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Disaster changing to Plusnet

bjj12
Hooked
Posts: 5
Registered: ‎24-07-2017

Disaster changing to Plusnet

Decided to change to Plusnet. What a disaster. Had an email from them almost a month ago saying that they would install new line. Phoned and said we are just transferring from BT. All confirmed in writing that Broadband and phone would be to our current number. Open Reach turned up today to install new line. Told him we didn't want new line. He seemed to.understand. Cutting a very long story short Plusnet have made a complete mess of things. We now have a new and different phone number which we do not want. Phoned Plusnet to say our proper number wasn't working. They told us to phone BT to put stop on proper number and then they could immediately transfer all to proper number. We have this in writing. We are stuck with a new number. BT cannot help as Plusnet did not inform them properly and they need Plusnet to contact them or we may loose our number. Plusnet say that there is nothing they can do and that we are stuck without our proper number until 23 August and that's assuming BT do not reallocate it. We spent a total of 8 hours either on the phone to BT or Plusnet. Even though Plusnet acknowledge they have messed up but say they cannot help. Not exactly great Customer Service. We are stuck without our right phone number and Plusnet have washed their hands of it. It is unacceptable for us to be a whole month without our correct number and with the potential of losing it altogether. Nobody wants to.help. Can anyone please advise us? Thank you.
8 REPLIES 8
HarryB
Plusnet Help Team
Plusnet Help Team
Posts: 5,199
Thanks: 1,466
Fixes: 256
Registered: ‎25-03-2015

Re: Disaster changing to Plusnet

Welcome to the community forums @bjj12

 

Looking at your account and checking your address records shows that when the account was signed up, there was no active line showing at the property and currently there is only the line we are providing.

 

I'm afraid we couldn't simply take over the BT services at your address as they are not registered there on Openreach systems as far as I can see. As such, the only order we could place to provide your service was an order for a new line installation.

 

As BT are the range holder of the number currently being provided, we should be able to use this on a renumber order when it is ceased, however as it currently stands it shows as being active, which means we cannot request this number as it is active with another provider.

If BT won't cease the telephone number so we can try to request this on a renumber of your line, they should ideally send off a request to correct the backend address records for your line and we can take the line over.

 

I'm sorry you feel we have washed our hands of this matter, however looking at your account I see there is a ticket with our provisioning team, who are waiting to be able to place a renumber order to try and get your telephone number back.

 

We would love to get this matter resolved sooner, however if 23/08/17 is when BT have said they will cease the line, we would need to wait for the number to become spare before we can move forward with trying to get the number back.

 

I do apologise for any inconvenience this is causing, however I can assure you we have done and are doing all we can to help with this as far as I can see.

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 Harry Beesley
 Plusnet
bjj12
Hooked
Posts: 5
Registered: ‎24-07-2017

Re: Disaster changing to Plusnet

Harry

There was an active line at our address - there has been for years.  We received a communication from Plusnet saying that they would install a new line.  We told them no need as we have one with BT.  We then received an email from Plusnet confirming that we would have Broadband on our current number.  Plusnet agreed then that we had a phone line!!!!  It is registered on Open Reach and we have informed you of the number ourselves.  I cannot emphasise enough that you confirmed our number in writing.

Plusnet told us to cease the number with BT - which we did.  This then caused a whole load of other problems such as not being able to switxh until 23 August and with the potential of losing our old and wanted number.

We have now (as instructed by you) contacted BT and told them to remove the cease.  They have now advised us to contact you to ask you to do a "working line takeover",  I am trying yet again to contact you.  We spent hours and hours on the phone to you and BT yesterday.

This morning I received a text saying "Your Home Phone service is ready to use on.........  Any problems?  Call us on...."  ANY PROBLEMS - that is an understatement.

All we want if for our number to be restored immediately.  We are doing everything (and more) that you are telling us to do.  I would never ever recommend Plusnet to anyone.  We have been appalled at the responses from you "We can't help" "There is nothing we can do".

So much for your Welcome letter "We will take care of everything....".

HarryB
Plusnet Help Team
Plusnet Help Team
Posts: 5,199
Thanks: 1,466
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Registered: ‎25-03-2015

Re: Disaster changing to Plusnet


@bjj12 wrote:

There was an active line at our address - there has been for years.

I am not disputing that at all. It is simply not registered to the address you provided us. To place an order at the address you've provided us, we only had the option of a new line installation.

As we're not the provider for the line that has been at your address for years, I'm afraid we cannot update the back-end Openreach records, as this could only be requested by the current provider of the line.

 


@bjj12 wrote:

Plusnet told us to cease the number with BT - which we did.  This then caused a whole load of other problems such as not being able to switxh until 23 August and with the potential of losing our old and wanted number.


We simply requested this as it's not possible to request to take over a phone number while at the same time, moving it to a different registered address.

 


@bjj12 wrote:

We have now (as instructed by you) contacted BT and told them to remove the cease.  They have now advised us to contact you to ask you to do a "working line takeover",  I am trying yet again to contact you.  We spent hours and hours on the phone to you and BT yesterday.

Ideally, they should be raising this matter with ORDI (OpenReach Data Integrity) Robot, to have the back-end address records corrected to the house number you provided us.


@bjj12 wrote:

This morning I received a text saying "Your Home Phone service is ready to use on.........  Any problems?  Call us on...."  ANY PROBLEMS - that is an understatement.


Your phone order did complete yesterday. While I appreciate it's not the number you want, the number you want is currently registered to an address different to the one provided on your account.

 


@bjj12 wrote:

All we want if for our number to be restored immediately.  We are doing everything (and more) that you are telling us to do.  I would never ever recommend Plusnet to anyone.  We have been appalled at the responses from you "We can't help" "There is nothing we can do".


I'm afraid it is simply not possible for us to immediately resolve this.

Only the current provider can correct the address records for the line they're providing.

If we were to search every address on the ordering system and happen to find the address your line is actually registered to, we could potentially place an order at that address and then correct the records ourself when we actually provide the line, but either way, there would be a 10 working day minimum lead time to take over a phone line, followed by re-providing broadband on that line, and before we can place the broadband order, we'd need to raise the ORDI request and wait for this to be processed by our suppliers, which generally takes around 5-7 working days.

 

It's not that we don't want to help or do anything to resolve this. However Plusnet cannot update records for a BT Retail phone line (Or any other providers line for that matter). If the line was registered at the address your account was signed up to, we would have simply taken the service over which would have been quicker and cheaper for everyone involved.

 

EDIT:


@bjj12 wrote:

We have now (as instructed by you) contacted BT and told them to remove the cease.


I'm not sure where I advised this. I previously explained that if they won't cease the line, they should update the back-end records to show your line is registered at the correct address

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 Harry Beesley
 Plusnet
bjj12
Hooked
Posts: 5
Registered: ‎24-07-2017

Re: Disaster changing to Plusnet

Harry

Plusnet confirmed in writing that Broadband would be installed on our current number.

We spoke to you on 3 July as you communicated with us that you would be installing a new line.  It was confirmed on the phone by Plusnet that a new line was not needed.

Our address is the same with BT.  With Openreach it includes the house name as well as the house number.  If you knew this would cause a problem why, when we had already contacted you about you saying that a new line was needed, did you confirm in writing that we would be keeping our old number?

I do not consider cutting off our working phone number to be "completing the order".  It is not what you confirmed in writing - it is something different!

We spent hours and hours on the phone yesterday.  This morning my husband spent over an hour on the phone to BT and I have phoned Plusnet and spent almost half an hour on hold and then got cut off when the service assistant tried to transfer me. 

I have now been on hold again for over 15 minutes.

I am self employed and the time I am spending on this means I am not working and losing money.  We have elderly parents who need to be able to contact us on our old number that they are familiar with.

We are stuck between BT and Plusnet - who are apparently connected but unable to communicate with each other.

How can we get back to where we were yesterday morning?

We have now spent another 2 hours this morning trying to deal with this.  Now being told to put a cease on our line with Plusnet and still keep hearing that it can't be done and need an engineer.

This is a ridiculous situation.

HarryB
Plusnet Help Team
Plusnet Help Team
Posts: 5,199
Thanks: 1,466
Fixes: 256
Registered: ‎25-03-2015

Re: Disaster changing to Plusnet


@bjj12 wrote:

Our address is the same with BT.  With Openreach it includes the house name as well as the house number.

If the number is registered to a house name, but the account is signed up to a different address that is just a number, we would place the orders against the address provided.

 


@bjj12 wrote:

I do not consider cutting off our working phone number to be "completing the order".  It is not what you confirmed in writing - it is something different!


Installing a second line should have had no effect on your existing line. However I am sorry to hear that you're experiencing problems with the line being provided by the phone provider for the other line.

 

While I do apologise for any wait times you've experienced on the phone, contacting us via every method is likely to just add confusion with multiple people all working on the same thing.

Moving forward, I would advise discussing this with your dedicated complaints handler via the ticket on your account here: https://www.plus.net/wizard/?p=view_question&id=154335944

 

To keep a single point of contact on this carrying out the necessary work, I won't be taking any action and will now leave this with your complaint handler.

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 Harry Beesley
 Plusnet
eddieapathy
Newbie
Posts: 4
Registered: ‎30-07-2017

Re: Disaster changing to Plusnet

bjj12  - I feel your pain.  I am experiencing difficulties in getting Plusnet to rectify their mistake in not retaining my existing BT telephone number (of 20 years), as was agreed when I placed the order.  What is equally, if not more infuriating, is the lack of correspondence from Plusnet on how they are / aren't progressing with fixing their mistake.  It would appear that a response is more quickly attained via this forum than it is by holding on the phone for 45 / 50 minutes until someone from "customer services" even takes the call.  Each customer service agent I have spoken to has given conflicting information, and, my last call was with a seemingly helpful agent who said HE WOULD CONTACT ME within 24 / 48 hours via text and / or support ticket.  This has not happened and that was 6 days ago!  My "temporary" Plusnet tel number went live on 18th July and I'm still no further forward.  How can I know if Plusnet is effectively even addressing the issue?  Another couple of days and this matter will be referred to Ofcom as I simply can't afford to loose my old telephone number and I certainly don't have time to chase my tail with inefficient Plusnet Customer Services.  I empathise with you completely.

 

So as to avoid confusion for Plusnet, I'll start a new thread detailing my problem - I'll be watching yours to see if they take any responsibility and resolve it.

bjj12
Hooked
Posts: 5
Registered: ‎24-07-2017

Re: Disaster changing to Plusnet

Hi eddieapathy

I can so empathise with you.  We had had our phone number for 27 years!  We are "boring old people" who like to use a landline rather than just mobiles!  So many people only had our landline number and not our mobiles.  We also have elderly parents (in their 90s) and changing phone numbers would have had a huge knock-on effect on keeping in contact with them.  I am also self-employed so the wrong phone number was having an big impact.... not only with people being unable to contact me but also the hours involved trying to sort this out meant that I couldn't be working.

We too spent hours and hours (literally - I think it was over 10 at the last count) trying to get through to customer service, spending huge amounts of time on hold,  and we were told different things time after time.  Such as phone BT (more time on hold!) ask them to cease the line, .... that was told to you in error... phone BT and tell them to take the cease off the line. I tried every way of contacting Plusnet as we kept hitting a brick wall, ... customer service, this forum and twitter.  I was "told off" and told to just stick to one contact as it was causing confusion    Completely missing the point that I was trying every avenue as I wasn't getting anywhere.  Harry on this thread clearly didn't understand my problem. Nobody was willing to talke responsibility/ownership for the problem caused by Plusnet - it was very frustrating.  We were told that we could not have our old number back until 23rd August and that it was against the law to do anything before then .... I kid you not! I was also warned that BT might give our number to someone else before then too.   That was the final straw.  Late on Monday evening I googled the CEO Andrew (Andy) Baker's email address and wrote to him directly.  A member of staff from his office called the next morning and has sorted it.  It took from Tuesday until Thursday but she was absolutely brilliant.  She phoned regularly to tell us what she was doing and reassured us that she would solve the problem.  She also agreed that I shouldn't have felt that I had to email the CEO in order to get our problem sorted.

I can highly recommend that you try this.  It was the only thing that worked for us. 

Good Luck!

Gandalf
Community Gaffer
Community Gaffer
Posts: 26,563
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Registered: ‎21-04-2017

Re: Disaster changing to Plusnet

@eddieapathy

I've replied to your thread here

From 31st October 2022, I no longer have a regular presence here as I’ve moved on to a new role.
Anoush Mortazavi
Plusnet