Appalling customer service

[#1]

In short Ihave had a broadband problem since June 22nd that Plusnet show no inclination to resolve.
I was perfectly happy with my connection which was delivering at around 1.8 Mb/s. Then, without any changes to my setup or internal lines it started to disconnect overnight.  This was usually rectified by a reboot of the router but sometimes needed a power down to reconnect.
I contacted Plusnet and was told that I was having these problems because i had been "upgraded" to ADSL2.  i was told that my Netgear router was the problem.  I bought a new one - same problem.  Plusnet sent me a router - same problem.
By this time the connection was disconnecting during the day and the download speed decreasing. It now varies between 56k/s - 300k/s.  I am told that it is automatically linited by BT to provide a stable connection.  This speed is next to useless for today's internet.  Update software files take ages or do not complete. Emails with large attachments do the same.  Streaming video is not possible eg. Youtube. I use internet radio but this is now also not possible.
Plusnet asked to test my connection without any of my network connected.  I did this with all three routers both at my network point and the test socket.  No change.
Eventually Plusnet decide that a visit form a BT engineer was required. As expected there were no faults with my line or equipment.  He said that he would test the line back to the exchange but probably a lift and shift was required.  He confirmed no faults and advised Plusnet that a life and shift was needed.
At first Plusnet denied having the engineer notes but these "turned up".  An arrangement was made for a lift and shift to another Plusnet module for Tuesday, 31 August.  However another BT engineer arrived to test the line again. He knew nothing about a lift and shift.  The problem remains.
The next part is typical of the contact I have had with Plusnet over this.  I rang Plusnet and, once again, had to relate the whole of the problem again because no single person has responsibility for your case.  They have rarely read your case file.  Not being content to speak to the call centre person I asked to speak to a manager - "they will not be able to help you any more than me". I asked to speak to Faults. "They are all busy".  I insisted that the CSC person talk to Faults.  He did - they said that a shift and lift had been requested. I said BT had said otherwise.  I asked CSC to inform Faults that I wanted this matter sorted out and to get back to me by 1.00pm.  I was told this was not possible but someone would contact me that day.
Needless to say they didn't - I complained through Questions and was told it was being investigated.
Problems
I have, at my expense, bought a new router, taken time off work to do ectensive testing on behalf of Plusnet, spent considerable monet on phone calls contacting Plusnet CSC.
You rarely get the same CSCS person twice, you have to continually realte the problem and noone is familiar with your case.
Often the case is just left "hanging" until you contact them again.
You are not able to speak to anyone in authority who may be able to help.  The CSC acts as a barrrier to this.
Often you are promised a return call but these rarely materialise.
So June 22nd to the current day I have not had a usuable connection although I have continued to pay my subscription.
I have cooperated fully with Plusnet for the whole period ecapet when I took a week's holiday.
The only time I got any unprompted action was when I made a formal complaint through Cisas. even this died away and had to be restarted by myself.

[#2]

Just to add that I have been with Plusnet for 10 years and to this point have had good service and connection.  However history is irrelevant if you are left with two months of a service that cannot be described as broadband.

[#3]

Hi gnelmes,
We're sorry to see that this fault has become so protracted now. The first thing I intend to do is gain some ownership of this fault for you, this would most likely be from myself personally or one of my colleagues over on the faults team. However if you have complained via Cisas this should have been picked up by our complaints team so I will liaise with them in the first instance.
We'd like to mention (although is not a defence by any means) that in practice ownership is not given by default. When weighing up the number of faults we deal with on a daily basis against staff numbers unfortunately it's not logistically possible to assign each case to an individual. Also when speaking to us by phone it is very realistic in any call centre environment that you would speak with different agents on most of if not each call made to us. As a way of working around this agents should be documenting each and every call in detail, I will check your account for this and if I can see any feedback that needs to be given or failures in that area I will deal with it ASAP. One way I believe we may be able to make some progress on with regards to agents taking ownership of a case is by us taking ownership when issues start to become protracted, after all I'm sure we can agree that if some ownership was taken a few weeks back you may not be in the position of making complaints now. So I will be making some suggestions for improvements to our faults processes.
We'd like to apologise to on the grounds that this has clearly been a stressful experience and the bottom line is it should not have been so we will do all we can to avoid that from here on . With regards to the obvious issues with you paying for a faulty service I will ensure that you are credited for this after the fault is resolved, a good will gesture will also be given.
Adam.

[#4]

Hi Gnelmes,
I've just received a copy of your complaint, which I'm currently reviewing.
I'll be in touch shortly.

[#5]

Following my contribution yesterday I had this response
"The following comment was added to the Question Dear Dr Nelmes, Thank you for getting back to us.
I am very sorry for all the inconvenience you have had whilst trying to resolve this fault, I can see that after your conversation with James Bailey you have an engineer coming tomorrow to perform a Lift and Shift for you and he is ringing you around 2PM to see how it went.
I hope that after this your fault is resolved."
BT engineer arrived at 9.15am. He said he was here to test the line.  I told him the line had been tested on Tuesday and the previous Thursday.  He went ahead and tested the line and, as before, no faults.  The line has now been tested three times in six days.
BT engineer knew nothing about a Lift and shift taking place.  I asked him to confirm this with the exchangee which he did.
Outcome:  Line tested again, no Lift and shift - speed still 300kb/s - no resolution

[#6]

Hi - I'll get this chased with our faults team and we'll call you back to confirm the outcome.

[#7]

This is a further response from Plusnet. _ two appointments have been made for a lift and shift.  On both occasions this was not carried out.
This complaint is now live since June 22nd and it still not resolved.  I have lost any faith in Plusnet sorting this out and have asked for my MAC code.

Dear Dr Nelmes, As per my voicemail:
The engineer visit from this morning did not, as you stated, include a lift and shift being performed despite our request for this happening yesterday.  However, the engineer has indicated that whilst testing your line with his equipment, there were no apparently errors, however there were several with your router connected.
Could you possibly email me <removed> just to let me know when would be a suitable time to give you a call again.
Kind regards,
James Bailey
My response
As you said the shift and lift was not carried out despite this being the second appointment for it to be done.
Please arrange for me to have my MAC code as I cannot waste any more time phoning, dealing with emails, taking time off work with no outcome.
Thank you
jim:orange email address removed mod:end

[#8]

Hi gnelmes,
Just to let you know that James is in the process of calling you now.
Jojo

[#9]

Why does the above not exactly instil confidence in me? I'm off as soon as I will incur no financial penalty. No customer award from me. (See my other posts)

[#10]

Since my last contribution I have been completely disconnected.  To be fair to James (above) he has kept me up to date with the problem and, I believe, made efforts on my behalf.  After two appointments for a lift and shift (or is it shift and lft?) which BT did not carry out James arranged for this to take place yesterday (Friday).  He confirmed that they were working on it; however BT did not complete the job. I was informed they woudl be doing this today.  However at 13.21 there is no sign of any connection.
Fortunately I have a laptop with a dongle that I use for work so a able to have some connection albeit slow.  I am informed that BT were informed of the necessary lift and shifts but that the message never got to the engineers.  It appears that the message has to be passed on twice by BT verbally before it reaches an engineeer - hence the problem, human error.
It amazes me that we can control satellites near Mars but we are unable to send a simple message to a BT engineer.  I wonder why this is not done electronically rather than verbally!
So still stuck without a connection.
This complaint is now 74 days old!

[#11]

Currently I have had no connecttion at all since Friday.  BT did not resolve this on Friday or Saturday.
I intially found a way around this by using my laptop with a dongle but have now reached the download limit.
My only option is to try and use my laptop with my mobile as a modem.
Ironically a job for which I want to apply has come up but the application has to made online!  Difficult without a personal connection to the internet!

[#12]

Hi,
I'm trying to get an update for this on you now.
I'm sorry it wasn't fixed over the weekend

[#13]

Thanks James

[#14]

I don't usually jump on other people's threads with my own problems, but what the OP describes is almost exactly the same thing that's happened to us when our exchange was upgraded to ADSL2+ (or whatever the 20 meg broadband is called).
At first our router was momentarily dropping connections and then reconnecting again, which over time, reduced our IP profile to such low levels that it was virtually impossible to do anything. Then the connection cut out for longer periods, until it was permanently off, aside from the odd occasion where it would be up for about 5 minutes before dropping again.
We did the same things as gnelmes - disconnected all our hardware, tested the line using the test socket, replaced the router, wiring, and other hardware, etc. No luck. Eventually Plusnet sent out a BT engineer, who tested the line all the way to the exchange, and decided to change the wire pair we were on. They did half a job, and someone else had to be sent out to finish it a few days later. All of this happened, and the line started to stay connected (most of the time).
Then, a couple of weeks ago, we had a power cut which reset the electronics in the house (including the router). As if by magic, we were connected properly again, with a stable download speed of 1.8Mbps which was the fastest speeds we'd ever had.
However a day or two after that (10 or 12 days ago) the problems have started all over again. Our connection keeps dropping momentarily, and our IP profile (or is it line connection, I forget now) is now at half of what it should be. We have download speeds of about 0.69 Mbps (upload speeds are the same as they've always been though...)
I'm not sure what the outcome of the 2nd engineer's visit was, as the report was never posted on our fault ticket (that I saw, at least) before the ticket was closed. And as our connection had seemed to become stable again, it looked like the problem had been fixed. However, as I say, it's happening all over again and I can see us ending up with the same problems.
Sorry to the OP for hijacking the thread, but it seemed relevant as their problems and our problems seem to be exactly the same.

[#15]

Thank you Dom and I thought I was alone!