Moving house shouldn't be this hard

[#1]

I phoned Plusnet on the 28th to arrange for my broadband to be moved to a new property on the 7th, my old house could never get fibre but my new house can. I was looking forward to this and ordered the fibre extra package and informed the person on the phone I didn't want my service to end at my old property until the day I moved (the 7th). Twenty minutes after getting off the phone, no broadband and no phone... I wait another thirty minutes on hold and I get through again, this time they confirm what I already assumed had happened, Plusnet had ceased my broadband and phone line. The lady apologised and sounded confused as to why it happened but assured me i could get my broadband and phone up and running by the 30th again.

Today I get an email saying a visit was booked to connect my broadband (to what I assumed was the new place) on the 6th, a day before I am moving into the place. After another fifteen minutes on hold I am being told that no, this isn't for the new place, but my old house. How can it take twenty minutes to cut your service and a week to get it running again? Seeing little point in having broadband for two days (at the most) before moving I have had to cancel this order and go without a connection until hopefully I get in the new place.

I have so much to arrange online regarding moving house, not to mention I am in charge of the servers for a school i need to remote access at the drop of a hat.

Never had anything bad to say about Plusnet, but this has just added stress onto an already stressful time. Absolutely terrible.

[#2]

Sad to hear of your troubles.

Sadly your consequential experience is a characterisation of BT Openreach's business operations. They are all too capable of processing service cease orders very promptly but have a 5 day lead time on providing service.

Unfortunately they don't have a quick "oh dear we made a mistake quick undo" process.

[#3]

Hi there,

I am sorry for the poor experience you've having.

I've reviewed your account, and I can see your line was ceased at your current address due to adviser error, I've passed feedback on in regards to that to help sure this doesn't happen in future.

Whilst the lead times for cease orders is 1 working day, and broadband orders are generally 4 working days, it looks like your broadband service was due to be reactivated within 1 working day (today). Likely because the the service is still active on the back end Openreach systems. That order is pending cancellation though following your conversation last night with us.

As for your line installation at your new address, the earliest day showing other than the 6th July is unfortunately the 18th July. I have however sent an email to Openreach to see if there's any possibility of getting the 7th July for you.

We should hear back within 24 hours.

Just a heads up that whilst this date is for your phone line to go live, fibre broadband can take a further 5 working days (sometimes longer due to engineer availability). We could possibly place & attempt to fast track normal broadband to try to get you back online sooner.

Let us know if you have any questions or concerns.

Anoush

[#4]

@Gandalf,

Is there a case specific reason here why a SIM provide could not have been used, so that phone and FTTC could have been provided together on the same day?

I recently managed a property move and new line and FTTC were done on the same day ... though that was a business account.

[#5]

Thanks for replying and looking into the case for me.

Can't believe I could have had it back up and running today, the gentleman on the phone last night told me it wouldn't be back on until the 5th or 6th next week and I thought one or two days at the most before I moved would have been pointless and his advise was to cancel it and get the order for the new house rolling. So much misinformation from the call centre! Having the broadband up and running would have been a huge help for us at the minute 

If you enabled regular broadband at the new property, before the fibre was installed, would it have any effect on the order and cost? 

[#6]

Sorry if the agent advised you incorrect information last night, I'll review the call and provide feedback. However, the agent that placed the order yesterday morning correctly stated in the ticket that the order will complete 30th at the very latest.

Moving forward, providing you with standard broadband won't have any effect on your house move contract. We'll provide a refund of any subscription charges you've paid for a service you can't use, once your house move completes.

[#7]

That's great to hear. Thanks, think I'll get regular broadband then until the fibre can be sorted. Just got off the phone with my wife and she told me the broadband is back on! Hopefully it stays that way until the 7th.

Thanks again

[#8]

Glad to hear it, and see.

However, the order is pending cancellation which unfortunately cannot be reversed. I'll check up on this for you tomorrow, if it completes and your connection goes off, I'll be happy to get a new order in place and see if I can get it fast tracked.

As for your new address, I'll arrange that once your line's installed. I'll update your ticket once we hear back in regards to the installation date.

[#9]

So I've just contacted our suppliers and they're going to raise a bridge case [BZ777707] which is essentially a manual request with a back end team to try and stop the cancellation of the order. I can't guarantee this will work, but fingers crossed.

@Townman wrote:

@Gandalf,

Is there a case specific reason here why a SIM provide could not have been used, so that phone and FTTC could have been provided together on the same day?

@Townman

I can't see any reasons why a SIM provide wasn't used.

If we're unable to change the line installation to the 7th and the 6th is not suitable then rather than having to wait until the 18th (or potentially later) for just the phone service, I may as well place a SIM provide instead so that the fibre is activated then too.

[#10]

Thanks Gandalf. If that can be stopped it would be amazing.

Had some terrible news today, the place we were moving to isn't available now, so we are effectively homeless next Friday if we can't find somewhere else to live, so moving the broadband to that address is not needed now. Not sure if I have to phone up or anything? Having broadband here until the 7th would be a huge help though, as we are now frantically looking for somewhere to live.

[#11]

I'm really sorry to hear that 

If you update the house move ticket with that information, I'll pick this up tomorrow once I'm back in the office.

[#12]

I updated the ticket as requested. This has been one terrible week for my family and I. I shouldn't tempt fate, but doubt it can get any worse.

Thanks for your help, I'm crossing my fingers and toes hoping the internet stays connected today!

[#13]

No problems.

I've now cancelled the line installation.

The good news is that the cancellation of the broadband order at your current address appears to have been stopped. The order is still in progress for the 5th July, but I'd expect you to not notice the order completion as you're able to get online.

Please keep us informed in regards to the house move.

Anoush

[#14]

Thanks again.

One question, what is going to happen to my account if I don't have an address to move it to? It's looking like we are going to be in a B&B for an undisclosed amount of time.

[#15]

If that's the case, we'd need to look to close your account and once you're back on your feet again we can sign you up as a new customer.