Most engineers ever involved? DSL speed issues progressed to line disconnection - Still not solv

[#1]

Unfortunately our suppliers haven't heard back from the DSO Team.

We've been advised to expect an update by Monday afternoon.

I'm out of the office now until Tuesday, so I'll follow up then.

I'm really sorry for the continued delays.

[#2]

It has been two and a half weeks since _anything_ was done to fix this issue.

This is even though it has been "escalated to the highest level" AND is "affecting multiple customers".

Can this please be raised as a BTOR / whoever is now involved formal complaint.

Cheers,

Allan.

[#3]

Sorry to hear this.

I can assure you we are dealing with this as a formal complaint and the fault is with our suppliers DSO team which is a as high as it can go.

We'll update your fault as soon as we know more

[#4]

From personal experience DSO can be a law unto themselves and an ash try on a motor bike would be more helpful.

[#5]

Another day, another lack of any progress.

On the plus side, I have more graphs... Which say absolutely nothing useful (apart from the line is getting worse). Each point is an actual measurement (10 measurements rolling average) taken every 3 seconds or so. There are advantages to being able to run code on the device its self. BTW, don't believe your 15 minute stat counters, they are really rather poorly thought out and need a _lot_ of post-processing to get the actual data back at any useful resolution.

[#6]

Yesterday I received the following update from our suppliers escalation team.

DSO team informed that The engineer hasn't had chance to fully investigate this yet, however this is still on going, as there are 5 properties involved. We're going to go out on this this week so we can try and resolve once and for all.

We should have another update tomorrow, fingers crossed we're closer to a resolution then.

[#7]

Hi Allan.

I've received the below response from our suppliers.

DSO team informed that I'm really sorry but I'm waiting to hear from the latest from the Technical coach.

Unfortunately whilst I appreciate the frustration caused by the lack of movement on this fault, there's not much we can do except wait to receive updates from the DSO and act on them accordingly.

[#8]

Thank you. How long do we have before we can agree deadlock and raise this with the ombudsman?

[#9]

there's not much we can do except wait to receive updates from the DSO and act on them accordingly

Sit and wait?

How high within Plusnet is BTOR's failure to deliver, known about in this case?

Are any of the other 5 impacted customers also Plusnet users?

What are Plusnet senior managers doing about this specific failure to deliver service within a reasonable time frame?

Yes I know DSO are a law unto themselves and do tell barefaced lies (I've my own case history with them) and will rarely provide updates before their protracted next review dates / time … but Plusnet is their customer … so what is Plusnet doing to enforce BTOR's obligations to deliver a service here?  Their internal resourcing issues are not our issues - it is excuse after excuse after excuse for shabby service.

Sitting on hands whilst the highest level of ineffectual escalation within BTOR delivers no progress, is not acceptable.  This should have been fixed weeks ago.  Yes, whilst on the ground Plusnet staff has zero influence over BTOR on the ground engineers, after this length on ineffectual procrastination, someone high up in Plusnet ought by now to have obtained a tight grip on the nuts of someone high up in BTOR and be squeezing them tight until they squeal … or get the right resources on the ground.  Being resigned to more delay is simply not acceptable.

This is not exactly rocket science any more.

@Dibblah,

Given that there are a number of impacted subscribers - I would suggest that you turn to your local newspaper to do a report in the complete inability of BT Open reach to fix issues with their own equipment, even after the highest level of internal escalation has been engaged.  Also write to your MP and notify Ofcom.

Unfortunately being part of the BT group, if anyone (all the way up to Andy Baker) within Plusnet were to utilise any of the poor performance review processes provided by the like of Ofcom, I fear that they would be fast-tracked to the local job centre with an ink-still-wet P45.

Far too frequently herein, we see so many cases of BTOR not being fit for purpose and Plusnet being (apparently) unable to kick ass to deliver resolutions within a respectable timeframe.  All they get from BTOR is wait, wait, wait!

[#10]

Whilst I understand the reason why you're wanting to go to the Ombudsman I'm afraid that it's highly unlikely this will help, because they'd ultimately just look at the financial side of things and your connection won't be fixed any quicker.

In addition, the case would be handled by one of my colleagues in our complaints team (Who sit opposite me) and they'll update you with responses we receive from our suppliers/DSO instead.

This is assuming the reason you're thinking about going to the Ombudsman is that you're wanting your connection fixed quicker.

I'll be more than happy to provide a refund of the relevant subscription charges for the period of time your service has been in fault and reported to us, as well as discussing a gesture of goodwill once this is resolved.

If you're thinking about leaving us, at this point I'm happy to write off your contract minimum term as you've given us more than enough time to fix the problem.

[#11]

Thanks, Townman.

To give a bit of background, I work in IT. For my job, I NEED to be able to rely on my broadband connection. I have RSI issues which mean I cannot drive to work every day of the week (it's an hour's drive each way). So far, I have had to stay in for no-show engineers who have not improved the situation at all (indeed, the connection is worse than when the fault was first raised). I have had to pay around £40 / month for additional 4G broadband service due to the volume of data required primarily for work. Without this, I would have not been able to continue working.

Plusnet, as a service provider, are responsible for interfacing with BTOR to not put me in this position. NONE of the escalation methods so far have been even slightly effective. I am exceptionally stressed, since my work requires me to be available and to be frank they are starting to disbelieve that I am still having connectivity issues.

Can we please get a firm date for resolution or a letter of deadlock.

Cheers,

Allan.

[#12]

@Gandalf,

It is honest and open of you to suggest that the service which has been delivered here, falls way below reasonable expectations.  The gesture on behalf of Plusnet is a logical one as far as Plusnet is concerned, but given the source of the user's issue is deeply rooted in BTOR's infrastructure, they being released from their contract and finding a different ISP is not going to change their situation, even if they were to move to LLU provider.  The only way this user might see different would be by getting right off the BT network and use Virgin Media (or similar) if available in their geography.

Given that there is some level of recognition that service should have been better, who within Plusnet is dealing with BTOR's failures here … and the consequential fiscal loss to Plusnet and the associated brand / reputational damage?  Is this case on Andy Baker's desk?

Surely resolution of this is simples - get someone senior in Plusnet to kick ass so that BTOR get the right boots / brains on the ground.

Frankly if this needs a training engineer (coach) then something is amiss here - either the normal engineers were not trained properly or the network is seriously broken?  Does it really need a coach to go check the speed on the circuit at every joint from the exchange to the property?  It might take a bit of time to do that, but it would be far less than the time spent to date.

[#13]

To be clear, I have no interest in changing provider - BTOR will still provide the service which is faulty and you have been exceptionally helpful (as far as areas under your control go).

This is the only way I have to escalate this so the exceptionally unacceptable level of "service" provided by BTOR is noted, since it currently does not seem to be.

Cheers,

Allan.

[#14]

Part of the issue here is that it is aged aluminium infrastructure - therefore is both brittle and subject to sporadic faults. If I had to guess, they don't want to touch it in fear of breaking more lines.

Which is fine. Just run a parallel fibre and everyone will be happy.

[#15]

NONE of the escalation methods so far have been even slightly effective

I am not surprised by that sentiment.  In my personal experience of escalation to DSO … it was largely ineffectual and they told barefaced lies throughout … leaving Plusnet with no where to go … other than wait.

In my case, there was a claim of waiting on a third party … so I made direct contact with the third party who (a) stated that there was no request upon them as claimed by DSO and (b) in response to my enquiry arranged for the required works to be done promptly.

In the meantime DSO kept saying that they were waiting upon the third party … only by me telling Plusnet that the work had been done and they telling the DSO the same, did that issue get resolved.  When it comes to an out of the ordinary case, BT Openreach is not fit for purpose.