Moving house mess up, poor customer service, feel angry and tearful

[#1]

I would like to register a formal complaint with plusnet regarding the awful service I have received.
1. I requested a house move on 4/9/15 and agreed to a 2 year extension of my contract.
2. On 16/9/15 I received an email saying that plusnet have placed an order to activate my phone line. Once this was complete, it will take 5 working days for my broadband to be initiated. (question 110324853) It said they will confirm activation/installation in 24/48 hrs.
3. The question was put on hold (whatever that means) till 17/9/15
4. On 17/9 it said it was off hold and someone from the support team should get in touch with me shortly.
5. On Fri 18/9, I spent 1 hour at work trying to get through to to the provisioning team. After 30 minutes I was put through to someone but he lost the line on transfer to provisioning after 30 mins. I spoke to someone on the chat line and they said it will take 48hr to activate the line and 4 working days for broadband to work.
6. I have been abroad all week and my partner told me the line did not go through. I was told on the chat line to contact the provisioning team.
7. On Saturday 26/9 I spent 2 hours on the phone to plusnet: 22 minutes to get through to first person, 40 minutes to the provisionign team who said he would look into it and it took another 40 minutes before I gave up as he did not get back to me.
8. On Monday, 28/9, I received a Message saying that they are going to get my phone line set up and the question is "on hold". The broadband services will be activated in 5 working days. I still have not had any response if the line activation failed or is working.
My complaint on 26/9 remains unanswered after 4 working days.
I feel bullied by a big broadband company that has tied me into a contract for 2 years, which I can't leave without allowing sufficient time for them to connect me to broadband. I have still paid for this months broadband. My phone line and data usage on my mobile phone is so high this month as I don't have broadband at home.
Does anyone know how we can complain to a regulatory authority? I did file a complaint through the "code of practice" link but have not had a response. So what's the point. Ofcom say 8 weeks from making a complaint! That's way too long!
Would be grateful for any advice you can offer.
Ravee82

[#2]

Hi Ravee82,
A warm welcome to the forums, sorry to hear of your woes.
Let me get one of your questions out of the way - a ticket being placed on "hold" means it has been "parked" until said date and time.  It is often done when an external supplier has committed to a date / time to do something.  The ticket is held until the day after for review, as until the supplier's date / time has passed there us nothing else to be done.
Do you know why any of the delivery dates were not fulfilled?  BTOR no show (for whatever reason) or order / appointment booking failure?  Are you in a new build?
Some insight to the cause will identify what routes of action might be available to you.  If all of this is down to PlusNET order processing errors, your only recourse is plusnet.  If it is down to BTOR delivery failures, then a letter of complaint direct to the CEO BTOR will open up additional esclation options for plusnet.
If it is a new build, OPENREACH have a specialist department you can contact directly - see their website.
Hope this is soon sorted.

[#3]

Hi Townsman,
I'm not sure - I was not told that BTOR was supposed to turn up. All Plusnet said to me was there was a problem in connecting the line. I was not given details by Plusnet. It isn't a new build - the property was completed in 2009 and lived in till 31/8/15. We completed on 1/9/15, but had contractors in doing work till 14/9.
Thank you for the clarification on the "hold" matter - but it says someone from customer support will get in touch with me, but that never happens.
I'll try plus net again to see if the line is working. I don't have a phone as I do  not use landline phones and only receive nuisance calls when I have one.
Thanks for your suggestions, but I really hope Plusnet will sort it out.

[#4]

A phone is a very useful diagnostic tool, for finding out if you have dial tone, if the line is noisy and for ring PlusNet support for free.
If you do not want to received calls, you can unplug it, but then it looses its other useful diagnostic function - indicating that there is an inbound call when your broadband drops.    It is a rare fault condition, but knowing that ring currents on the line is messing with the internet can help identify and fix the issue quickly.
Sometimes PlusNet will when testing the line want to ring it ... so at least having a phone handset available is very useful.

[#5]

Quote from: Townman

If you do not want to received calls, you can unplug it, ...

or even turn the "ringer" off
Even without hearing the ring, using 1471 can correlate times if drops occur (and you don't have to hunt for and plug in the phone if the ringer is off!!!)
Phil