New customer woes....

[#1]

Joined Plusnet a month ago and sorry to come on here and see a lot of negative feedback. I’m also regretting signing up for a contract for a year with the problems I’ve had (and are still continuing!). Here’s my feedback:
I signed up last month and paid for delivery for a router which was dispatched on 21st December 2010. By early January it still hadn’t turned up so I called and was told that they needed to wait 10 working days to send another one, and what with Christmas and New Year’s bank holidays, would be a few days more. Fine, I understand, with the weather holding up Royal Mail deliveries this was no problem. At this time I asked if it would be better to send it tracked (since from experience I know how easy it is for items to go missing with Royal Mail). I was told that if the next one wasn’t received, they could look into sending one tracked.
So after waiting, I’m told another one is dispatched. Again, just with Royal Mail’s standard service. I waited another week and still no sign of the router. At this stage, I’m checking the mail twice a day, and there’s no package and no “you were out/a package is too big for your mailbox” slip. I've even been down to the local depot to see if, by chance, they've got anything for me - no luck. More calls, more messages to Plusnet and I’m told yet another router is being dispatched. Same standard Royal Mail service, same address. Call me sceptical but after two have somehow not arrived, I don’t hold out much hope for a third under the same conditions. Another call to Plusnet… and just as an aside here, getting through to Plusnet takes about 10 minutes or more each time sitting on hold. At least it’s a UK call centre who understands English and whose replies are understandable.
But here’s the response I received on the last call. I explain the situation and that we’ve been waiting over a month to start using the service, whilst we’re paying for it too. I’m told that when they ‘dispatch’ a router, that means they send the instruction to the BT warehouse to send us a router. The warehouse will then post it onto us. It’s not their responsibility since after they’ve ‘dispatched’ it, as far as they’re concerned, it’s been sent and there’s nothing else they can do. Isn’t that ridiculous?! As if I care about their company infrastructure when I’m sitting here waiting day-in day-out for a router to use the internet I’m paying for. It took an actual argument to convince them to give me credit for the month I’ve been waiting without access to the service, which eventually was granted.
So now we’re still waiting for the internet. Another (the third) one is ‘on the way’ according to the company. I’ve asked for tracked delivery several times and the last email says that “tracked delivery is only used in special circumstances”. That’s clearly a joke, if my situation isn't 'special', it's clearly a  ‘normal circumstance’. I’ve asked for proof of delivery. This is a service offered free by Royal Mail that’s basically a slip of paper to say that something has been posted to a certain address. If something is being posted to us at the correct address, we’d receive it. I have faith enough in Royal Mail not to screw up three times. And if we don’t, I’ll then understand it’s not Plusnet’s fault.   I know, “good honest broadband” but it’s just marketing. Plusnet refuses to give proof of delivery and I refuse to believe that they’re doing what they promise.
I’ve now got pages of correspondence, made many phonecalls and still in the same situation as last month – no internet access. I’m tempted to buy a wireless router (I know this is the obvious thing to do since I’ve been waiting and have already been connected) but this is going to set me back another £50 when I only joined Plusnet because they were cheap! My advice before signing up is to read the feedback (so much negative feedback all in one place) and don’t believe the marketing.
I’d appreciate from other customers any similar stories as well as advice on getting this situation resolved. I’d also really appreciate support team help – each time my question on the Support page is answered, I get a different member of staff answer, and their response is usually “okay, I’ve dispatched another router to you”!
Thanks for the support and reading – hope this feedback is helpful to someone and sorry for the rant.
Best wishes

[#2]

Quote from: DavidF

sorry to come on here and see a lot of negative feedback.

Why, all suppliers forums are like that? 
The happy punters largely stay away. 

[#3]

Yes, I guess you're right; and I'm proof to your point! To be fair, I'd probably have signed up even if I had read the feedback - I probably already knew that, and plus, this sort of stuff doesn't happen to me 
Guess it was more of a rant and something to do whilst I'm waiting for that router to pop through my door...

[#4]

You have checked and double-checked that PN have the correct and valid address?

[#5]

Triple-checked - and checked again after you mentioned it. It's correct in my account and correct in the message they sent me to confirm it. We've never had a problem here, and in the case that an item is too big for the box (from Amazon via Royal Mail) a card has been left.
I'm going to send them an alternative address of a friend to post it to by their request. This is not only an inconvenience but obviously it'll be the same dispatch story and the same untracked service with no proof. I'm asking: "what's the point?"

[#6]

DavidF,
In all honesty I'm actually quite shocked by your story and that no one has had the common sense to look at the bigger picture here.
As always I'll be giving detailed feedback to anyone that in my view could have handled this better (unfortunately that seems to be all of the agents that picked up on your query).
To resolve this I'm going to see if I can find a router in the office that I can send to you straight from here via recorded delivery. Otherwise we'll just keep on haemorrhaging
routers and you'll never get to be able to use your service!
Apologies for the poor service, I'll go and deal with this now.
Adam.

[#7]

Hi Adam
Thanks for your concern with this issue. I'm grateful that you're willing to help and pleased to see that there is someone who sees the situation differently at your end. Have you had any luck with finding a router and sending it to us? We're still waiting so to know that there is a recorded delivery on the way would be nerve-settling. If you're unable to help, I'll continue hammering on at the support system.
Thanks

[#8]

Hi there,
I'm sorry for the delayed reply. A router was sent yesterday via recorded delivery. After looking into the details of your account that did seem like the best option as I'm sure you'll agree.
Apologies for the extreme delays in you getting your hands on a router. I hope this is resolved soon.
Adam.

[#9]

Hi Adam
That's brilliant news. Thanks very much. Would it be possible to PM me  the tracking number?
Thanks
David

[#10]

Hi David,
I'll try and trace that at our side, any sign of a router yet?

[#11]

Hi Adam
Surely you can use the tracking to see whether or not we've received the router yet? Why can't you share the tracking number with me so I can see what's going on? I was refused when I asked to see proof of postage for the other routers and still being refused by you now.
And no, still no sign of it.
Thanks,
David

[#12]

Received a card from royal mail this morning so going  to collect tomorrow. Excellent! Hopefully its the end of our problems. Many thanks for your help, Adam.
David.

[#13]

Things can only get worse with PN , rest assured

[#14]

DavidF, That's a relief to hear.
Paulg78,
Please see http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,93073.0.html an engineer visit would be the next step in sorting your issues.

[#15]

Adam, many thanks for helping to get us sorted. The router's arrived and all set up so we finally have internet access. The speed seems fine so far and everything else is good.
All the best
David