No home phone for 2 and a half months!

[#1]

My elderly mother has now been waiting since her line activation date of 7th September to have her home phone working - a service she relies on living on her own. It should have been straightforward moving over from Virgin and I can accept if problems occur it might be slightly delayed, but there is no sign of anything happening beyond the routine messages fobbing her off for a few more days each time (now on the 21st of these) and blaming the contractor. I don't know what to do at this point, is there a complaints procedure/ombudsman as it's causing her a massive amount of stress? 

[#2]

Hi @stehaw 

A warm welcome to the forums.

There is a link to the Complaints Code of Practice at the bottom of every Plusnet page.

Moving over from Virgin Media is anything but a straightforward process.  They use an entirely different network infrastructure to everyone else and transferring numbers between the different networks can be challenging.  Was the VM service terminated by the user BEFORE the new service was commissioned?

Does the property already have a BT telephone socket and line?  If not, then Plusnet (and any other ISP) is dependant ENTIRELY upon BT Openreach installing a new circuit.  You might have noticed that the BT OR unionised labour have been refusing to work ... so you might want to also direct your complaint at them.  They seem to have no care for the people so dependent on telephony services.

Has the broadband service been transferred across?

Is it FTTC or FTTP?

If FTTP, then Plusnet does not provide voice services with this broadband product / infra structure.

[#3]

Hi @stehaw, I'm really sorry to see this. Could you drop me a PM with your mum's username please? I'll make sure we're doing all we can to help. - Adam

[#4]

Thanks for responding! i'd been in contact before moving as I'd read it could be tricky - it was all fine until they found the old cable had been damaged in the street. The broadband hasn't been transferred accross so she's still paying a huge amount to virgin for a service she doesn't want or use. I have sympathy for the strikers cause, but really just want my mum to be able to ring people at the end of the day!

[#5]

Thanks for your patience @stehaw I've had a look at it for you and there is an update here for you. Let me know if you have any questions.

[#6]

...these turned out to be another two variations of the previous 20 non-helpful messages telling me to wait till the 7th of December for further information. By which point it will be a full 3 months since it was supposed to go live.

fyi

Greetings from PlusNet !

We have checked your order and can confirm there is a delay from our suppliers from completing the order on time, this is currently being handled with the relevant teams and no actions are required from you. 

We are due an update on 07/12/2022 so we will get in touch with you on this date to confirm the next steps.

I am sorry about the delay and any inconvenience this may cause. We will do everything we can to reduce any further delays possible.

If you want to check your account for an update on your order or ask any questions, you can do this by logging into the member centre (please have your username and password ready for this) on https://www.plus.net/member-centre/login.

Alternatively, you can call us on 0800 432 0200 or on 0345 140 0200.

Kind regards,

Geetika Vatsa

[#7]

Hi @stehaw, I'm really sorry to see that the delays with your mum's order are still ongoing. It does look like we're waiting on civil engineers to be assigned to clear ducting before the line can be installed. Such things are subject to delays at the moment as a knock-on effect of recent industrial action.

I've taken ownership of this for you so I can make sure you get clear regular updates going forward. I'd like to give you a call, would it be best to speak with yourself directly or with the account holder?

Adam

[#8]

You can speak to myself and I can relay any news - do you need nme to send numbers?

[#9]

Yes please, can you drop me a PM with your number please? Let me know if you've a preferred time to be contacted, I'll be around until 8pm today. - Adam

[#10]

We believe we've now fully resolved your issue. I'd like to thank you for your patience whilst we've dealt with it.

I don't know why you have now come to this conclusion! 3 months in and there has been no movement to having a phone line or broadband with you. I'm now losing patience - I don't care who you're blaming for this - it's of no concern to me - I just want this sorted out and not to be fobbed off with continuous excuses.

[#11]

Hi there, I'm sorry to see that's not been sorted yet, I've sent you a private message so please take a look when you can. - Adam

[#12]

unfortunately, i signed her up to plusnet so no chance of that. Three and a half months we've been waiting, so i urge anyone think of doing the same to take the advice of the 81% of 1 star reviews on trustpilot and take your business elsewhere...

[#13]

Moderators Note

This topic has been moved from Broadband to My Order

[#14]

@stehaw What has been quoted as the reason(s) for the extended delay? I'm guessing Openreach 'problems'.

[#15]

@jab1 

This is scatter gun posting - see here Re: No home phone for 2 and a half months! - Plusnet Community

This is not a straight forward service provide and this disconnected post serves no purpose other than to generate bad PR with zero context of the real issues.

There is no working BT infrastructure to what is a Virgin Media connected property.  The OP was sent a PM on the other thread - there is no indication if that has been responded to.  It would be reasonable to guess that dig works are required from BT Openreach, so the inference that the experience with some other ISP might have been different is not overly objective.