if BT cancelled it in error then they should be offering an expedited fix!

That is what I would have hoped for - and I thought thats what Plusnet had promised over the phone when I called them to report this. They said it should be fixed by Friday.
But instead I'm in a house moves queue, despite not having moved  Sad
It's an issue - I need my internet to work. Plusnet's offer to refund for when I was disconnected is better than nothing, but being disconnected is actually costing  me money. I'm having to commute to a friend's house/pay for Wifi etc.
athirat
Newbie
Posts: 6
Registered: ‎09-12-2013

Re: 13 days and counting without internet...

Still no word from anyone on what happened that lead to my internet getting disconnected in the first place. Plusnet are friendly over the phone and say they will call, let me know more details etc., but it feels like no follow up occurs.
orbrey
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 10,540
Registered: ‎18-07-2007

Re: 13 days and counting without internet...

Hi, sorry for the delay in coming back to you. I've just had a look into this and it seems the order for the phone line was never closed off by our suppliers in spite of the fact that it had been installed, they were waiting for us to book another appointment from March through to December and then the order was cancelled - not sure why this cancelled the service though. That will have been what also cancelled the broadband, but again no idea why.
As per the ticket update we'll make sure to refund you for the downtime as soon as the service is back up and running, I'll also make sure we check the orders and confirm they're closed to make sure this doesn't happen again 😕 Really sorry about this.
Townman
Superuser
Superuser
Posts: 22,920
Thanks: 9,537
Fixes: 158
Registered: ‎22-08-2007

Re: 13 days and counting without internet...

Quote from: Matt
... the order for the phone line was never closed off by our suppliers in spite of the fact that it had been installed,

Matt,
So your suppliers screwed up, dropped your customer in the mire and then expect PN to sort it out?  I trust that someone is on their case?  Why is an expidited install free of charge (to anyone) not being sought from / offered by BT?
I hope the new CEO is on someone's case.  This is just rank incompetence on the part of BT!
Kevin

Superusers are not staff, but they do have a direct line of communication into the business in order to raise issues, concerns and feedback from the community.

athirat
Newbie
Posts: 6
Registered: ‎09-12-2013

Re: 13 days and counting without internet...

So after being assured that I would need to be at the property, I've come home at lunch time today (before the scheduled engineer visit) to find my connection is now working again.
While I'm pleased to have the internet back, I'm less pleased that it took 20 days to sort out, especially when it turns out a visit by an engineer to my property was never required.
And it feels like, if no engineer was needed, there is neither a very good reason that I should have been without a connection for such a long period of time.
I'm disappointed that given this was PlusNet's mess-up no-one took personal responsibility for giving me correct information or for getting this fixed in a timely manner.