Poor communication and still no internet - Jan 6th

[#1]

This has probably been the must frustrating service issue that I've experienced.

Email received to say that full FTTP was now available in my property - Ordered upgrade December 05th.

Install and activation date Jan 06th - Took day off work unpaid, engineer arrived on time, lovely gent. Installed the ONT and ran a cable around the house to have the router in my requested room. Then we ran into a problem, the Ducting was blocked and he could not run a cable underground. Advised Civi work was required.

Following week another engineer came out and advised exactly the same thing. Weeks of no clear updates. 

Jan 29th I return home from work to find a spool of cable sticking out of the ground in front of my house (the dig work had been completed this day but I had not been told)

Feb 17th after chasing Plusnet they advised the dig works had been completed.

It is now Feb 25th and I am still waiting for an engineer to connect the cable to the box...it's literally sat spooled against the box.

The open ticket has been a lot of back and forth and Plusnet not really knowing what and when. Communication between themselves and Openreach has been poor and then the information relayed to myself has been all over the place. I'm losing my patience with "update review next week" and getting no further with my installation.

I understand there's an automatic compensation scheme, great, that's capped at 60 days. 

[#2]

As a side note I still have my copper connection so I am not without internet, I am just frustrated with how long this is taking. 4 weeks to connect the cable.

[#3]

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@HitcherAJC wrote:

I understand there's an automatic compensation scheme, great, that's capped at 60 days.

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What brought you to that conclusion / understanding?

Delayed installation automatic compensation might be capped at 60 days if the communications provider is swift in their communications.  This the relevant bit of the code of practice...

36. The application of the automatic compensation payable in accordance with paragraphs 10 and 16 (for a delayed provision or repair for a Total Loss of Service) may be limited to 30 calendar days beyond a notice (“the Notice”) being sent to the customer informing them that automatic compensation payments will cease.

37. The Communications Provider cannot serve the Notice before the date 30 calendar days after compensation starts. The Notice must:
a. set out the date, no less than 30 calendar days from the date of the Notice, on which compensation will cease (“the Cease Date”);

So to break this down...

1. To limit (cap) the compensation the communications provider must issue a notice
2. The notice period may not be less than 30 days
3. The notice may not be issued earlier than 30 days after the commencement of compensation

From that one can infer a minimum of 60 days for a failure to deliver service within 60 or more days of the confirmed date.

The setting of a cap at 60 days would require the communications provider to promptly issue a 30 day notice 30 days after the start of being eligible for compensation.  I suspect that some communications providers might seek to suggest that the cap is 60 days in the absence of issuing the required notice in a timely fashion.

Whatever, you need some traction on getting this installation completed - @LexLex2020 / @Marsh / @Windings - can any of you assist please?

[#4]

What brought you to that conclusion / understanding?

It's from the plus.net website - that's all I have to go by.

What's the maximum amount of compensation I can get?

The maximum amount of compensation for a total loss of service fault or delayed activation is 60 days. If we can't fix your service after 30 days, you have the right to leave us with no termination charges.

[#5]

Ah right - thanks.

I will escalated that.  EDIT: Added to the SU discussion on the automatic compensation scheme.

Under the code, a formal notice needs to be sent at 30 days.

[#6]

UPDATE: The 60 day cap is indeed predicated on receiving the 30 day notice not sooner than 30 days after the commencement of compensation eligibility.  That notice must specify the end date.

No notice or the notice being late extends the capping.

Your installation date was 6th Jan 2025.  Did you receive a compensation cease notice around the 5th Feb (or later)?  Is there anything in your ticket history referencing such?  See PN Tickets link below.

[#7]

Hi! @HitcherAJC 

I can see the case is already with our Customer Assist Team meaning there's not much I can really do on my end, their updates and communications should be with the assigned case handler at Openreach.

You should have a review date from your last contact with them, I'd stick with this and when you next speak to them ask about the installation and what actually needs to be done next.

I don't see Openreach delaying an engineer coming out to complete the installation for no reason at all, there is most likely going to be reason.

You can always update the ticket if you want to add any additional information to the ticket.

See here:  https://www.plus.net/wizard/?p=view_question&id=245504321

Sorry I couldn't be of more use here, once an order reaches the customer assist team they will have already done everything I could have and more.

Do let me know if there's anything else I can do though, I'd be happy to help.

Thanks, Lex

[#8]

@Townman I haven't received any notice of my compensation ending, the only mention has been verbal confirming that I will receive £6.10 per day.

@LexLex2020 The problem is that when the review date arrives the most I get from Openreach is "We're sorry for the delay, next update in a week, we've escalated" and it doesn't seem to get anywhere. A member of the complaints team stepped in and raised a manual complaint on my behalf, but even the timeline of events on that are way off which is another problem. It's almost as if Plusnet are weeks behind Openreach and the communication is just not there so I don't get an up to date, straight answer of where I'm at with everything.

[#9]

@HitcherAJC 

From the OFCOM website

Providers can put a cap on the amount of compensation they pay out. After 30 days of an automatic compensation payment occurring, they can serve a cease notice to let you know that automatic compensation payments would stop after a further 30 days.

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-and-broadband/service-quality/automatic-compensation-need-know/

So the compensation can be capped if , and only if the correct process is followed

In my case of a delayed  FTTP install , with another CP

https://community.plus.net/t5/My-Account-Billing/Not-eligible-for-automatic-compensation/m-p/1999558...

I received 116 days compensation, so the information on Plusnet's web site is a little misleading .

This is an industry wide scheme and applies equally to all the CP's signed up to it.

[#10]

The issue with BT Openreach is they set a review date and will not engage with the ISP until that date has passed. Further more, BToR determines the criteria by which ISPs can escalate matters.

However BTOR has no such control over end users. In protracted stuck as this, I have found writing direct to the CEO of BTOR asking for DSO engagement gets cases such as this resolved promptly.

Yes it ought not to be required, but BTOR does bind the hands of ISPs.

[#11]

I've seen this solution mentioned a few times here and reddit, but I didn't want to have to escalate it that high.

I guess I'll give it until this Friday's review date and then make a decision from there.

thank you for your help.

[#12]

Am I missing something here.

The OP still has an internet service so is compensation payable at all?

Brian

[#13]

I currently have a 34mb copper line, this is a new contract 900mb FTTP.

Openreach have stated to me directly that I will receive £6.10 compensation per day from the date of the promised activation 06/01.

Hope this helps

[#14]

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@bmc wrote:

Am I missing something here.

The OP still has an internet service so is compensation payable at all?

Brian

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Delays with the start of a new service

Your provider promises to start a new service on a particular date, but fails to do so.

£6.10 for each calendar day of delay, including the missed start date.

The OP is having a new service supplied.

[#15]

Update; I've gone ahead and emailed the CEO as recommended and have gotten a response that from "high level escalations" they're looking into it.

I'll also attach an image of the cable spool coming out of the ground and literally sitting against the box it needs to be connected to....since 28/01.

Let's see how long this takes!