no broadband after delayed house move

[#1]

I'm moving my email to fasthosts.

[#2]

I'm sorry about that @philpav, please get back in touch if you need anything else.  

[#3]

@SammyM  You might be sorry but your response is pathetic. What are you doing to rectify the situation? @philpav has been treated with absolute incompetence by Plusnet and you need to sort out the closed account and restore the e-mail immediately with no ridiculous charges to set up an new account. 

[#4]

@RealAleMadrid 

That is a tad harsh.  Plusnet were managing the coordinated new install and cease orders.  The user stepped outside of process when they made a direct request to Openreach to reschedule the install.  Such action is unlikely to have also ensured that the coordinated cease date was delayed similarly, as would have been the case if the request had been made via Plusnet.

@willcutforth has offered to rectify matters if this is found to be Plusnet's fault.  In the meantime, the user has made other arrangements for email.  The question which arises is was the cease order tied to the install order completion within BT's systems, if not why and who should / might have ensured that they were ... if such is possible within BT's systems?

The best which Plusnet might be able to do now is to reinstate the old account as email only...

Sadly this is another case which illustrates the imperative necessity to follow proper process - Plusnet, not BT Openreach are the managing supplier; a request to change the dates should have been made to Plusnet.  A request to BT Openreach to change the INSTALLATION date has done just that, leaving the cease order to execute as per the plan.  We have no idea how far back up the chain such a change might percolate ... possibly leaving Plusnet with zero visibility of the divergence from the schedule.

If such orthogonal changes do percolate back to the managing provider, even if the CP/ISP did not join up the dots, "absolute incompetence" is quite harsh.  If the install reschedule had been requested via PlusNet who then moved the install date but not the cease date, then agreed "absolute incompetence" would be a fair assessment.

[#5]

Just to make a final statement - I am now happy with my situation. My email is now being handled by another mail hosting service and my plusnet broadband service is functioning well.

General points:

It should be made clear that when Openreach text you to offer a change of install date,this is not fed back to plusnet.

Moving house can and often does change at the last minute. It should be possible to cancel a house move right up until the last day at least.

When accounts are closed, they should be retained for a period (say a month) in a state that they can be reinstated if necessary.

Please only send out new routers if the customer requests it. I already have one "hub two" I did not ask for and another is on its way apparently!

Cheers

[#6]

Phil,

I have already raised concerns about the impact of orthogonal changes arranged direct with Openreach in respect of the installation at the new property.

As for account resurrection, that is inexorably linked with the post termination billing inhibitions - once BT Openreach remove the asset from Plusnet the account gets closed if there is no new asset to associate with the account.

[#7]

And the saga continues. I refused delivery of another router on Thursday. Someone at plusnet then overrode this on Royal Mail system and they attempted another delivery today. I have refused this again. Will be interesting to see how long it takes them to realise I DO NOT WANT A HUB 2 ROUTER!!!!

[#8]

@philpav We've got no way of "overriding" this process, this would be a process within Royal Mail I suspect. I would either keep rejecting the delivery, or, keep the router as a spare.

When a new account is created, a new router is automatically issued, again, this is something out of our hands. The system thinks, new account, new customer so would need a new router.

[#9]

@philpav also, bear in mind that the existing router will be associated with the old account unless you've requested it to be reassigned to the new account. So if its ever factory reset it will revert to the old account credentials. Additionally it will possibly no longer receive updates.

The new router will be correctly assigned to the new account.

[#10]

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@Townman wrote:

@RealAleMadrid 

That is a tad harsh.  Plusnet were managing the coordinated new install and cease orders.  The user stepped outside of process when they made a direct request to Openreach to reschedule the install.  Such action is unlikely to have also ensured that the coordinated cease date was delayed similarly, as would have been the case if the request had been made via Plusnet.

@willcutforth has offered to rectify matters if this is found to be Plusnet's fault.  In the meantime, the user has made other arrangements for email.  The question which arises is was the cease order tied to the install order completion within BT's systems, if not why and who should / might have ensured that they were ... if such is possible within BT's systems?

The best which Plusnet might be able to do now is to reinstate the old account as email only...

Sadly this is another case which illustrates the imperative necessity to follow proper process - Plusnet, not BT Openreach are the managing supplier; a request to change the dates should have been made to Plusnet.  A request to BT Openreach to change the INSTALLATION date has done just that, leaving the cease order to execute as per the plan.  We have no idea how far back up the chain such a change might percolate ... possibly leaving Plusnet with zero visibility of the divergence from the schedule.

If such orthogonal changes do percolate back to the managing provider, even if the CP/ISP did not join up the dots, "absolute incompetence" is quite harsh.  If the install reschedule had been requested via PlusNet who then moved the install date but not the cease date, then agreed "absolute incompetence" would be a fair assessment.

---

I think this comment is unjustified and unreasonable.

AFACS, the customer did NOT step "outside of process". The "process" (from the customer's POV) included a text from Openreach allowing for a change of installation date - an option which the customer took. That this did not result in feedback to PN's systems is a reflection of poor IT integration. It really is not the customer's job to take account of poor supplier IT systems! How would they even know of such limitations in IT systems, let alone know how to allow for them?

I remember my early days with ADSL broadband and how I had to learn from experience (and dispute) how the 'system' worked wrt the ISP, BT/Openreach and the end user. i.e. ME.

All these sorts of thing come about precisely because of all the amazingly 'efficient'(?) disaggregated service provision and how they do, or do not, integrate with each other. Nothing to do with the poor customer. We are not born with inbuilt knowledge of company systems. And when IT systems are also involved it can all get very stupid.

Did anyone mention the Post Office?

[#11]

When I visit friends or relatives I see their router on the window sill or sideboard. Close by are usually a couple of pieces of paper  one has setup instructions the other has usernames and passwords, and that is the extent of their IT knowledge. They just need to know how to connect to the outside world not how it works, the same way most of us drivers aren’t interested in how a combustion engine works just how to get from A to B.

We ‘experts’ should try to remember that……

[#12]

I suggest that my comments have been bent entirely out of context - Plusnet were branded “absolutely incompetent” for something they most probably had zero involvement in.

If you want to take a simple view of the world then Plusnet are the contract owner and if you want to change the contract arrangements then speak with the contract owner not the delivery man. If it then goes wrong there is indeed only one party responsible.

PS: comparable to elsewhere - not knowing the law is not a defence against a charge for having broken it. Not knowing that telling Openreach to change the dates was unwise, does not through ignorance make it any wiser.

[#13]

I have a Linksys router. I have never needed a router supplied by PlusNet or Force9.

Plusnet have sent me 2 routers. They have both been returned. They should have ASKED me if I wanted a router (Which presumably is what they charged me £50 for...)

Today, they sent me an email asking me to send back my router, as I am no longer a customer apparently!

It is also rather irritating that the support ticket emails are from a "donotreply" email address.

[#14]

Today, they sent me an email asking me to send back my router, as I am no longer a customer apparently!

On your original account, you aren't , so they would ask for any router supplied on that account back.

(Which presumably is what they charged me £50 for...)

Routers are supplied subject only to a £6.99 P & P charge, The £50 is more like a home move charge, although I would have expected, given the problems, that they would have waived that...