£65 charge

[#1]

This does not reflect on Plusnet or their staff who I found to be helpful and courteous throughout. 

I was without an internet connection for 12 days which was caused by Openreach not connecting my line after they had replaced the cabinet connection box in the village where I live. It was a simple fix once the cabinet had been re-opened.

However that is not the cause of the critism I am expounding now. I made an appointment for a visiting engineer for Monday morning this week and actually waited in all day just in case they were running late from the morning. No engineer visited so I contacted Plusnet to report the missing engineer and was informed that Openreach had cancelled the appointment and had informed neither Plusnet nor myself. It was only when another appointment was made that the problem was detected and fixed. 

The email I received from Plusnet states that the £65 charge would be levied if I missed the appointment or cancelled within two working days. 

My question is, does this arrangement work in the other direction i.e Openreach cancelled on me without notice. If it does I would like to claim my £65 from Openreach and because I do not have contact with Openreach I would like Plusnet to make the claim for me. 

Thanks. 

[#2]

You won't get anything, it only works to BT's advantage.

[#3]

Under the new OFCOM scheme  due for early 2019 the supplier will be liable to pay an automatic £25 for a 'missed call'.  Though there are a few caveats and 'wiggle room' it is at least a start.

[#4 · Accepted solution]

Hi @Bargy,

I'm glad to hear that this fault is now resolved. I'm sorry for the length of time that this fault was ongoing and for the missed engineer visit, and apologise for the inconvenience that this has caused you.

We're not able to claim from our suppliers for the missed engineer visit I'm afraid, however I have had a look into this and have offered a gesture of goodwill for the poor experience that you've had. As this is account specific information I've added this to the fault ticket here - please let us know if you'd be happy to go ahead with this.

[#5]

Thanks for the replies. I did not expect to receive the £65 but I wanted to make the point that the charge, at least for the missed appointment aspects, has an unfaiir balance. I think it is fair that a charge is made if an engineer attends the property but the customer is not there to enable entry. However if we as customers are liable for a charge then the supplier should also be liable for an equal and equivalent charge. Fortunately I am retired and was able to easily rearrange my Monday to accommodate Openreach. I have not been that long retired that I cannot remember the difficulty of making arrangements around a working life. 

Plusnet have offered the £25 in addition to the downtime and I have gratefully accepted. My conversations with previous supplies have not been so easy. 

Thanks all for your efforts and comments. 

[#6]

Thanks for getting back to us and accepting the gesture of goodwill @Bargy

Let us know if you have any further issues or queries.