cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Openreach Don't Know What They Are Doing

MarcoW
Newbie
Posts: 3
Registered: ‎01-06-2013

Openreach Don't Know What They Are Doing

After a fantastic on-boarding experience with Plusnet, I was really disappointed that my speeds were a good 20Mbs lower than I was quoted initially. I thought a quick support ticket and some tweaking of my line would soon sort this out. Boy was I wrong!
After a line / fault test, I received a call from a Plusnet customer service representative who promptly booked in an engineer appointment to look at my line & "take the cap off". Unfortunately the engineer was a "no show", I was told this happens 25% of the time in advance so no surprises there.
The real surprise was a week later when Openreach managed to keep their appointment. The engineer didn't know why he was visiting or what he was fixing (besides my broadband). It really smells of an EPIC breakdown in communication between Plusnet and Openreach. He had a fiddle with the socket then went out to the cabinet. When he came beck he said he didn't needed to fix anything. He said it must be a software problem with the cabinet and the act of doing a test "must of done something" because everything was working and then told me I was now getting close my quoted speed, then left.
As soon as the door closed and smelling a rat, I rushed to do a speed test. To my surprise, same speed as before, same  IP Profile. (confirmed on http://www.speedtest.btwholesale.com/ using a wired connection) It's like he never came! Unless he was testing my neighbours broadband, I don't know of any means he could of got the speed he claimed to be seeing on my line.
I made a call to Plusnet to feedback on my strange experience and questioned why the engineer didn't know why he had been called out or had any details of the line issues. No clue. They are going to wait for the report from the engineer. Let's see how that plays out, I have little faith in this report and the credibility of Openreach after this experience.
I really feel like I was taken for a ride today.
5 REPLIES 5
w23
Pro
Posts: 6,347
Thanks: 96
Fixes: 4
Registered: ‎08-01-2008

Re: Openreach Don't Know What They Are Doing

Hi MarcoW, and welcome to the community forum.
What was the result of that BT Wholesale speedtest you mentioned, particularly the BT IP Profile?
Also, if you log into the Plusnet Member Centre, what is the 'Current Line Speed' reported here: https://portal.plus.net/my.html?action=data_transfer_speed ?
Call me 'w23'
At any given moment in the universe many things happen. Coincidence is a matter of how close these events are in space, time and relationship.
Opinions expressed in forum posts are those of the poster, others may have different views.
MarcoW
Newbie
Posts: 3
Registered: ‎01-06-2013

Re: Openreach Don't Know What They Are Doing

Estimated line speed: 62Mb
Current line speed: 78 Mb
Download IP Profile: 41.62 Mbps
Upstream IP profile: 20 Mbps
Measured Down: 40.4 Mbps
Measured Up: 10.06Mbps
No faults or disconnects reported
adamwalker
Plusnet Help Team
Plusnet Help Team
Posts: 16,871
Thanks: 882
Fixes: 221
Registered: ‎27-04-2007

Re: Openreach Don't Know What They Are Doing

Hi there,
Sorry to hear about the issues with this, I'm keeping an eye on this one to see what can be gathered from the engineer notes.
Quote
Unfortunately the engineer was a "no show", I was told this happens 25% of the time in advance so no surprises there.

I'm sorry that was mentioned too I've personally been looking at a lot to do with missed engineer visits here at PN over the past few months and I don't believe it's as severe as that so (rightly or wrongly) I feel a bit horrified that someone here mentioned that in such a way.
Adam
If this post resolved your issue please click the 'This fixed my problem' button
 Adam Walker
 Plusnet Help Team
MarcoW
Newbie
Posts: 3
Registered: ‎01-06-2013

Re: Openreach Don't Know What They Are Doing

An update to my story... and it's not good news. I'M STILL TRYING to resolve with Plusnet / Openreach.
Openreach managed to keep their next appointment with me but unfortunately the engineer ran out of time and I was left with a connection slightly slower than before...
To correct this, they arranged another appointment with me but low and behold... They were a no-show AGAIN today. So no work has been done on my line / connection. That's two missed appointments so far.
I did receive a call from an Openreach representative over the weekend which raised some alarm bells with me. Here is my takeaway from this quite stressful call:
1. They initially called me up to tell me there is nothing wrong with my line and I was receiving the correct quoted speed. I informed them I was receiving 20Mbs under my quoted speed and the representative didn't know how this was posible. He then tried to get me to cancel my appointment today. I didn't cancel my appointment because I want to give Plusnet an opportunity to correct the problem.
2. I informed him that the previous visit / engineer suspected it might be the equipment in the exchange that needs replacing.
3. I informed him that rather than getting improvements in my line speed, I was seeing a speed drop as a result of the Engineer visits. He said this was normal.
4. The representative then asked me what I use the connection for and why getting the quoted speed was important to me. I found these questions extremely invasive and inappropriate for a support call.
5. He grew frustrated and agitated at this point, so it was time to end the call.
6. To get him off the call & after the inappropriate questions, I had to tell him that I have a contract with Plusnet and not Openreach and preferred to manage communication of this issue through Plusnet and not Openreach.
I am exhausted now, It's too stressful. Openreach get your act together.
adamwalker
Plusnet Help Team
Plusnet Help Team
Posts: 16,871
Thanks: 882
Fixes: 221
Registered: ‎27-04-2007

Re: Openreach Don't Know What They Are Doing

Hi there,
I'm really sorry to see that another engineer has failed to show again, I'll look into this with a colleague now for you.
Apologies re the call too, it's not unknown for engineers to call customers but none of what was discussed really seems appropriate so I will be making sure that gets fed back too and I sincerely hope that call isn't the reason why no one visited.
I'll be in touch if we're able to get any response to the feedback that we're passing on.
In the meantime I'll be making sure another engineer is arranged that that Openreach are fully aware of this when that's being looked at.
Adam
If this post resolved your issue please click the 'This fixed my problem' button
 Adam Walker
 Plusnet Help Team