I switched my fibre broadband from BT to Plusnet after they were recommended to me by a relative. Now I really wish I hadn't bothered.
My switchover date was set for 23rd July. On that morning, I noticed that the blue light on my BT HH4 had gone out and was showing orange. I had expected this and set about doing a factory reset on the hub and entering my new Plusnet username and password in the hope that it would come back up right away. It didn't, so I called Plusnet and a Customer Service representative explained that the connection still had to be activated on their end, but that it would be done before the end of the day. By that evening, I was still not online, so I called Plusnet for an update. After a lengthy wait in a queue (a wait that has averaged between 40-45 minutes for most of my calls), I finally got to talk to a CS representative who informed me that my order was still due to be completed by the end of day. I made the point that I work from home several days a week so it needed to be available by the next morning and I was assured that it would be.
By the next morning, there was still no connection, so I called PN again. Having gone through all of the standard checks, confirming that the Openreach modem DSL light was steady green etc. I was informed that it appeared BT Wholesale hadn't completed the transfer correctly and that this would have to be rectified. Three days later on 26th July and with no contact from Plusnet over those three days, I finally received an e-mail to say that the transfer has been successfully completed. I tried to reconnect, but with no success. I called PlusNet again and a CS representative determined that the BT HH4 was not accepting the username and password for some reason and arranged for a PN router to be sent out instead. She explained that since they were auto configured I just had to plug it into the modem in order to get online. The new PN router arrived on 28th July. I set it up as directed, but there was still no internet connection.
I called Plusnet again on 28th July and they opened up another ticket/question to troubleshoot the issue. At this point, they asked me to connect directly to the OR modem and set up a PPPoE dialler from my computer. Having been unsuccessful, the PN representative stated that it was not a router problem (I believe the error code was 691) and explained they would have to open up a fault with BT, but would call me again within 72 hours with a progress report. Over the course of those 72 hours no one from PN contacted me to provide any sort of update and by 1st August I was forced to chase them up.
Being thoroughly frustrated as this point, I called them again and explained that I did not want to go through the same troubleshooting exercise that I had already been through countless times previously. I requested that a BT Openreach engineer be sent out to my home to resolve the issue. At this point, the CS representative looked into the issue further and had BT rebuild everything on their end. When he determined that this hadn't made any difference he agreed to book an OR engineer to visit my home today, August 4th.
I was not at home today when the engineer called, but the childminder said that the OR engineer had reviewed everything and determined that the cause was a faulty router, something which obviously conflicts with PN's most recent analysis. As a result, he stated that he would be requesting that PN send out a new router to resolve the issue.
So now I assume I am stuck waiting another few days for a second PN router. I say 'assume' as I am still waiting for PlusNet to contact me or update one of my three open questions to inform me of the outcome of the OR engineer's visit today. I also find it hard to believe that my BT HH4 coincidentally stopped working on the morning that I switched over to PlusNet or that the first PN router sent to me was also faulty.
I've now been two weeks without an internet connection and service that I am continuing to pay for, but have never actually received and it seems that PN are no closer to resolving the issue. I haven't been able to work from home at all during this time, which has caused countless problems, and since mobile internet is extremely poor where I live I have to go to a friend or relatives home every time I need to do anything online.
I've been thoroughly underwhelmed by Plusnet's handling of this issue. The attitude of some of those CS representatives that I spoke to was dismissive and poor to say the least. In addition, when I asked for my problem to be escalated to a manager I was refused and in one call told abruptly that 'I was no more important than anyone else'. For a company that supposedly prides itself on its high levels of customer service, I have seen little evidence of that.
I have to say that at this point I have absolutely no confidence whatsoever that Plusnet are now going to be able to resolve this issue. I just want to cancel, put this whole sorry, stressful episode behind me and move to a service provider who will actually do that - provide a service.
Plusnet, I am still waiting for you to prove me wrong, but I won't hold my breath...
