Off to a flying start...

[#1]

...I wish!
Placed order last month, chose engineer appointment date and time, engineer turned up yesterday towards the end of his allotted 5 hour window to spend 5 minutes telling me that the line hadn't been enabled at the exchange so he couldn't do it. You'd have thought that 3 weeks notice would have been enough to plug a cable into a port.
So half a day taken off work, 60 mile round trip only to be told that I'll need to do the same thing later on in the week. So much for value for money!
Ticket number is 89949426 if anyone fancies helping out, but no one on the phone (after you've queued for about 20 minutes) seems to be interested in chasing Openreach for this.
Not doing the Yorkshire brand any favours here guys!

[#2]

Not one to believe in coincidences, but just had a call from a representative to say that they've heard back from Openreach and expect the phone order to be complete today and then they'll call tomorrow to sort out getting an engineer out for the broadband

[#3]

Hi there,
I'm really sorry about the issue with your order.
I'm glad to see we've already picked this up and that things are back on the right track.
Sorry about the inconvenience and do keep us posted via here if there's any further issues.

[#4]

Quote from: matthews

Not doing the Yorkshire brand any favours here guys!

Quote from: matthews

Not one to believe in coincidences

Hi Matthews,
Welcome to the forums and PlusNet, sad to hear of another tale of woe at the hands of BT Openreach (BTOR).  Your story is sadly all too common and understandably customers lay the blame for this on the shoulders of their ISP, in this case PlusNet.  Phone and broadband provision is not unlike that of gas and electricity - no matter who you pay for those energy services, it is the same gas / electricity and comes through the same pipes and wires owned by the supply network, not who you pay the bill to.
You pay PlusNet for the service, but the service is provided by BTOR who own all of the exchanges, wires and equipment.  PlusNet will have placed an order on them to install your line, it is they who know if there is enough local capacity and who should have checked before the date of installation.  Ofcom who govern the performance of BTOR has sought to place requirements to improve service delivery upon BTOR but are not able to do so without EU approval.  The world has gone mad; the reasonable and logical expectations you imply cannot be enforced without EU say so, is there any wonder that telecommunications are so poor in the UK?
As for the Yorkshire reputation and coincidence, if this failure happened yesterday afternoon, then mid morning today is about the right length of time that it would take for BTOR's failure to deliver notice to reach PlusNet and for their provisioning team to get an update and new plan for installation.
I hope that the next visit goes well for you.  If the engineer says something else is not right, ask them why BTOR did not sort this out knowing that there is a clear requirement for things to be ready and that this is the second time BTOR has failed to deliver is obligations to PlusNet and yourself.
Kevin

[#5]

Hi Townman (and Adam)
Thanks for the responses. Unfortunately I'm all too familiar with how the telecoms systems work (I was previously a software developer for Kingston Communications). I wasn't blaming PlusNet for what happened yesterday (even though it is them that my contract is with), more that it seemed that the agent I spoke to didn't seem interested in chasing the issue up. This is in comparison to the agent I spoke to yesterday who raised my initial ticket. They were very helpful (and mentioned that he normally works in "suppliers" but had been roped in to help with the backlog).
I don't want to be branded with the "society of entitlement" badge here, but Openreach levy a £50 charge if they show up and are unable to get into the property. I reckon the service would improve dramatically if OFCOM insisted that that charge worked both ways! Granted the distance I had to travel was irrelevant, but in effect I've had to waste half a day's holiday to be in the house between 1pm and 6pm.

[#6]

Still not getting anywhere. After no one picked up the ticket this morning I called to chase and now it's been sent in the direction of Suppliers. They apparently will take 24 hours to action it, and then I'm back at the mercy of Openreach as to when they can schedule an engineer.
I suppose the thing that I find annoying about all of this is the lack of anyone chasing from PlusNet's side. It's as if being a customer doesn't actually account for anything; I'm in the door and that's all that matters. My ticket yesterday had a hold put on it until 7am this morning to check that the phone number had been activated. I received notification from PlusNet that the phone line had been activated yesterday afternoon. Why was the ticket not already put in the queue for Suppliers to pick up first thing this morning when I called yesterday after I'd received the aforementioned notification? Why does it take me ringing up for someone to action it?
I appreciate that the initial problem lies with Openreach, but (as blunt as this is) that's not _my_ problem. You guys are there to act on my behalf to Openreach, and to represent my interests. I don't want to spend half the phone call being told who is to blame for the issue because that doesn't matter! I want to be told what is being done to fix it and not be fobbed off about when it's going to be fixed. If it's not resolved this week, I'm unable to take any time off work now until probably mid-September. That means that not only am I going without internet access at home, but I'm also paying line rental for a phone service which I'm not going to be using (as the only reason I've got it is for Broadband).
Any suggestions?

[#7]

Hi Matthews,
Our provisioning team are chasing this up and will be back to you with an update on this today.
It is our job to chase this and we really are, the buck stops with us as you're our customer. Any time that you've been charged for a service and you haven't been receiving it we will happily rectify this.
We'll keep an eye on this for you, it isn't going to be completed this week I'm afraid but we'll know more as soon as our  provisioning team have the update.

[#8]

Hi Chris,
Provisioning did get back to me on the 15th, and then a short conversation ensued and then the last message I received from them was on the 18th of August saying that they would let me know within 48 hours if my appointment was confirmed. If it's left much longer I'm not going to be able to book it off as it will be too short notice! I chased today (well, Friday actually but after working hours and I didn't expect a reply over the bank holiday weekend) but still haven't heard back.
Sorry for keeping hassling about this

[#9]

Hi Matthews
I've double checked on this change of appointment for you and can confirm our suppliers system shows everything is booked for the evening of the 4th September.
Unfortunately, as per your ticket, we couldn't arrange the earlier appointment for you.
You can track the progress of this on ticket 89949426
I appreciate your patience with this.

[#10]

@ Jack T , so is this a new service from Openreach - evening appointments? 

[#11]

Quote from: matthews

Sorry for keeping hassling about this

Never a need to apologise - it keeps them on their toes (well it reminds them anyway) 

[#12]

Finally resolved as of last Thursday. Engineer turned up (15 mins before his appointment time, but won't hold that against him) and the job definitely gave him a run for his money. Fault on the phone line so no dial tone until about 10 minutes before he left. Thought he was going to have to climb the pole at one point!
Current scores:
Kelly Comms - 6/10
BT Openreach - 2/10
Plusnet - 3/10
MJ Quinn - 9/10
@RealAleMadrid - was an afternoon appointment, 1pm to 6pm. No special treatment I'm afraid!

[#13]

I had a Quinn engineer for my install - I couldn't praise him highly enough

[#14]

We only seem to hear about BTOR's subcontractor MJ Quinn when someone takes time out to say thank you for a job done well.
It rather speaks volumes which others need to listen to and learn from.  May be the CEO could pass such an observation on to the CEO of BTOR?