cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Retired Lady - Phone Line Problems

pilot01
Newbie
Posts: 4
Registered: ‎22-08-2010

Retired Lady - Phone Line Problems

Unfortunately I persuaded my mother who is retired to switch from BT to PN and she has had a succession of Problems. From Initial Cashback/Speed of Broadband and Line now U/S
Last Monday 20/4/15 she noticed BT making adjustments near her house and enquired if her line was affected. She was categorically told no. On returning from the shops her line was dead. Hanging onto a mobile for over 20 minutes the same day she reported the fault to PN. She was then given an expected rectification date of 23/4/15. This has been and gone. Today both her and I have spent over 2 hrs (Her on a mobile and myself on a landline 'trying' to ascertain what the position was). We were informed by PN that BT had given an expected date of 24/4/15 for line rectification. Phoning PN this evening on her behalf I was advised that BT have up to midnight to report back - Failing which she goes through this hassle again on Monday.
Why are PN so eager to sign people up when there really is no service or after care. People particularly who are retired or are on low income should not be expected to utilise expensive mobiles to report faults which are not of their making. To add insult to injury the PN Customer Care Personnel seem unable to extract a meaningful response from BT. What an absolute cheek you have as an organisation fleecing customers for every cent and actually not providing the service that people have contracted to. I am in Aberdeen and have seen at first hand the lazy BT Engineers who are off like a rocket on a Friday or sitting doing very little in their vans.
Years ago pre ISPs it was a simple process to extract a time from BT what has happened to simple customer care and moreover why should innocent people be held captive between 2 organisations who really are BT but under different banners.
If someone could give me a answer as to when my mothers line would be operative and re-imburse her not only for lost line time but mobile calls I would be greatful.
I work away from home and this year alone have spent a large percentage of my meagre home time either hanging onto your help line or typing emails for faults which are in the main caused by your inability to fulfil your contract.. Its really not good enough and if this persists then I will start to bill PN for my time and escalate to the Regulator.
5 REPLIES 5
plusnettony
Plusnet Staff
Plusnet Staff
Posts: 2,188
Thanks: 48
Fixes: 18
Registered: ‎24-07-2014

Re: Retired Lady - Phone Line Problems

I'm really sorry that your mother has experienced problems. Judging your comments, I'd suggest that the problems would have occurred whoever your provider was. As I can't see the account in question, I can only advise that we would chase Openreach until the fault is resolved.
We offer the facility to test a phone line online (https://portal.plus.net/my-account/tools/phone-troubleshooter/). If a clear fault is found, you can raise this yourself.
I'm sorry that you feel that there is no service or care, but I cannot agree. Our staff do care and do all that we can to get things working as soon as possible. We will advise of all the information that we get, but we sometimes won't provide the technical answers that you are seeking.
I couldn't comments on the engineers in your area, but I am sure they are working hard in doing their own job.
Faults do occur from time to time, they always will with anything technical. We are not fleecing you, but instead working harder for you now than when everything is working. Your bill isn't really our priority at the moment though but will be looked at one you've had a full resolution. At this point we'll know exactly what the fault was, what fixed it, and how long the line was down.
If we owned the telephone network, things may be different, but unfortunately, no ISP does. We all (regardless of ownership) need to report the fault to Openreach. Whilst we are part of the BT Group, we are Plusnet not BT.
Tony
If this post resolved your issue please click the 'This fixed my problem' button
 Tony T
 Plusnet Help Team
pilot01
Newbie
Posts: 4
Registered: ‎22-08-2010

Re: Retired Lady - Phone Line Problems

#Tony
I did not ask you to comment negatively re my comments - Why is it sooooooo difficult to provide a basic level of customer care. If you had looked on my account you would have seen the numerous attempts that I made to acquire what I had signed up for with PlusNet. This has meant that each month since Jan 15 you failed to provide what you had contracted to do on my own account. This has also been mirrored on my mothers account. Which if you were on the ball you would see I have access to.  In addition Pre + Post 2015 you have consistently charged me twice for line rental which I actually pay in advance. PN  also failed to provide a BT Eng when I switched houses - thereby losing me a full days wages. etc etc.
The point is that you have had a waiting time of over 15 minutes for customer svcs for several years now. Retired People or anyone for that matter should not be shafted and left to utilise mobiles because BT have disconnected their line. We didn't need to test the line - it was dead. The problem occurs when people are not advised as to a) the reason why their line has suddenly become u/s and b) a time scale in which the fault would be rectified. We are not interested in Service Level Agreements you have with BT. - Pre ISP intervention it was quite simple to get a time slot from BT so the point is if you are part of BT why can we not get a definitive answer and why do you not employ more people to answer your phones. You expect us to pay on time - we expect to have our lines up and running. Simple Really.
An Eng did eventually appear and lo and behold BT had screwed up on earlier line work they had done. It would have been a nice touch if mum could have been informed. After all she didn't screw up her telephone line, Im afraid you leave people in the lurch and that's reflective in other posts. So don't personalise my post, it would say more for you if you were honest with customers and didn't waste our time and money, doing what should be your job - KEEPING CUSTOMERS HAPPY.
plusnettony
Plusnet Staff
Plusnet Staff
Posts: 2,188
Thanks: 48
Fixes: 18
Registered: ‎24-07-2014

Re: Retired Lady - Phone Line Problems

I’m not sure that I responded negatively, I’m sorry if it appeared that I did. I was merely responding to the points that you’ve raised. I do however feel where it’s due, that I should stand by the Openreach engineers that you claim to be lazy.
Had I looked at your mothers account, I would have found lots more information. However, in answering I have to be careful of the information that I’m supplying in a public forum. Secondly, and more to the point, you didn’t provide any details for me to find her account.
A problem which happened on your account appears to have been resolved last month. Should you believe this to be incorrect, please let us know.
Many improvements have been made to our wait times themselves, but we’ve also introduced an 03 number so that it’s cheaper on some mobiles than an 0800/0845 number. As I said in my previous post though, if you don’t want to wait but can find an alternative internet connection, the fault can be reported online.
Quote from: pilot01
We didn't need to test the line - it was dead.

With respect, you did.
There are numerous tests which are needed which could resolve matters instantly. I appreciate it that with hindsight we know this wasn’t a problem for your mothers’ line, but if we didn’t do the tests and it turned out to be something in her remit, you’d be bill for the engineer call, and that engineers time would be wasted. I appreciate that sometimes better processes that could be used, but it is essential that these tests are done for these reasons.
Quote from: pilot01
The problem occurs when people are not advised as to a) the reason why their line has suddenly become u/s and b) a time scale in which the fault would be rectified.

We don’t know the answer to this – ultimately, we’re in an office at the other side of the country. An estimate will be given to us once the fault is reported, but this could be incorrect if further work is required. Likewise it could be that less work is required an so a rather generous estimate is given.
Our SLA with BT is between us and our supplier as you state, but sometimes a little information helps to explain why the situation is as it is.
We are part of the BT Group but we are not BT themselves if that makes sense. We are a separate business that just happens to be owned by them –we have our own identity and processes. We are not able to push fixes through because of our parentage. This would be anti-competitive and not fair on the customers of other suppliers. 
More people on the phones is only part of the answer, and also isn’t a quick fix. Much more works needs to be done to improve things and we've done quite a lot of this already.
We do expect you to pay on time, and when faults, which are quite rare do occur, we’ll work to have the issue resolved as quickly as possible.
It’s possible we didn’t know that an engineer was coming, I don’t know I can’t see this.
It is in our interest to keep customers happy. I’m sorry that you feel we’re not being honest, I can only disagree with you.
If this post resolved your issue please click the 'This fixed my problem' button
 Tony T
 Plusnet Help Team
pilot01
Newbie
Posts: 4
Registered: ‎22-08-2010

Re: Retired Lady - Phone Line Problems

Thank You for your response Tony, however what I think you have not grasped is that time is money to your customers. We are threatened with dire BT Eng charges when in fact the Fault was caused by a BT Eng who to add insult to injury initially told mum face to face that her line would not be affected. It was dead for six days. She then spent a lot of time and mobile phone costs advising your CS. of the fault. Additionally In turn the family spent time and money phoning her mobile phone. CS advised that there was an expected rectification date which came and went and somehow the initial fault query dropped off your system - nobody chased it up. and we and mum had to go round the merry go round with CS. The second rectification date also came and went and again back to your CS with all the incumbent costs and time being expended for zilch
We are not asking in any way for any preferential treatment. What we are saying is that you as an organisation are not reporting back to customers with accurate dates and time slots, what you are expecting however is that you can penalise customers with the threat of BT Eng costs, while omitting to recognise that your system is actually costing individuals time and money. What I come back to is that Pre ISP an individual from any part of the country could get a time slot from BT and usually an Eng would appear in that time slot. Your current operation and utilisation of CS is as a barrier to providing an accurate time frame for BT repairs.
Your CS advised he got the BT Info from a separate BT IT system. So while you gaze at a BT queuing system - your CS are in fact hands off and customers are left to stew. I don't understand your reluctance to actually ask BT for a time slot and report back to the customer. After all BT disconnected the line not us. Or is it a case that PN are the poor cousin of BT and therefore have a 2nd rate service.
While all your CS people have been very pleasant to speak to. There is a feeling that your CS can not or are not allowed to be pro-active in chasing faults up with BT that is not good customer service in any shape or form. At the end of the day my mother who is retired pays a full line rental which equates to the cost of a BT ISP line rental. Moreover this is the second time this year that her phone line has gone dead while with PN. I do think you have a duty to not only recompense customers for their losses, but, also report back accurately on areas like phone line problems - At present you do neither. My own recent problems have taken over 5 months to rectify and again I found the same grippy attitude and lack of 'normal'customer care.Phone lines are life lines to elderly people and you really need to re-think how you tackle problems as above.
plusnettony
Plusnet Staff
Plusnet Staff
Posts: 2,188
Thanks: 48
Fixes: 18
Registered: ‎24-07-2014

Re: Retired Lady - Phone Line Problems

I do understand your concern, and I’m sorry if that didn’t come across well.
My intention was just to explain how things work and hope we can work together to ensure problems are resolved in the quickest of time. I fully accept that that engineer caused your problem, and I’m sure the agent did too but we have to advise of the potential call charges. It’s not intended as a threat, and I’m genuinely sorry that this is how you felt.
After the initial ERT, we should be chasing for you, but BT wouldn’t give us a new date. They, our contacts, will only tell us what is already on our systems. We would chase for you (and I’m a disappointed that this didn’t happen) but this wouldn’t provide the results that you might expect.
I couldn’t comment in an official capacity as to my thoughts on how things worked previously, for one reason I don't remember it in great detail.
I trust this provides a bit of an understanding of the situation.
If this post resolved your issue please click the 'This fixed my problem' button
 Tony T
 Plusnet Help Team