Line not connected with no end in sight

[#1]

I signed up with Plus.net exactly a month ago (09/02/14) as I moved into a new build property.  I was initially advised it would take 2-4 days to get the phone line up and running and thereafter 5-7 days to get broadband up.  This was fair enough until I got a notification that my order would be delayed (with no explanation).  Eventually they told me that my engineer appointment would be for 5th March which is over three weeks after the initial order.  
I was a little bit annoyed but went with the flow.  I took a half day off work (I barely have much holiday left after the house move) and duly the engineer (a sub-contractor) arrived.  After an hour he said he couldn't connect the line as there was a fault further upstream but he didn't know where it was.  This was pretty poor but he assured me that someone would arrive within 48 hours to rectify the fault.
I spoke to Plus.net who said they would chase this up and that I would get a call the next day.  I then received email notifications saying that 'my engineer visit is being cancelled' and that 'need to book a new enginner appointment for which you will be charged'.  I phoned CS in the morning who assured me that wouldn't be the case and that they would raise a case with BT to get the resolved quickly.  I then receive a call from CS again in the afternoon asking me the same questions as per the call the day before.  I was assured that i would get a call (within the next 24-48 hours confirming the appointment).  That has now since passed and I have nothing from Plus.net.
I have no idea as to when this will get resolved.  I really don't accept the time it has taken Plus.net to organise an engineer to come to property on both occasions and between the two it has shown incompetence to a new level.  The lack of updates from the Plus.net side has been pretty bad.
To put this into context in the same time my brother has had Sky come in and set up his phone line and fiber before I even had an engineer visit my property.  Worse still his line developed a fault yesterday and Sky organised an Openreach engineer to visit his property today and he is now back up and running (again there was a fault upstream which he resolved).  If Plus.net wish to confirm those details I can provide them to you.
When I see the service being received via another company so close to home and then comparing it to my own experiences it only makes the situation worse.  I moved to Plus.net as they apparently provided the best customer service.  They are pleasant and well meaning on the phone, but the lack of action and updates makes that matter not.  I spoke to a woman on my brothers behalf who was literally talking through a crib sheet but at the end of the day she managed to get an engineer booked for the next day.
In the end I have had to buy a mifi dongle and 4G Sim (which is costing me a further £80 just to get the Internet into my flat because I am on call for my job next weekend.  If Plus.net do not resolve this by next week, I think I'm going to have to cancel my order and start again with another provider.  Not impressed!

[#2]

fuzzmo - at this stage, I really wouldn't recommend trying to switch your order to another provider.  Neither your experience, nor your brother's, are at all untypical, and they provide yet further evidence of the random results which call centres can produce.  On another day, your experience, and your brother's, would have been switched, and you would be criticising Sky instead of PlusNet.
Tomorrow (Monday), somebody from PlusNet will probably reply to your message and apologise for your unsatisfactory experience.  A 'ticket' will be raised, and you will be assured that somebody is taking a personal interest in your problems.  But there will be no explanation of how the Plusnet call centre failed to offer any kind of consistent Customer Support, and there will be no indication as to what steps will be taken to investigate the mistakes of any individual call centre operative.  It is also possible that blame will be placed on BT OpenReach, and that therefore it is unreasonable for you to hold PlusNet responsible for their failure to honour their original undertaking to install both phone line and broadband within a week or two of accepting the order.
I really hope that you will soon be 'online'.

[#3]

Just a thought.
If it is a new build could it be that the cables have not been installed in the neighbourhood / street yet. When our estate was built we were initially advised of the standard lead times until it was realised that the lines were not present. The wires in the house do not necessarily mean they are connected to the exchange box in the street.
If the above is the case PN cannot be blamed for the cables not being present and they can only book an engineer if the line is present to install.
PN can only book given the info they get from OpenReach and Wholesale which is not always accurate.
podman

[#4]

Hi fuzzmo,
I'm really sorry to hear that the installation did not complete successfully.
I've had a look into this and can see that this is in hand with the Provisioning team on Ticket: 82310820. They will be picking this up today and they will be contacting you with an update by the end of the day today.
Hopefully we can get this resolved for you soon.

[#5]

@KK - You do have a point but I was with Sky and Be prior to this and they never had these problems with getting me connected.  Admittedly I am not sure how Sky would handle my current situation but the fact that they managed to get my brother and engineer the very next day (which was a Sunday!) makes me suspect that they would have handled this better and makes me wonder more whether I should go to a provider with a better relationship with Openreach (it was a proper BT engineer who turned up).  At the end of the day the lack of updates from Plus.net means at best I am looking at another month to even get my phone line connected so I am not sure what I have to lose to go to a provider who although may cost mroe, appear to work to better timetables and appear to strive to get results.  Thanks for the advice and I hope I get something positive soon!
@podman - Yes that could have been the case except that there are several flats there who are already connected, else I would have understood the difficulty in connecting but not the length of time I'm having to wait to get a visit!
@Linn K - Thanks for your response and I hope so because if there is nothing forthcoming or I get another call just going over my details again and asking what happened then I don't see the point of persisting with your company.

[#6]

So I now have an appointment for next Monday (17/03/2014).  Although it's nice to have a date, this is still seriously disappointing given I was assured that I would have someone come around to fix it within 48 hours of the original appointment.  Not sure whether to stick or twist at this rate....  I'll keep this appointment but I am perplexed as to why I have to wait so long when other companies can book in engineers from the same company for the next day.  I would like a call on this today to discuss and don't want this left to a faceless text.

[#7]

I'm sorry this can't be resolved any sooner for you, fuzzmo.
Engineer availability is dependent on many factors and we are currently seeing longer wait times for engineer visits in general due to the areas that have experienced severe flooding. Many engineers are being utilized to resolve the issues that were created by the sever weather conditions over the past couple of months.
It's obviously your decision if you wish to continue with your order with Plusnet or go to another provider, however, I will advise that if you were to go with another service provider you'd more than likely be waiting longer for an engineers appointment with them.
I've arranged for a member of our Provisioning team to give you a call by the end of the day today, however, please be aware that they will not be able to bring this appointment forward.

[#8]

Well apparently it was set for the 20th when I called yesterday evening!  The CS rep offered to change it for me to the 18th and if I'd listened to him then I would have been pushed further back!  Luckily I persisted (and I apologise to the rep yesterday as I was very angry and took it out on him, which although I feel my anger was justified, he shouldn't have to bear the brunt of that), and apparently the 17th has been 'verbally agreed' with Openreach.  This worries me of course as I have to take another day off in the hope that everyone follows through properly.
At this moment in time I feel Plusnet are the equivalent to dodgy builders who come in and do enough damage that you have to stay with them and then tolerate them not turning up for months!  I have no option but to wait and see if you guys can finally get your act together!
I also don't accept the 'due to flood' issue.  My line is in a fault status, not an install status as the engineer confirmed all is good at the property and there is a fault somewhere between there and the exchange - a similar problem that my brother had on Saturday and which he had an engineer arrive the very next day to resolve (and he lives just down the road from me).
I appreciate you're only trying to help but I would appreciate less of the weak excuses and just want confirmation that this engineer is definitely booked for the 17th March and what will be the course of action if he can't fix it (because I have no confidence an actual BT Engineer will turn up).

[#9]

Hi fuzzmo,
Yes, originally we were provided the 20th as the next appointment, however, we disputed this and asked for an escalated appointment. The 17th was the earliest available appointment in your area and as such this was the date that we booked for you. I'm sorry if the advisor that you spoke to yesterday evening did not pick up on this before advising you that the appointment was for the 20th. I can confirm that your appointment is on the 17th of March between 1PM and 6PM.
I can understand where you're coming from regarding your line having a fault on it, however, your order is still in the provision stage, not the faults stage. The engineer who attended was unable to complete the installation, therefore, the order has not completed yet.
If the engineer is unable to complete the installation on the 17th then please give us a call and we will have then contact our suppliers to establish how we can move forward.
I'm sorry for any inconvenience caused.

[#10]

Hi Linn,
Ok thanks for the confirmation.  Can you impress upon Openreach with regards to what happened on the original visit and what needs to be done?  I don't want them to go through the same motions as before and then claim that they can't fix it in this visit and it will require another one.  In other words I want them to arrive onsite with a clear understanding of what needs to be done.
Thanks,
Farvesh.

[#11]

Hi Farvesh,
The next engineer will be aware of all the information from the previous engineer's visit as this is passed to them from OpenReach.

[#12]

OK.  Currently 17:22 and no engineer in sight.  Have taken the whole day off again and have had various callers (inlcuding someone from Battersea Dogs and Cats home), but no engineer.  This is nerve wracking and slightly damning of 21st Century Britain that in the heart of London I still can't count on a phone line being connected after over 6 weeks of trying.
Kind of writing this email hoping that Karma (or something of that ilk) proves me wrong and the engineer does turn up...

[#13]

Not much hope but I think they don't count it missed until a few hrs passed the 6pm cut off.
I had the opposite problem I had lots of unannounced OR engineer visits. Hope you get online soon.

[#14]

@podman - thanks however...
Engineer did turn up.
Engineer had no idea of what transpired before.
Engineer did EXACTLY the same as the previous engineer did.
Engineer said there was a fault between the property and the cabinet - EXACTLY AS THE OTHER ENGINEER SAID!
I aksed a few posts up to ensure that the engineer knew EXACTLY what happened in the previous visit so that they sent the right engineer for the job so that he/she would tackle the problem at hand.
CLEARLY THAT HAS NOT HAPPENED.
I have wasted ANOTHER DAY which I can ill afford to do. 
You can NOT pin this on Openreach.  IT WAS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO ENSURE BT KNEW WHAT THEY SHOULD BE DOING!!!  I don't care if you want to blame BT until you're blue in the face.  The Engineer said he was told he was doing this job because of a missed appointment.
An utter utter shambles.  This is a disgrace of a service from Plusnet - you should have had everything set up with Openreach.  You clearly did not do that.  I am now on hold for another 30 minutes to your ineffectual support line.
I have lost two days of my diminished holiday allowance.
I have spent over £100 on mifi plus 4G dongle.
I have spent what is running into HOURS on your support line now probably passed my mobile allowance. 
I haven't even started with your service and you're already costing me more then I would have paid in months.
After this I think I will give up and start again somewhere else.

[#15]

Spoke to a support person and it appears that the BT engineer after spending almost three hours trying to get the line up and running has now written a report stating that it was a no show and that I wasn't home.
If this is true and this is what the other engineer did - THEN I ABSOLUTELY OWE PLUSNET AN APOLOGY. (Appreciate the Caps are getting annoying but I had to do that for them in fairness).
Yet again it was a sub contractor from Kelly Services, not a proper BT engineer.  It makes no sense to me after all that effort why they would mark it down as such.  Lucky I phoned now rather than tomorrow.
I hope Plusnet can get to the bottom of this and yet again if this is all true, then I truely apologise for the anger and venting in my previous post.