4 Months and still no broadband!

[#1]

Hi all,

I joined Plusnet nearly 4 months ago and during that time I have had no broadband service whatsoever. I have spent countless hours on the phone (on hold for 40mins on one occasion) and email (via my phone!) and I still seem to be no further forward.

Whilst the fault is possibly primarily with BT Openreach for failing to rectify this, Plusnet have been a nightmare to deal with in terms of their effectiveness in getting results and making progress. Phoning the Faults Helpline just involved me recounting a lengthy tale of what has happened so far…I have been going round and round in circles.

I have had 6 Engineer visits….the first Engineer advised me that there was an issue with the TPON. I informed Plusnet of this and also advised later when another Engineer had mentioned TPON works required yet this was overlooked until finally BT Openreach and Plusnet realised that this was a problem.

On one occasion I was asked by the Plusnet advisor I was complaining to “please recall what was discussed with the Engineer”… I told them as best as I could but also told them it was not my job to pass on this info – I am not technically minded and that is what the Engineer notes are for! Yet they repeatedly overlooked these.

One of the Engineer’s advised that I was being routed to the wrong cabinet but also said that this is something that would have been flagged during the initial order but was either ignored/overlooked by Plusnet.

When the TPON works required were finally realised and completed…it transpired that following an Engineer investigation externally a month later - it turned out that they hadn’t been done at all, despite BT Openreach assuring Plusnet that they have been completed! Basically they (BT Openreach) lied that they had been completed!

Most recently I just seem to be getting constant updates along the lines of “further works required – update to follow”… then a few days later “advised that works incomplete – update to follow”.

Following problems with BT many years ago I vowed never again to use them as a Service Provider – little did I know that Plusnet are part of BT too!

I have escalated this to complaints but I seem to be making no progress and there seems little, if any, urgency… so I was wondering if there was anyone with similar problems who had advice regarding getting a long standing issue completed as I have been trying and trying to get this resolved i.e. alternative course of action. I realise that the fault lies with BT Openreach too but feel that Plusnet are as much a part of this – any help/advice greatly appreciated!

Graham

Moderator's note by Adie (Dvorak) All caps title removed as per Forum rules

[#2]

Hi Graham,

Thank you for contacting us via our community forums regarding your issues with TPON. I am sorry to see the issues that you have been experiencing with your order. Unfortunately with TPON it is out of our control and all we can do is place the orders, any updates that we do receive from our suppliers we pass on to you but further more than that we can't do anything.

I can see that you have been assigned a case handler for this issue with our higher level escalations team and they will keep you updated with regards to this issue. Once again I am sorry to read about the issues you have experienced and I hope that this will be resolved for you soon.

[#3]

Just to add to Ben's response.

One of the Engineer’s advised that I was being routed to the wrong cabinet but also said that this is something that would have been flagged during the initial order but was either ignored/overlooked by Plusnet.

When placing orders, we don't have the option to select which cab the line is routed to. We can literally select an address we want a line providing to, from that point our suppliers plan out the routing and provide the line based off of the information they themselves have obtained.

Most recently I just seem to be getting constant updates along the lines of “further works required – update to follow”… then a few days later “advised that works incomplete – update to follow”.

Although extremely frustrating, this is quite often the extent of the update our suppliers will provide us. Having spent a significant amount of my time at Plusnet working on a team dealing with delayed/problematic orders, it's not always as easy as we'd like to get updates further than "Further work required" "Dig work required" "further cable/jointing work required"

I have escalated this to complaints but I seem to be making no progress and there seems little

Our complaints team may not be able to obtain any further information or even get things moving quicker if we were already doing all we could to progress things. However I do hope that you receive updates more regularly now that you have a case handler.

[#4]

Ben,

Thank you for your reply but with all due respect I don't just want updates I want results!

As I have no form of contact with BT Openreach I am relying on PlusNet, as Service Provider, to deal with this ongoing issue, and whilst I appreciate that it is BT Openreach who are responsible for carrying out any works, it is the responsibility of PlusNet to try and expedite/solve this issue as well as try and answer queries that I have. Baring in mind that it has been 4 MONTHS!

In fact, according to the Ofcom web page "Your contract is with your provider, and they are responsible for ensuring faults are fixed, and for keeping you informed of progress"

Thank you for your feedback

[#5]

Unfortunately TPON issues are not something we have an option to expedite.

From the sounds of things, we have been raising the matter with our suppliers to try and resolve the issue as soon as possible.

You're right that your contract is with us and we are responsible for having the issue fixed. However there isn't really a lead time for TPON to be removed and I do completely understand your frustration after 4 months of waiting, however our suppliers are working on fixing this as far as we are aware. All we can do at that stage is keep you informed of progress, which may just be an update of "Further work is required" with a new review date.

I appreciate you want results, not updates, but if we're only receiving updates with review dates in hopes of better results, those updates are all we will be able to pass on to you.

[#6]

Harry,

Whilst I appreciate that PlusNet are working on this you are making assumptions that everything PlusNet has done everything in it's power to solve this.

My issue isn't only with how long it is taking to resolve the TPON issue it is also with how long it was taken to identify this issue, especially as I had informed PlusNet about this - I asked them repeatedly to check the notes to clarify this - one of your advisors informed that that the Engineer notes aren't usually checked unless something is flagged etc...whether this is correct or not I don't know am just repeating what was said. However I had flagged this up on several occasions!

I take on board your point that all the feedback you get from BT Openreach might just be "Further Work is required" - however I would suggest that this is perhaps an issue between PlusNet and your suppliers that could be looked into improving.

[#7]

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@Gflett wrote:
it is also with how long it was taken to identify this issue, especially as I had informed PlusNet about this

Although I appreciate that you may have informed us of TPON on the line, the fact that you informed us may not have necessarily made any difference unfortunately. TPON is generally something that will flag up when trying to place an order. It's usually a hassle to even get an order progressing as BT Wholesale will tell us to have the phone supplier remove the TPON, Openreach will tell us that TPON is fine on phone lines and only affects broadband, therefore the broadband supplier should remove the TPON.

When we do manage to push an order through that starts progressing, it is our suppliers job to plan out and remove the TPON from the line.

If our suppliers later come back and advise the TPON has been removed, this is what we will advise you. If a fault has to be raised at a later date and it is discovered TPON is in fact still on the line, we will have to re-raise this with our suppliers to do the job we initially instructed them to do.

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Gflett wrote:

however I would suggest that this is perhaps an issue between PlusNet and your suppliers that could be looked into improving.

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I agree. While I am happy to pass feedback on, it unfortunately wouldn't speed things up.

[#8]

Harry,

I do appreciate your feedback and information but when all is said and done Plusnet have been unable to provide a broadband service to me and unable to fix the fault for 4 months - fact.

I have spoken to my neighbours, who have broadband, and said that they had an issue with TPON (the area that I am in on the whole is affected by this) but they only had to wait a couple of weeks until they had a working connection. Someone else in the area advised it was 3 weeks for them.

At the end of the day, despite whatever you or anyone else at PlusNet says, I am still a massively disappointed first time (and likely last time) customer - how could I be anything other than this? I feel that this issue has gone on far too long and should/could have been rectified in less time that it has taken.

[#9]

Again I do completely appreciate and understand your frustration.

I don't doubt that others have waited only a couple/few of weeks to get a TPON issue resolved. I've personally watched over some TPON issues that have been resolved within the standard broadband lead time (At the time 5 working days). On the other hand I've dealt with TPON issues that have taken much longer, longer than you have currently been waiting.

By no means am I trying to say it should take this long. But I'm well aware that it can sometimes take this long/longer.