Non Existent Customer Service

[#1]

I am writing on behalf of my sister who is disabled. She transferred to Plusnet on 22nd February on my recommendation after seeing good reports of Plusnet service (i.e. Which magazine). As a result of this a vulnerable, disabled person has been left without a telephone line as a direct result of complete lack of customer care. She was with Virgin when we placed the Plusnet order which was a cable service so we discussed when placing the order with Plusnet that a new telephone line would need to be installed at a cost of £50. Payment for this was taken straight away. Since then absolutely nothing has happened in nearly 6 weeks! I have made countless phonecalls speaking to operatives overseas (S Africa I believe) who seem to only be able to state the obvious or explain something to me what I already know. They have also promised to call me back on several occasions but have not done so. What they cannot tell us is when we will get a telephone line although we have been given spurious dates during this process which have come to nothing. I also raised a question on the 5th March through the help assistant but have had no satisfactory response and no action has taken place.
When we initiated the order we gave Virgin a month's notice to terminate her cable service having been given the impression when ordering Plusnet that this would be plenty of time for the new service to be activated. During my last phonecall yesterday (30th March) I was told that the installation of the new line was rejected because the Virgin service has now been terminated as Plusnet have been trying to keep the same phone number. We do not care about the telephone number being the same (we just thought this would happen as a matter of course) - she just desperately needs a telephone line! The telephone operatives can never put me through to anyone in authority in order to escalate the problem and just say they will 'get in touch with the supplier' which again takes a long time and nothing seems to happen as a result. We are desperate and just want some action and a pnone line to be installed asap.
Ken Porter (brother of Susan Kyle).

[#2]

Mr Porter,
We are very sorry to hear about these issues. Upon investigating this further it is clear that Virgin have disconnected their service now, I agree that 30 days should have been enough time to install a service, however I would never advise terminating a service with an old provider until confirmation has been given about any line provisioning work carried out by the new one. On our side of things it does look like we have been trying to retain the same number for you and our requests for that have been rejected by our suppliers due to the service being cut off which would explain some of the delays that have been encountered. If you have made us aware previously that retaining the same number is not imperative then I must also apologise on that point.
With the understanding that you don't require the same number I will ensure a new order is placed straight away to provision a service, I cannot comment on lead times for this right now but we will be doing all we can to get the order expedited and pushed through urgently. I will ensure any further updates are given by phone from here.

[#3]

Adam..... Nice reply..... but why has this customer not had any communication form PlusNet for over six weeks, and the first time anything gets done is via this forum.....
Sorry, but your  " however I would never advise terminating a service with an old provider until confirmation has been given about any line provisioning work carried out by the new one." really is of no consequence.....
a customer orders something.... is given a delivery date, so removes the old, so the new can be installed.... 
Why on earth should they even consider asking the new supplier if it is OK to do such a thing? and why should they be seeking advice regarding this ......
retrospective advice like the above, is not helpful....
What would be helpful, is a response saying, "Sorry, we will pull out all the stops to get your sister`s phone line installed........ as a priority case"....
and I am sure it is possible, considering the fact that she is disabled, and a phone line is (I assume) an essential part of her lifestyle.....

[#4]

There's probably something within the BT systems for disabled users to be given a priority for installations - but I bet PN haven't activated it if these is.

[#5]

Hi all,
Escalation paths are available in cases such as this and have been used, I did want to relay a sense of urgency here but not set any expectations until we have spoken to our suppliers which Is why I commented that we will do all we can and keep the customer updated by phone, according to notes on our side attempts have been made at various points to call this customer but no answer was given so it does appear that at least attempts have been made to phone them when we needed to. I will be addressing this with the customer directly though and making sure we have appropriate contact details.
I need to mention too that BT does have processes in place for priority installations, however this does not apply to registered disabled persons. In such cases BT do have an escalation path which has been followed and as a result an install has been booked for tomorrow.
FAO @susankyle  I need to make you aware that your support ticket has been updated, I have just tried calling your contact number and there was no answer so I left you a voice mail with details about the install which has been booked for tomorrow.

[#6]

Let me guess - you've been trying to call her on the Virgin number which has been disconnected?

[#7]

Quote

will do all we can and keep the customer updated by phone, according to notes on our side attempts have been made at various points to call this customer but no answer was given so it does appear that at least attempts have been made to phone them when we needed to.

OOops...

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As a result of this a vulnerable, disabled person has been left without a telephone line as a direct result of complete lack of customer care.

[#8]

Hi gents
We have other contact details on file such as a mobile number. It would be a a bit difficult to leave a voice mail on a line that has been disconnected 

[#9]

And the final result is
Six weeks with CS - 0
Four hours on the forum - 1
Tells a sorry tale