BT OpenReach have failed to turn up FOUR TIMES!

[#1]

Summary:
A brief scan of Plusnet, Sky, TalkTalk and BT's own forums show that missed appointments by BT OpenReach are frequent and long-standing. I hope that Ofcom are aware of this atrocious situation where customers (real people for goodness sake!) are taking time from work for appointments made by BT OpenReach only to wait in vain all day long for the engineer never to arrive followed by a scripted fob-off of no reasonable explanation.
This has now happened to me FOUR TIMES!
Here's my rant:
When I ordered fibre in the second week of February BT OpenReach offered a choice of installation dates. I was instructed to choose three dates which I did.

A week later I received a message stating that the installation would take place on a different date entirely.

On the morning of the installation date that they dictated, BT OpenReach called me to confirm that I'd be in for the installation. I waited in all day but BT OpenReach did not turn up.

BT OpenReach claimed that I'd cancelled the installation (no I didn't!) and that they'd tried to call me (no they didn't!) but couldn't get in touch. How can such claims as these be made? What are these claims if not blatant lies?

A new installation date was booked.

For a second time I rearranged my furniture to allow easy access to the phone socket and waited in all day; BT OpenReach didn't turn up.

BT OpenReach fobbed me off and a new installation date was booked.

For a third time I rearranged my furniture to allow easy access to the phone socket and waited in all day; BT OpenReach didn't turn up.

BT OpenReach fobbed me off and a new installation date was booked.

For a fourth time I rearranged my furniture to allow easy access to the phone socket and waited in all day; BT OpenReach didn't turn up.

Once again no reasonable explanation has been given; they said "the order is in delay and hence the amendment has not gone through". Is that really supposed to explain why the engineer booked for today's appointment did not turn up? It's jibberish.

I await a fifth installation date.

I will undoubtedly be seeking compensation for this considerable inconvenience and stress. Thank goodness for no-win-no-fee solicitors. I have documentation of every phone call, text message and email during this entire farce http://mattleech.com/broadband-installation-nightmare-caused-by-bt-openreach/

[#2]

I really feel for you and also want to say thanks for a balanced report of what has happened to you. All too often we get disgruntled customers coming on screaming at Plusnet. While it is sometimes their fault and ultimately they are responsible for getting BTOR to install your/their service, I can only guess at the frustration at their end sometimes as well.
Fingers crossed it will be fifth time lucky - I've had great service from PN over the last year and a bit so worth sticking with.

[#3]

I would say the answer is openreach should pay compensatiom, but they already do I believe, just that the isp's dont pass this compensation on.
I seem to be lucky that engineers have always turned up although one of the appointments a morning one didnt turn up until mid afternoon.

[#4]

Missed appointment payment: http://www.openreach.co.uk/orpg/home/updates/briefings/generalbriefings/generalbriefingsarticles/gen...
You may also find this helpful: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/delivery-rights

[#5]

Remember, as I've said before, the payments between BT and ISP are not really relevant, other than to confirm that some form of compensation seems to be relevant for such failures and is acknowledged as such by both BT and, more importantly your ISP - PlusNet in this case.
The fair compensation to you will depend on your circumstances and contracts with your ISP.
Asking for £45, or whatever BT pay PN, is a waste of time and not sensible. Focus on your losses, as described by Money Saving Expert among others.

[#6]

I agree with HPSauce on this one, the customer isn't the only one out of pocket after a no-show. The ISP also has to run around reorganising appointments and trying to placate the customer. There is also the lost revenue while the customer is not paying the ISP for the service.
It would be interesting to see how many man hours have been wasted by PN on these no shows. Reading through the blog the OP has posted, they seem to have done a fair bit of chasing.
I'm not taking anything away from the customer here - I think that BTOR should also have some kind of scheme set up for compensating loss of earnings after the customer takes their second and subsequent days / half days off.

[#7]

Hi mattleech,
Thanks for posting on our Community Forum.
I'm really sorry for what can only be described as an horrific experience you've had so far. It's absolutely unacceptable that you've had four failed engineer visits to complete the installation.
I can see that Nick has this in hand, personally and is continuing to chase this up. Nick has raised an escalation on this again, so we're just awaiting further detail back from this, I trust Nick will keep you updated on the progress of this.

[#8]

Maybe nothing will come of it but we have to start somewhere: Make BT OpenReach directly accountable to consumers http://mi.cx/5b3g
I signed the petition, took less than a minute.
You might also like to contribute to the BT OpenReach Glossary: http://mattleech.com/bt-openreach-glossary ;

[#9]

Funny enough, I had almost exactly the same situation but with NTL that was (formerly CableTel, now calling themselves Virgin). Again 4 appointments missed, and even had the balls to accuse me of not being in when they turned up on the wrong day. Cost me a lot of money with time off work, and they never fixed my problem.
That was the very reason I quit NTL and their shoddy cable that they could never get working properly, and went with Plusnet.

[#10]

@mattleech

Sorry to hear about this too. I've had personal experience of waiting in for an engineer that hasn't arrived so I can't begin to imagine that x4
I'm happy to see Nicky is doing a good job of picking up the pieces for you and has updated the ticket in lots of detail.
I hope all goes to plan with the next scheduled visit and please do reply back here if there's any further problems with this.