BT Appointment not cancelled, no engineer showed up, no response from PN

[#1]

This is turning into a right nightmare. I have ordered Broadband service from plus.net on the 20th October. As of 3rd December, I have no idea when or even if I'll ever have proper internet at home.
Admittedly, the first BT appointment on the 9th November was missed by me, simply because I didn't read the message I got carefully enough - I had requested the appointment to take place in a PM timeslot, and was given an AM timeslot (and got home only to find a card saying "sorry we've missed you").
Alright, fair enough, my own fault. Requested a new appointment, accepted to be charged again, got one for 30th November. I was a bit worried taking unpaid time off work that day, what with the snow and ice everywhere, but I thought hey, if they can't make it, they will notify me, right? Hopefully in time, so I could get back to work quickly with relatively little time/money lost.
No such luck. It's not that they couldn't make it to my flat - they obviously could, I saw a BT/Openreach van drive past my flat during the timeslot for the appointment. It drove past twice, in fact. But neither did they stop to keep the appointment, nor did I get any message saying the appointment would have to be cancelled. So I waited patiently until the end of the timeslot, and longer. No one showed up. No information on why not.
I then decided to ask plus.net what was going on and opened a ticket that same evening. Now it's 4 days later and I have yet to get any sort of response to my inquiry.
I do understand that the current weather conditions are putting quite a strain on everyone, and I also figure that not plus.net but BT/Openreach are to blame here. But at least a little nugget of information or advice would be really helpful, from either party.

[#2]

Hi there,
I'm sorry to hear about the difficulties you've had with this. We're also sorry about the extended response times. The snow has been very severe over the past few days in Sheffield which means that we have been operating under reduced staffing levels, but we know you understand that. Thankfully things aren't quite as bad this morning and there's a lot more staff in the office today.
I'll pick this up myself, find out what happened with the appointment and see what we can do to rearrange.
I'll be in touch soon,
Adam.

[#3]

As per when we spoke our suppliers have re-appointed your order and I am now working towards bringing the date sooner via our path of manager escalation.
As mentioned in sittauations like this BT follow a process called MBORC which stands for matters beyond our reasonable control, in this instance weather conditions are to blame and the reason the appointment has been put off for a long while is simply due to the uncertainty as to when the weather with improve.
As promised I'll keep working on this for you and will make sure you are kept up to date along the way.
Adam.

[#4]

Thank you, Adam. Very much appreciated.

[#5]

No problem userfriendly,
It looks like I'll need to continue escalating on this one, as mentioned any signs of the weather improving should help our chances of getting this done sooner.
Please bear with us as I should have another update for you on Monday.

[#6]

Alright, the BT engineer finally showed up - he just left, having tested the line and saying all was good.
So... when can I expect the router to be delivered and broadband internet to be usable? I've ordered broadband from Plusnet 11 weeks ago, I'd really appreciate if any further waits could be kept to a minimum.

[#7]

If the phone line is now installed and working, your broadband will be ordered within 24 hours. That will complete in 5-7 working days, we'll send the router out a couple of days before the broadband order is due to complete.
I'll double check for you this afternoon and make sure the order is placed today for you

[#8]

Thank you, Matt.
I shall be eagerly awaiting the router then.
One other thing, on the website in my account it says "Next bill is due 05.01.2010" - I take it that this is for the 2nd appointment? If not, what are you billing there? Surely the first monthly bill would be due in February, no?
My debit card has not yet been charged, though. How long does that usually take?

[#9]

Hi mkraft,
The billing date thing is normal and nothing to worry about, it'll update as soon as your broadband goes active. You've paid the first month now, but that won't start running until the account is active either.
With regard to the billing, the direct debit is active so the initial payment will be coming from that. Looking at your account that's going through now.
Hope that helps,

[#10]

I'm sorry, I'm not following... Why am I to pay the first month before I actually have had a first month with broadband? I don't think that's normal. Aren't you supposed to receive payment after actually providing a service, and not the other way round?
Also, what are these "initial broadband fees" I've seen on the payments page? Wasn't it part of the deal that if I also get home phone (which I did), there would be no broadband setup fee etc.?

[#11]

Hi again Mr Kraft,
Just to explain as with the majority of ISPs we take payment in advance for your service, it's in our terms and conditions.

Also an initial broadband fee does not necessarily mean an activation fee. To clarify invoice 24399858 includes the first month's broadband subscription and the postage and packing charge for your router.
BTW I'm glad to see that your service is now up and running, how is it performing?
Adam.

[#12]

Ah okay, that makes sense then. Sorry about that, my old provider in Germany used to take payment at the end of a month, not at the start, hence my confusion.
As for the phone service, it seems fine. Haven't received the router yet, so I can't say anything about the broadband part.

[#13]

No problem, some providers in the UK do that too but the majority take payment in advance like we do.
I've checked your account re the router and can see that it was dispatched on the 8th, deliveries usually take 3 working days so I'd expect this to reach to by the end of tomorrow. Do let me know if it hasn't.
Adam

[#14]

Nope, still no router.
But a notice about a payment that will be taken for the first month. Despite a payment that has already been taken for that time. Which is a bit weird.

[#15]

Next day, still no router. Getting a router from a friend now.
I'm already regretting not getting the no router option that would have let me opt out of the contract with plusnet at any time. Always waiting games - of course, at first it was BT. Now, if it's not BT, it's the Royal Mail. If it's not the Royal Mail, it's... well. I guess I'll see, won't I...