PlusNet having trouble removing landline.

[#1]

One of my sisters has phone & landline with PlusNet. When she received the "30 day" email, she contacted them to say she wants to remain with PlusNet, as she no longer uses the landline. She messaged all the family to say that from 16th June the phone line will be terminated (I assume this was due to an email from PlusNet). However, her landline is still active. PlusNet have been in touch a few times, saying they are having problems disconnecting her.

Firstly, it was a paperwork problem. During a phone call they said the problem was her address. She lives in a flat & they had problems working out if her address was "xx, street name", or "Flat xx, street name". They said this during 2 separate calls.

Yesterday she had an email to say that her order had been cancelled due to non-compatibility with the line? It said they are looking into it & will get back to her within 48 hours.

Does anyone know what could cause problems disconnecting the landline?

She is currently on FTTC. I've attached the details of her exchange.

[#2]

@RadioFox How long has your sister been with PN, and what is the address on her invoices?

[#3]

@RadioFox 

Does anyone know what could cause problems disconnecting the landline?

Its not so much a problem of disconnecting the landline, its a problem with the address. Disconnecting the landline involves Plusnet placing an order for SoGEA . If the address being used isnt correct and reports that SoGEA isnt available , then the order fails.

[#4]

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@MisterW wrote:

... If the address being used isnt correct and reports that SoGEA isnt available , then the order fails.

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Why would Plusnet use the customer's address or UPRN ? - as for example there might be more than one landline installed.

Surely they would use the ALID (Access Line ID) code to identify the specific copper line ?

[#5]

@RadioFox 

As you have the Availability Checker output then look at the top level entry, that's the one a level up from the printout that you have posted. Immediately after the address will be the UPRN, this will be a 12 digit number, probably starting 10000xxx... This is the data used by Openreach

Next go to https://www.findmyaddress.co.uk/search and enter the address. This will give you a UPRN and a map showing the location of the property. Make sure that the location is correct and check that the two UPRNs match.

If there is a mismatch or the UPRN is missing from the Availability checker data then enter the find my address UPRN in the Availability database, which might find another entry for the property.

This should identify any address mismatch that you can pass to Plusnet

[#6]

@jab1  I don't know exactly how long she has been with them, but it's probably over 10 years.

I'll ask her about the billing address.

@MisterW  I can see how an incorrect address can cause this, but in my sisters case the 2 addresses are the same. There isn't a "xx, street name", there's only a "flat xx, street name". Any mail with just the number, gets sent to her flat anyway. Surely if this is the case, then Plusnet can sort it out themselves? I can't see what my sister can do about it.

Out of interest, I looked on the Royal Mail postcode finder, and on there it's "flat xx". So the official address for mail delivery includes the word "flat". I'll find out from her what her Plusnet billing address is.

[#7]

As much as anything else, this is a matter of what is in OPENREACH's database.

@ExForce9 - they might well use the line ID, but the address on the order has to match the details for the line ID.  It is a double interlock to prevent accidental order processing on the wrong line.

By the sounds of things, this is going to need a ORDI raising to correct Openreach's data records.

There is some possibility of there being two circuits to the property having the differing address variants.  Any similarity between Openreach's addresses for a property and the Royal Mail PAF database is pure coincidence!  Looking at a business I used to run (public house) the Openreach database has at least SIX entries for the premises in a mixture of its "current" name and its previous name.  The pub closed in 2017 and had been renamed in the later 1990's.

Assume nothing about Openreach's address data connected to a property.

[#8]

@Baldrick1 

Searching by address, I put in the full address (apart from the word "flat" as it's not allowed. It's numbers only) doesn't return anything. So I tried post code only, so I could chose her address. It's listed there as "Flat xx" (which I wasn't allowed to put in directly myself).

Anyway, I obtained the UPRN. It's an 11 digit number. I went to the findmyaddress link. Started typing in the address (using the word "Flat"), but it wasn't recognised? So I put in just the post code. The addresses to chose from just show a number (without the word flat), so the opposite to the broadband checker! Despite that the UPRN is the same.

Something I notice on the broadband checker results, is that the address result says that FTTP is available, but the phone number result says that it isn't? There are other differences. There's a heading called "Premise Environment" on the phone result, but not on address result (but I haven't a clue what that means anyway).

I've attached both results...

[#9]

@RadioFox 

A more telling / helpful search might be to just put the post code in.  That presents a list of "addresses" to select from.  However, that list does not come from the Royal Mail PAF database, it comes from Openreach's circuit database.  It would be interesting to see what is there relating to the address in question.  I would suspect that there are at least two entries with different address formats ... and that would be where this issue starts!

A few years ago I recall a situation with a (different) pub.  Use the downstairs circuit (business area) and both FTTC and FTTP were available to order; use the upstairs landlord's (residential) flat circuit and only FTTP was available.

[#10]

May not help, but using the address checker, the attached is what I get for me. The first entry is giving me the expected result, albeit that the address is wrong - it should have the 's' at the end as entry  two does, but that returns an 'address not found' error.

[#11]

@Townman @jab1 

For completeness, I put the postcode into Royal Mail postcode finder, the Broadband Availability checker, & findmyaddress. There were no duplicates. The broadband availability checker even had the 2 lifts in the list. 😄

[#12]

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@RadioFox wrote:

@Baldrick1 

Anyway, I obtained the UPRN. It's an 11 digit number. I went to the findmyaddress link. Started typing in the address (using the word "Flat"), but it wasn't recognised? So I put in just the post code. The addresses to chose from just show a number (without the word flat), so the opposite to the broadband checker! Despite that the UPRN is the same.

Something I notice on the broadband checker results, is that the address result says that FTTP is available, but the phone number result says that it isn't? There are other differences. There's a heading called "Premise Environment" on the phone result, but not on address result (but I haven't a clue what that means anyway).

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So if I understand this correctly, there’s two entries in the database for the same flat confirmed by them having the same UPRN, it’s just that the addresses are slightly different. Is there any clue in the address used by Plusnet in the contract as to which has been used?

This should be simple enough for Plusnet to get resolved using the ORDI service.

[#13]

@Baldrick1 

There is only 1 entry in the broadband availability checker database & that address has "Flat xx".

The findmyaddress database also has 1 entry, but that address doesn't have "Flat" in the address. It just has the door number (xx).

The UPRN for both addresses is the same.

I will find out tomorrow which address Plusnet use on my sisters account.

[#14]

If you’d like to private message me your sister’s full address, I can take a look for you tomorrow. 

[#15]

@RadioFox 

But in post #8 you have attached two screenshots from the availability database. One with FTTP available and the other without. Assuming that the obscured. addresses point at the same address then that’s two entries for the one property, confirmed by the two entries having the same UPRN.

Are there subtle differences in the address?