Plusnet - a tale of woes

[1981mar]

Need some advice so any input appreciated.

 

Moved to Plusnet - both phone line and broadband on the understanding the transfer from my previous ISP would be simultaneous. Didn't happen that way.

 

A router was meant to be despatched but never arrived. I made a phone call to discover it hadn't been despatched - so that eventually arrived late.

 

Received an e-mail from Plusnet advising that the phone was active on the 3rd July and ADSL would follow later in the day. They were apologetic in their mail and advised a small credit (for the phone) would be applied. Not much use to me as I only use that line for ADSL.

 

The ADSL was not enabled and for the rest of the day I had to hook up my smartphone to get on-line which is a bit hit and miss where I live. So on a couple of occasions, I had to visit town to get a decent signal to download a couple of important documents.

 

Next day, 4th July still no ADSL. Got hold of someone at Plusnet who stated it was the fault of Openreach. They pushed a button or whatever and hey presto, suddenly ADSL arrives. So was it really the fault of Openreach.

 

Elected to go with Fibre and received confirmation from Plusnet on the 18th July that this would be enabled on the 3rd August (tomorrow). If there were any problems then they would contact me within 7 days. Received a subsequent e-mail on the 30th July that my fibre was now going to be on the 6th, 7th or 10th August and a router would be despatched which I never ordered. I telephoned Plusnet to complain an was told it was the fault of Openreach - they had cancelled the appointment.

 

Posted my displeasure on the Plusnet forum on the 30th July and at long last a representative of Plusnet admitted they had dropped the ball on this and no one had picked up the error. Also confirmed by them I would receive an e-mail and text on the 30th or the 31st July of the exact date. I simply cannot condone deliberate lies especially when a finger is pointed at another organisation who are totally innocent. Whatever my thoughts about Openreach may be they were the innocent party that were being accused.

 

Nothing received so I managed to speak with Plusnet via their live chat this morning to be informed that fibre will now be enabled on the 11th August. No mention about any of the previous dates - these have now been lost. Complained that I had not received any communication to this effect - more apologies as I should have received notification.

 

So where do I stand on this guys/gals. I feel like breaking the contract and walking away. Sure they will charge me for the remainder of the contract but I suppose I could always try and reclaim that in the small claims court. For a telecoms company they certainly fail when it comes to communicating.

 

All of the Plusnet e-mails - all two of them - mention that if I break the date when Openreach are due to call then I will be charged.

 

Apologies for the long post but really my whole experience in the short time I have been with Plusnet has been nothing short of a fiasco.

 

Any input appreciated.

[silverfox1961]

Hi and welcome to CAG.

 

I am with Plusnet as well but I had no problems.

 

My daughter however was different. She wanted fibre as well and that was screwed up; not by Plusnet but by BT Openreach. Nearly all telecoms companies rely on BT to get the system working and if Openreach screw up, it follows on that your service will be affected. This doesn't let Plusnet off the hook either.

 

While it is inconvenient for you at the moment, once everything is sorted it should be fine. The forum has been your best choice so far however, if you wish to take this further, why not send an email to the boss

 

[email protected]

[1981mar]

Thanks for responding silverfox. The problem I have is the original insistence by a Plusnet employee that it was totally the fault of Openreach and that the original date of the 3rd August had been aborted even though the notification of same was outside of their 7 days to do so. It was only when I was about the make a formal complaint to Openreach that a Plusnet employee admitted that it was Plusnet that had dropped the ball. So why bring Plusnet into disrepute - it leaves a sour taste in the mouth.

 

Further dates given with an assurance that within 48 hours one of these would be confirmed. No correspondence. It was only today via live chat that I found out that those dates no longer applied and another date had been assigned but absolutely no correspondence from Plusnet to advise me of this new date.

 

I am aware that I have signed up for a 12 month ADSL contract in early July but feel that after the service received to date then I am within my rights to cancel and move on. Once I accept the fibre service then that automatically triggers a new 12 month contract and by doing so it could be deemed of my acceptance of the past service given by Plusnet.

 

My inclination at this stage is simply cancel, allow Plusnet to collect the remaining 11 months of the existing contract via DD, request a refund which probably won't be forthcoming and then issue a claim via the small claims court and present all the facts in my possession.

 

Alternatively and this is all I can think of at the moment is to issue a formal letter insisting that unless the latest installation date of the 11th August is adhered to then the contract will be deemed null and void. Not sure how to word that though in legal terms.

 

Sorry to rant on but it's how I feel at the moment when I could have been just hanging around next week is simply an implication on the part of Plusnet that my time is not important and I have nothing better to do.

 

Again, thanks for your input.

[1981mar]

Okay, e-mailed the boss with my tales of woe and supporting documentation.

 

I'll report back should there be any further progress. If the 11th August date is missed then I'll terminate the contract and go with another ISP - probably the one I left in the first place. I'll pay Plusnet for the contract so I keep my credit rating intact, then request a refund which probably won't be forthcoming, then issue proceedings in the small claims court plus associated costs that I've incurred.

 

We will see.

[chris_pn]

Hi there,

 

I'm really sorry to hear of the poor start to your service. I *think* that I've located your account based on the email to our CEO and I can see that it's been assigned to a member of our HLE complaints department to investigate. I sincerely hope that we can get this sorted out asap for you.

[1981mar]

Wasn't aware that PN visited these parts and yes I did make contact with your CEO as clearly enough is enough.

 

I've already spent enough time on this and have re-jigged the diary goodness knows how many times. What it really comes down to is a lack of communication from what is in essence a communications company.

 

As I have been given the 11th as a firm date then in the hopefully unlikely event that this turns out to be a third time cancellation then I will unfortunately call it a day with PN.

 

This is not an action I will be taking lightly but I think if you read all the notes that must have accumulated with yourselves then you may be inclined to agree that I have no alternative. All very sad as I had read mixed reports about PN - I was hoping that I would get the good side when I migrated.

[silverfox1961]

Just a heads up. I have contacted the rep as they are not posting as a company rep (as yet) Hopefully they will contact us so that they will be allowed to post. This is not a detriment but we have to make sure they are who they say they are.