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Five week wait for phone line installlation

gatekeeper
Newbie
Posts: 4
Registered: ‎18-01-2013

Five week wait for phone line installlation

Placed an order for Home Phone (plus phone line installation) and Broadband on the 15th January and during the order process, the earliest phone line installation date was the 15th FEBRUARY. After a bit of hesitation, I completed the order. The following day, I received an email informing me that the phone line installation would be done on the 21st FEBRUARY but that wasn't convenient so I changed it to the 22nd FEBRUARY. I'm not at all happy about having to wait five weeks for a phone line installing. Come on PlusNet, you have to do better than this.
8 REPLIES 8
James
Grafter
Posts: 21,036
Thanks: 5
Registered: ‎04-04-2007

Re: Five week wait for phone line installlation

Hi Gatekeeper,
I'm sorry about the wait.  There are some areas of the country which are experiencing longer waits for phone lines to be installed by Openreach than others.
We will always request the earliest available appointment, but I'm afraid that there isn't really anything that we can do to bring forward your installation date.
gatekeeper
Newbie
Posts: 4
Registered: ‎18-01-2013

Re: Five week wait for phone line installlation

I'm appalled that the company with whom I placed my order has no influence over one of its sub-contractors.
MisterW
Superuser
Superuser
Posts: 14,575
Thanks: 5,411
Fixes: 385
Registered: ‎30-07-2007

Re: Five week wait for phone line installlation

No-one has any influence over BT Openreach. Only they can install phone lines, at least the 'last mile' anyway. Fixing faults will always take priority over installing new lines I'm afraid. Then there's always MBORC ( Matters beyond our reasonable control ) that OR can use which lets them out of any possible SLA that OFCOM may have imposed on them.

Superusers are not staff, but they do have a direct line of communication into the business in order to raise issues, concerns and feedback from the community.

gatekeeper
Newbie
Posts: 4
Registered: ‎18-01-2013

Re: Five week wait for phone line installlation

The fact of the matter is that I placed my order with PlusNet and it is they who are keeping me waiting.
All this stuff about Openreach is just boring old waffle AFAIC.
MisterW
Superuser
Superuser
Posts: 14,575
Thanks: 5,411
Fixes: 385
Registered: ‎30-07-2007

Re: Five week wait for phone line installlation

Quote
The fact of the matter is that I placed my order with PlusNet and it is they who are keeping me waiting.

You're absolutely right BUT it helps to understand why their hands are tied. Normally, in business, if your sub-contractors aren't 'delivering'  you have the abilily to pressurise them, ultimately by taking your business elsewhere. That is not an option in the case of OpenReach so there is little any one can do do apply pressure I'm afraid.

Superusers are not staff, but they do have a direct line of communication into the business in order to raise issues, concerns and feedback from the community.

gatekeeper
Newbie
Posts: 4
Registered: ‎18-01-2013

Re: Five week wait for phone line installlation

I had a gut-feeling that I was making a BIG mistake in coming back to ADSL, looks like it was right  Sad
Townman
Superuser
Superuser
Posts: 22,922
Thanks: 9,538
Fixes: 158
Registered: ‎22-08-2007

Re: Five week wait for phone line installlation

Gatekeeper,
If there was any mistake, it was choosing a service for which the infrastructure (irrespective of which ISP you selected) needs to be delivered by the UK phone cable monopoly holder BT-OR.  MisterW states it well - outbound from your exchange it is all BT wires.
They are under resourced and in some areas under-skilled, but aside from other suppliers who provide cable to the premises (e..g. Virgin cable) you have no options to avoid them.  It would (should) not matter which service supplier you chose, if BTw / BTOR are obeying the rules, not even BT Retail could have delivered a new phone line any sooner.  So please give PN a break here - if you want to vent your anger somewhere useful, go complain to Ofcom about the variable service delivery from BTw / BTOR, the reports of which are legion on this forum.
That said I have to report that through PN personally I have received exceptionally good service from BTOR.

Superusers are not staff, but they do have a direct line of communication into the business in order to raise issues, concerns and feedback from the community.

adamwalker
Plusnet Help Team
Plusnet Help Team
Posts: 16,871
Thanks: 882
Fixes: 221
Registered: ‎27-04-2007

Re: Five week wait for phone line installlation

Sorry again about the delay. I hope there's no issues beyond that, let us know if there are though.
Adam
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 Adam Walker
 Plusnet Help Team