Not so seem-less provider switching.

[#1]

Figured it was time to switch provider and found plusnet were offering fibre on my number where as before I could never get fibre. Tried three times to place the order online and it was just stuck. Rang the sales team and they placed my order for me. Expected it to take about 10 days to switch but not for it to be a month later with no phone line and no internet. Actual nightmare.

11th Jan

Order placed

16th Jan

Good afternoon,
I have looked into your orders and tried to contact you.
This message is to confirm that we have placed the order for your phone and broadband, a completion date will be confirmed in 48 hours. 
I have requested the earliest possible date for you, once the date is confirmed it cannot be moved forward, but if you would like to rearrange it please let us know. Also a time frame cannot be confirmed as the order will complete at any point during the day. Sometimes it can even take as long as till midnight to activate, but we will message you via email and text the minute it goes live.
The order references are:
Phone: OR0000010114491 
Broadband: 3-938981500458
Phone number:  <- Some new number no longer in use
Should you have any problems then please don't hesitate to contact us on:

Kind regards,
********* Omitted

No idea how they tried to contact me! Rang them to ask what was going on. Cant remember what they said something to do with problems switching the line but ultimately they said its in hand and should be a couple of days.

I did want to keep my number but the rep who took the order probably forgot to ask me, last thing I want to do is slow things down so didn't complain.

18th Jan

Dear ,
We are still processing your order and should be able to confirm the completion date soon.
Thanks for your patience, we'll be in touch soon.
[Internal]
Please investigate Move to duplicate

Left them to figure it out rather than nag them...

24th Jan

Clicked a link to the open question and added an update from myself expecting some sort of response.

"Not heard anything since last Friday any news?"

30th Ok getting silly now

Rang them to ask whats going on since my current provider has confirmed the service has ended, phone line is cut off and no internet. Some long story about issues and a promise about having a date issued within the next 24 hours.

Dear ****************
We have investigated your order further and have found that the broadband order isn't progressing as we though. There has been routing issues which has delayed the progression of the order. 
We have been told today that your phone line is now correctly router and is going onto the next stage of your order which is booking a Fibre Engineer. This will happen within the next 48 hours and we will work on completing the order as soon as possible. 
Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience caused. 
If you need any further assistance please feel free to contact usor give us a call on
Kind regards,
**************

**INTERNAL***
Once committed, FOC Expedite to complete at earliest date. Expedite is for routing delay on the order
This Question is now on hold until Thursday 31st January at 7:00am.
Kind regards,

31st Jan

Lots of stuff going on god knows what, really glad they kept me informed with a vague message.

**placed BB order for colleague

The add WLR tool was used to manually place \'Line Only\' to this account.

***internal***
once committed please organise expedite :ref:OR0000010179396 and  4-772894321511

The order for your phone service has been unsuccessful. We'll look into this and contact you if there are any problems.
[internal]
The order for this service has been rejected. Please see the install history tool for full details.

1st Feb

There's been a problem progressing your broadband order.
We'll get some more information on the problem and update this ticket with details as soon as we have them.
[internal note]
Order has been cancelled. Please check Install Diary and resubmit order once issue is resolved.

Provisioning of your ADSL Account Information
Install diary status changed from Supplier processing to Application Rejected
(via ADSL2+ Order System Interface)

once committed please organise expedite 4-772993001197 and OR0000010183031

5th Feb

Still no internet phone line is working with some new number. I rang them at some point and spoke to a really nice girl, she was kind enough to ring me back when signal went. Explained that the phone line is now messed up (not her words). They have no record of the new phone number and cant place orders against it. Said she would replace all orders and start fresh ordering me a brand new phone line but obviously open-reach would probably use the existing line should get a date for install in 24 hours. Rang me back 10min after the call and gave me some more bad news not sure what its all blending into the same nightmare but something along the lines of an actual person needing to visit the house.

Dear *****************,
Good Afternoon, 
Thank you for your call this morning, as discussed I have now replaced your orders and we will confirm your activation date in 24 -48 working hours. 
Phone number: 0161******* <- Wow another new number no idea if this one is for keeps...
Phone order ref: OR0000010200348
Fibre order ref:4-773281702225
Thank you for your patience while we get this resolved. 
If you have any queries or issues please call us on
Kind regards,
**********
[Email notification sent to: ************************]
[Sms Message: Thank you for your call this morning, as discussed I have now replaced your orders and we will confirm your activation date in 24 -48 working hours. 
If you have any queries or issues please call us on .]

Provisioning of your ADSL Account Information
Submitted via Manual CRF has been used
4-773281702225

Provisioning of your ADSL Account Information
Install diary status changed from Application Rejected to Realm configured

Provisioning of your ADSL Account Information
A manual CRF was submitted for this account.

Provisioning of your ADSL Account Information
Install diary status changed from Application Rejected to Applied Fee Not Paid

Provisioning of your ADSL Account Information
Install diary status changed from Applied Fee Not Paid to Supplier processing
Customer has already paid initial fee

Service Notification

A router has been created
Serial: +081441+NQ83623248
OUI: D87D7F
Model: Plusnet Hub One Type A

Subject: Your router's on its way! Bla Bla Bla email ommited

Status of hardware order changed from \'awaiting_processing\' to \'dispatched\'

8th Feb

Tried to ring but at this point i'm fuming that I'm having to chase them so added a message in the end:

Rang Tuesday was expecting an install date within 48 hours but no contact so sat on hold for 20min and gave up. Could someone please contact me with an install date for the phone line and a date for the broadband. Understand it’s been a problamatic case but would appreciate some ownership of the orders.

11th Feb

No responce so rang them, bloke on the phone tells me Openreach are coming to install a new line on Wednesday 13th. Told him no-one had bothered to tell me this. Great so I book the day off work so I can sit at home and wait.

About 10min later the guy phones me back and tells me no-one is coming Wednesday. I think he knows by now that if he tells me ill have a date in 48hours that there is a good chance ill go nuts your could smell fear. I have worked in a contact centre so I feel his pain. Tells me they will try and get it booked in and makes a suggestion that someone will be taking some sort of ownership of the orders.

Dear ******************,
Hello from plusnet,
Thank you for your time on phone today Alex.
Sadly there is a issue with the broadband order and we are currently working on resolving this issue. i have raised this issue with our suppliers and they have confirmed that over the next few days (you guessed it, 48hrs lol) we will be receiving a update and a new engineer appointment.
bridge case reference - cd748607
If you have any questions then please don't hesitate to contact us via:
Email:
Phone
Web chat
You can also us our member center to view your account and send us tickets.
Kind regards,
***************
[Email notification sent to: *****************]
[Sms Message: Hello from plusnet,
Thank you for your time on phone today Alex.
Sadly there is a issue with the broadband order and we are currently working on resolving this issue. i have raised this issue with our suppliers and they have confirmed that over the next few days we will be receiving a update and a new engineer appointment.]

So in summary Its took plusnet a full month to take some money off me up front, cut off my phone line/internet, change/lose my original number and leave my property with no registered working phone line.

Second time I have posted this, conveniently marked as spam

[#2]

Figured it was time to switch provider and found plusnet were offering fibre on my number where as before I could never get fibre. Tried three times to place the order online and it was just stuck. Rang the sales team and they placed my order for me. Expected it to take about 10 days to switch but not for it to be a month later with no phone line and no internet. Actual nightmare.

11th Jan

Order placed

16th Jan

Good afternoon,
I have looked into your orders and tried to contact you.
This message is to confirm that we have placed the order for your phone and broadband, a completion date will be confirmed in 48 hours. 
I have requested the earliest possible date for you, once the date is confirmed it cannot be moved forward, but if you would like to rearrange it please let us know. Also a time frame cannot be confirmed as the order will complete at any point during the day. Sometimes it can even take as long as till midnight to activate, but we will message you via email and text the minute it goes live.
The order references are:
Phone: OR0000010114491 
Broadband: 3-938981500458
Phone number:  <- Some new number no longer in use
Should you have any problems then please don't hesitate to contact us on:

Kind regards,
********* Omitted

No idea how they tried to contact me! Rang them to ask what was going on. Cant remember what they said something to do with problems switching the line but ultimately they said its in hand and should be a couple of days.

I did want to keep my number but the rep who took the order probably forgot to ask me, last thing I want to do is slow things down so didn't complain.

18th Jan

Dear ,
We are still processing your order and should be able to confirm the completion date soon.
Thanks for your patience, we'll be in touch soon.
[Internal]
Please investigate Move to duplicate

Left them to figure it out rather than nag them...

24th Jan

Clicked a link to the open question and added an update from myself expecting some sort of response.

"Not heard anything since last Friday any news?"

30th Ok getting silly now

Rang them to ask whats going on since my current provider has confirmed the service has ended, phone line is cut off and no internet. Some long story about issues and a promise about having a date issued within the next 24 hours.

Dear ****************
We have investigated your order further and have found that the broadband order isn't progressing as we though. There has been routing issues which has delayed the progression of the order. 
We have been told today that your phone line is now correctly router and is going onto the next stage of your order which is booking a Fibre Engineer. This will happen within the next 48 hours and we will work on completing the order as soon as possible. 
Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience caused. 
If you need any further assistance please feel free to contact usor give us a call on
Kind regards,
**************

**INTERNAL***
Once committed, FOC Expedite to complete at earliest date. Expedite is for routing delay on the order
This Question is now on hold until Thursday 31st January at 7:00am.
Kind regards,

31st Jan

Lots of stuff going on god knows what, really glad they kept me informed with a vague message.

**placed BB order for colleague

The add WLR tool was used to manually place \'Line Only\' to this account.

***internal***
once committed please organise expedite :ref:OR0000010179396 and  4-772894321511

The order for your phone service has been unsuccessful. We'll look into this and contact you if there are any problems.
[internal]
The order for this service has been rejected. Please see the install history tool for full details.

1st Feb

There's been a problem progressing your broadband order.
We'll get some more information on the problem and update this ticket with details as soon as we have them.
[internal note]
Order has been cancelled. Please check Install Diary and resubmit order once issue is resolved.

Provisioning of your ADSL Account Information
Install diary status changed from Supplier processing to Application Rejected
(via ADSL2+ Order System Interface)

once committed please organise expedite 4-772993001197 and OR0000010183031

5th Feb

Still no internet phone line is working with some new number. I rang them at some point and spoke to a really nice girl, she was kind enough to ring me back when signal went. Explained that the phone line is now messed up (not her words). They have no record of the new phone number and cant place orders against it. Said she would replace all orders and start fresh ordering me a brand new phone line but obviously open-reach would probably use the existing line should get a date for install in 24 hours. Rang me back 10min after the call and gave me some more bad news not sure what its all blending into the same nightmare but something along the lines of an actual person needing to visit the house.

Dear *****************,
Good Afternoon, 
Thank you for your call this morning, as discussed I have now replaced your orders and we will confirm your activation date in 24 -48 working hours. 
Phone number: 0161******* <- Wow another new number no idea if this one is for keeps...
Phone order ref: OR0000010200348
Fibre order ref:4-773281702225
Thank you for your patience while we get this resolved. 
If you have any queries or issues please call us on
Kind regards,
**********
[Email notification sent to: ************************]
[Sms Message: Thank you for your call this morning, as discussed I have now replaced your orders and we will confirm your activation date in 24 -48 working hours. 
If you have any queries or issues please call us on .]

Provisioning of your ADSL Account Information
Submitted via Manual CRF has been used
4-773281702225

Provisioning of your ADSL Account Information
Install diary status changed from Application Rejected to Realm configured

Provisioning of your ADSL Account Information
A manual CRF was submitted for this account.

Provisioning of your ADSL Account Information
Install diary status changed from Application Rejected to Applied Fee Not Paid

Provisioning of your ADSL Account Information
Install diary status changed from Applied Fee Not Paid to Supplier processing
Customer has already paid initial fee

Service Notification

A router has been created
Serial: +081441+NQ83623248
OUI: D87D7F
Model: Plusnet Hub One Type A

Subject: Your router's on its way! Bla Bla Bla email ommited

Status of hardware order changed from \'awaiting_processing\' to \'dispatched\'

8th Feb

Tried to ring but at this point i'm fuming that I'm having to chase them so added a message in the end:

Rang Tuesday was expecting an install date within 48 hours but no contact so sat on hold for 20min and gave up. Could someone please contact me with an install date for the phone line and a date for the broadband. Understand it’s been a problamatic case but would appreciate some ownership of the orders.

11th Feb

No responce so rang them, bloke on the phone tells me Openreach are coming to install a new line on Wednesday 13th. Told him no-one had bothered to tell me this. Great so I book the day off work so I can sit at home and wait.

About 10min later the guy phones me back and tells me no-one is coming Wednesday. I think he knows by now that if he tells me ill have a date in 48hours that there is a good chance ill go nuts your could smell fear. I have worked in a contact centre so I feel his pain. Tells me they will try and get it booked in and makes a suggestion that someone will be taking some sort of ownership of the orders.

Dear ******************,
Hello from plusnet,
Thank you for your time on phone today Alex.
Sadly there is a issue with the broadband order and we are currently working on resolving this issue. i have raised this issue with our suppliers and they have confirmed that over the next few days (you guessed it, 48hrs lol) we will be receiving a update and a new engineer appointment.
bridge case reference - cd748607
If you have any questions then please don't hesitate to contact us via:
Email:
Phone
Web chat
You can also us our member center to view your account and send us tickets.
Kind regards,
***************
[Email notification sent to: *****************]
[Sms Message: Hello from plusnet,
Thank you for your time on phone today Alex.
Sadly there is a issue with the broadband order and we are currently working on resolving this issue. i have raised this issue with our suppliers and they have confirmed that over the next few days we will be receiving a update and a new engineer appointment.]

So in summary Its took plusnet a full month to take some money off me up front, cut off my phone line/internet, change/lose my original number and leave my property with no registered working phone line.

Second time I have posted this, conveniently marked as spam

[#3]

Moderator's note by Dick (Strat): Posts released from Spam Filter and duplicate removed.

[#4]

Hi there.

I'm sorry to see your switch-over hasn't been smooth and we've encountered problems.

Having reviewed this I can see despite records for your address showing that fibre is available, the initial order we placed with our suppliers was rejected on the 30/01/2019 due to no capacity at the cabinet/fibre is not currently available.

Unfortunately it looks like the work to bring your phone line over was completed at around the same time which would've resulted in your services being ceased with your existing provider and as the fibre order failed, the linked phone order ultimately failed ceasing your line and making your telephone number spare/available on the BT network.

The second order we placed failed due to the phone and broadband order not matching up correctly in the supplier systems, but the 3rd and latest order is still open but seems to be stuck in the supplier systems.

I can see our suppliers have raised a bridge case which is basically a request or task for a back-end team to investigate further, though I'd suspect the reason that the order is stuck because fibre isn't available as per the 1st order failing.

To get some clarification into this, I've filled out a formwize to the Openreach fibre enquiries team. We usually receive a reply within 5 working days, so I'll let you know as soon as I've heard back.

Regarding why your recently active phone line isn't showing up on suppliers records for us to be able to easily reactivate without an engineer visit, the most common reason for this is if that line has since been used up to connect another property on the same exchange and DP(distribution point) or there is a records issue on the system.

Either way to rectify this we'd need to arrange an engineer visit as the only order we can place is for a new provide though we'd need to wait until the fibre order either progresses to the point where an engineer is allocated or is rejected.

If the former happens and there is fibre availability, we'd be able to request our suppliers to try to expedite the order for a sooner completion date than standard lead times, but if there is no fibre availability and the order is rejected, then we'd basically have two options; we'd allow you to leave without penalty refunding what you've paid us so far, or we'd be happy to provision you on standard broadband offering you a gesture of goodwill afterwards for the hassle we've caused.

Regarding your telephone number I can see the latest order we've placed has currently reserved the number for us to use, so there shouldn't be an issue with getting that. 

I'd like to take ownership of this for you and see this to a resolution whatever that may turn out to be, I've moved your support ticket 186506687 to my workflow so I can keep track of this and I'll update you when we know more.

Apologies again for the experience you've had.

[#5]

Just an update for anyone else interested in this:

11th Feb

As the bridge case that's raised and the formwize I've sent off generally takes 5 working days before we get an update, and I'm out of the office tomorrow as well as 13/02/2019, I'll check back on the 14/02/2019.

Message from me :

Ok thanks for looking at this for me. I don’t want to complicate things but I did contact openreach myself after someone from plusnet said there was an issue of some sort. I told someone at plusnet about this but can’t see anyone mentioning it in any of the notes conversations. The reply I got was 4th of February...
Hi ******
Following an engineering visit we have now updated our network records. You line is now showing as routed through a cabinet (9), FTTC is now available to order via your service provider.
Kind Regards
****Omitted
Infrastructure solutions customer service
Fibre enquires
Openreach
He must be referring to some sort of problem but either way he was clear that it’s supposed to be resolved and there is FTTC available.
Fingers crossed someone can untangle these wires and bring me back from the dark ages.

14th

Thanks for that *****. I've received a reply on the back of the formwize I sent off and they've also advised me fibre is available to order. Based on the response you've received it looks like they've updated their records following the 1st order failing.
I've chased up the open order with our suppliers and I've been advised that they've escalated this with an Openreach manager as the order hasn't yet been progressed. I'll check back on the 18/02/2019 for an update on the progression.
Kind regards,
****omitted 
[internal]
BTW Agent-IB (11:13:48)
As i have checked with open reach Bridge case is still in open state and open reach are sending a mail as i have escalated this with them they are looping their manger and sending a mail directly to bridge case team to get the order committed 
****omitted (11:14:59)
OK thanks for that, when should we review?
BTW Agent-IB (11:15:15)
I request you to please review back eco plus on 18/02/2019 for update

18th

Dear Mr *******,
Thanks for your patience.
I've chased this up again with our suppliers and I've been advised that the stuck is still stuck in the Openreach systems awaiting action from the appropriate team. They've escalated this to the next level and we've been advised to review back on 20/02/2019.
As I'm on annual leave then until 27/02/2019 I've moved this ticket to my teams workflow to chase and follow up in my absence.
Kind regards,
****omitted
[internal]
On annual leave 20/02/2019 to 27/02/2019
Please chase fibre order 4-773281702225 with BTW (Linked phone order OR0000010200348)
Escalation raised to BTW: 1081359

My message:

Thanks for the update, not exactly sure how many more levels of escalation you have before Clive Selley comes and plugs me in but clearly I have no choice but to wait this out. So far spent £40 on mobile data bundles any savings I would have made moving provider have been obliterated. If anyone there has a working telephone and a number for someone remotely useful at Openreach would be great if you could call a favour in.

Sigh

[#6 · Accepted solution]

Sorry for the on-going issues with your order. To be honest we should've left things be at the committed date of 14/02/2019 as it looks like trying to expedite it had ultimately caused the order to become stuck in the system. 

I can see our suppliers have accepted the escalation I raised to them which means from this point on they'll be monitoring and proactively chasing Openreach regarding this. They've started by emailing Openreach again to get this looked at a priority.

[edit]

Striked out incorrect information. 

Sorry I had another order on my mind at the time. 

We’ll update you when the escalation team have got back to us.

[#7]

Thanks for getting me connected. I think the takeaway here is the monopoly that is openreach have systems inadequate in dealing with anything other than a plain vanilla switch of provider. The slightest of issue and things fall completely apart. Its also disappointing that we need to resort to making out issues public in order to gain focus but I appreciate the credit towards the bill and the chocolate bar. Fingers crossed you don't get another customer with the same issue.

[#8]

Glad to hear its sorted @alex9849.

Please do get back in touch if there is anything else we can help you with.