2 months delay and counting

[#1]

Apologies this is just a rant to get it off my chest.
I’ve been a customer with Plusnet for years (originally with force9). I found out that I could upgrade to full fibre and placed the order back on 14th July. 
I knew work would be needed to get the fibre from pavement to my property (5m across front lawn) but I couldn’t see any issues with it.

Work was carried out, engineer booked for 4th September to complete and get the service live. This is where the problem started.

Engineer found the cable was run too short, he completed all the internal work but said would need to come back to rectify.

After a month of so called visits, each time stating civil dig works was required, I had another engineer booked for 11th October.

I notified Plusnet that nothing had been done, sent a picture or the cable and box where it needed terminating. Was told senior engineer was being sent.

On the day (after having arranged time off to be home) engineer said same thing again, need to run a new cable (said his boss not going to be happy).

Since then I’ve had another load of supposed visits saying civics works needed and the latest a date of 30th November to fix it.

I’m astonished how they have managed to mess up a simple installation.

You never know I might get full fibre for Christmas.

[#2]

@ChrisYTFC I understand your frustration. I'm afraid it sounds like you have been inundated with jobsworths, and my answer to the guy who said 'On the day (after having arranged time off to be home) engineer said same thing again, need to run a new cable (said his boss not going to be happy).would have been along the lines of 'tough, Openreach messed up, they need to sort it - what are you going to do about it?

[#3]

Hello Chris,

A warm welcome to the forums.

Sadly at times BT Openreach get things diabolically wrong and no amount of pressure from the ISP is likely to drive urgency.

I had a similar experience years ago with a FTTC line installation.  BTOR did a not served premises survey, worked out all they needed to do ... then failed to do it.  After weeks of being messed around, they claimed that they needed to do tree cutback around the pole ... but as it was a joint services pole, they were awaiting a request to SPEN to de-power the network ... turned out that SPEN had never received such a request.  Following my direct request to SPEN to have the work done (which they did within days) ... BTOR sought to blame my intercedence for the whole of the delay to the installation.  Pity that the delayed activation compensation scheme did not exist then.

[#4]

Well after getting my hopes up that it was finally going to be sort on 30th November, got a message the day before to say that it was delayed.

Now just got told it is scheduled for 3rd of February 2025 because their safe dig permit has expired.

So it looks like 5 months and counting.

[#5]

Well finally got connected on 15th January, even that was not straight forward.
I had a weekly chase up by Plusnet the day before, but they didn’t tell me openreach were going to be there the next day.
Luckily I was working from home that day, so managed to get everything sorted.
It’s been a complete nightmare for the start.
Still waiting for the automatic compensation.
That’s my next battle….

[#6]

Hi @ChrisYTFC 

Thank you for your recent post. I am sorry to hear of all the issues you have encountered, please be assured this is not the level of service neither ourselves nor Openreach strive for.

In terms any automatic compensation you may be eligible for this is processed and confirmed within 30 days post completion date of the order. Should you not have confirmation after this date then please give us a nudge and we will assess at this stage.

Lee-Plusnet Sheffield

[#7]

You need to look at the detail of the correspondence around dates. FTTP installs can be protracted and initial communications referring to “we aim to” dates are not confirmed install dates as referenced in the automatic compensation scheme.

We have seen users around here believing that the initial “we aim for” dates to be confirmed dates, whereas they were dates for pre-install dates. In that situation a subsequent confirmed date was advised and delivered to. No compensation was payable under the scheme.

In many locations, though FTTP members get be deemed to be available in a location, getting the last leg to the property can be a challenge especially if dig works are required.