Quick and Easy to change over???? What a joke. I have no phone and no broadband!

[#1]

CAN YOU HELP ME PLEASE????
I had been with Plusnet for broandband for a long time now at £12.99 per month as they say I live in an area where I cannot get a better rate. I had been with BT for calls and line rental. However, recently, I decided to upgrade to a BETTER???? package with plusnet and- WHAT A DISASTER !!
They told me my new package would start on the 20th May and I received an email on 20th May  from Plusnet to say my new package was now active. They had told me they would take care of changing over my account to them from BT and I would have to do nothing. .The other day I received a phone bill from BT asking for my payment in advance and when I queried it,  and told them I had changed over to Plusnet, they told me that they had no notification from Plusnet whatsoever. On calling Plusnet, I was told that my new package had not gone through after all- despite them having emailed me to tell me it had done ! My contract with BT was due to be terminated- and by the time Plusnet got their finger out to tell me by text that they could not start my new package as a termination with BT was in progress- it was too late. I now have NO PHONE AND NO BROADBAND. They say there is nothing they can do and I just have to wait the 10 days to 2 weeks for my broadband and nest week hopefully for my phone. I run a website which is very important to me,and to members of the public, and now I have no connection. I live in the country- therefore I cannot pop down the road to the nearest internet cafe. I also have a breavement to deal with and no landline . I am totally disgisted with PLUSNET and wish I had never taken up their offer. How on earth am I supposed to deal with a bereavment and and website with no landline and no broadband.????

[#2]

Quote

as a termination with BT was in progress

Why have BT terminated your line?. They should not have done that. Until the line has transferred to PlusNet they should have continued your service.

[#3]

Exactly as MisterW has said.  What date did either BT or Plusnet tell you that a cease on your line would take effect? And did Plusnet not advise you to contact BT to stop the cease? Did BT not say you could just continue with them until a transfer to another provider took place? Did you tell BT at any time to cancel your account?

[#4]

By the time Plusnet told me to stop the cease it was too late. I ordered my new package on 12th April with Plusnet and it was supposed to start on 20th May and I got email from Plusnet to say it had started on that date. I knew no different, as bI had a service and thought Plusnet had seen to it all as they assured me they would do, so cancelled my DD with BT and when I got a bill in from them, on querying it, found that Plusnet had not started my new package after all.
By this time, cease was due to take place on my line with BT. Plusnet did not let me know till middle of afteroon by text thad day, that my new package could not start as cease was taking place with BT- too late to get BT to stop it going ahead. Just hoping this is not how things are going to progress with Plusnet now that I have moved my line to them. Is 2 months not enough for them to have got their act together? Furious and really upset at the huge inconvenience this has caused, due to their incompetance. 

[#5]

First, if you did not tell BT to close/cancel your phone account you need to complain to them and tell them the cease was their error and you will take them to court if need be, to get compensation for any extra costs you incur unless they foot any bill for getting your service back on-line. If they try saying you did tell them to cease the phone service, demand a copy of the recording of the call where you supposedly said this.
Secondly, tell them you will be complaining to OFCOM as well.
Did you not receive any notification from BT that they'd placed a cease on your line? Whilst instances of this are small, it seems to be on the increase, and there is also something dramatically wrong in Openreach's, BTw's, BT Retail's and Plusnet's systems that CPs/ISPs aren't getting adequate warning of these events and passing you the information in adequate time.
When was your line actually ceased? Do you still have a dial-tone? Is the DSL light on your modem/router still lit?

[#6]

It's not BT's fault. It is the fault of Plusnet.
Plusnet told me my new service was up and running, when clearly, it was not, after nearly 2 months. I spoke to someone called Stuart at Plusnet when I got in the bill from BT and was surprised at this,  and although Stuart was very helpful and said to leave it with him and it would be sorted out, it was not done- perhaps not his fault that Plusnet did not tell me until the following day that they could not start my new service, due to a cease on the line-  to late to stop it. 
The problem lies with Plusnet as they had 2 months to get my service up and running and it was not done  - although they told me it was done.

[#7]

There is something fishy going on with all these line ceases. I discovered my line had been ceased the day my install was due despite using a MAC and advising both PN and previous ISP numerous times that the line should be transferred but not ceased. I have also had ongoing line repairs cancelled multiple times apparently because the line had been ceased and then also supposedy cancelled again beacause when the fibre service was finally installed it  "could not be done when their was a line repair outstanding"  I do not believe it is outside the capability of an operator like PN to get around these issues if they really want to, but of course that would cost a little more to spend the time and effort.

[#8]

darcy & o2refugee, you are both sadly wrong. Line ceases can only be done by the provider to whom you were paying the line rental to at the time.
darcy in your case it was BT Retail, and O2 refugee it was O2 in your case. Plusnet can't unfortunately stop a cease order placed by the line rental provider. This has come up so many times we've moaned and really got stroppy with Plusnet, and to be fair to them, they have tried on some occassions but rarely been successful because under current OFCOM rules they don't have the power.
The Broadband (of whatever type) is seen as an Asset on the line under the current stupid OFCOM rules and unless people complain bitterly to OFCOM when these things happen, nothing will change.
@darcy, you haven't answered my questions at the end of reply#4. This might make a big difference as to how quickly your service could be restored.

[#9]

Sorry Anotherone .Your questions..........
When was your line actually ceased? Do you still have a dial-tone? Is the DSL light on your modem/router still lit?
Line ceased Friday
No dial tone
No DSL light on router.
" Line ceases can only be done by the provider to whom you were paying the line rental to at the time" . I do realise this, but if PLusnet had told me my new package was not active after 2 months and after them emailing me on the 20th of May to say it was active, BT would not have ceased my line rental
.It had been ceased because Plusnet told me my package was active with them on 20th of MAY. Therefore it had to be ceased or I would have been paying two providers. Plusnet have my DD as well as BT.
I have been told by Plusnet, as my line with BT has been ceased they cannot change things and it has to go through the process like aI was a new client although I was already a client. That seems ridiculous that they cannot switch me on again more quickly
What it boils down to IS- that if PN had told my my service was still not active- instead of informing me the opposite- I would still haev a phoneline and broadband.!

[#10]

I don't disagree that Plusnet are to blame for fouling up the transfer here, but BT should not have ceased the line unless you closed your account or said you weren't paying BT the bill they sent.
In a normal transfer, it just happens and you should have got a letter from BT to say sorry we are losing you, if you haven't agreed to a transfer ring such and such a number, you should have had an email from Plusnet saying your phone service will transfer on xyz date, and you would then have had a closing bill or credit form BT.
If this was what should have been a straight forward change of ADSL package and transfer of Phone from BT to Plusnet, then Plusnet have certainly screwed up, but it sounded as though BT Retail were not blameless.

[#11]

Just a quick message to say I've checked your line restart order, it's due to complete tomorrow.
Regards,
Matt

[#12]

Thanks Matt. Phone on now- but internet- I hope I do not have to wait long? Can you help with that too?

[#13]

Hi there,
I've just checked and the broadband is due to be connected on the 24th.
Adam

[#14]

There seems to be a common factor in many of these disaster stories  - that the MAC transfer process fails. I have never had a problem before with a MAC transfer, but I believe my transfer was complicated by the fact that I moved straight from ADSL to FTTC and also from a partial LLU back to a full BT line. I suspected these factors might cause complications so I had many phone call in advance with PN and was assured that nothing could go wrong. I received the email warning of the transfer as mentioned and I confirmed with both sides that my service was a MAC transfer and not a service cancellation, only to find that the plug was pulled at 1.30pm on the transfer day.
I agree that OFCom should be petitioned to sort out the transfer process, but these things take such a long time that there is little incentive for people to bang their heads up against the bureacracy, because they will personally see no short term benefit.
I think PN should be upfront about the problems that could be encountered, and although they may lose a few customers they will save an awful lot in hassle and customer goodwill.
I would like to see an FAQ, here and on PN's sales site explaining in detail the MAC transfer process, who is responsible for what, and when, and how to tell if something is going wrong., and what to do to put it right. There should be more feedback during the process, but I do not see how I could have changed the outcome in my case, because it is only at that stage when the line is disconnected and BT do not turn up that you realise it has all gone wrong.
What PN should have done better in my case was communication. I specifically gave a mobile number for texts during the process - which was not used. I also received very few emails or helpdesk replies - not that I could easily have seen these without internet.

[#15]

Thanks for the feedback o2refugee,
FYI  http://www.plus.net/home-broadband/switch/?source=keymatch
It doesn't contain everything you've mentioned but we don't want to overload anyone with info that's looking for the fundamental info about migrating to us.
Any pitfalls that may be encountered should be supported along the way so sorry you don't appear to have had the best experience with that.
Adam