29 days without internet and counting...

[#1]

29 days after contacting Plusnet my partner and I are still without working broadband and have not been given any firm confirmation as to when this will be resolved.
On the 26th October, 2 days after my partner and I moved into our new flat, I paid upfront for the 12 month package. I was informed that as the line had been disconnected for some reason in the property, a new line, costing £49.99, would need to be set up and the earliest this could be done would be the 9th November 2015.
In the email I received on the 26th October I was informed that; 'Once your phone service has been installed, your broadband should be activated within 5-7 working days'
I was then sent another email on the 9th November stating:
'Your broadband order is now being processed. Your service is due to go live on 17/11/2015.'
I additionally received a text confirming that our broadband would be working by the 17th Nov. However by the morning of the 18th November I had not received any communication that the service was ready. I spent over 40 minutes on hold on the phone in the morning but could not get through to anyone to query this. As I had to go to work my partner who had the day off then spent over two hours on chat online & nearly an hour on hold on the phone only to ascertain that the order has become stuck in their suppliers system and the next review date would not be until 25th November.
My partner was then cut off from the chat unexpectedly after she was given this information which meant she then frustratingly had to ring the Plusnet helpline and was passed around and on hold for nearly an hour. She eventually got through to someone who confirmed that he would not be able to guarantee that our internet would be working on the 25th November as this date was only to 'review' the situation. This directly contravenes what we were informed by Plusnet both over the phone and in the email we received on the 26th October. As this will then be 12 working days since the line has been installed (16 days in total without internet since the 9th Nov) & a clear and substantial breach of Plusnet's  5 – 7 working days estimation. Furthermore as the 25th November is just a review date we could feasibly be waiting even longer until we have working broadband.
I personally raised a help ticket at 09:38 on the 19th November about this issue, and to request financial compensation for time wasted and lack of internet thus far and have yet to receive any response from Plusnet on this ticket. My reference no. is 114680618.
Highly frustratingly, on Sat 21st Nov I was sent the following email from Plusnet referring to a help ticket with a different reference number that I did not raise. The ticket seems to have been raised by an internal member of Plusnet staff but is appearing on my Plusnet help ticket page with no option for me to close it. I have included an extract from the email from Plusnet below:
'We can see you've recently been in touch with our Support Team about a problem with your service. If the issue is still outstanding, please review your Question on our website. However, if you think the problem's now fixed, there's no need to reply. Your Question will automatically close after 11 days.'
I then responded to Plusnet at 14:05 on the 21st Sat:
–--
I'm not sure why I have received this email as I did not raise this ticket that you have forwarded to me. It appears to have been raised by a Plusnet staff member and there is no way for me to close it at my end.
I do indeed have a serious problem with my service and that since paying Plusnet for broadband on 26th October my partner and I still do not have any working broadband or firm indication of when this will be working. Additionally we have not received a response to the ticket I raised on the 19th morning, therefore this email you have sent in regards to a ticket we did not raise is extremely frustrating.
Please can you tell me when we will receive a response to my ticket from the 19th? I assumed that we would have received some feedback now due to being without internet for a month in total and 4 days after we were assured it would be working by Plusnet.
-----
I have still not received a response to the above email yet either.
My partner and I have unfortunately had to upgrade our mobile phone packages for a month to access more internet data due to the lack of home broadband but that month runs out for both of us tomorrow and therefore we will back to our standard mobile phone package with limited mobile data, no home internet, no firm explanation of why this is, when this will be resolved or if we will be offered any financial compensation for our time and money wasted thus far. All together this experience has indicated pervasive levels of shockingly bad customer service within Plusnet and has been extremely disappointing given we signed up with Plusnet expressly because their customer service awards seemed to indicate that the exact opposite of this would be provided.

[#2]

Sorry to hear what's happened.
It looks like the order is stuck on our suppliers system and we're trying to get this closed off.
Is the broadband light steady on the router?

[#3]

Thanks for your reply Matthew. I've just checked the router and the broadband light is flashing, it is not steady.

[#4]

Is the broadband light supposed to be steady? Why did the order get stuck on the suppliers system and what does that mean? Can we please have an estimated date of when we will have working broadband? Please can you also let me know when I will receive a response to my help ticket from the 19th Nov too? Thanks.

[#5]

The broadband light being steady shows that the work is complicated at the exchange.
With regards to the complaint you've raised we aim to deal with those in 5 working days so you should have a response by the end of the week.

[#6]

Thanks for your response to those two queries. However the most pressing one (given that we have been without home internet for a month now & nearly 7 days after Plusnet assured us that we would have working broadband) has still gone unanswered. Beyond the feedback that my partner received last week that the 25th November will be a 'review' date, can Plusnet give any indication of when we will have access to working broadband? Having already paid a substantial amount upfront for broadband access yet been provided with no firm indiciation of when our broadband will be working, following the failure of it to be switched on as promised on the 17th November, is both concerning and frustrating.

[#7]

Hi there,
I understand it's frustrating but as stated by my colleague the work at the exchange has completed, so now we are just working on the final stages. We are hoping to have a further update by the end of the week, but appreciate your patience in this matter. Thank you.

[#8]

Hi Mel, no one has actually informed me that work has completed at the exchange. Was I supposed to have received information regarding this? I was expecting an update at the latest by tomorrow (& a response to my help ticket as it will have been 5 working days by then since I submitted it) as I was informed on the 18th that the 25th would be a review date. However as your message states I should receive information by the end of the week has that update been pushed back?

[#9]

We received an email at 00:30 last night to inform us that: Your broadband service is now up and running'. I have set it up this morning and it is running unbelievably slowly. Most web pages are not even able to open. I have just done a speed test and the speed is 0.18Mbs. In the email we were sent from Plusnet on 26th October when we paid them a substantial sum upfront we were informed the following:
'Your estimated broadband speed is 4 Mbps (This may vary between 3MB and 7Mb)'
We have waited 31 days for internet in total and 8 days after Plusnet promised it would be up and running we finally receive communication that we can use our router and the speed is so shockingly slow that we can't open standard web pages!!! Never mind using any streaming TV services like Netflix we can't even open Google Maps! This service is a complete disgrace! What on earth is going on?? We live in the centre of Manchester, not in the countryside where Plusnet may use the excuse that it could be difficult to get internet speeds!  As our broadband, which is apparently 'now up and running' after a lengthy wait, is NOT usable due to it's shockingly slow speeds, what is the explanation for this?
Will I have to wait another 5 working days for a response to any help ticket I raise about this and sit in a phone and chat online queue for several hours too to get any response to this? As I have still not even received a response to my original help ticket from the 19th November I am not holding much hope for a quick and successful resolution to this new problem from Plusnet! How can Plusnet treat customers this way and how can they take money for a service they do not provide??
When will this be fixed and when will we have the working broadband that we were promised by Plusnet? We have been paying for a service that we first did not receive and now does not even work!

[#10]

Now on the phone to customer service for support with the lack of broadband issue. Have been informed it will be a 45 min wait to get through to anyone yet Plusnet's call stats on it's website state a 24 minute wait. Why the discrepancy?! The call stats on the website never seem to tally with what customers experience as every call I have made in the past few weeks has been at least 45 mins to an hour wait.

[#11]

On hold for 54 minutes in total before I got through to anyone last night. The call handler expressed some shock when I explained that everytime I have rang Plusnet over the past few weeks the shortest I have had to wait has been around 45 minutes and then informed me that if I rang early in the morning I should get through much quicker. When I explained that I have rang early in the morning before and have had to wait just as long I was told that he has not heard of that experience before and that surprsied him. In total last night, I was on the phone for 69 minutes 28 seconds without any resolution to our internet problem.
The information I was provided last night was not entirely clear so I rang back again this morning at  07:56 in the hope that I would get thorugh quicker as advised by the handler last night (additionally the call stats stated an average wait of around 3 minutes). Around 9 minutes later someone picked up the call who then informed me they would need to pass me on to technical support as they were not able to help me themselves and did not understand the information that had been entered on our fault ticket from the previous night. I was assured that this should be another 9 minute wait. Around 30 minutes (!) later I finally got through to someone at technical support who although extremely helpful and understanding (thank you very much to this person!) was not able to resolve the fault and it looks like Plusnet could take a substantial amount more time to investigate and resolve whatever fault is occuring. All in all, in total I was on the phone to Plusnet this morning for around an hour and 20 minutes.
32 days after paying Plusnet for broadband provision we still do not have the service we were promised, have no clear indiciation of when our internet will be working properly and again have wasted a substantial amount of time on hold.

[#12]

wow A20, sounds like you have had a fun time. i hope i'm not going through what you have been through, it does sound like i'm following your foot steps as i'm still waiting.
fingers cross that plus net will pull their finger out and sort it out as well as my broadband.

[#13]

Thanks twentysix, I really hope your broadband gets sorted quickly. Our internet is now not working at all and we have been told (after spending nearly an hour on the phone again) that it will be a further 4 days before anything can be done about this. How Plusnet can treat customers like this is astounding. Custos' experience is completely shocking to read too and he has been treated just dreadfully. I really hope you won't have as long to wait to have working internet. I don't hold out much hope for any kind of quick response to our own ongoing internet issues though unfortunately.

[#14]

This needs passing up to a higher level. Surely someone from PN Customer sevices should now take charge ?  It would seem there are multiple technical faults  which PlusNet  are not actively chasing up with Open Reach - their suppliers, or giving honest or clear advice to the customer . Also PN should be agreeing to compensate  the customer substantially for lack of a usable service and inconvenience .