Broadband order delays

[#1]

I ordered broadband from Plusnet on 7th Dec. As yet, I still have no confirmed go live date, no hardware and no broadband. Everything I have been told from 'customer (dis) services' has been either ill informed, deliberately false or both. Call backs have not happened and deadlines have been and gone un-heralded.

Oddly enough though, the first payment was taken from my account without any delays at all...

Is this a common experience? Providing a broadband service is not rocket science yet it seems that Plusnet are unaware of this!!!

Can anyone suggest how best to escalate this to someone with relevant knowledge and authority please?

[#2]

Hello @Scolar

Thanks a lot for reaching out and I'm really sorry about the delays you're having in getting your services activated, and for the lack of communication that has been provided throughout the journey. Looking at the account, we've placed 4 separate orders to take over your line, but all have failed due to an addressing issue on the broadband side.

We'd need your current provider to correct the broadband addressing issue on their end before we can place new orders. Failing that, an alternative route would be to take over the phone line first, and then place a separate broadband order once the phone order has completed.

You'll have no broadband service with either provider for around a week - 10 days while the broadband order is in progress though. Let me know how you'd like us to proceed and I'll be more than happy to follow up.

[#3]

Good morning Adam.

As I do not have a current provider, which I mentioned to all of the other agents that I spoke to, please do whatever it is that you need to do to supply the service that you have charged for. 

Can I assume that you will be taking ownership of this matter now, that you will keep me updated and provide details of compensatory payments for the lack of service due to this shambles?

Thank you.

[#4]

When you say you don't have a current provider, is that because you've only just moved in to the property? There's a working line registered to te address to I'm just trying to figure out whether that's an Openreach error, or whether it was the previous occupant's line.

Again, I am sorry for the inconvenience caused here, once you've responded, I'll know how to provision the service, and will pop a note on the account regarding compensation for the delays you've incurred here.

[#5]

Yes, I have recently moved into the property, and any line was the previous occupants. I do not have any further details of the line / previous provider.

[#6]

Thanks for getting back to me @Scolar

Slight change of plan then, in order to get you up and running as soon as possible, and to bypass any addressing issues with te previous supplier, I've just placed a new line installation order, to have both phone and broadband services up and running the same day. I've also added to the open ticket on your account, which you can both view and comment on for direct comms with our Provisioning Team.

There's no need for personal ownership on this one, as all practical actions have now been taken, we're just waiting for Openreach to confirm an activation date now.

[#7]

Since your post, my go live date has moved from 7th Jan (poor), to 10th Jan (poorer) to 'your broadband order has been delayed'. I kn ow it has been delayed!!!!"! How can it get delayed any longer?? Please confirm what is happening and why you appear to be unable to give a definitive date for when you will actually start providing the service that I have paid for. The depths to which your (utter lack of) service descends continue to amaze me...

[#8]

Thanks for getting back to us @Scolar and I'm again really sorry for the inconvenience that this has caused, hence the open complaint on your account.

I was rather clear in my email yesterday that I had been able to REQUEST an activation date of 07/01/2022, and that it as subject to Openreach engineer availability, which is why it has now been pushed back to 10/01/2022. The source of this issue here is not Plusnet's fault, it's because the providers on the line registered to your property have an address mismatch somewhere, which they'd need to resolve with Openreach. What is our fault though is that our team appear to have simply replaced the orders on three separate occasions, without digging deeper into the cause of the issue.

In regards to what you've paid for, upon signup, you paid for a month of service up front, this does not start until your phone and broadband service are live, so the money you paid will cover services from 10/01/2022 - 09/02/2022. We've also waived the £49.99 new line installation fee in this instance.

[#9]

Line was activated on 10/01 finally, nearly five weeks post-order. Sadly the router did not arrive until the following day. I believe that there has been a token £10 credit applied to my account but can see no definite details of this wholly insufficient gesture. Please review.

[#10]

Thanks a lot for your time on the phone this afternoon @Scolar

Glad we were able to get things sorted over the phone, I've just sent you an email summarising our call if you'd like to have a look. Please feel free to reach out if you have any further questions at all.

[#11]

@adam945  It would be nice to know what your sufficient gesture was but I have feeling you are not going to divulge that information. The Forum is so tightly constrained by GDPR rules now we have no idea what is going on behind the scenes. It never used to be like that in the good old days. ( Whenever they were) 😀

[#12]

I do understand @RealAleMadrid, I myself try to add as much information as I can in my responses for the benefit of other Community members, though in this case, as it involves billing, I won't be saying much else.

If the OP decides to make the information public, they're more than welcome to.

[#13]

@adam945 I fully understand that there are limits on what you can divulge, and accept that.