Poor Service and lack of updates on delayed house move activation

[#1]

I've been a Plusnet customer for many years (over 15 years!!), I recommended them to my parents who have also been long time customers. Upon moving house recently I opted to remain with Plusnet for my phone and broadband but I've never experienced such poor service and lack of customer support in a long long time. Makes me think I have made the wrong decision.

Firstly on my initial call (quite along queue but not too bad) I was told I could move my service on the 12th October to tie in with my actual house move. This is represented on the ticket that was created at the time. A few days later  I received a text with a new date of the 19th so I had to  sit on a phone queue for 25-30 minutes. This seemed to be due to engineer availability. On the 19th I noticed my fibre modem change state about half way through the day i.e. the DSL light came on suggesting something had happened at the exchange but as the day went on no connection was available. 

So I was left having to ring customer support  and sit for another 30 minute in a queue to be eventually told "there was a problem with Plusnet's billing and accounts system, which has affected a handful of customers" seemingly this could delay my activation by up to a week.

That was the 19th October its now the 23rd and NO update given... no details of the actual problem and when this might ACTUALLY be resolved. The ticket raised on the 19th has the following text "I will take the following actions in order for us to reach a resolution:XXX

You can expect to receive an update on this by XXX" 

Which is not very helpful. I have a full time job and don't have time to sit on phone queues chasing for updates to problems that are not of my causing. 

So I ask the questions, WHAT was the actual problem that has delayed my phone and broadband activation in my new house? and WHEN will I actually get a resolution to this? I did ask this on the support ticket over 24hrs ago but no one has updated me and I'm not wasting another 30 minutes sitting on a phone queue. The level of service is abysmal, no apology, no offer of compensation nothing, not even regular updates to whats happening. I'm very tempted to take my business elsewhere. 

[#2]

You have my sympathies.  I too have been in discussion with plusnet, each conversation involving an unacceptably long phone queue. I queried my bill increase and was told I had come to the end of my contract so I was paying more. I objected to this and was told that discounts could be applied.  Despite this I have had to phone again when they weren't applied.  I was unable to check my payments because of the "new look" bill which doesn't work properly.  It might be sorted out now but I have no confidence in them getting it right.  I raised a support ticket which ( a month later) has so far been ignored.  To call the service, "Good honest broadband" is insulting, considering their sharp practice and, as you say, abysmal levels of service.  

[#3]

Hi @blackballfoo I am really sorry to hear about the issues you have faced during your house move. I have responded to your post further via a ticket on your account here

Please get in touch should you have any further questions.

Kind regards,

Hi @alcartwright sorry for the poor level of service you have experienced. I can see that since this post the discounts have been applied and the issues on the account have been resolved here

If there is any further assistance I can offer or anything you would like for me to look into please get back to me.

Kind regards,

[#4]

Thank you for the response but  it doesn't tell me anything new. I had to switch my call plan on my mobile plan at extra cost  so I have internet connectivity and calls at home. But I'm burning through that fast as I hadn't anticipated there would be such a long delay in getting the things moved. Also I'm not able to work from home at the moment which is a massive inconvenience and simple things like my children connecting to do their school home work online has to be time limited. 

On Friday I was told this should be resolved within a week. Now my update is there is actually NO estimate for when this will be resolved? Which means I'm actually in a worse situation than I was before.  

[#5]

So what is the problem?  BT Openreach infrastructure capacity is all too often the issue when service connection is delayed significantly.

[#6]

Not quite sure what you mean? if you mean the actual problem that is delaying the activation I have no idea. I would have assumed if engineer availability on the given date of the 19th was a problem or Open reach infrastructure capacity was an issue I would have been told that. But as I stated in my initial message, the modem now has a steady DSL light suggesting the engineer has completed their work at the exchange (this changed state on the 19th).

I was told on Friday it was was a billing / accounts system issue at Plusnet for a handful of customers. Something about moving to a new system? was very vague. Yesterday I was "updated" that it was a Backend issue with no estimate of how long it will take to be resolved. The cause doesn't really matter the issue is I'm without Phone and Broadband or any timescales on when it might be resolved. 

[#7]

The cause matters a great deal as that points to what / where a resolution is required.

If it is a supplier issue (fault or installation) that needs to be addressed by BT Openreach (under PlusNet's management).  If it is within PlusNet's systems then Plusnet themselves need to fix it.

Billing system impacting service activation seems very odd.  I had hoped that the ticket you were referred to might illuminate the issue.

Superuser escalation

This topic has been escalated by one of the Superusers; please allow time for Plusnet to respond before commenting further.

Escalation does not imply progressing this matter will be given priority, nor that a different outcome will result.

Reason for escalation:  Chase status

[#8]

Hello @blackballfoo,

We are sincerely sorry for the delay in getting you connected and for the level of communication you have received so far.

Unfortunately we are limited as to what information we have as it something that is still being investigated. I have added a reply to your ticket here, I am sincerely sorry for any inconvenience this has cause you.

[#9]

As far as I'm aware as part of my move I signed up to a new 24 month contract that doesn't actually start until service is connected and working. Pretty sure I can just walk away from this and go to another provider with no penalty?  or use my 14 day cooling off period consumer rights can you confirm?. As the issue is not infrastructure related (open reach) why should I sit and wait for an unknown amount of time for Plusnet to resolve this? There is still no clear indication of the problem or when this will be resolved. I'm need to be able to work from home as part of my job. I NEED to know when this will be resolved.

[#10]

@blackballfoo, sorry for the issues you're experiencing.While we're having an issue with activating your new house move contract, this shouldn't actually affect your ability to connect.

Logs on your account are showing connection attempts since the 20th, but they're being rejected due to the router trying to connect using the wrong password.

If you're using a plusnet router can you factory reset it by pushing a paperclip into the pinhole at the back for 20 seconds please letting us know how you get on?

If you're not using one of our routers, you'll need to log in to the router settings and connect using your account password.

Apologies for the inconvenience this has caused.

[#11]

@Gandalf,

Thank you for the value add here, in effect confirming that the service is actually operational, the line is in sync … but not establishing a PPP session due to incorrect credentials.  That facilitates moving quickly to a practical resolution for @blackballfoo

[#12]

No worries.

Keep us posted @blackballfoo

[#13]

Well this resolved the broadband issue but not my landline which is still not working. I've tried master socket, non DTEC phone... there is no service. Line is dead

The online phone troubleshooter  says "Opps, something seems to have gone wrong"

[#14]

It said that when I tested my line for no dialling tone some months ago, but a report was automatically sent to PN and the problem remedied in about ten days.  It seems this is the system's way of saying it has detected a problem.  Check your account for a ticket related to this.

[#15]

No it’s not the system’s way of saying it’s detected a problem.

There are obscure issues with the auto test, especially when run on the line that has the fault. Some of the tests can result in the line test impacting the broadband service. That can cause the test to report a failure client side, whilst server side a fault report has been raised.