Joint action against plusnet

[#1]

Quote from: KevinG

Quote from: alext05 Could be something to do with being a Which subscriber Millions of us are Which subscribers!

Yeah, but the OP made it sound as it was some exclusive club they are part of for max of ten people, all ready for legal action any time of the day. Is the Which Member + Unite member combo more unique?

[#2]

Quote from: MattyC

At the risk of causing disagreement here, it seems like the intention is to act as a means of policing Plusnet like a governing body. There is already a company in place for this, and it's Ofcom. Ofcom collect complaints from customers and force collective action if necessary.

I've heard far worse jokes than this during the Live from the Apollo programmes!

[#3]

Perhaps usvsplusnet would be interested in joining the recently formed UK Telecom User Group.

[#4]

My attitude towards the OP was based on his spamming across the forums and thinking he had invented something new with his class action. We've seen both before, someone comes up with them about every three months 
But it was most impolite, against forum rules and disrespectful to the moderators and forum members 

[#5]

Thanks for your input everyone. Was PM'd by OP yesterday and have added an authorised user onto the account, so hopefully we'll get an outcome.

Quote from: EnglishMohican

having got to a CSA they turn out to be total jobsworths insisting that all the tick boxes are ticked even though it is totally irrelevant as they have said the fault is outside the premises.

The reason for that would be this:

Quote from: ejs

On the other hand, if the test indicates the fault is probably in or near the property, or the type of fault is often internal, then that's where the engineer gets sent or checks are asked to be done.

Having tested the line, the code kicked out stated that the fault could be due to internal equipment. We've tested the line 6 or 7 times now including this morning and the results are consistent.
For the sake of it, I just want to get an engineer out now. Chances are we could potentially get someone out this week. The issue is that OP has rung through to COT and cancelled their account, so their line will be fully ceased on 02/11.
From there, it'd be 24 hours for a new provider to switch the line back on,  5-7 days for the broadband, then however long it takes to fix the fault in itself. All in all, they'd probably have their broadband in about three weeks. This is a bit of a stab in the dark, as there's a lot of variables that could change other providers lead times (e.g. if they go for a migration instead, or if they go for a cable provider).
Matty

[#6]

That's the problem when people get so hot-headed about things, they can't see the wood for the trees and the lengthy delays that get introduced by cancelling accounts - never mind no service.

[#7]

Quote from: MattyC

The reason for that would be this: Quote from: ejs On the other hand, if the test indicates the fault is probably in or near the property, or the type of fault is often internal, then that's where the engineer gets sent or checks are asked to be done.

But :-
Quote from MattyC  "... it was believed that the line was crossed"
and
Quote from OP  "We just received a call from a neighbour calling her own number as her phone line hasn't been working."
Presumably if the lines are crossed then the remote tests are of limited value - so I am not so sure you are providing a valid reason for the CSA insisting on ticking boxes.
I am not having a go at the specific CSA involved - they are presumably junior and only following the dictats of their masters further up the managment chain. As Plusnet claim to provide broadband that loves you back then I believe that CSAs should be allowed some freedom to use their common sense in cases like this. It is not as if Plusnet mind spending money to gain new customers - so even if it was an internal fault the engineering charge could be written off. As it is, the costs to Plusnet are considerably higher than any engineering charge if only in terms of a poor thread on the forums.

[#8]

Good morning all,
Thanks for the replies - especially englishmohican and ejs. We would be interested in any supporting campaigns around these issues. As an update - it took maybe four attempts to finally get the issue escalated to a manager. They then had to talk to customer options (or operations possibly) and they have come back to us and said that they are willing to cancel the current contract with no penalisation and act as though we never renewed our contract when we moved house - for which they would have charged us £30. We have accepted this outcome although it leaves us at a net loss for time and cost of waiting in for engineers and the financial cost of compensating for a loss of a vital service.
We still believe it shouldn't be this hard. The rules around breach of contract and when a customer should be allowed to walk away due to a lack of service provision need to be sharpened and publicised. We did not get the service promised. Plusnet continued to charge us for that non-existent service. It cost us more time and money and emotional stress trying to get it sorted than can possibly be reasonable and that some people simply wouldn't be able to withstand.  It may just be a poorly designed system or poorly trained staff. Either way, as englishmohican points out - how can this be cost effective? Wouldn't it be better to allow your representatives at that level the latitude to actually engage with the issues and make better outcomes? Instead we had to fight every step of the way to talk to someone who could actually do something - if we had been able to have that conversation sooner we may actually have been able to arrange an engineer to look at the external fault without us having to stay in/accept liability and had this cleared up with no cancellation.
And why go in hard - seeking legal advice, thinking ahead to collective action at the same time as trying to navigate the "customer service" options? Because there are many people out there who took it softly and are now embroiled in long running and stressful battles over huge cancellation fees. We didn't want to be one of them and we would have been keen to help them if we could.
We'll keep the email address up and if anyone else contacts us we will put together a simple breakdown of their rights and point them towards legal advice or put them in contact with each other if desired. If you're scornful of collective action remember where the major concessions (some of us - but increasingly less of us) still enjoy came from - shorter hours, a working week, holiday pay, sick pay etc. Nothing is given.
We still haven't arranged an engineer to come out and fix the problem but after a long day yesterday that was an issue for today. Talk talk called us yesterday trying to fix our neighbours phone line so they may also contact open reach or perhaps they will contact plusnet.
Thanks.

[#9]

so let me get this right, now that you have got what you wanted the whole "collective action" crusade has been dropped like a hot potato?
surely if it meant so much to you and was a matter of principle then you should continue on your crusade regardless.
or was it simply a load of hot air and now you've got what you wanted you couldn't give a toss any more?

[#10]

Maybe you didn't read the paragraph about maintaining the account and facilitating the grievances of others. Maybe you're willfully ignoring the fact that our issue is resolved so the best we can do is support others. Or maybe you just wanted to get a dig in regardless of our actual intent. Either way, best of luck to you.

[#11]

i did read the last paragraph but it seemed like lip service to me.
no, the best you can do is continue on your crusade, but nah you're sorted so sod it.

[#12]

mod:note
Locked as the OP has a satisfactory outcome.