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Protracted service failure

levannak69
Newbie
Posts: 4
Registered: ‎30-03-2013

Protracted service failure

We've been without a telephone service since the Wednesday 20/3, apart from one day when the service was temporarily restored. To cut a very long story short, this period was characterised by repeated delays, little action and limited communication. The current situation is that my last but one contact with PN was last Friday to let them know that the problem still existed. I was assured that PN "will work on this as quickly as possible to get this issue resolved as efficiently as we can." I was told that the problem will be passed to the phone fault team.
When I have not heard anything by mid morning Saturday, I contacted PN only to be told that nothing be done until Tuesday at the earliest, as there is no BT support at week-ends and bank holidays, as per the SLA that PN agreed with BT.
Does anyone know whether that is true and also whether loosing a PN telephone line for at least 11 days is normal PN practice?
13 REPLIES 13
Anotherone
Champion
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Registered: ‎31-08-2007

Re: Protracted service failure

Hi, welcome to the forum, even if it's not the best of circumstances.
That does sound excessive. Openreach would have been working Saturday for normal faults, but it would have depended on where your fault was on their list for your area. Unfortunately the PN faults team wouldn't be back in until Tuesday to chase Openretch.
Oldjim
Resting Legend
Posts: 38,460
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Registered: ‎15-06-2007

Re: Protracted service failure

Probably correct - see this document http://telcoop.co.uk/products/traditional-telecoms/bt-openreach-care-levels/ - which indicates that a level of care including bank holidays costs £3.99
I would assume that it would be per month and that it is an ex VAT price
Anotherone
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Re: Protracted service failure

Well done for digging that out Jim, however that looks like the prices they charge their customer for the relevant SLA. What's not on the list is what SLA level 1 reporting and clearing times are. Will have to do some digging.
Are the wholesale prices in that other link from a post the other day?
Oldjim
Resting Legend
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Registered: ‎15-06-2007

Re: Protracted service failure

As Level 2 is free I doubt if there is even a level 1 now
Anotherone
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Re: Protracted service failure

Don't get confused mind, that's for Teleco-op business customers, haven't looked to see what their line rental charges are.
There is definitely a level 1, a lot of us were on level 2 and now we're all on level 1. Have a look through your Closed Service Notices circa 22Mar2012 and closed Questions about 12 days later circa 3Apr2012!
levannak69
Newbie
Posts: 4
Registered: ‎30-03-2013

Re: Protracted service failure

Jim,
Thanks for the information. The minimum level 2 SLA states that "Fault clear by end of next working day", which sounds pretty reasonable to me.
Is this the SLA that that BT gives to Plusnet? I would expect PN to add a small margin to the SLA they receive and pass that on to their retail customers in their SLA. This does not seem to happen as it was implied to me that PN will not even contact BT before 72 hours have passed. This dead period of 72 hours seem to be then reset every time there is a new communication from BT. With this arrangement it does not take long before a fortnight or more passes without much happening to restore an essential lost service.
Anotherone
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Registered: ‎31-08-2007

Re: Protracted service failure

As my previous post, that document is for Teleco-op customers NOT Plusnet which will be completely different, although the description of the SLA levels will be correct, there is no description of SLA level 1 there. It's not the case that Plusnet don't contact BT/OR for 72 hours and the way their automated ticket response is phrased is confusing and is something we need to take up with Plusnet.
levannak69
Newbie
Posts: 4
Registered: ‎30-03-2013

Re: Protracted service failure

Anotherone, thank you for your reply. As far as I can see once a problem has been reported to BT or updated, Plusnet will not chase the problem for at least another 72 hours or possibly longer if there is an intervebing weekend or bank holiday. Is your understanding different?
I was also told that there is no prioritisation of problems; all problem reports are progressed in strict chronolgical order of arrival at PN, irrespective as to whether it Is a first report of some niggle or the 5th re-report of total loss of service. This is a very inefficient and unsatisfactory way to manage problems.
Do you or anyone has a copy of the BT SLA  for Plusnet? Is there any incentive for BT to resolve problems within a given period of time or to pay any attention to escalation by PN?
Anotherone
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Registered: ‎31-08-2007

Re: Protracted service failure

You are right that any follow-up seems to be 72 hrs after, judging by reports on the forum of late, and they don't seem to be any checking as to whether a fault has actually been resolved. Even escalations with BT seem to take 48hrs. If you are telling me that after chasing a problem for the 5th time it is still sitting in the same pool as initial fault reports, then that is frankly not good enough and Plusnert need to get their finger out and get this resolved. Even the agents that handle these can't be properly trained if they can't see that a 5th chase of the issue should mean it should be put in a priority queue.
adamwalker
Plusnet Help Team
Plusnet Help Team
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Registered: ‎27-04-2007

Re: Protracted service failure

@levannak69
From experience it's likely that we won't see an update until the 4th. I've just checked and one hasn't been given yet. Let me know if you have any issues beyond the 4th. Sorry there's not much I can do in the meantime.

If this post resolved your issue please click the 'This fixed my problem' button
 Adam Walker
 Plusnet Help Team
levannak69
Newbie
Posts: 4
Registered: ‎30-03-2013

Re: Protracted service failure

We have now been without a telephone line for two and a half weeks. The line came back for one day then died again. This was reported to PN on Friday 29/3. BT then gave the target repair date of 4/4. Once again now BT claims  that the problem has been resolved, but the fault has not changed and the line is still not working. I can see no evidence at all that BT has done anything during this time other than file a fault clear report late this morning. Have I not chased PN this morning, presumably they would not have checked the status for another 72 hours.
During the period that the line has been down I was told that there is no escalation procedure, that we were at level 2, then level 3 and finally that the problem has not been escalated as it did not meet escalation criteria, even though at that time the has been down for two weeks. I am still waiting for a response to my question as to what is the criteria for escalation within PN and BT. Does anybody here knows?
James
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Registered: ‎04-04-2007

Re: Protracted service failure

There is an escalation process at both our end and at BTs.
At our end, you can ask for a Team Leader to call you back however in this situation, there isn't really much value in doing so as the advisors will have far more experience of dealing with phone faults than the Team Leaders will have.
Within BT it's SMC -> Escalations Team -> Escalations Management -> Level 3 escalations -> Level 3 escalations Manager -> General Manager
Our SLA on Repair is clear by end of next working day plus one.
The criteria for escalations for repair within Openreach:
Repair escalation criteria
1. Fault out of SLA and ERT - No update received or require urgent fault resolution
o Where a fault is out of SLA and has passed its ERT, and there is no up to date relevant note on the Fault Tracker,
A valid escalation is NOT:
o A query about a protracted lead time on an initial appointment
o When MBORC applies
2. Openreach missed a booked appointment
o Where we have missed an appointment we’ll try to book another appointment with the end user. If we’re unable to contact the end user, we’ll book the next available appointment and let you know. If the end user is not happy with the new appointment and the appointment is not by the end of the next working day
A valid escalation is NOT:
o When MBORC applies
3. Protracted repair
o Where a fault is outstanding due to scheduled engineering work, and is beyond its estimated completion date, for example second stage repair or ASG involvement.
4. Multiple repeat faults
o When the same fault has been reported multiple times, i.e. following the closure of 2 fault reports a further fault is raised within a 28 day period (for example 3 faults have been raised within 28 days). This is applicable to FTTC1 reports and not FTTC3.
5. Service affecting hazard
o If a CP believes an end user’s property has been left in an unsatisfactory condition following fault resolution, and the fault is still open.
I'll see if I can find out what has been done about your fault.
James
Grafter
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Registered: ‎04-04-2007

Re: Protracted service failure

Ok, reading the notes, testing identified that the fault was located at the exchange and Openreach have rejumpered and reterminated your line at the exchange level.  This obviously hasn't helped.
The line is now testing as
Quote
Test Result: Fail - Fault located between DP and customer apparatus (no appointment required)
Description: FAULT - Dis In Network

Which shows that it is believed that the fault lies between you and the distribution point (pole or cabinet, but more likely to be pole).
It looks from the tracker as though this may have been assigned to an engineer.  Give us a shout later on and I can check again for you.