5 months from placing order and still no phone line :)

[#1]

Hi,

I moved in to a new house in June this year and placed and decided to go with Plusnet becuase of the generally good reviews. However, it's now 5 months since the order was accepted and we still don't have a phoneline connected to the house and whilst I appreciate that new builds can sometimes be different I would really like to know what I can do to try and get this sorted out before Christmas.

Can someone here provide more assistance than the CS analysts on the help desk?

Btw I've posted the last update I received this morning below:

"Dear Mr Nice,

Good Afternoon

Hope you are well.

We are really sorry for the delay in your provide services, however we had a discussion with our suppliers, they have informed us that they have escalated this to the relevant team.

However the relevant team is monitoring your order and the next review date is 10/12/2021."

and here's one from back in July, spot the difference?

"Dear Mr Nice,

I hope you're doing well.

As discussed, Openreach have advised us that the job is still with the line plant works, and it is currently with 3rd party contractors. They have given us a required by date of 28/07/2021 for the work to be complete, and this is due to the contractors requiring permission from the council for this job.

I will put this ticket on hold until 30/07/2021 so that we can allow the contractors to complete the job and then we will be able to see a more accurate time frame for the work completion."

[#2]

Thanks for your post @chrisnice and welcome to our Community Forums.

I'm really sorry for how long it's taking us to provide you with a phone line and broadband. 

I've raised an escalation with our suppliers to try to gain some traction on this and I'd like to take personal ownership for you. 

So far from what I can see back in June an engineer left notes to suggest that 700 metres of new cable is needed along with three way and two way traffic lights to manage traffic while they carry out the work. 

It's not clear though why it's taken this long, but I'll try to find out and provide an update Here as soon as I know more. 

I can't promise I'll be able to get things up and running for you by Christmas, but I'll do my absolute best to. 

[#3]

Thanks Gandalf and also thanks for a reply with some explanation other than it's a game of pass the buck between OpenReach and "a contractor", that's been one of the most frustrating things - not getting a simple, understandable explanation of what's going on.

700 metres is the approximate distance the exchange is from us so it seems like they will be making a new connection rather than extending the cable from the houses a few tens of metres away.

[#4]

Thanks for getting back to me @chrisnice

No problem, the exact engineer notes from June were the following and I'll be happy to provide you with further engineer notes as things progress on, though they can be a fine art to decipher sometimes. 

"requires a new estimate for a new cable right back to PCP. This will requires 3 way and 2 way lights along route with
roughly 700m 50 0.5 pet. We have rodded and roped most of the job"

In layman's terms,

Estimate = costings. They've asked for their planning team to work out how much it'd cost. 

50 0.5 pet = the type of cable that's needed.

Rodded and roped most of the job = They believe to have done a lot of the work already.

PCP = Primary Connection Point aka the cabinet, which is the green box in the road.

Engineer notes from last week suggests they're waiting for contractors to clear a blockage in a duct.

I'll see if I can get anything further when our suppliers escalation team get back to me, which should be tomorrow. 

[#5]

any update for me Gandalf? I saw two Openreach vans outside yesterday but not much in the way of activity.

Thanks.

Chris

[#6]

Thanks for getting back to me Chris

I'm sorry for the delay. I was hoping I'd have more of an update by now. Last night I received a response from our suppliers escalation team to say that duct needs to be cleared from the blockages that require a permit.

We've been given a new review date of the 23rd December. I've raised a manager level escalation to try to escalate this further and get more of an update, as we've known about the blockage for a while now. 

I should receive a further response before the close of play today and I'll let you know as soon as I do. 

[#7]

Hi Chris,

Contractors are due to go out on Thursday with a view to clear the blockages, so they can carry on with the duct work. Our suppliers have escalated this further with the contractors and have asked to provide more information.

I'll be sure to let you know when I know more, at the latest this should be on Friday.