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new to plusnet

thebigman
Newbie
Posts: 3
Registered: ‎13-11-2013

new to plusnet

I have just moved my phone and broadband to plusnet. My broadband was due to activate today. My phone line cut off yesterday and I have no internet with either my old or plusnet service.
I have tried to call the support line from a mobile but this is 50 min delay. Have I made a huge mistake transferring to plusnet? Is this total loss of all service normal?
Internet on a smartphone is just not the same!! Cry
12 REPLIES 12
Pettitto
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 6,346
Fixes: 5
Registered: ‎26-11-2011

Re: new to plusnet

Hi thebigman,
I've just PM'd you.
thebigman
Newbie
Posts: 3
Registered: ‎13-11-2013

Re: new to plusnet

FINALLY got activated on PLUSNET. I have been withough phone or internet for 6 days.  Cheesy
BT did a bad job of moving to the new ISP. I had to take a day off work to get an engineer to come to confirm the problem was with the exchange.  Sad
Pettitto
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 6,346
Fixes: 5
Registered: ‎26-11-2011

Re: new to plusnet

Really sorry to hear that 😕
Please do let us know if there is anything further we can do to help.
Townman
Superuser
Superuser
Posts: 22,918
Thanks: 9,535
Fixes: 156
Registered: ‎22-08-2007

Re: new to plusnet

Quote from: Chris
Please do let us know if there is anything further we can do to help.

Chris,
Sorry to be challenging again on my soap box regarding such matters, but how about "Profile (count) all such failures to deliver by BTOR and table the systematic failure to delver a professional service with Ofcom"?  That might do a great deal to "help", especially if as a consequence BTOR were made to compensate the end user for their failures.  There is nothing quite like having to payout compensation, for driving service delivery improvement.
Why does PN remain steadfastly dumb (mute) on this subject (complaining to Ofcom)?
Cheers,
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.

Pettitto
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 6,346
Fixes: 5
Registered: ‎26-11-2011

Re: new to plusnet

Hi Kevin,
These issues don't occur all that often to be honest, the small amount of ELF (Early Life Failure). If there is a fault within the exchange, it's not something we can expect an installation engineer to resolve as it isn't within their remit as they are unlikely to be trained.
If we have issues with how BTWholesale or BT Openreach are performing, we take this up with our respective suppliers. Ofcom do, of course come into the equation, however, I feel that our relationship with our suppliers is getting ever stronger and for that reason, we take the route of dealing with any issues we have directly with them. If customers would like to contact Ofcom regarding such issues, they are of course free to, as well as raising a Complaint with our Complaints Team.
We are in the process of collecting data on such failures of different kinds as much as we can, if we feel that there is a major failure in the service we are being provided with, we'll take the router of discussing this with our suppliers. On the whole, the amount of failures are very much smaller than the proportion of customers who have no issues at all. That said, we are still looking at ways which we can work with our suppliers to make the customers journey as painless as possible.
gnicholson8
Grafter
Posts: 319
Thanks: 1
Registered: ‎06-11-2013

Re: new to plusnet

Hi Chris,
Whilst I do love PN support and how their staff act I have to say many of your staff, even the complaints department, as Kevin said, Do seem muted with regards to faults with Openreach. From my own experience I wasn't getting anywhere fast with my problems and to even get the ball rolling it took me to E-mail the Cheif Executive, one of the managing directors and the DSO of Openreach to get the issue moving.
Whilst I appreciate your relationship with your Suppliers is a delicate one I would say that PN (and most ISP's for that fact) do stay silent and just deal with the LARGE amount of mistakes Openreach make and this is precisely the reason that they get away with this.
I wouldn't blame PN regarding this but it seems to be an attitude that all ISP's do take and Openreach take this attitude that they are infallible.
Townman
Superuser
Superuser
Posts: 22,918
Thanks: 9,535
Fixes: 156
Registered: ‎22-08-2007

Re: new to plusnet

Quote from: Chris
If customers would like to contact Ofcom regarding such issues, they are of course free to, as well as raising a Complaint with our Complaints Team.

Hi Chris,
This is an interesting perspective - it is my understanding that end users are not able to take complaints to Ofcom about the service provided by BTOR on behalf of their ISP / CP as the end user (PN's customer) is not a customer of BTOR.  Have I misunderstood somewhere?
I can imagine that the number of ELFs might be small compared to the volume of successful first time installs, but it is the ELFs which get visibility on the public forums and there does seem to be a number of consistent reoccurring themes...
Engineer does not turn up at all
Engineer claims they turned up but not at the place of required installation
Engineer turns up and the line is not ready - at what ever level - circuit or exchange - such requirements ought to be a BTOR pre-check done BEFORE encountering the subscriber in advance of the on-site install
Engineer turns up without the right equipment - anything from the cabinet keys to a hoist - it should be possible for BTOR to determine if work on above ground infrastructure is likely to be required and know if that infrastructure has been passed for ladder work - thereby it should be possible to predict if additional resources are likely to be required.
All of the above pre-install failures lead to the need for a second (or further appointments) exposing PN's customer to the risk of yet another non-show experience and being pushed further down the appointment queue.  In all such circumstances BTOR should be offering a free priority appointment service.  If they have fouled up, they should bend over backwards to put things right NOW, not pass the matter down the line for "business as normal".
I am sure that we will discuss this matter further, as until someone breaks some BTOR bones their systematic failures will not be addressed.  You and they will continue - through diplomacy - to resolve the day by day issues as they happen.  It is called fire-fighting, where what is required is fire prevention.  I know that you personally have and will try to move heaven and earth with BTOR to address these day by day issues, but someone needs to stop them happening in the first place.  Fire fighting is exciting, but no fires is a much better way of living.

Cheers,
Kevin
Edit in bold to read clearer...

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.

Pettitto
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 6,346
Fixes: 5
Registered: ‎26-11-2011

Re: new to plusnet

Just to clarify, and I do understand what you're saying - we will catch up soon on the points you've made.
Customers are absolutely free to contact Ofcom, whether or not the complaint made would be something Ofcom could help with is a different matter. If a customer has a complaint about the service they are receiving, we would say that a complaint should be raised with their ISP as it is the ISP that is ultimately providing the service.
gnicholson8
Grafter
Posts: 319
Thanks: 1
Registered: ‎06-11-2013

Re: new to plusnet

Hi Chris,
I do completely understand what your saying and once involved in a problem you guys do fight tooth and nail to help solve them. The problem is, from what we see. There is no evidence that any of the ISP's are working with or fighting BTOR to stop these problems from happening in the first place.
I can deal with issues and problems with installs when the Engineer arrives and has problems, of course it is not ideal but can be expected as an unforeseen circumstance.
The biggest issue I have with BTOR is the amount of "no show" engineers there are and appointments missed where Engineers either didn't show up or didn't show up but said they had and blamed the customer.
This is what really irks me is that BTOR Engineers outright lie and blame the customers and they continue to get away with this sort of practice. BTOR never seem to acknowledge their mistakes or even offer the rectify them and us, as the customer are stuck at the mercy of what you guys can do on our behalf.
Also, because we do have to go through PN to get answers from BTOR this causes delays (somtimes long ones) with getting responses as from my experience it works like this.

  • Customer calls PN for Update, PN has to get update from BTOR as BTOR are Terrible at updating their systems.

  • PN calls BTOR BTOR, in my experience and from what PN staff tell me say "they'll get back to PN" and this takes a LONG time

  • BTOR calls PN to finally give an update.

  • PN calls the customer


Whilst obviously this is how it has to work there could be a lot done in this area to make it better. mainly in the area BTOR updating their records promptly to get the next stage rolling.
The problem is.. us as customers don't see or hear that things are being improved with BTOR. If we had some knowledge or what PN is planning to do to improve the quality of service from BTOR then at least that is something.
Pettitto
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 6,346
Fixes: 5
Registered: ‎26-11-2011

Re: new to plusnet

Thanks for your feedback.
I'm going to open this up for suggestions in which I'd like for anyone who reads this thread to give us their thoughts on what we could do to improve things for you all? If there is something that we can do better, I'll take it further for you - most definitely. I'm interested in finding out what we're not doing so well on.
Townman
Superuser
Superuser
Posts: 22,918
Thanks: 9,535
Fixes: 156
Registered: ‎22-08-2007

Re: new to plusnet

Hi Chris,
You asked, so I replied here read / enjoy when you have time away from the fires...!
Cheers,
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.

Pettitto
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 6,346
Fixes: 5
Registered: ‎26-11-2011

Re: new to plusnet

Thanks Kevin!
I'll take a read through, I can see James has already replied.