Moving House: Improved process please

[#1]

As I'm currently waiting the full 7 days for my broadband to move from one house to another [PlusNet see support question 28623295] I wondered why are BT engineer appointments to visit the exchange not booked 7 days in advance of the planned line activation date?
1. When the customer supplies a move date and line activation date, assume this is correct
2. Do not wait for the line to become active before booking the engineer's visit to the exchange, assume this will take place as agreed.
3. Ensure the engineer is booked to visit the exchange the day after the line is scheduled to be activated.
I asked BT for a simultaneous order but was not given a reference code. PlusNet should  ALWAYS enquire directly with BT if the order was simultaneous and should put pressure on BT to make simultaneous orders the default type of order. This might help the situation.
An internal team needs to take ownership of the broken house-move process, it seems ridiculous that this takes 7 days to achieve, leaving customers paying for a service they can't use (with no refund), all for staying loyal and taking our service with us. I even have to pay to have this expedited (sped-up) to the tune of £115 and have to pay for 0845 dial-up access in the meantime:
4. why not grant a freephone dial-up access number for the duration of the move period?
5. Do not use terms like 'BOT team' 'SIM order' '20cn' etc. in replying to support questions, this is internal jargon and not what (most) customers understand.
I'll continue to Twitter (@smorgasbord), Blog and GetSatisfaction.com about this until this process is fixed.

[#2]

Hi there,
Is your main complaint that it takes 7 days for the activation order to complete?
If we're talking about just a broadband house move, we have no control surrounding the amount of time it takes to activate a broadband service.  *All* orders take 5 working days.  We can't request a sooner date.

[#3]

Jameseh, yes, you're right my complaint is that it takes 7 days for the activation to complete.
You're wrong in that you (i.e PN) have 'no control'. You might not be able to do anything about the situation as it is today, but the point of this forum post is to suggest that the process is improved. If the process fault is with BT then PlusNet need to pressure and lobby BT to improve their service level agreements to reduce the amount of lead time in the booking process.
By "the process takes 5 days" what you mean is that "the lead-time to get a BT engineer to visit is 5 days". What takes minutes is the switching jumper settings at the exchange (which is what the engineer does) So, my suggestion is that you book the engineer to do that earlier than you currently do. You currently book it on the day the line is made active, I'm suggesting you book it 5 working days before the line is made active.

Which, I'd have thought was pretty clear in my original post.

[#4]

Yes, I understnad what you're saying.
However, I suggest you need to start complaining about every single ISP in this country as they are all subject to the same lead time and the fact that the order system they use will not allow them to request an earlier date.
Oh, apart from LLU ISPs.  They take longer.

[#5]

James,
I'm not trying to be difficult but I can only complain about the experience I'm having with PlusNet. That the problem affects all other ISPs doesn't concern me at all. As a single customer I have limited lobbying power. If PlusNet senior customer relations staff put together a compelling business case and 'user journey' for the process and present that to BT to demonstrate the the process is broken then that's a lot more powerful than me getting cross at them.
So, just to clear something up: My line activation date was scheduled to be the 11th May, is it impossible for PlusNet - with two weeks notice - to schedule the engineer jumper switch visit to take place on the 12th May or is the engineer booking system locked until the very day that the line is made active?

[#6]

If the new line is active, and you're not keeping the same phone number, then yes, we can.
I know the process isn't fantastic.  I wrote this a couple years back:
http://community.plus.net/blog/2007/05/05/provisioning-a-saga/

[#7]

Quote from: smorgasbord

is it impossible for PlusNet - with two weeks notice - to schedule the engineer jumper switch visit to take place on the 12th May or is the engineer booking system locked until the very day that the line is made active?

I believe the order for broadband cannot be placed until your phone line appears in BT's systems, which is when the phone line is activated.
There is then a 5-7 day lead time from booking the DSL engineer to actually getting the engineer to visit.
This can (sometimes) be obviated by using a Simultaneous Reprovide order (SIM order).  When moving your phone line, you need to request the SIM reprovide code from your telephone provider *well in advance* and give that the Plusnet manually (not by using the house mov wizard).
I hear it's about 30% successful usually.  
B.

[#8]

Ok, now we're getting somewhere, thanks Barry.
So, I say again - in the spirit of being constructive:
1. PN to Pressurise BT to reduce the DSL lead time
2. PN to recommend strongly to customers to request a SIM reprovide code OR (better still) pressure BT to issue this code as standard.
3. Improve the house move wizard to prompt-for and then accept SIM reprovide codes.
4. Provide a much clearer response on the house move wizard to set customer expectations on lead times.
5. Provide a FREE dialup access number in the meantime.
Ok, so as an ISP I can see from James' "Provisioning - A saga.." post that a lot of this is down to BT but, as a customer of BT you guys need to have some serious high-level conversations to get it improved as ultimately it's your reputation that gets hammered. James' post was over 2 years ago and still nothing's changed, does this issue have the kind of senior management visibility it needs?
Finally, being told that a payment of £115 will 'grease the wheels'  feels so, so wrong. Doesn't it?

[#9]

It does seem as though the BTw (?) system could do with some improvement (and that's a very polite understatement)

[#10]

This looks a worth item to flag up for possible changes to the system.  I've recorded it in PUGIT as Item 437.  PUGIT  has not had much activity from Plusnet recently, but it does serve as a consistent long term memory of problems.  Voting on the PUGIT items does have some impact on the priority that can be assigned to problem resolution.
Maurice
 

[#11]

Just a quick update to anyone following this thread: Matt Taylor and Kelly got involved after seeing my Tweets and GetSatisfaction postings and have really helped to move things along. It's fair to say PlusNet listen and are doing things behind the scenes to help even though the problem remains largely a BT one. Let's keep pressure on the BT wholesale 'problem' and hope for improvement.

[#12]

for some body who pratles on about how good he is I thought I would look at his web site.
Oh dear has said he is a successful designer.  I wouldnt like to pay money for that, it would not pass an accessibility test

[#13]

All - our house move process does need improving - it is high on our list to sort out - we can't lay all the blame with BT Wholesale and Openreach as the end to end process (from the customer back) is our responsibility to own and improve.
In the meantime i'm glad the issues here have been addressed.
Anthony