No willingness to chase Openreach

[#1]

We had a connection date booked with Openreach on the 1st November. The day came and went and no connection.

Plusnet say that Openreach "delayed" the order (which I had to call to find out about), basically that Openreach did have enough engineers to attend. A new date was booked for the 7th. I called in the evening to find out that they had missed it again. In fact Openreach had a "bridge case" stuck which now isn't due to get resolved until the 15th - and I'm assuming that even after that there will need a connection booking.

That will mean that it will have been two weeks to get connected after moving house.

Although plusnet have offered goodwill gestures this does nothing to speed up Openreach and make it possible to work at my own house again.

The standard response is that they cannot escalate to Openreach and that a case is open.

I want to know why it is not possible to escalate with Openreach. It is simply because you have no choice but to deal with them and don't want to annoy them?

Openreach are failing at their only job and at basic customer service - being able to rectify their own faults.

I also want to know if Plusnet are doing anything as an ISP to fix a broken system. You must be able to find another supplier if the first one is lacking. Of course Openrech will never improve if they still keep getting the money coming in!

[#2]

Openreach lack of engineers is becoming the latest reason for non attendance and becoming more regular 

but hopefully when ofcom decides to start charging Openreach things may change

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/about-ofcom/latest/media/media-releases/2017/automatic-compensation-landlin...

[#3]

That is good to see the Ofcom recognise it as a problem. Are ISPs doing anything themselves?

If Openreach are the only company allowed to operate at the cabinets then are they trying to get this changed? If they're not then could Plusnet not get a third-party engineer out to make the connection?

Plusnet have been fair and offered compensation which I'm assuming they will claim back in some way from Openreach. But that doesn't make the connection happen any quicker.

However why is it that Plusnet believe the only way to chase Openreach is by waiting for tickets? I'm sure if they were being chased up every hour Openreach would quickly get this fixed to get them off their back. Or is it that Openreach can afford to ignore them because they're going to get paid anyway!

[#4]

Openreach are the supplier.  It is them who own the equipment, lines, infrastructure etc...  It is only Openreach or a contractor that they appoint that can do any work on any of these.

ISPs need to follow the processes that Openreach given them, which it sounds like Plusnet are doing.  Ultimately chasing them how you suggest is only going to take up more of Plusnets time, hence cost them more, which would ultimately mean us all paying more for exactly the same service levels from Openreach.

[#5]

Since contacting customer service again at Plusnet I have been told that it is possible to chase and escalate at Openreach.

I have been told my case will be checked every day and Openreach will be contacted for an update every day and escalated there.

To anybody else being told Openreach can't be contacted or escalted: Yes they can!

[#6]

Then Plusnet need a mechanism the recoup their losses from Openreach to incentivise Openreach to improve their service levels because it's not as though consumers can vote with their feet and find a different supplier.

But I would love more than anything to be told that my assumption is wrong and that Openreach actually have competition in this space. And to let me know who these ISPs are that use them!

[#7]

Openreach have had this problem for years and will continue to have it for years IMO, they took on several thousand new engineers recently to try and combat this, but a lot of the infrastructure on the 'Last Mile' (from telephone exchange out over) requires a massive portion of engineers just for the 'upkeep' of it, such as reported faults and lines going down etc... and with the surge in fibre they need to create more fibre / broadband engineers too, as regular 'Linesmen' aren't allowed in VDSL cabs.

when my line was tested it was a young 18 year old lass on her first week, she had to climb up the pole and she was really scared, she done it bless her, but she was caking it.