Compensation for no broadband

[#1]

From the 15th December for Seven weeks we have had no broadband. Notified Plusnet straightaway as my wife was working from home due to Welsh Covid rules. Had an engineer visit who confirmed this and also noted our phone line was out too. But he couldn’t fix problem. Then had openreach visit, traced fault to a pole with a notice on it stating it was dangerous. Therefore scaffolding required. Scaffolding turns up, no openreach engineers, so scaffolding removed. Broadband service resumes couple of days later. This all has taken 7 weeks. During which we were sent a bt mini hub, which we had stated won’t work. We are on copper broadband, can’t get fibre and have investigated thoroughly mobile broadband all providers with no luck. Offered a free router upgrade, which arrived and did not work! Offered initially £65, raised I believe to £75. Plus net are not part of the Ombudsman compensation scheme but surely should offer an amount that is proportional to the inconvenience.
We had to pay a total of £60 to a neighbour to use their broadband and a room in their house so my wife could continue working - numerous zoom meetings per day.
She was forced to use one day of holiday by her company whilst this was being sorted.
Outage across Christmas- really difficult to do shopping etc especially with two children.
Could not use various packages we pay for including Sky.
Having to constantly phone plusnet for updates was also an issue.
Appreciate to get the issue resolved plusnet have to rely on open reach, but they equally will claim back from them. We pay about £34 per month for a copper service with a max speed of about 5.5 mbps when all is good. I really feel like we are being fobbed off by customer service. Ombudsman compensation scheme, which plusnet are not part of, provide about £8 per day of outage. And I have read posts where plusnet customers have received almost this - feeling really frustrated!!
Just had another engineer visit who confirmed new router does not work and has replaced it. But it’s just another day spent waiting for engineer

[#2]

Plusnet is not officially part of the industry standard compensation scheme (the £8 per day / £25 per missed appointment) but you can claim via Ombudsman Services. If you are successful they can award you compensation. I've found OS to not be as independent/unbiased as they should be so I don't trust them but you are obliged to go through them in the first instance before you can take it further. I was eventually awarded £120 which they were at pains to point out was not compensation in line with the Ofcom scheme but funnily enough was about the same amount. But I only got this after a fight. There were so many inaccuracies and assumptions in their investigation I threatened to sue them.

In my experience you can get compensation but only if you persevere.

[#3]

And obviously it goes without saying you need to get out of your contract with Plusnet asap. What you've experienced is the tip of the iceberg. I'd recommend a provider that is in the Ofcom scheme. They have effective customer service because they know it hits them in the pocket if they don't. List here: https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-telecoms-and-internet/advice-for-consumers/costs-and-billing/automat...

[#4]

Hi there @Llwynyfedw, thanks for getting in touch.

I'm truly sorry to hear of the continued issues that you have experienced with your service, I can absolutely appreciate the disruption this has caused to your Wife working from home and also around the Christmas period!

I am really sorry to hear that you're unhappy with the amount offered by the team and deem this as not proportionate to the issues faced. Looking at the ticket I can see that the team have liaised further with the escalations team on this and have considered all factors in the amount that has been offered for you. Whilst we aren't part of the Ofcom compensation scheme, we will generally look to offer an amount in line with this but please note, that scheme is based on a total loss of service; having reviewed your connection I can see there was only 6 days with a total loss of service, the first 48 hours would not be included and so the amount that has been offered in your case exceeds what would be offered if compensation was offered in line with the scheme.

I'm really sorry that you had to use a neighbours service and your Wife had to use a days holiday, it is course not the experience we want you to have with us. From what you have advised our team did also offer an alternative means of service, I'm truly sorry this wasn't suitable for where you live.

I can see that the open ticket is awaiting your response, you can view and reply to this here: https://www.plus.net/wizard/?p=view_question&id=220847748  and once you have replied, we can get this progressed for you.

[#5]

Our Broadband was unusable for more than six days, (issue resolved after 7 weeks) and was below our contractual speed if there was connection. We ran speed tests most days and generally couldn’t get a connection to run a test. If you are saying our connection was back up and running I would have assumed you would have contacted us to advise us. You did not. As to supplying another source of broadband with the bt mini hub. We had already told you that it would not work!? So a waste of time.

[#6]

Hi @Llwynyfedw,

I am really sorry to hear that you have been affected by a fault on the service and I can appreciate the inconvenience this has caused.

The offer the team have set out the reasoning behind their offer and I would ask you update the ticket with your response.

[#7]

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@bwatkins wrote:

And obviously it goes without saying you need to get out of your contract with Plusnet asap. What you've experienced is the tip of the iceberg. I'd recommend a provider that is in the Ofcom scheme.

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"Had an engineer visit who confirmed this and also noted our phone line was out too. But he couldn’t fix problem. Then had openreach visit, traced fault to a pole with a notice on it stating it was dangerous. Therefore scaffolding required. Scaffolding turns up, no openreach engineers, so scaffolding removed. Broadband service resumes couple of days later."

@bwatkins Pray tell how would any provider in or not in the Ofcom scheme have made any difference here?  Your invective does not stand up to analysis - the delay here was outside of the control of any ISP and any ISP using the BT Infrastructure will have faced the same issues.

I've seen it first hand, if a repair is anything less than straightforward, BT Openreach have a real knack of making a total mess of it and no amount of ISP chasing makes it go faster.  I've waited 3 months for BT to arrange tree cutting around a pole to get access ... claiming that they in turn were waiting on SPEN to provide a date to depower the line ... when I enquired there was no such request.  After I had arranged to get SPEN to do the tree cutting themselves, BT Openreach sought to blame me for the delays.

What would be far more relevant (and constructive) would be to point out that the Ofcom scheme is in fact a total shambles.  Why should any ISP (who is simply a reseller of BT Openreach's infrastructure services) be liable to pay compensation for BT Openreach's failures?  Do you really think that the ISPs are able to recover these charges from BT Openreach?  As you suggest more effective customer service might be forth coming from BT Openreach if "THEY know it hits THEM in the pocket if THEY don't" not some other unfortunate third party who has no choice but to use their often not fit for purpose copper network.

Whilst folk like you seek to blame the ISPs for everything without a real understanding of what is wrong with Ofcom and BT Openreach, there will be no improvements for end consumers.

[#8]

Well that touched a nerve didn't it!

Pray tell how you know it was out of Plusnet's control? On two occasions I logged faults and Plusnet failed to pass information on to Openreach or failed to respond to communications from Openreach which led to the fault being delayed or closed. I only found this out when Ombudsman Services forced Plusnet to hand over their internal records. One of the Plusnet staff told me it wasn't unusual for their 'automatic' system to not work properly and they only find out when the customer complains about the missed appointment. It's entirely plausible that something like this happened again to the OP.

You can write as many long condescending posts as you like, fact is if the OP had gone with one of the ISPs on the Ofcom scheme he would have been compensated by now. That is why I recommended he join an ISP on the scheme.

When you've had experience of a decent ISP you can see the difference. Zen Internet and Plusnet both use the Openreach network. Zen's customer reviews are overwhelmingly positive. Plusnet's are overwhelmingly appalling. This is not because Openreach only make mistakes for Plusnet customers.....

[#9]

@bwatkins  I think on the general balance of probabilities @Townman  has got it right and you are in cloud cuckoo land, who are these amazing ISPs on the Ofcom scheme who spew out compensation like it's going out of fashion. It just doesn't work like that. As for Zen there are many grumbles on other sites that they don't respond to fault reports and that their support is going downhill. Plusnet in my experience have always assisted when I have reported faults, almost always caused by issues in the Openreach network. I agree that Plusnet's systems do suffer from unexplained anomalies from time to time so a careful eye needs to watch what's going on. I suspect that they are no better or worse than other budget broadband providers.

[#10]

The fact is no ISP has influence over the OR internal failures described by the OP nor those I’ve experienced on multiple occasions.

You really do need to read around here a deal more to see the multitude of BTOR failures to deliver to a reasonable standard. The key point which your dismissive response ignores is that if OR had to pay the compensation they’d fix their own infrastructure much quicker. However that would not fit with your axe grinding agenda against Plusnet. Are you still a Plusnet user? If yes, then I guess they can’t be as bad as you make out or you would have moved elsewhere. If not, then what’s your motive in posting here?

[#11]

Yeah, I have an axe to grind. I make no secret of that. I'm here to make sure other customers realise what they're getting in to. Every year thousands of people sign the contract then realise they've made a massive mistake and they wish somebody had warned them. I'm just here to help them make an informed decision.

I'm not the only one with an axe am I? You've been repeating this point about ISPs taking the rap for Openreach failures so much you don't appear to have noticed that nobody is disagreeing with you. If you put the axe away for a moment you'll see that I am talking about the way the ISP handles Openreach. The way the ISP knows how to get the most out of them. To minimise the likelihood of their screw ups The right buttons to press when something goes wrong. You can't see this just by reading customer forums and reviews on the internet. Or, indeed, by working for one of the poor performing ISPs (then leaving them and coming on to the forum to vent your frustration).

[#12]

I have never worked for an ISP, but I do have behind me many years working in IT service management, some of it alongside BT.  I have significant experience of delays and failures from BT Openreach in addressing the less than simple fix issues, some requiring escalation to DSO to gain traction after months of in-action and failure.  Believe me the majority of issues - including yours - are substantially down to BT's internal failure to manage issues within THEIR infrastructure without the necessity for persistent chasing from the ISP - whoever they might be.

I also have old work mates who were transferred to BT Openreach and their "inside view" is even more caustic than mine.  I suggest that my perspective and experience is better informed than others.  I have had both business and residential service support from Plusnet across a dozen or more referrals and I can assure you that the only occasions when there have been significant issues, the primary cause has been the failure of BT Openreach to keep the ISP / end user fully informed.  If there needs to be change here, then it needs to come from BT Openreach - they need to fully own issues with their services / systems and not play ping-pong with their customers - the CP/ISP resellers.

As for the way "ISPs handle Openreach" I am very well aware of what BT Consumer Group is doing in that regard - as a Superuser we also have contacts into their management team.  They are seeking various changes in process - but it takes time to change the direction of an oil tanker.

[#13]

Well, we're getting nowhere here so I'm off.

As for your experience and perspective being better than everyone else's, I suggest you look up the Dunning Kruger effect.

Bye

[#14]

Fare you well. Experience is entirely evidence based and objectively documented on the forums. Yes ISPs do have failings but they are all following the Lord Mayors parade of BTOR service failures. With better performance from BTOR there would be nothing to sweep up afterwards.

[#15]

Hi, so what is the offer?