New Customer - No internet since activation date 18th July 2024.

[#1]

Hello everyone,

I'm posting here because I'm incredibly frustrated and hoping that maybe someone who can actually do something will see this.

I moved in to my new flat on the 5th of July. I organised broadband with Plusnet on the 3rd July with an activation date of 18th July. When the BT Open Reach engineer came he said that he could not complete the necessary work because my flat (only my flat in a block of 4) was connected to the wrong cabinet and that he would notify whoever needed notifying. This resulted in some back and forth between BT and Open Reach, with Plusnet needing to create a new order for me twice, due to technical issues. 

Eventually I got a new activation date of the 27th August, but again the BT Open Reach engineer said there was an issue with the cabinet and that I would not get connected today, however he said that it 'should' be able to be done remotely. When I contacted Plusnet a few days after this they said, "Looking at the engineer notes and supplier notes the engineer has reported that the connection is routed to the incorrect Openreach equipment and this is what needs correcting before the service can be activated". So I'm back to square one.

Since then I've been offered a temporary 4G router which I accepted, but wasn't actioned by Plusnet. Then asked again if I wanted a 4G router, which this time did get actioned. When it arrived today it worked for an hour and then appears to have died. 

I've been without internet this entire time, which has stopped me from being able to work from home the days I can, watching steaming services and gaming. It's definitely had a negative impact on my life.

At the moment I'm waiting on an update from Plusnet on the 11th September but I'm not holding out any hope. It seems that Plusnet are completely at the mercy of BT Open Reach and whilst everyone at Plusnet has been pleasant, I have no faith in them getting my issue resolved.

Thanks for listening to me vent.

[#2]

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

This is appalling performance from BT Openreach ... hopefully this can be escalated to their DSO.  A direct email to the CEO of Openreach can push things along ... in a manner not readily available to ISPs.  BT Openreach determine what can and cannot be escalated by their customers (the ISPs) but end users can push these buttons without such restrictions.  The CEO's email can be readily found via Google.  Posting it here might infringe forum rules!

@NickBS @James_B 

[#3]

You might find information documented here useful - BT Complaints unnoficial numbers email addresses get through quickly! (exbtengineers.com)

[#4]

Sorry to hear this has happened @realgonekid 

I can see the case is with our Customer Assist Team who have booked in a new appointment after escalating this with our suppliers

Let us know if you're still no further forward

[#5]

Really sorry you've have this drag on so much @realgonekid and impact it's caused. 

Let us know if you don't get any update from us by end of day and we can get our Community support staff to follow up. I'll also put this in front of our supplier management team for visibility and potential feedback to Openreach. 

[#6]

@NickBS and @MatthewWheeler 

Thank you for the catches.  I had suspected that this was indeed with the advocate teams and already escalated by Plusnet as far as BT Openreach allows it be so.  Personal experience suggests however that the level permitted to ISPs is below the internal pain threshold of CEO visibility.

This ought not to have taken BT Openreach so long to sort, not only is this not great for the user, it is not a good commercial position for Plusnet to be placed in by their supplier.  I've always thought it perverse that the retail ISP has to pay compensation to their customer for BT Openreach's abject failures.

We've seen many "connected to the wrong cabinet" issues over the years; what I find confusing is that it is highly probable that the previous occupant of the premises had a working connection ... so what's the issue with re-establishing a working service for the new occupant?

Why can BT Openreach not deliver a service via the cabinet the user is connected to?  Changing D-Side connections is not likely to be a simple task ... with SOGEA its not as though they need a working E-Side pair, just a spare FTTC port.  Being connected to a cabinet further away might not be optimal, but any working service as an interim whilst BT Openreach fix their local network, would be better than none at all.

[#7]

Thank you very much @Townman, BT Open Reach are meant to be coming out this coming Monday to fix the issue, but in the event I am still without internet afterwards, I'll do what you suggested and email some of the Open Reach higher ups.

[#8]

Thanks @NickBS and @MatthewWheeler, I'll let you know the outcome of the BT Open Reach visit this coming Monday. Hopefully it's a positive one, I have everything crossed! 

[#9]

Hello, so I had an appointment scheduled with BT OpenReach today between the hours of 1pm and 6pm which I used holiday hours from work, to take the whole afternoon off. 

BT OpenReach didn't bother to show up. No phone call or email to say it was cancelled or delayed. 

I've updated the ongoing thread with Plusnet with this information but suspect I won't hear back till for another 24 to 48 hours from now, as is usually the case. 

Really fed up and I'm surprised Plusnet doesn't have more power to rectify issues like I am facing more speedily.

@NickBS @MatthewWheeler if there's anything you can do from your end, I would really appreciate it. 

@Townman I'm going to try contacting higher ups at BT OpenReach too.

[#10]

Oh boy, when BT Openreach foul-up they make a meal of it.

Nick is not around this week, so I have flagged this into the SU community in the hope that another senior can field it promptly as Nick promised.  Every touch an ISP makes into BT Openreach invariably has a 24-48 hour response time ... and there are a host of escalation gateways an ISP has to work within.

There are ways around this, but they are not within the standard SOP ... direct contact over the heads of the BT Openreach front line tends to become essential.  AIUI all ISP's first point of contact in to BT Openreach is in India ... !!

You have a list of interesting contacts ... as do I!

In the meantime, I know that @MatthewWheeler will be pulling every lever and pushing every button within his purview to do so.  I know from multiple experiences of BT Openreach channels, that these situations do not arise from a lack of Plusnet focus, but from a lack of BT Openreach progress reporting.

[#11]

@realgonekid Have sent you a PM which might help. Worth a shot

[#12]

Hey everyone, the issue was finally fixed this past Friday.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to reply to this thread.

Kind regards

[#13]

Good news to hear that you are now connected. What was the resolution?

[#14]

I think it was just the issue at the cabinet, as far as I know I'm connected to the one closer to where I live now. Getting as fast a connection as I can, for the area I live. Really glad it's all sorted.

Thanks everyone.