Delays on connection

[#1]

Hi,
Placed an order to transfer to Plusnet on 4/4/14 and am still waiting for a completion date! Anyone able to give me some advice on this? Correspondence so far goes like this:
4/4/14
Dear Mr Loynes,
Welcome to Plusnet and thank you for choosing us as your broadband and phone provider.
What happens to your order now?
Your broadband service
We'll arrange for your broadband service to be switched to us. This will take 5-7 working days.
19/4/14 - following me raising a question.
Thanks for getting in touch.
It appears that due an error in our automated system the transfer of your broadband service was stuck and not progressing as it should have done.
I've resolved this for you today and your broadband order will now complete 30/04/14 (at any time up to midnight). The slight delay is due to the bank holiday period.
29/4/14 Following my call
Dear Mr Loynes,
Sorry for the delay in your order. I have checked our systems for an update, however we need to chase our suppliers for more information.
I will be sending your order to our dedicated team who will seek an update and look to get back to you within the next 24-48 Working hours.
This is not 5-7 working days!
Do I really want to transfer my BB and phone to this company?

[#2]

Why has this been moved? i was hoping that someone would be able to provide some advice on how I might get some action.
I think it is time to review my decision to migrate to Plusnet. Community forum my ar-e!

[#3]

Social media tomorrow!

[#4]

Have you considered that the staff who can answer your questions work normal office hours ? 
There is nothing in what you have stated that can be progressed by the community (i.e. other customers) on this forum.
It is very unlikely that you will get any response until after 8:30 tomorrow 

[#5]

Thank you for your response and wisdom. Perhaps you would be good enough to let me know why you think I should continue with my migration given the link:censored response so far?
adie:red avoidance of swear filter removed.]

[#6]

• There are many positive reasons to have your broadband with Plusnet.


• Having your phone with Plusnet is pretty neutral, neither outstanding or anything particularly poor.


• Native English speaking support staff that you can understand what they are saying.


• The issues you are having are likely to be typical provisioning problems with BT - which would be the same for any ISP.


• With a little patience, the support on this forum from both staff and other customers is the best you will find anywhere.

Give the staff that monitor this forum a chance, and they will almost certainly get you up and running as quickly as possible.  

[#7]

Hi TL,
I'm very sorry to hear of the delay in your service migrating over to Plusnet.
I've had a look into this and it seems we need to contact our suppliers regarding this. Our Supplier Team will be chasing this up for you today and getting back in touch with you with any further updates. I'm very sorry for any inconvenience caused.
Hopefully they will resolve any issues and get your migrated over as soon as possible.

[#8]

Linn
Could you please re-read the original post and then consider how your response from Plusnet has progressed the problem from the customer perspective.
The estimated connection date has moved from a positive 5 - 7 days on 4/4/2014 to a confident "don't know" on 30/4/2014 via an admission of an error in the Plusnet provisioning system on 19/4/2014.  Something appears to have seriously broken down in the client / Plusnet / BTOR communications channels to allow this sort of situation to occur as frequently as it has in recent months.
Co-operation between the ISP CEO's in conjunction with OFCOM is needed to coerce BT to "Play the game"
Maurice

[#9]

Maurice,
Or is it a matter that PN simply failed to monitor that there had ben no progress on the order for a number of days.
I have had extensive communication with DCT on the issues which are killing PN - essentially the BTw / BTOR interfaces and strongly suggested that Andy the "new" CEO really needs to get a grip on BTw / BTOR (preferably by their corporate throats) and get this shambles fixed.
The panacea seems to be focussed on the new provisioning system which is expected to manage the foibles in (chronic failure of) the Btw / BTOR systems.  As ever new systems take longer to deliver than anticipated, so I expect that the Spring 2014 target will not be met.  What is required is tactical activity NOW to prevent reoccurrences of issues such as this again.
I suggest that a dedicated person tasked with daily provisioning order "no-progress" detection and escalation could make a massive difference to customers such as TL, who understandably having reached the stage they are at believe that choosing a different supplier is going to give them a better experience.  Given it is the same BTw / BTOR (dis)organisation in the background, it is not likely.
So Andy, your TV adverts tell us we should not have to put up with poor customer service - please tell us what you are doing to make the service from PlusNet better, especially in the area of BTw / BTOR inflicted pain.  Not in some months time when a different (will not yet call it better) provisioning system is in place, but TODAY?
You've had 6+ months to see what is wrong, when are you going to come on to the forums and interact with your customers please?

Kevin

[#10]

MauriceC,
This is being dealt with by our Supplier Team who specialise in dealing with our suppliers. I was informing the OP that they would receive an update regarding this later today to confirm that this is in hand and being dealt with.
Townman,
Thank you for your feedback. We'll be sure to pass this on.

[#11]

Quote from: Linn

This is being dealt with by our Supplier Team who specialise in dealing with our suppliers. I was informing the OP that they would receive an update regarding this later today to confirm that this is in hand and being dealt with.

Yes Linn.  But it is 26 days since the order and this path has already been trodden once!  It's nearly time for the next invoice to be sent so it might be sensible to be proactive and delay sending it  pending resolution of the install date?

[#12]

Another invoice won't be sent at this stage MauriceC, but thanks for pointing that out.
TL,
I'm aware you spoke to a member of our Supplier Team regarding your order. I'm very sorry there's a delay,  as my colleague will have explained there's been an exception (system issue) generated on the order which is stopping it from progressing correctly. We have raised this to the relevant department and they have asked us to review this again on Friday 02/05/2014.
This is now being monitored by our Delayed Orders team who will chase our suppliers for an update.

[#13]

I very much doubt the new(ish) C.E.O. will ruffle any feathers.
Why? - this "Joining Plusnet from BT, Andy has for the last two years been the CEO for BT Wi-fi"
He's a B.T. "plant" so will have no desire to upset his masters at all and will, unfortunately, just tow the B.T. line!

[#14]

Thanks to everyone for their contribution.
Linn K - please can you explain what the "exception (system issue)" is and its cause?
MauriceC - thank you for succinctly stating my problem (i.e "moved from a positive 5 - 7 days on 4/4/2014 to a confident "don't know" on 30/4/2014 via an admission of an error in the Plusnet provisioning system on 19/4/2014" and reminding me that I have already made a payment for this service! Linn K - how will Plusnet be recompensing me?
purleigh - in your response to why I should continue with my migration to Plusnet, the only thing that I can see you consider to be a real benefit is "Native English speaking support staff that you can understand what they are saying", which I find quite ironic given that a) you do not know whether I am a native English speaker, or not, and could easily have taken offence by the comment and b)  I find the idea of choosing an ISP on this basis quite abhorrent given that my work involves regular world wide travel and I have many non native English speaking friends!
I should add that I am migrating from BT and have had extremely positive experiences when contacting the (India) support team. They have always made me feel that they have tried their best to resolve issues (not yet felt this way following calls to Plusnet!) but sadly, they are in no better or worse position than anyone working in a UK call centre. IT systems dictate their actions!
Finally, although, as some indicate, this problem might be related to BTw / BTOR interfaces, my contract is with Plusnet and it is Plusnet that I expect to do something about this problem. Passing blame to contractors is like a butcher blaming tough meat on the farmer!
I am expecting an update on Friday and will post an update then.
p.s. does anyone know how I stand legally in respect of the contract?

[#15]

I've quoted your questions below and I will answer them below each applicable quote, hope that's ok.

Quote from: TL

Linn K - please can you explain what the "exception (system issue)" is and its cause?

An exception is a system generated error in our suppliers systems which causes the order to not progress as it should. Imagine a computer freezing and whatever program is running not being able to progress whilst the computer is frozen, it's a bit like that but specific to your order in our suppliers systems. It now requires manual intervention by our suppliers to progress the order further.

Quote

and reminding me that I have already made a payment for this service! Linn K - how will Plusnet be recompensing me?

As you should currently still have a service with your current supplier and we've not started your contract yet due to your order not completing there wouldn't be any payment to compensate. The payment you've made is your first month's payment upfront and P&P for the router (if you opted for one of ours) but this starts taking effect once your service is connected and your account is activated. As your account has not been activated yet it means that your payment is still to cover you for your first month's service from when the service is connected.

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Finally, although, as some indicate, this problem might be related to BTw / BTOR interfaces, my contract is with Plusnet and it is Plusnet that I expect to do something about this problem. Passing blame to contractors is like a butcher blaming tough meat on the farmer!

I completely understand and as such we are chasing our suppliers regarding this to ensure that the issue is resolved, however, we are reliant on our suppliers carrying out the necessary work to progress your order. As it's a system issue, some are resolved sooner than others and as we're not the ones that resolve them we cannot guarantee when it will be completed. We can only relay the information provided by our suppliers and keep checking for updates for you.

Quote

p.s. does anyone know how I stand legally in respect of the contract?

As your contract hasn't started yet due to the account not activating as the order hasn't completed if you were to cancel then you'd be refunded the payment you've already made and your account cancelled. If you decided to cancel after your account has activated and your order has completed then a cancellations charge to cover your contract would apply.
I hope this clarifies things and I'll ensure that this is chased up again tomorrow for you.