No broadband after nearly 3 weeks

[#1]

I moved into my house on 12 October where the previous owner was a Sky customer. I was told via email that Sky had a “cease” on the line meaning I would not be able to have any broadband until at least 11th November. I was told to contact the previous tenant and ask her to cancel her Sky account, so I did but she said she already had. Plusnet said there was still a cease on the line placed by Sky and there was nothing else I could do. I tried ringing Sky but because I’m not a customer there was nothing they could do for me. As far as the previous tenant is concerned, she has nothing more to do with Sky and is now with Virgin in her new property. It seems ridiculous that I am now stuck without broadband or a landline, both of which I have paid my yearly fee for already (nearly £200) because Sky won’t release the line to Plusnet. I was then told it was just the order that would be placed on 11th Nov and it could take yet another 7 days after this!

I dread to think about what the actual service will be like once I’m connected in the far distant future. It’s reslly disappointing that I’m having to chase things up myself, as no one at Plusnet seems to be very proactive and the mobile service I receive has been fine.

Can some light please be shed on this, as I’m really confused and irritated by how long it’s taking and it’s simply not good enough.

[#2]

It is likely that the previous tenant only put the cancelation in just before they left, and Sky T&C's require 30 days notice, and as all lines can only have one Openreach order at a time, you will need to wait until that completes.

The good news is that early fee will start when your service starts.

If you had ordered a new line, youmay have got it a little earlier, but would have had to pay a bit more - £49 I think.

[#3]

Hi there. I'm sorry to hear of the delay in getting your services up and running.

It looks like the cease order is still in progress on the line.

When it completes on the 10th, we'll be able to place your order for you which can typically take about 7 working days.

Instead of waiting, we could arrange for a new line to be installed but from looking at the supplier records at your address, there don't seem to be any spare pairs [in other words, lines] at the distribution point so it could take even longer as a new line install would likely require a survey first.

An alternative option, assuming it's not too late, would be for you to ask the previous tenants to ask their provider to cancel the cease order, so we can takeover the active services which takes 10 working days.

I can see we've got this ticket open with our provisioning team who will follow up and keep you updated.

Apologies for any inconvenience caused.

[#4]

The previous tenant tells me they have cancelled their account. Does this mean that the cease order is in place? Would they just have to ask Sky to uncancel? It’s so confusing.

[#5]

Does this mean that the cease order is in place?

That's right.

Would they just have to ask Sky to uncancel?

Yeah, specifically to cancel the cease order they've placed on the Openreach systems.

It’s so confusing.

Apologies for the confusion and poor experience you're having.

[#6]

Right the previous tenant said she has emailed Sky asking them to cancel the cease order. Hopefully this’ll come into effect.

[#7]

Fingers crossed it doesn't take long.

I've moved the ticket on your account to my teams ticket pool so we can keep a watchful eye on this.

I'll check back tomorrow.

[#8]

Thanks Gandalf

[#9]

It looks like the cease order is still in progress so I'll check back tomorrow.