Order for Fibre accepted, then cancelled

[#1]

Hi, I wonder if anyone can help me.

Our village has finally had a new cabinet installed and is, or was, accepting orders for fibre. I placed the order with Plusnet on the first day orders were being accepted, 30th August.

I called yesterday to see whether a date had yet been set for installation. I was told that the order had not actually been completed by Plusnet but that the agent would place it then and I would get a date within 24 hours.

However, approximately an hour later I was sent an email cancelling the order stating that the cabinet was full.

Having checked the BT wholesale DSL checker website, it now states that it is accepting order from 15th November.

Here's the thing, the cabinet is nowhere near capacity, in fact it's virtually empty. I have had this confirmed by a visiting Openreach engineer this morning.

Now, when I call Plusnet, the call centre staff merely look on their system, see the same date as I can see and say, "computer says no".

It's clearly just an administrative error on the BT wholesale site but how can I get Plusnet to escalate this and allow my order, which they had accepted, to finally be placed.

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

[#2]

Well if the 'Computer says No' then their systems won't allow them to place an order that can't be completed. All you can do is ask to be put in the queue (if one exists) for the 15th Nov.

[#3]

They are entirely beholden to BT Openreach's system. They don't query it and they don't go out to bat for you with Openreach. Go with a provider that will.

[#4]

Mook - The cabinet has capacity for 128 connections. There are only 5 live with pending orders for another dozen or so. 

As I said, they took my order a couple of weeks ago, there is loads of capacity so it's clearly an administrative [-Censored-]-up on behalf of BT Wholesale/Openreach.

There must be a way of communicating this to the relevant organisation and let the order proceed as originally intended.

[#5]

Well you would think that they could use some sort of communications device to speak with BT Openreach and get you connected earlier but they won't. If the Openreach system says 'X', regardless of whether that is correct or not, Plusnet won't do anything about it. 

[#6]

Sadly, that's what I've encountered so far; a brick wall of apathy.

Perhaps a Plusnet employee on here could comment (or even help sort it out)?

[#7]

The Plusnet people are generally pretty good to speak with but when it comes to being able to fix anything outside of the company they are apparently powerless. They just will not pick up the phone and make demands of Openreach.

[#8]

The Plustnet staff on here are really good so with some luck one of them will pick this up for you.

[#9]

I certainly hope that someone from Plusnet picks this up.

[#10]

Hi @whoami67 unfortunately at the moment it won't be possible for us to place an order for you.

The wholesale ordering system won't allow providers to place orders until the product shows as available, I believe this goes off the availability also shown at http://dslchecker.bt.com

This is currently showing that the service is expected to be available from 15/11/16. If it was a smaller capacity issue, it would likely show waiting list as opposed to an estimated availability date. If it showed waiting list, we would have been able to place an order, but would have to wait for an undefined amount of time before receiving a committed completion date.

As the current availability is showing 15/11/16 as opposed to available or waiting list I believe any other providers on the BT Network would be in the same position.

[#11]

Hello Harry,

as previously explained, the cabinet went live on 30th August. I placed an order with Plusnet, which you accepted on that date. You have subsequently told me that you will not now accept the order. I understand what is being displayed on the BT Wholesale's DSlchecker site, however it is simply incorrect.

I spoke to an Openreach engineer who was in our village this morning installing new fibre connections. There is neither a capacity problem nor is there any reported faults on the cabinet.

My question, therefore, is why cannot Plusnet contact BT Wholesale and ask them to investigate what is plainly an administrative error on their part?

As a long standing Plusnet customer, the "computer says no" attitude is both disappointing and surprising.

[#12]

I'm sorry to find my response disappointing and surprising.

Unfortunately, having already contacted our suppliers, I have been advised to check http://dslchecker.bt.com for availability and try to place an order once the product shows as available, as the current estimated availability date is 15/11/16.

I do appreciate it's frustrating, but we have absolutely no reason to knock you back on an upgrade from ADSL to FTTC if the product is available, however we are unable to order the product at this time as our suppliers say it is in fact not available and they have provided us with an estimated availability date of 15/11/16. I do apologise if engineers have advised you otherwise. If there was anything further I could do to help with this, I can assure you I would have done so.

[#13]

@HarryB

Don't you think it strange that a newly enabled cabinet in a village is no longer taking orders, particularly when a local engineer implies there is plenty of capacity. I don't think the checker should be treated as gospel, surely you could ask why the availability is delayed. Unfortunately the comments of the doom merchant @JHunter appear to be quite appropriate in this case!

@whoami67

Do you know if other users have been successfully upgraded to FTTC, there is a chance that something is wrong with the cabinet causing a delay. There is a poster on the Thinkbroadband forum who may be able to help with more information, would need to know exchange name and cabinet number, an enquiry there might be helpful.

[#14]

To be quite honest, it's not the first time someone has told me an engineer has said something to them, only for us to be told otherwise by our suppliers or even their own notes.

JHunter wrote:
They don't query it and they don't go out to bat for you with Openreach. Go with a provider that will.

I find it quite offensive that you think this is appropriate having spent time querying this with our suppliers and brought the answers back.

As per my previous response, if there was anything further I could do to help with this, I can assure you I would have already done so.

[#15]

Harry,

As I have made quite clear, the problem isn't with Plusnet staff - it's with the abysmal systems, and presumably contract terms, which your management have saddled you with. Openreach appear to call all of the shots, despite Plusnet being the client. If the Openreach system says 'no' then there's nothing anyone at Plusnet seems to be able to do about it.

I've not had any internet connection for a week and all I have actually had from the PN side is 'Openreach say they are going to look into it in a couple of days'. Not 'we are going to make sure they get it fixed immediately', just a non-committal wait-and-see-what-happens response. If that's the best leverage you have over them then PN is in no position to keep selling services to customers until such time as it is actually able to compel good service from BT Openreach.