BT No Show - What a surprise

[Desmo]

Never had much faith in BT. If they weren't a virtual monopoly they'd have gone bust years ago.
Anyhow, been waiting in all morning for the engineer to turn up for an 8am - 1pm appointment. I waited...and waited....and waited.
At 1.15 I phone plusnet to say the engineer hasn't arrived and I'm told that they may be running late and the engineer might phone me so I decide I can wait a little longer (baring in mind I'm self employed and when I'm not working I'm not earning money).
At 1.45 I've had enough and phone plusnet again. This time I'm told the engineer turned up to the cabinet at 10am but couldn't work on it due to a market trader being in the way so he left. So I'm basically left hanging until I make contact. Surely the engineer can contact me directly or if not, is there not something on the plusnet system to show the engineer won't be calling and plusnet can contact me instead?
We live in a world of amazing communication where systems are updated almost live and nobody can actually make a phone call, text or email me. It's a pretty poor show.
I know this isn't directly plusnet's fault but your system showed the engineer wasn't going to visit me today.
On the second call to plusnet I was told I'd be put through to provisioning to arrange another engineer visit but after 5 minutes waiting the call cut off.
I decided it wasn't a good time for me to call back  :-X
It also makes me laugh that every email or text about the engineer mentions a £50 re-booking charge if I'm not there. How much can I charge for my wasted time?
So I'm now left with no fibre and no rescheduled install date. Think I might call back tonight when I'm a little calmer.

[adamwalker]

I'm really gutted to read about this,
As you might have noticed I'm dealing with a few similar issues at the moment so I'm happy to pick this up

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On the second call to plusnet I was told I'd be put through to provisioning to arrange another engineer visit but after 5 minutes waiting the call cut off. I decided it wasn't a good time for me to call back

Sorry to hear about that too, I need to look into that too so would you perhaps mind dropping me a private message letting me know which number you called from please?

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I know this isn't directly plusnet's fault but your system showed the engineer wasn't going to visit me today.

Our systems don't I'm afraid, however our suppliers do, unfortunately we're not currently in a position to be proactively aware of such problems after orders are placed, this is something we're aware of and are planning for at the moment.

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It also makes me laugh that every email or text about the engineer mentions a £50 re-booking charge if I'm not there. How much can I charge for my wasted time?

I'm sorry if that came across badly it's difficult as it is something we have to warn you about but I can fully appreciate it not being received well given the circumstances.
I'll finish looking into this now and come back to you.
Adam
EDIT: just updating the post to show that we've spoken and have made arrangements for a new appointment.

[HPsauce]

I know I've used British Gas as a comparison before, but I just thought it would be useful to share what happened to me today regarding an engineering call to them.
Draw your own lessons from this by comparison.  ::)
I requested an engineering visit via an online booking on Monday (to look at a problem with my father-in-law's gas hob that we discovered while visiting on Sunday).
Several dates, times and windows were offered; I chose 10am to 2pm today as I knew that would be convenient.
British Gas called the designated contact number (mine) on Tuesday to ask for more details as the online system only allows you to specify problems to a certain level. The person I spoke to said he was the manager of the team one of which would be attending. I gave him some relevant details regarding access.
The assigned engineer called me this morning to confirm where he was going, the expected ETA and to clarify the details again. He arrived at about 12:45, well within the "window".
The engineer turned up, did what he was scheduled to do and then phoned me to explain the outcome.
So simple.......... :'(

[Desmo]

HP....it all sounds so simple doesn't it? A system that actually works and includes communication....from a non-communications based firm  :D
Adam, I have to say it's people like you and the service you provide that made me choose Plusnet in the first place. I could have gone direct with BT but having dealt with them before there was no chance of that, I'd have rather stayed on ADSL instead of moving to fibre. There's not a hope in hell they would have contacted me in the way you have done.
Whilst the system hasn't run smoothly, you're trying to put it right and that is what really counts in my book. You never know how good a company is until something goes wrong.
Hoping the next appointment goes to plan. I may even head in to town that morning and make sure all the cabinets are clear  ;D

[HPsauce]

Quote from: Desmo

people like you and the service you provide that made me choose Plusnet in the first place.

And are also the reason why I continue to recommend PlusNet, though I'm not currently using them for broadband services.
That said, there's plenty of room for improvement, though I recognise that the uncaring monopoly monolith that is BT does make that difficult.

[Anotherone]

Well in my view the Engineer certainly should have phoned, he would presumably have done so if he had access to the Cabinet, to tell you your line would go dead whilst he changed things over (on the assumption the OR story is true). You could contact your local authority and find out if this "market trader" had a licence to be "there" and if so why are they issuing licences that are allowing traders to obstruct the free access of Openreach to their equipment!

[Desmo]

It did actually cross my mind to find out why a trader can set up in front of a BT cabinet obstructing access. I'm going to take a look in town at the weekend as the market only takes up a few small areas and I can't actually picture a cabinet in any of them but I could be wrong.
Another thing that was bugging me but I couldn't quite put my finger on it until last night, but whilst waiting at home my ADSL router dropped it's connection and then came back on again. I thought to myself at the time that it might be the engineer starting work. Looking at the logs, it happened at 9.50am. BTOR engineer said he was there at 10am I think. Could just be a coincidence though.

[adamwalker]

FYI just letting you know that I've not yet seen an official confirmation of the new appointment but that should not be a cause for alarm, I'll keep a close eye on your order until I see that come through.
Adam

[Desmo]

Thanks Adam.

[Anotherone]

Desmo, if you put your phone number in https://www.btwholesale.com/includes/adsl/main.html it should tell you which cabinet your ought to be connected to! Obviously, don't post your phone number etc back on the forum.

[Desmo]

Thanks.
It looks like I'm on Cabinet 48 but having walked past some this morning, none of them appear to be numbered. The two I've seen are nowhere near where the market would be although there's one other small area to look at yet. Is there a way I can find the location of a particular cabinet? I'm still not going to say the engineer was telling porkies, but if he has been then I want to know it.

[adamwalker]

Just letting you know that the appointment for the 7th has been accepted and confirmed now.

[finchsteve]

Similar problem today. Waited over 3 weeks for a fibre installation date and guess what? No show and no contact from anyone at all. 40 minutes on hold with plus net and no joy. Not a good start. I notice that they are quick to assume you are online and start the clock on your charges despite being no where close to be being online.

[finchsteve]

:) well, BT Openreach Engineer called at 1pm today to ask if he could come round in 30 mins.  I emailed and called Plusnet the night before and they clearly acted very quickly and contacted BT OR as the engineer knew I had been 'messed around' (as had another customer in the same area who he had fixed before me).
Really impressed, solved the problem very quickly with little fuss.  Well done Plusnet, already streets ahead of BT, Sky and Orange who have all messed me around in resent years.

Thanks.

[Desmo]

Thanks for confirming Adam. I've had a look around town and still can't see anything where the market would be in front of any cabinet although I think the engineer said "a trader" so I guess it could be anything and I'll not cast judgement. He'd better sort it on the 7th though  ::)  ;)
Glad to hear you're all sorted finchsteve  :)