Line cease and new contract feedback(ish)
Sorry to hear of the problems you've had with your line being ceased.
Unfortunately re-provides are generally treated in the same was as housemoves. Generally contracts are offered in order to offset the charges we would incur, however you should also have had the option to continue on your current contract (Or no contract if it had already expired) and pay the £65 cost that was being offset by the offered contract.
@MauriceC wrote:
According to the OP BT ceased the line and with it the Plusnet broadband service based on a report by an unknown third party. No apparent checks were made to verify the information given by the third party prior to action being taken.
Unfortunately it is completely out of our control if another provider ceases a phone line that is not provided by ourselves.
In doing so, this would cause the cease of our broadband as it no longer has an active phone line to run down.
Although I appreciate where you're coming from, in the OP's situation, it may be more worthwhile taking this up with their phone provider to try and re-coup broadband re-provide fees.
HarryB this just shows that PN do not care about long term customers 
8 years of taking his payments then a mistake by BT you want to charge him a extra £65 to reconect !!!!!
PN should be reconecting and then get the £65 from BT not the customer !!
@HarryB - I can confirm I wasn't given that option - if the agent would've offered it to me, I would've seriously considered it. I was initially told that 'usually' it would mean a new contract - not a 'well yeah, if you want service, sign over your soul to us'. Second agent was like yep its a contract. At this point I was fed up with having no internet all of it so I took it. Again, if offered, I would've considered.
@MauriceC - I agree with you. Saw the same thing at EE when I was working there (customers coming in to complain). Albeit the way PN handled it, bit iffy. When the line was going to be disconnected before (due to change of ownership at BT), Plusnet emailed me and let me know okay here's whats going to happen with regard to broadband service. Didn't happen now - no notification.
@rongtw - Costs should be recouped from BT under some appeals procedure - or reclaimed from BT Wholesale!. It's not my fault (or Plusnet's) so I shouldn't be left out of a pocket in a fair world, nor should they. BT's response was essentially that if the internet isn't with them, good luck getting anything.
(I must say I like your custom rig btw, good taste with the Corsair PSU's - albeit I'm more of a custom loop guy. EKWB ftw!)
If anyone is actually interested in how events unfolded:
Tuesday 26th July, around 8pm, the internet cuts off. VDSL light totally out. I thought it might just be a temporary outage as theres still a dial tone. No big deal.
Wednesday 27th, AM, no VDSL light. I submit a fault ticket thinking something is very wrong. Still a dial tone in the morning. I then leave as I had an interview which I was running a bit late for so don't bother troubleshooting further.
Around 2pm, I get a worrying phone call from my mother (using a neighbours phone) telling me the line isn't working at all. Considering she's pretty dependant on the phone (hasn't figured out mobiles yet haha), she's worried. It kept saying 'the number you have dialled has not been recognised' according to her. I call up BT and ask what's going on. This bloke in India tells me 'Sir, I cannot help you. The line has been disconnected'. After 20 minutes of telling him to put me through to someone I can speak to, he finally does. The woman informs me that there's been a name change and she's submitting an order to an offline team to get it sorted. BT's 17070 was giving a different CLI and ringback testing failed.
Thursday 28th: I call up again to find out what's happening. The lady on the phone then tells me 'someone's called us and told us your mother (the account holder) is dead so we ceased the line'.
Apparently, my mothers daughter called in and told BT this.. I'm an only child... and her son.
I reassure the lady that my mother is well and truly alive (unless its her ghost). Credit to the lady who was pretty horrified at the whole thing and apologetic. Line was sent as a priority reconnection and was done the next day, albeit with a different number.
Friday 29th: Call up BT and tell them to renumber the line to the old number that's been on the line for over 35 years (survived the 01 to 02 London change). They do this by Monday (yesterday). Plusnet contacted after this and yes.
Date of connection is the 8th of August. Fairly long time considering all jumpers are in place at the cabinet and it's seemingly all exchange only work now. It seems lightyears away 
Moral of the story/PSA: if anyone is with BT, call up and ensure a password is set on the account.
@FoolishlyWise Plusnet should have advised to the registered email address etc that a cease had been placed on the line. Did this ever happen? Your story suggests not
@HarryB It sounds like Plusnet have also fouled up, and as has already been stated by @MauriceC Plusnet should reinstate the Broadband at no cost to FoolishlyWise.
HarryB wrote:
........ in the OP's situation, it may be more worthwhile taking this up with their phone provider to try and re-coup broadband re-provide fees.
Sorry Harry, I think that this should be totally upto Plusnet to pursue as they failed to notify the fact that a cease had been placed. Had this happened then the OP may have had an opportunity to stop the train of events. I also feel that this is yet another example of Plusnet's couldn't care less attitude to it's long standing customers 
@Anotherone wrote:
Sorry Harry, I think that this should be totally upto Plusnet to pursue as they failed to notify the fact that a cease had been placed. Had this happened then the OP may have had an opportunity to stop the train of events.
While I would fully agree with you, had we been the phone provider. Unfortunately in this instance there was simply no time to do so. We do advise that we require an active phone line on the BT network to provide the service on, and also request 14 days notice of any cancellations.
In this scenario, the line was ceased by the phone provider which cut off our broadband. The connected cease against our broadband came through at 5pm and was complete the same day.
Even if we were able to pick this up instantly and notify the customer of this cease, it would have already been past the point of no return, preventing it from being cancelled.
I do appreciate that this is far from the EU's fault, however I also believe that it is not our fault that the broadband was abruptly cancelled, in connection with the same day phone cease.