Endless delays to my order

[#1]

Hi everyone,

I ordered broadband from PlusNet middle of May with an engineer visit scheduled for 4th of June. He showed up, tried to set it up and found a fault somewhere that needed to be fixed by a new engineer. Got a text message same day from PlusNet that there is a delay without any further information. I called, and was told that they need to check with Openreach. Got a call from Openreach calling for PlusNet (that’s what they actually said) to set up engineer appointment for the 11th (which was a bit unusual). Next message on the 10th June from PlusNet that I needed to make a new engineer appointment. I called PlusNet to confirm the date that I was given by Openreach and the guy said yes he can see it on his computer. Got a text message from PlusNet straight after “Hello, Plusnet here. You spoke to our advisor today at... can you tell us your thoughts please”.

No one showed up on the 11th. Called Plusnet who said they can’t see a scheduled visit or even my phone call to them the day before. Apparently it was not logged, even though I was asked for 3 question feedback. The lady on the phone set up a new appointment for the 25th June. Got text message from Openreach yesterday that they would come on the 24th. I called Plusnet again to check which day it actually is. Was told that no visit was scheduled, but that they could set it up now for the 25th. Only to receive a text message just now, that there has been a delay in my order, and I would be contacted again whenever someone somewhere has more details.

This really feels like a joke now. I am moving this weekend and have no internet, so can’t work from home.

Anyone else having that many issues? I’m very tempted to go with a different provider. 

[#2]

Hi @TevAnja

Thanks a lot for reaching out and I'm really sorry to hear about the delays with your service. Here's a quick timeline of events that have taken place on your order.

04/06/2021 - The installation engineer came out but was unable to complete the work, the job was therefore passed on to what we call a CSNO engineer (multiskilled) for further investigation. While the standard lead time for CSNO engineer to go out is 48 working hours, this is subject to availability within the local area.

11/06/2021 - Though you were told by Openreach that an appointment would take place, looking at the order tracker, it is apparent that an engineer went out, however all of the work needed to be carried out was in fact external.

Though the CSNO activity is complete, as are all of the other activities on the order, we do not have a KCI3 - notification of completion, which is rather strange. So I've been in touch with them this morning, and have been advised that this is because of an "exception" which is basically a system issue on their end. I've been advised that this matter will be dealt with by their back end team by 25/06/2021. 

I've recreated an open ticket on our end which will allow our Provisioning team to monitor this after 25/06/2021 and to follow up accordingly. Please accept our apologies for the ongoing delays. You can find and respond to the open ticket here:

https://www.plus.net/wizard/?p=view_question&id=215481127

[#3]

Hi Adam,

thank you for the reply and trying to sort out the delays. I really appreciate this.

After I got your reply this morning, I received yet another call from Openreach directly, who told me that an engineer is indeed coming on the 25th June between 8 and 1 pm, and that I need to be at home to let him in. And when I referred to your answer, they told me that no engineer has been sent out to me in the past either on the 11th or this Monday (not even for external work).

There seems to be no proper communication between PlusNet and Openreach or even between different Openreach departments. And I can't contact them directly and have to do everything via your support centre who don't seem to have any information either on what's actually going on.

I'll stay at home to see, if an engineer is coming this Friday. But if I am still without internet after the weekend, I will look into other options of getting internet access.

Kind regards,

Anja

[#4]

Please accept my apologies @TevAnja - the miscommunication was on my end.

An engineer was assigned on 11/06/2021 as the engineer whom turned up on 04/06/2021 was unable to complete the work, however on the 11th, the CSNO engineer checked the line externally, before then closing the activity down, and providing notes that indicate internal access is needed to resolve the fault. Ideally, Openreach would have communicated this with you on the day, as the CSNO engineer would have had your telephone number.

I've popped the Openreach notes regarding what happened on 11/06/2021 onto this post for reference.

The odd thing is, there are no open activities on the order, so we'd usually assume that any further delays are due to system issues on Openreach's end, rather than any further practical work that needs to be carried out.

Nonetheless, I'm glad to hear that things have now been made clear, in that your services are due to go live on 25/06/2021.

[#5]

Hi Adam,

I just got an email from PlusNet that my order was cancelled - not by me. I spoke to someone at the support centre who tried his best to solve the mess. He told me that was because apparently I did not confirm the text from openreach for an engineer appointment today (24.6.)? My appointment was booked for tomorrow. I got a call from Openreach who confirmed that date, and I even contacted the support hotline who send an email and SMS to confirm that date. I really don’t understand this.
There seems to be no communication between PlusNet and Openreach. And I have zero trust that placing a new order and setting up a new engineer appointment will go any better. I’ll try my luck with a different provider. But I’d appreciate, if someone looks into this and gets it sorted for any potential future customers. I’d be happy to file an official complaint about Openreach, if there is a way to do this. They have been an utter mess.

Kind regards,

Anja

[#6]

Hi @TevAnja,

I'm sorry to hear that this has occurred and that you're looking into taking your services elsewhere, though I can certainly understand and appreciate your frustration. Since this is the route you're going I'm afraid that there's not much we can do to escalate this particular case to our suppliers, however we'll take your feedback on board in order to improve the service moving forwards. Please accept my apologies for any inconvenience that this may have caused you.

[#7]

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@TevAnja wrote:

There seems to be no communication between PlusNet and Openreach. And I have zero trust that placing a new order and setting up a new engineer appointment will go any better. I’ll try my luck with a different provider.

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The problem here is BT Openreach, which is used by all ISPs (aside from Virgin Media) alike.  However, you might perceive that a different ISP preforms "better" because Plusnet has largely sorted out whatever has gone wrong with your new line installation.  BT Openreach will use the same circuit for whichever ISP you choose as they were sorting for Plusnet.

[#8]

Hi, I am aware of that. But I had to call the support hotline several times and they could either not find information for my previous call, or had to rebook appointments that suddenly didn’t show up anymore etc. Even though I got confirmations every time.
The only messages I ever got directly without having to call first were several times “there has been a delay” without any further information, and “your order has been cancelled” without any further information.
It just doesn’t give a great first impression for a new customer that when problems show up, you have to be proactive to get any kind information. I agree that the main issue is definitely BT Openreach. But being kept informed about why there are delays or cancellations would make a massive difference. That’s what I mean with “better”.
And PlusNet hadn’t solved the issues with my line. Their second engineer appointment never happened because my contract was cancelled.

[#9]

Good morning @TevAnja

I can assure you 100% that the order was not cancelled on our end, this is clearly an Openreach error whereby the PSTN and FTTC teams have not communicated with one another effectively, causing the Broadband team to cancel the order as a whole.

Please accept our sincere and profound apologies for this, and for the inconvenience this has caused. I can see that the account has now been closed down, all the best with your new provider.