Poor Quality Service - BT & Plus Net

[#1]

Hi jkg2014,

Quote from: jkg2014

I have spent hours on the telehone trying to close my three accounts I was told I started a new contract which I did not.  I have sent a letter to the complaints Dept over 2 weeks ago NO aknowledgement even of my letter and no response from Customer services to my  termination requests.  I have now sent a letter to  the CEO  and will have to wait and see how long it takes to get a response from this BT man.

I'm sorry if you've not had a response from our Complaints team. They normally respond to complaints made by letter within 10 working days of updating the complaint on your account. Did you send this by recorded delivery?
I've had a look at your account and a complaint has not been raised on your account. If you'd prefer to raise this online to our Complaints team you can do so here: http://www.plus.net/support/service/policies/complaints_code_of_practice.shtml

[#2]

Quote from: billnotben

Eventually another BT man came out and told me he was going to check my line thoroughly at every joint. He was in my street a couple of hours at least. Climbing his ladder, looking down holes. That was many years ago. The crackles never returned.

That rather well makes the point.  The only way to fix faults such as this is to find a BTOR engineer who'll do the job properly, which means check EVERY joint and repair as necessary.  All that PN can do is keep asking for a visit until the fault is located.

[#3]

Quote from: Townman

The only way to fix faults such as this is to find a BTOR engineer who'll do the job properly, which means check EVERY joint and repair as necessary.

But that could well be the same engineer who did not turn-up for somebody else's appointment because he/she spent too long at the first one.  Complaints about Openreach engineers failing to turn-up are a regular feature of this forum.  And he/she may well get into trouble with the supervisor as a result.  If you are an Openreach engineer I strongly suspect that taking the time to do a thorough job could be 'career limiting'.   

[#4]

This is no different to any fix / repair service.  There will be big jobs and short jobs and the resourcing model should account for that when determining how many appointments a given team can reasonably address in a day.  You seem to suggest that not fixing a problem to ensure that an engineer gets to another customer (and potentially not fix that user's issue as well) is institutionally acceptable.
A fix done properly on the first visit is in the long run more proficient and resource / cost effective than moving on at the end of the allotted time.  It is possible that this is recognised by BTOR who have made a big public play in saying that they are recruiting 1600 new engineers.  May be they have recognised that they are not fit for purpose?

[#5]

The resourcing mode seems to allocate 2 hours to fix any fault.
Indeed if the operative starts to exceed this regularly then as RR says it becomes career limiting for them.
Indeed I've had a fault where I was bluntly told this - the time had run out so it would have to be re-scheduled and he was on to his next job.... see you and goodbye.
I only hope the next person was suitably impressed at his prompt appearance.  For all I know it might have been a business line with a defined SLA for which the subscriber has paid a lot so the BTOR HAD to go to it.
BTOR are seemingly trying to run a car assembly like JIT type system when the inputs (repair difficulty) are not in their control.
nor do they have any slack in terms of staff doing not much ready to jump into the breach when stuff starts to domino.
....because having this sort of thing on call costs money - we the consumer don't want to pay do we!
The BTOR mode of operation is to fix the fault and then do the listed line checks on their system and if the line passes that's it - next job.
The fact that there are other semi- or about to be faults is irrelevant.
If the line passes the tests - that is the end of the job.

[#6]

Quote from: Townman

A fix done properly on the first visit is in the long run more proficient and resource / cost effective than moving on at the end of the allotted time.

I've heard some bizarre stories where the penalties for over-running on street works and having a road dug up/traffic delays for longer than expected are so severe that indeed it is cheaper to abandon the job part way though, ensure the road is open on time and re-book for x weeks/months time and dig it all up again.

[#7]

Just a little update on the issue that I have raised. So far the BT Engineer turned up at my home today and that the phone socket was replaced. The engineer had told me that the current phone socket that was connected on the first callout since the initial problem returned phone line errors when the socket was moved and that the new socket would be more secure. In addition, I have found out that the line connecting between the house and the telegraph pole runs through a tree that some of the tree branches beat against it when the wind picks up.
This is a massive concern for me as the branches does cause the line to sway to and fro, there are birds nesting and I fear that any high speed winds could cause severe damage to the phone line. If possible, I would like to know how I could fix the issue as the tree rests between my property and a neighbour along the back of me, so I can't say for sure if the tree actually belongs to me.
As for the connection, I have experienced a more reliable connection and that I had raised a complaint as I feel that the issue was clearly not my fault and that when I contacted a member of PN on the 9th, I was told that the engineer would not be available on a Saturday meaning that I had to take time off work for a line check that returned no results and was ultimately a waste of my time. For the record, I was able to book Saturday appointments twice (including today) from 2 different members of the Support team and I feel the person dealing with the issue last week was of very little help.  
If possible I would love the overgrown tree near the telegraph pole to be forwarded to BTOR or at least give me the tools to cut the thing back as I feel that if unchecked this could be a threat to not only my phone line, but for all of those connected to the main line running through the back door of my house. I don't mean to look like a right pain in the butt but this issue has went on for ages and I would love some closure as I know that PN has delivered a quality service when I subscribed a few years ago. 

[#8]

If you and your neighbour can't agree on who owns the tree, if you are on good terms with them, how about getting together and splitting the cost of hiring (a man with) a chainsaw to cut back the branches affecting the phone line. It's possible your neighbours' line is within the same cable run, and they may also be affected.

[#9]

Of course if you are really unlucky the tree will be the subject of a tree preservation order

[#10]

Oh, we have dozens of these around here, but the Council are generally pretty easy going when it comes to cutting back trees that are either causing an obstruction or interfering with phone lines.
@ russky89 - You will need to check if planning permission is required.