Problem switching from Sky to Plusnet

[#1]

I acknowledge that you don't want us to place anymore orders and I accept that.

I note that you've mentioned on your ticket that if you're required to call then please advise which I have done, however I understand that you struggle to use the phone so you'll be able to contact us via live chat from here https://www.plus.net/home-broadband/contact/ can you advise what you see when you go to use the service?

[#2]

We all wish everything were simpler than what it is, in an increasingly complex world. There are proper procedures in place which are designed to prevent erroneous migration of services from one provider to another. Such depends on the current information owned by the current supplier being correct.

Where it is not - like for example your view of your address being different to that on the BT record, house name or post code not matching can cause problems which inhibit migration. Such errors must be corrected by the existing supplier. In this case it has been advised that the records show the line as disconnected, which is patiently incorrect.

One can really understand why you don’t want hassle - as you suggest at 77 you have better things to do than sort this ... so I guess the county court route is not the best use of your time?

The least time consuming options for you appear to be to allow the migration to proceed as originally ordered or to follow the cancellation process. If you have difficulties using the phone, might your son be able to make the call for you?

Alternatively I believe you can send termination instructions by post.

[#3]

Correct me if I am wrong, British Telecom own Plusnet and Openreach, who could be better placed to make sure all the rules were locked down so that competition in the industry can flourish?

As far as the "complex world" goes, I have changed provider over 10 times in the last 2 or 3 decades, from providers that have come and gone, I have been to BT, Virgin, Sky and back several times, including ISDN and ISDN2. I have also previously been with Plusnet 3 times in this period. Prior to this attempted switch I have had no problems whatsoever and even kept the same number for 54 years too.

If Sky can avoid updating their records and not face serious penalties, inhibiting competition, then this should have been foreseen and measures put in place to stop it happening. British Telecom is not a small corporation.

None of the above, whether you are in the right or wrong, absolve you (not you as an individual, you have been truthful and kept your word 100%), from the poor communication overall from Plusnet.

[#4]

From the impression I got after discussing this with the wholesale manager the issue lies with the Openreach records (who are a separate entity from BT Group), I understand you've ordered a service from Plusnet so at the end of the day the buck falls squarely with us however I appreciate we could've done a lot more before I took ownership, so I do sincerely apologise for the experience you've had prior and I was unable to resolve this before you decided to cancel your order.

All the best with whoever you decide to go or stay with.

[#5]

Pleased to learn that you now have a resolution to you preference.

As for "working together" BT is a house of many divisions and being part of it does not confer any favours on one sibling over completely distinct retail organisations.  BT Wholesale and BT Openreach act at complete arms length from both BT Retail and Plusnet, obliged to treat all retail ISPs alike.  In times past under Ofcom rules, the LLU providers Sky and Talk Talk have received more preferential service terms than users of BT's own wholesale services.  Note also there is more technical data complications around a line being with a LLU provider.

As you say you have been back and forth with Plusnet and not encountered issues.  Have you though sought to migrate away from sky before?

Things went wrong here, orders would not have been re-submitted without taking advice from the supplier - seems that when @Gandalf stepped in he might identified something over looked by the supplier - he has considerable experience far above that of the front line guys and at times I think of the supplier too.  I believe that any other ISP would have encountered similar issues, the question is though would they have retried so many times, accepting the given advice before escalating?

Just all a little sad that it came a little too late for you.  Hope all works out well with Sky for you.

Edit: Written concurrently to Gandalf posting as above!

[#6]

If you think you are cynical I am now envisaging ISPs updating their records with Openreach by sending 100 boxes of A4 paper to them, as it wasn't specified they had to do it digitally....

Good luck to you guys that want to do good.