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Placed an order for broadband 4 weeks ago... still awaiting activation????

LRoys
Newbie
Posts: 2
Registered: ‎12-09-2007

Placed an order for broadband 4 weeks ago... still awaiting activation????

Hi All,
Sorry to use this medium to rant and rave, but the service I have and am recieving from plusnet is DIRE....
I wonder how many other prospective customers have had to wait for 4 weeks to be told that we are about to ' Place your order again' as we have already placed it four times and BT have cancelled it.. HELLO
All this BT excuse is beginning to wear a little thin, and I quite frankly don't believe a word of it. I have asked Plusnet to contact me via telephone to explain just what is going on, and have they taken a blind bit of notice, not a chance...  if only they had not made such a shambles of the order, I could go to someone who would be interested in my custom, and be happy to provide me a broadband service, but apparently not...  they have managed to tie up the line with their poor ordering system to the point where no one else can install BB for me instead...  pure genius...
Had anyone else been waiting for any longer than 4 weeks for a simple broadband installation, as I wondered if this was a record???
I look forward to hearing from anyone who has had the same poor treatment, lack of meaningful communication, and sheer lazyness when it comes to their order, requests and indeed custom???
It surely can't get any worse can it???
8 REPLIES 8
James
Grafter
Posts: 21,036
Thanks: 5
Registered: ‎04-04-2007

Re: Placed an order for broadband 4 weeks ago... still awaiting activation????

Hi,
I'm sorry to hear that you have been having problems trying to get your broadband service up and running, truly I am.
The problem you are having is that of the duplicate order syndrome.  This is basically where we place an order on one BT Wholesale system, after having checked that it is okay to place an order and then this order subsequently gets cancelled owing to a "duplicate order" on the BT Openreach system, which we have no visibility of.
We are currently awaiting this duplicate order to be cleared off of the BT Openreach system.  It's a cease order and we're expecting this to be cleared off within the next day or so.  As soon as that has been done, we'll then be able to place your order sucessfully.
Again, please accept my apologies for the inconveniences you have experienced and hopefully we'll have you on board shortly.
jelv
Seasoned Hero
Posts: 26,785
Thanks: 971
Fixes: 10
Registered: ‎10-04-2007

Re: Placed an order for broadband 4 weeks ago... still awaiting activation????

Tell me about it - I'm trying to help a friend with a house move and that failed because of "duplicate order" - James is on the case for me as well.
jelv (a.k.a Spoon Whittler)
   Why I have left Plusnet (warning: long post!)   
Broadband: Andrews & Arnold Home::1 (FTTC 80/20)
Line rental: Pulse 8 Home Line Rental (£14.40/month)
Mobile: iD mobile (£4/month)
LRoys
Newbie
Posts: 2
Registered: ‎12-09-2007

Re: Placed an order for broadband 4 weeks ago... still awaiting activation????

Thanks for your reply James, you are a very brave man...
I can't believe that you are quoting a day or 2 to clear the order, seeing as you have been quoting the same timescale since last wednesday or was it the saturday before that !!  all I hear is BT this and BT that, when correct me if I am worng you are now PART OF BT...
If one hand can't see the system that the other hand is using how are we supposed to have any confidence in you???
I think the only syndrome around here is 'lack of interest syndrome', as well as 'we already have plenty of paying customers syndrome'.....
You really need to pull your collective fingers out and deal with the issue as I am sure I am not the only one about to blow a fuse....  correction...  have just blown a fuse.....  Huh
zubel
Community Veteran
Posts: 3,793
Thanks: 4
Registered: ‎08-06-2007

Re: Placed an order for broadband 4 weeks ago... still awaiting activation????

Quote from: LRoys
when correct me if I am worng you are now PART OF BT...

Happily corrected.. you are wrong.
BT are essentially in two parts.  In order to help the analogy, I'll change their names slightly.
There is first the BT Retail arm.  Lets rename them to 'Shop'  This is the part of BT that own Plusnet
Secondly, there is the BT Wholesale arm.  Lets rename them "Supplier"
So, 'Shop' own Plusnet.  However, they have to buy all their services from 'Supplier' who are a completely different company.
In this situation, it is 'Supplier' that is causing the problem.  Unfortunately neither Plusnet or 'Shop' have any control over 'Supplier' whatsoever.
B.
James
Grafter
Posts: 21,036
Thanks: 5
Registered: ‎04-04-2007

Re: Placed an order for broadband 4 weeks ago... still awaiting activation????

LRoys,
The information that wew are getting from BT Wholesale (who don't own us) and BT Openreach (who don't own us) is that the cease order should complete on the 14th, at which stage we should be able to place your order.
There's no lack of interest, just an extremely frustrating situation which unfortunately can happen from time to time.  If you have been billed during your downtime period then I'll be more than happy to refund any charges throughout thisd period.
Simon_M
Grafter
Posts: 685
Registered: ‎05-04-2007

Re: Placed an order for broadband 4 weeks ago... still awaiting activation????

Quote from: James
The problem you are having is that of the duplicate order syndrome.  This is basically where we place an order on one BT Wholesale system, after having checked that it is okay to place an order and then this order subsequently gets cancelled owing to a "duplicate order" on the BT Openreach system, which we have no visibility of.

James - out of interest, how does this come about? Who would have/could have placed the duplicate order?
Is it somehow triggered by the order that you (Plusnet) did place? Or is it an order placed by someone else?
I've got so throughly confused by the various BT divisions I've forgotten where Openreach fit in the picture.
Emma
Grafter
Posts: 138
Registered: ‎10-09-2007

Re: Placed an order for broadband 4 weeks ago... still awaiting activation????

The duplicate order can be a PSTN cease, modify etc that won't show up some times when we place an order.
Such as today, a customer was moving house, keeping the same phone number, this means that the line is ceased and moved to the new house for the same day. We arranged to place the order on the day the customer wanted, it was done automatically by our systems, which won't check if another order is going through. If it can place a successful order it doesn't see any issues. We also have to wait for the postcode to match the phone number, something that takes around 48 hours to happen.
This resulted in the duplicate order cancellation syndrome, thankfully I explained this to the customer who understood the issue and was glad that we could now fix it as the cease has completed.
I hope this makes sense, its a tricky subject to get tbh, once understood you'll have no issues.
Ianwild
Grafter
Posts: 3,835
Registered: ‎05-04-2007

Re: Placed an order for broadband 4 weeks ago... still awaiting activation????

To quote Openreach "We are the proud guardians of the nation's local access network, sometimes referred to as the 'first mile'."
Basically, they look after the connection between you and the exchange, and sell this access to communication providers, one of whom is BT Wholesale.
It's not at all nice when the systems don't talk to each other properly. The previous order could be all sorts of things, but the chances are it's a cease on the same number that hasn't been cleared off in the system properly. Unfortunately, all we can really do in that situation is to keep asking BT to sort it out, and place the order again as soon as they do. It's especially annoying as ISPs don't have visibility of everything.
That said, it may be something we can't do much more about, but the communication with the customer about what is happening and why should have been better in this case.
Ian