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Bad start with Plusnet, no engineer on installation date plus other things

Hi all.

I had talktalk at my old address but the move to the new address just didn't happen, and there is effectively no customer service line with talk talk unless you have an existing phone line...... so I gave up on them. There was so much confusion from them on my account that they didnt' even ask for a cessation charge.

So I thought I would try plusnet, some good signs for customer satisfaction, together with the fact I don't want to be on a 12 month contract. First off I gave the 14th,15th,16th November as possible installation dates when I first phoned up, this was delayed to Friday the 18th no explanation or apology, not a great sign. The 18th came, no phone call, no engineer in person.

Another thing I told my friend to sign up with them he got his router posted within a few days, as we both chose wired connections, it looks like they haven't sent my router.

As there was no engineer in person from talktalk either on the agreed date, I am wondering if it is because it is hard to find parking around here, loads of traffic wardens circle the area and nowhere to park for free. maybe I should offer to pay the parking and tube fare or something so it's easier to find a parking space somewhere reasonably near?

And now I can't sign up on the plusnet support forums, my username is not recognised although I have the username in an email to check it is correct...

I'm not really prepared to go through the bs of phoning up and a 20 minute phone call, or multiple calls. When can I ask for a full refund, if this is possible, or how do I go about starting a complaints process? If I could I would just cancel for a refund now straight away. If the engineer doesn't show or make contact on the agreed date I don't want to give another chance.

I will be switching to Sky in the future, because neither my Dad or ex-housemate ever had a problem with them.
 
Hi Jamster sorry to hear you are having a bad time with this recent move. Sometimes it is out of the ISPs control when engineers do not turn up, what has me thinking is are you going FTTC?

The only time an engineer visits your home when activating broadband is for the fibre products as it is a different type of modem. others you just plug the modem in and change login details to yours. This means you could already be on talktalks system activated without even knowing it.

I should PM Bob he works for Plusnet and is a forum rep for the company use the link to send him a PM. http://www.ispreview.co.uk/talk/private.php?do=newpm&u=14093
 
Thanks for the info, I just found that out elsewhere the engineers are not employed by ISPs, so if the engineer can't be bothered to turn up or too busy, it's no problem for him, and no incentive to be reliable if he is not working for the ISP, great deal for the customers. If FTTC means fibre optic super fast then no I'm not, and if I didn't need to be at home then why was I asked to pick a set of dates to start with?

With talktalk I did try plugging in the modem and phone, and neither worked. 2 weeks later I phoned to sales (couldn't phone customer services as mentioned), got a new date set, waited 4 weeks again, 2 weeks to the date 2 after, nothing, no contact or services.

As I don't understand the process clearly I will try to find somewhere to read to understand how it all works. Looking at the order status page it does seem to imply that the engineer would visit me personally (if not then why does it matter when the appointment is?) but maybe it doesn't mean that. Confused.
 
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Kits, Jamster needs a new phone line for his new home, which might well involve an engineer visit.

Sadly BTOpenreach is the one with ultimate responsibility for engineers and if there's nowhere to park then that could indeed be causing problems, although BT bods should have a solution for that otherwise a big part of the country would be having problems. This is perhaps also the worst time of year to move home because firms will soon start winding down their operations for the Christmas dip, when staff take long vacations (engineers cannot easily be replaced).

In situations like this it really doesn't matter which ISP you pick (note: Virgin Media have their own engineers but they can be just as bad) because BTOpenreach carry the ultimate responsibility for almost all of them. Your best bet is to keep on at your ISP because, unfortunately, BTO don't tend to handle individual complaints.

I know PlusNet have an active support guy on these forums and publicising your problem here might well help them to put a little more effort in. It's the weekend now but hopefully he'll respond in due course.
 
As there was no engineer in person from talktalk either on the agreed date, I am wondering if it is because it is hard to find parking around here, loads of traffic wardens circle the area and nowhere to park for free. maybe I should offer to pay the parking and tube fare or something so it's easier to find a parking space somewhere reasonably near?

You'll find that BT (and other utilities) will have agreements in place so that they're able to park in areas like this without getting a ticket.

As Mark had said, even going to Sky, you'd have likely had the same issues as after all, BT Openreach would have come out the same as Plusnet requested.

Matt
 
I got an email saying that the engineer couldn't attend because of a problem with address details. Looked at my address details a small mistake with them duplicated part of road name but shouldn't have been a problem. Phoned up to explain this and now don't have to pay the £50 I was asked to originally. There is the problem with my address that for example if you put in the exact post code google maps it does not show the correct area but jumps to a plce about 2 miles away.

Now I have to wait to the 8th of December which isn't good enough as it was no fault of mine that the engineer didn't show. The engineer may not even turn up then as there should not have been a problem first time round. I will try to phone bt openreach to explain this and look to make a complaint against them for not turning up. Meanwhile I'm paying £90 a month for 50kbs btfon hotspot. It will be 4 months of doing that by the 8th dec.
 
Openreach are likely to be uninterested. You are not their customer, Plusnet is.

You must complain to your CP (communications provider) who will in turn raise with Openreach.

Matt
 
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Ask them to give the engineer a mobile number if you have a mobile telling them to call if he is having a problem so you can direct him.
 
I got an email saying that the engineer couldn't attend because of a problem with address details.

Sounds like a poor excuse to me, assuming he had your postcode a small error elsewhere in the address should not had mattered. Enter that in a any modern sat nav and it would give a list of roads etc to select from (assuming the mistake was that small i would had thought it would be obvious what road it was?).

I also would think he had your phone number and from that BT and their engineers could had easily got your address. Can they not??? In fact from that assuming you haven't moved and took your number with you previously it even narrows down the area, to mere mortals doesn't it? Maybe im wrong though and all that requires initiative, something BT don't train or pay for ;)
 
@Jamster1981, sorry to hear about your problems.

Can you provide me with a recent support ticket reference from your account so that I can take a look into things for you? I doubt I can do anything to bring the installation date forward however I can probably do something about the abortive callout fee for the first failed visit.

Best regards,
 
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