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At my wits end...

mossywell
Grafter
Posts: 49
Thanks: 13
Registered: ‎08-09-2016

At my wits end...

I'm actually not posting this in expectation of an answer. Think of it as cathartic. (I'm going to summarise as it's a long story.) 

I have been with PN for about 6 months give or take. For the first 4 months, it was a rock solid 80/20. Then it dropped to 15 download. BT came out, fiddled, and it went up to 50/20 and claimed the problem is with PN. Within a few hours it was back to 15/20. For 2 weeks PN ignore me (i.e as far as PN are concerned, sending out a BT engineer absolves them of all responsibility). I logged a complaint. After 4 days, PN said that there is a problem on the line and I need a BT engineer. Today he came out, couldn't work out why it was so slow, got BT to "reset the line" and guess what, it went up to 50/20. Within minutes, it was back down to 15 download. By which time the engineer had gone.

Two issues here:

1. PN --> 2 week to respond to a call --> 1 week delay for BT engineer --> BT engineer visit  etc.In other words I can look forward to a BT engineer visit every 3 weeks at the end of which I get 5/8 of the speed I'm paying for for a few minutes.

 

2. PN are one of the most slopey-shouldered organisation I have ever encountered. Even the support line says that the "suppliers" have a problem. I DON'T HAVE A CONTRACT WITH PN SUPPLIERS -  PN DO! Trying to make it my problem (or not theirs) is reprehensible, But PN clearly seem to think it's OK to lob the problem to BT and then take a 3-week breather whilst me the customer suffers. What about, you know, ACTUALLY GETTING BT TO FIX IT?? The threat that "if I leave PN, I'll continue to have the problem" didn't inspire me either. 😐

 

No escalation process, no sense of urgency, just "let the customer suffer and blame it on BT". I know how useless BT can be but PN really need to get it escalated at BT.

 

 

No one seems to care.

 

130900341
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17 REPLIES 17
Leon2
Newbie
Posts: 4
Thanks: 1
Registered: ‎22-09-2016

Re: At my wits end...

[-Censored-] is more the better word! I was due a change over to fibre on Monday, by weds it still wasn't showing oñ speed test, after being on hold for 40min to the tech department, he was trying to tell me that it was connected, up and running, Na mate it's not I've got the proof here, still he was telling me it was. Thursday morning the broadband fairy had been! 38mbps! Then when I got home it was down to 3, sometime 2, I'm actually on hold now 43mins. Cancellation springs to mind
bobminors
Aspiring Pro
Posts: 172
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Registered: ‎19-09-2016

Re: At my wits end...

Hint: PlusNet is owned by BT ...

Leon2
Newbie
Posts: 4
Thanks: 1
Registered: ‎22-09-2016

Re: At my wits end...

Well, after being on the phone on hold and troubleshooting for 2hours, to a brilliant lad called George, so polite and understanding. It was found that there is a line fault and an engineer has to come out. But credit to the lad George, knew his stuff and was very helpful. Credit to the company. 36mbps this morning tho, the mind boggles.
John222
Dabbler
Posts: 14
Registered: ‎21-09-2016

Re: At my wits end...

Mossy, PN have been having a number of problem on their new network. It may be that you were migrated, however it would not explain the fix and then drop which you had experienced. 

 

To try and apply some logic to this, you could perform a tracerroute to 8.8.8.8 and then see if any of the hops display IR, if yes this would indicate your on the new network and as a result could be facing these problems.

mossywell
Grafter
Posts: 49
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Registered: ‎08-09-2016

Re: At my wits end...

@John222 I checked this, no I have not been migrated. 

 

That said, the technical cause is not really the point of the post: technical problems, with the right brain power and will, are always solvable.

It's the breezy way that PN point a finger at BT and then stop their interest in the problem. "It's BT's fault - they need to fix it." What am I supposed to say? "Oh well that's OK then - you don't need to do anything." Blaming the supply chain is, frankly, not only spineless, it also contractually wrong. I see posts that say "hey, don't blame PN - it's BT's fault", clearly from people that have never had to deal with supply chains and know nothing of contract law.

I also have a suspicion that the call logging prioritisation is not simply first come, first served. Why? Well, it is interesting that when I threatened to leave, they went quieter on me. I suspect that they have a flag on the system that means something like "difficult problem / difficult person - not worth saving". After all, it requires much time and effort to resolve complex issues and PN may just conclude that it's not worth it, so they just wait for the person to leave. Problem solved. 

 

Haybasha
Rising Star
Posts: 157
Thanks: 10
Registered: ‎07-05-2014

Re: At my wits end...

Oh how familiar this all sounds, I do hope you don't suffer poor service or the lack of any enthusiastic support I did this year. I originally raised an issue in February and after lots of OR visits which made matters steadily worse I wrote to Gavin Patterson (CEO BT) and Andy Baker (CEO PN). Eventually after further fighting PN reduced my bill as it was obvious PN would do nothing to rectify the original issue or to get OR to put right what they had done to reduce my service further. All I got was "It's within spec," which it certainly was not on the upload and my speed had been eroded drastically on the download whilst increasing INP and ping .

Thankfully I have now escaped the clutches of both PN and OR as VM are now live in my area, I could not be happier and will never return to the shambles that is FTTC so long as OR exist in their current form.

HarryB
Plusnet Help Team
Plusnet Help Team
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Registered: ‎25-03-2015

Re: At my wits end...

Sorry to hear you're experiencing problems with your connection @mossywell.

 

Unfortunately on fibre, when the sync speed drops for whatever reason, this isn't something we can reset remotely (Like we can on ADSL)

Looking at the ticket on your account, as the problems seem to be the sync speed, I can't see anything on our side capping you, and we would unfortunately need to get an engineer sent out to find/fix the problem on the line which is causing DLM to drop the speeds.

 

I do apologise for the wait times you've experienced while waiting for engineers and responses on the ticket.

Both of these have been longer waits than we'd like recently and although I'm not wanting to "point the finger blaming BT" some of this is certainly down to the huge increase in faults being raised due to storms etc.

The phone line advises of MBORCs and delayed response times from our faults team and suppliers in order to set expectations. Not to blame out suppliers.

 

I appreciate that we're your provider, however if we require our suppliers to send an engineer out in order to fix something, there is unfortunately little more we can do to get the matter fixed for you.

If this post resolved your issue please click the 'This fixed my problem' button
 Harry Beesley
 Plusnet
rongtw
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Registered: ‎01-12-2010

Re: At my wits end...

  I am sorry but i just have to ask this ,
Mr Google , if i ask about MBORC,s the only results  i get if from PN ?  i just spent 30 minutes trying to find any ISP even BT service status , But no one is listing MBORC only that there are problems due to weather , But i cannot find any reference to this  except on PN site ?Huh
Or am i looking in wrong place ?
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HarryB
Plusnet Help Team
Plusnet Help Team
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Re: At my wits end...

Unfortunately I'm not sure where'd you'd have to look. However we posted the MBORC details we were emailed by our suppliers and we can see them on the Openreach website, however we'd need to log in to view them.

If this post resolved your issue please click the 'This fixed my problem' button
 Harry Beesley
 Plusnet
mossywell
Grafter
Posts: 49
Thanks: 13
Registered: ‎08-09-2016

Re: At my wits end...

@HarryB thank you for your reply.

 

I understand what you say regarding the various technical demarcations of responsibility. I am also familiar with incidents beyond your control. But, there are two issues with your assessment of the situation that comes across as "spin". 

 

1. Yes, there was a bit of bad weather (which should not come as an epiphany to anyone) and I have no doubts that this was the cause of "some" (as you say) incidents. But, the recorded message created the impression that this was the general cause of over hour-long waits. A cynical person might wonder if PN were actually delighted with the divine opportunity to  lump all their woes into a "thing beyond our control" category!

 

2. You actually make my case for me: "there is unfortunately little more we can do" hits the nail on the head: either PN are simply unwilling to enforce their contract with OR, or the contract with OR is so feeble that PN genuinely have no clout with them. Neither inspire confidence. What actually appears to happen is that an incident is raised with OR and as far as PN are concerned it's "job done". What I think PN should be doing is (because I don't have a contract with BT) acting as my advocate with OR and making them accountable.

3. One final question: are PN understaffed?

Clumsy
Dabbler
Posts: 15
Registered: ‎07-08-2016

Re: At my wits end...

Hey, I know that feeling of frustration too.

My internet/phone line was activated and installed by a technician sent by PlusNet.

They were friendly see, to get things sorted quickly. The only problem is that they activated the phone/net on the wrong line.

I have internet sockets/ethernet ports all around my apartment installed into the walls, which i'm meant to be able to plug ethanet cables into, but because it was installed into the wrong line they are inactive and pretty much useless. I'm having to connect everything to the router via wireless.

 

And my speeds have gone down from 76mbs to if i'm lucky 20Mb/s.

rongtw
Seasoned Hero
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Registered: ‎01-12-2010

Re: At my wits end...

mossywell The thing i find strange is that there is a lack of another ISP declaring MBORC , Even BT own status page just  says we are having problems due to the bad weather ?  no mention of MBORC .
 
I wonder if this is because PN / BT special arrangement
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AlaricAdair
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Re: At my wits end...

I've been with PlusNet and this forum for a few years now and I must say the poor PN - Openreach has been a regular and persistent complaint from subscribers. I have FTTC and it is rock solid and I have no problem with customer service, but I hasten to point out it is supplied through Zen Internet. I've retained my PlusNet ADSL as a backup line which is now only used for low priority stuff.

Zen seems able to work with OpenReach, yet PlusNet appears to have problems? I'd speculate this is because PlusNet executive management are accepting of continued poor service levels from BT Openreach. These types of problems can be fixed, but it needs genuine senior management commitment to customer service. I've done this type of job in technology on an international basis and as "Mr Nasty" developed a reputation which would see a resolution of problems just by scheduling a visit. On three previous occasions I've offered my services Pro Bono to PlusNet but never had a response.

The PN problems will continue while the management persist with a "good enough" attitude.

Now Zen, but a +Net residue.
mossywell
Grafter
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Registered: ‎08-09-2016

Re: At my wits end...

100% agree with you.

But I wonder if PN are not so much accepting of poor service levels as simply do not have anyone with the "Mr Nasty" job (I know exactly the role you mean, I have met many in my decades in IT!). Given that one of the biggest overheads is salaries, I wonder if PN keep costs down by simply having fewer staff? Zen probably maintain a relationship with BT by having a Service Level / Escalation Manager that acts as the customer's advocate. At PN, it feels as if problems are lobbed over the PN/BT fence and forgotten about because there is no one whose job it is to do things like contact me and say "I'm really sorry, we haven't heard back from BT as to why they can visit twice and fix nothing, so I'm going to phone them [not email] on your behalf right now and find out what is going on and I'll get right back to you." I just think that role does not exist at PN (or if it does they are swamped!). Hence my third question. Smiley

Kudos re the pro bono offer. Smiley If I'm right, the last thing PN would want is a third party discovering this. Disappointed that they didn't even thank you though.