Plusnet / Openreach shocking service

[#1]

I recently swapped from Virgin to Plusnet, I had an install date booked, I cancelled my Virgin (cost me £75), the router arrived as planned and I was advised my service would be online by 04/09/2024. All good there, no problems!

Then the Openreach engineer arrived, and advised that I required a cable to be installed across my lawn. No problem I said, crack on.

He said I can’t do it, an external team needs to do it.

Oh, okay. What time are they coming? I asked.

They’re not, he said. The earliest they can get here is about 3 weeks.

But it states here that I will be on line today and my Virgin package terminates next week?
Why am I being told this now, I asked?

Sorry. They should have come out and surveyed you he said. The houses on this estate are all the same. I’ve done loads.

I’m the meantime he had removed a box from the wall in the downstairs office, to reveal holes and an undecorated surface and chopped through an old cable and drilled a hole in my wall and pulled a new cable to outside.

I’m now left with an external trip hazard by way of a new cable, a damaged internal wall and a £75 early termination fee from Virgin. I’ve no choice but to cancel my Plusnet as I work from home and cannot have a few weeks without broadband. Plusnet have utterly failed and have not been able to connect me on the day that they stated.

Plusnet are also refusing to come back and remove the trip hazard as they are saying it was Openreach that installed it, even though my contract is with Plusnet. I’ve been told
to contact Openreach myself to get them to come and remove the cable.

Has anyone else had anything like this happen and if so is there any route to recover any costs and rectify the external cable that is at low level right by my front door?

Thank you for any advice.
I’m going to put this on other forums / Reddit as I suspect I’m not the only one.

[#2]

PN contract O/Reach for providing the infrastructure.
In the intervening period 4G/5G mobile may be an option.

[#3]

@JasonCharles To give those of us with a little knowledge in this area a chance to possibly help, can you post the full result from this site : https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/#/ADSL/AddressHome , obscuring your address?

[#4]

Moderator's note:
Thread moved from Broadband to My Otder

[#5]

This is the problem that can happen between any isp and Openreach. You are correct in saying that your contract is with Plusnet, they arranged for Openreach to visit so the buck stops with Plusnet, who I feel are being unnecessarily awkward. Although Openreach are uncontactable per se (big problem in itself when you have an uncooperative isp) you can raise a complaint against the engineer who visited via their website. You can also raise a complaint against Plusnet, who seemed to have cocked up from the beginning. It’s a sad state of affairs where these days it’s he who shouts loudest…

[#6]

Sorry. They should have come out and surveyed you he said. The houses on this estate are all the same. I’ve done loads.

If that was the case , then the Openreach availability database should have specified KCI2 Assure as the install process, which would have prevented an ISP being given a committed date without an Openreach survey visit. If the database said 1-Stage install and Openreach gave a committed install date based on that, then what are ISPs supposed to do ? they can only work on what the Openreach system tells them.

@JasonCharles as @FishFingers33 says, you should be able to complain directly to Openreach about quality of work via their website https://www.openreach.com/help-and-support/when-to-get-in-touch-with-openreach/complaints-policy

In addition you should be due compensation from the original date for install until the install is completed according to the Ofcom compensation rules https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-and-broadband/service-quality/automatic-compensation-need-know/