Plusnet - still no service ten weeks after order placed.

I thought I'd have a go at Plusnet in public. Just discussing the matter
with first line support is sociable but unsatisfying. I'm a worm who
rarely turns, but Plusnet is just too complaisant for me to stomach any
longer in silence.

I placed an order for Plusnet ADSL on 1st September, ten weeks ago. I
still have no connection. Plusnet blame BT, who blame Plusnet. I can
only speak to first line support at Plusnet, who do nothing productive
at all to either escalate or to fix the problem. The previous occupant
of my flat had ADSL up to the day I moved in, and I've tried a
replacement modem and cabling.

My advice to anyone considering ADSL - use a different ISP, if cable
broadband is not possible. Plusnet have a support phone queue to first
line which is regularly announced as 30 minutes, and they seem quite
content with that. First line support are impotent in terms either of
escalating issues or of speaking productively with technicians. This is
a firm which, like BT before it, should die to encourage the others.

So, if anyone would like to read the ticket, who knows, there might even
be good advice to be had here, and in the unlikely event that a Plusnet
technician reads the newsgroup he might like to defend his management.

Ticket: 17560961 Assigned
Raised: 2005-09-15 22:26:28 by: Customer Support
2005-09-15
22:26:28
Mark Poole
Customer Support Centre Open : [Internal Support Wizard Journey]
[Customer has been advised of possible BT admin fee]
[Self Install]
[Circuit in synch - YES]
[Can logon to own username - NO]
[Login to bt_test_user@realm - NO]
[Login to bt_test@startup_domain - YES]
[Possible SSB data issue - report to BT]
[Additional Information]
691 on usernames with plusdsl realm checked and EU is provisioned on
plusdsl.
2005-09-16
12:02:06
Jonathon Smith
Customer Support Centre Actioned : [Internal]

No BT Fault Found.
Called customer to discuss but got VM. Left message to call back. Ensure
harddwrae has been reset. Also ensure that VCI is 38 etc

Regards,
Jonathon Smith
2005-09-16
16:56:02
Leon Burton
Customer Support Centre Assigned : [internal]
Customer has confirmed modem has been reset and vci is 38. please raise
further.

Regards,
Leon Burton
2005-09-16
16:57:50
Leon Burton
Customer Support Centre Assigned : [internal]
Customer has confirmed modem has been reset and vci is 38. please raise
further.

Regards,
Leon Burton
2005-09-18
19:21:36
Mick Booth
Customer Support Centre Assigned : [internal]

Line test showing no synch, and no attempts to connect.
Need to contact customer and confirm fault, and if equipment connected &
powered.

Regards,
Mick Booth
2005-09-19
14:25:38
Stephen Dean
Customer Support Centre Assigned : [internal] still no sync - to
confirm power status

Regards,
Stephen Dean
2005-09-19
14:27:22
Stephen Dean
Customer Support Centre Actioned : Dear Mr deleted,
A message has been left for you. Can you please confirm that your
equipment is powered on for testing. Thanks.

Regards,
Stephen Dean
2005-09-19
18:31:41
Leon Burton
Customer Support Centre Assigned : Customer will now leave equipment
powered up.

Regards,
Leon Burton
2005-09-20
04:22:11
Richard Mason
Customer Support Centre Assigned : [internal]

as above.

Regards,
Richard Mason
2005-09-20
09:56:40
Anthony Thompson
Customer Support Centre Assigned : INTERNAL:
Copper Line Test
Test Outcome Pass
Line Test OK T005
2005-09-20
10:19:22
Anthony Thompson
Customer Support Centre Assigned : Dear Mr deleted,
Your issue has been raised with BT. They generally take around 48-72
hours to initially investigate any issue. Please ensure your equipment
is left powered on for testing.

Regards,
Anthony Thompson

INTERNAL: 1-7DF4Z1 / 01807994
2005-09-26
15:52:28
Mike Trevor
Customer Support Centre Assigned : 1-7DF4Z1, closed "15 - EU
Equipment/settings/drivers believed incorrect" cust has has connected
and viewed digital demo page, so unlikely equip fault, can we please re
raise, customer would also like to add that he would like this resolving
as soon as possible as service is now 20+ days overdue
Regards,
Mike Trevor
2005-09-29
17:32:36
Richard Allen
BOT - DSL Logged Faults Assigned : Back with BT on 1-7IME9D / 01842250.
2005-10-02
16:15:37
Mark Poole
Customer Support Centre Assigned : rejected clear.

Regards,
Mark Poole
2005-10-05
17:52:48
Jason Nichols
Customer Support Centre Assigned : customer still having connection issues.
customer received a call from bt engineer, who stated there was a lot of
resistance on line, but then was disconnected, and customer has not
heard from BT since.
Customer feels that if BT contacted him, this could be resolved very
quickly.

Regards,
Jason Nichols
2005-10-07
05:26:23
Mike Smith
Customer Support Centre Assigned : Rejected clear as customer has
retested and is still experiencing same issue. Please monitor.
Regards,
Mike Smith
2005-10-10
10:28:13
Jonathon Smith
Customer Support Centre Assigned : [Internal]

Customer is still experiencing the same issue so rejected BT clear.

Regards,
Jonathon Smith
2005-10-12
13:44:00
Mike Trevor
Customer Support Centre Assigned : Customer called for an update on
outstanding fault.

eco states "15 - Problem has been identified with the SP,the username
/password hasn't been set up correctly"

Also can we please update customer on CLI, if AM leave message

Regards,
Mike Trevor

2005-10-12
17:05:45
Richard Allen
BOT - DSL Logged Faults Assigned : Have passed fault back to BT. TAM
can log in fine using the customer's own details. Possible
cross-jumpering issue?
2005-10-13
23:25:35
Dean Plant
Customer Support Centre Assigned : If we need to contact customer ,
customer will be available between 7pm - 10pm everyday.

Thanks.

Regards,
Dean Plant

2005-10-14
00:01:18
You
Assigned : I just phoned into support to try to get this progressed,
and I was stonewalled yet again. Nobody is prepared to take on the task
of clearing up this install and getting a service provided.

This ticket has been open for two months.

I cannot keep a computer running 24 hours a day in a guest bedroom. It
is unreasonable of you to expect it. If you were going to fix this
inside a week then fine but you haven't. What I need is an engineer
round here one evening, and an engineer at the BT end and one at
PlusNet, all talking to each other. What I'm actually getting is a
stupid game of ping-pong with perhaps four minutes of lazy non-attention
each week as the problem gets bounced between uninterested jobsworths.

If anyone at all beyond first-line support would like to talk about this
then for goodness' sake get your finger out and do it. Any solution at
all is better than the farce that this ticket has become. I have had no
service at all on a contract that was taken out on the first of September.

Lester <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
news:UaD3f.19328$(E-Mail Removed). uk:

> I thought I'd have a go at Plusnet in public. Just discussing
> the matter with first line support is sociable but unsatisfying.
> I'm a worm who rarely turns, but Plusnet is just too complaisant
> for me to stomach any longer in silence.

The word "complaisant" means just about the opposite of what I
suspect you intended i.e. "complacent".

> I placed an order for Plusnet ADSL on 1st September, ten weeks
> ago. I still have no connection.

1st September is only six weeks ago by my calendar. As the normal
lead time is about 2 weeks, you have thus far suffered 4 weeks of
lack of connection.

There is no need to exaggerate, you have a strong enough case to
reject PlusNet's service due to breach of contract anyway. Set a
deadline for PlusNet to fix the problem then pull the plug and sign
up elsewhere if it defaults.

> Plusnet blame BT, who blame Plusnet.
Keep the pressure on PlusNet, it is its responsibility to sort out
BT issues.

> I can only speak to first line support at Plusnet
You should also be able to speak to its customer services
department to raise it as a commercial issue - request cancellation
of the contract if not connected reliably within a week, including
a full refund of any payments made to date.

Most ISPs will respond rapidly to the threat of losing you as a
customer. If not, you should proceed and move to another ISP
anyway.

<snip>

> So, if anyone would like to read the ticket, who knows, there
> might even be good advice to be had here, and in the unlikely
> event that a Plusnet technician reads the newsgroup he might
> like to defend his management.
>
> Ticket: 17560961 Assigned
> Raised: 2005-09-15 22:26:28 by: Customer Support
> 2005-09-15
> 22:26:28
> Mark Poole
> Customer Support Centre Open : [Internal Support Wizard
> Journey] [Customer has been advised of possible BT admin fee]
> [Self Install]
> [Circuit in synch - YES]
That line indicates to me that you have an ADSL link.

> [Can logon to own username - NO]
> [Login to bt_test_user@realm - NO]
> [Login to bt_test@startup_domain - YES]
That line confirms you are able to communicate with a BT server
over the ADSL link. So the problem appears to be at the remote end
of the link.

> [Possible SSB data issue - report to BT]
> [Additional Information]
> 691 on usernames with plusdsl realm checked and EU is
> provisioned on plusdsl.
> 2005-09-16
> 12:02:06
> Jonathon Smith
> Customer Support Centre Actioned : [Internal]
>
<snip>

McSpreader wrote in
Xns96EF1B90EB590McP@80.5.182.99:

> Lester <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
> news:UaD3f.19328$(E-Mail Removed). uk:
>
>> I thought I'd have a go at Plusnet in public. Just discussing
>> the matter with first line support is sociable but unsatisfying.

I've got exactly the same problem with a customer whose ISP is Wanadoo. The
BT line tests come back OK but the router is failing to sync and is
detecting no ADSL carrier. The only difference is that Wanadoo don't even
have a ticket system which allows the fault to be raised and monitored
online. Last Friday I raised the problem again after a three month (!) gap
during which I'd heard nothing from the customer so thought everything had
been resolved. The woman that I spoke to said that she'd arranged for a BT
engineer to call the following Monday, but he never turned up - and when I
phoned to find out why not, there was no record on W's database that I'd
even phoned or that BT had been ordered.

So PlusNet are not the only contender in the competition to find the worst
customer service. My experience, until the last few weeks when their phone
line has had a permanently 20 minute queue, is that their technical support
is very good - and you are speaking to an English person who understands
English; with Wanadoo I get the distinct impression that what I'm saying,
very clearly and very unambiguously, just isn't getting through to them.

McSpreader wrote:

> The word "complaisant" means just about the opposite of what I
> suspect you intended i.e. "complacent".

Good lord, so it is. I'm not sure what happened there. Wild horses
wouldn't persuade me to try using "complaisant" on a normal day.

> 1st September is only six weeks ago by my calendar. As the normal
> lead time is about 2 weeks, you have thus far suffered 4 weeks of
> lack of connection.

And that's quite true as well - it's part of getting frustrated,
especially by the 30 minute wait for the queue and then the anodyne
first-line defence of what's been done so far. I introduced a
non-existent month between September and October after that. Mea culpa.

> That line confirms you are able to communicate with a BT server
> over the ADSL link. So the problem appears to be at the remote end
> of the link.

I had assumed so. Whatever process is used to authenticate the
account/password is failing to touch the Plusnet server logs, which
suggests to me that the box in the BT rack isn't configured right.

For some reason, nobody is responsible for checking it on request.

"Lester" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:9HF3f.21917$(E-Mail Removed). uk...
> McSpreader wrote:
>
>> The word "complaisant" means just about the opposite of what I suspect
>> you intended i.e. "complacent".
>
> Good lord, so it is. I'm not sure what happened there. Wild horses
> wouldn't persuade me to try using "complaisant" on a normal day.
>
>> 1st September is only six weeks ago by my calendar. As the normal lead
>> time is about 2 weeks, you have thus far suffered 4 weeks of lack of
>> connection.
>
> And that's quite true as well - it's part of getting frustrated,
> especially by the 30 minute wait for the queue and then the anodyne
> first-line defence of what's been done so far. I introduced a non-existent
> month between September and October after that. Mea culpa.
>
>> That line confirms you are able to communicate with a BT server over the
>> ADSL link. So the problem appears to be at the remote end of the link.
>
> I had assumed so. Whatever process is used to authenticate the
> account/password is failing to touch the Plusnet server logs, which
> suggests to me that the box in the BT rack isn't configured right.
>
> For some reason, nobody is responsible for checking it on request.

It may be that the previous user has not cancelled. The ADSL is still with
the previous ISP a sort of catch 22

"Lester" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:UaD3f.19328$(E-Mail Removed). uk...
>I thought I'd have a go at Plusnet in public. Just discussing the matter
>with first line support is sociable but unsatisfying. I'm a worm who rarely
>turns, but Plusnet is just too complaisant for me to stomach any longer in
>silence.
>
> I placed an order for Plusnet ADSL on 1st September, ten weeks ago. I
> still have no connection. Plusnet blame BT, who blame Plusnet. I can only
> speak to first line support at Plusnet, who do nothing productive at all
> to either escalate or to fix the problem. The previous occupant of my flat
> had ADSL up to the day I moved in, and I've tried a replacement modem and
> cabling.
>

Hi,

Whilst I can understand your frustration with this current situation, the
fault is being delt with by the appropriate people within the company. Its
just that the people who liase with BT on faults that we raise to them are
an internal department that generally don't talk to the customer. Agents on
the phone have access to the same systems, but they don't have the power to
push the fault within BT Wholesale.

That said, I've had a look at the ticket for you, and try to give it a push
in the right direction.

If you do have any complaints about any aspect of the service, we would
always suggest that you raise these in writing, via the contact us system.
In this case, I would suggest raising a new ticket to deal with your issues,
and keep the fault ticket uncluttered for notes relating to the fault
itself.

--
| Jonathan Whiting Broadband Solutions for
| Comms Agent Home & Business @
| PlusNet plc. www.plus.net
+----- PlusNet - The smarter way to broadband ------

PlusNet Support Team wrote:

> That said, I've had a look at the ticket for you, and try to give it a push
> in the right direction.

Thank you Jonathan. The posting here was a scream of petulant annoyance,
that's all. The one thing that has had absolutely no effect on resolving
the problem has been ringing the support helpline - you can see, from
the ticket, the extent of the supine departmental buckpassing that's
gone on.

I note also that the ticket has been updated a few minutes ago to say
that the problem might now be fixed, would I like to try logging on and
testing it. I doubt if it's a coincidence that catching your eye has
resulted in some startled scurrying. I'll update the thread when I get
to try the connection later today.

In article <qbN3f.114853$(E-Mail Removed) >, cb695
@yahoo.co.uk says...
> PlusNet Support Team wrote:
>
> > That said, I've had a look at the ticket for you, and try to give it a push
> > in the right direction.
>
> Thank you Jonathan. The posting here was a scream of petulant annoyance,
> that's all.

I think that's understandable. It would seem not to be much of Plusnet's
fault I have to say - it would be BT wholesale, who deal with the line
fault, completely misunderstanding how faults can happen on their own
setup.

Basically, and anyone who's done faults for more than a month or two can
what's most likely happened here, the line was cross jumpered at the
exchange, so while you had synch, it was on the wrong port, a port that
wasn't set up with your details so you weren't able to connect. Frankly
this should have been picked up by BT within 2 or 3 days of PN raising
it to them with the appropriate details, which they appear to have done
fairly quickly.

This is the problem with BT assurance recently though, to deal with the
increased number of faults they've had in the system I think they've
recruited a considerable number of new people - many of which I suspect
aren't up to speed with how to identify common problems and rely on the
automated test tools to pin the blame on the SP or the EU. It's like
when you go to a mechanic for a problem with your car and he says "Well
the computer's tests show there's nothing wrong with it...".

Hope it's fixed now - make sure you claim the downtime back as an
adjustment in monthly billing.

Alex

So you would have him cancel with PlusNet, who would probably cancel their
support call with BT (they certainly wouldnt bother chasing it up with BT
anymore)?

So when he joins the next ISP and he still has the same problem, what does
he do then? Leave them too?

Ad infinitum....

Complain to PlusNet by all means. Certainly complain to BT (if you can). But
you certainly shouldn't quit - bite off your nose to spit your face???

"CJM" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
news:(E-Mail Removed):

> So you would have him cancel with PlusNet, who would probably
> cancel their support call with BT (they certainly wouldnt bother
> chasing it up with BT anymore)?
After 10 weeks it seems reasonable to force the issue. I would have
been much less patient :-)

> So when he joins the next ISP and he still has the same problem,
> what does he do then? Leave them too?
If necessary - until he finds someone prepared to provide the
service offered.

> Ad infinitum....
Ten weeks is getting towards infinity IMO.

> Complain to PlusNet by all means.
Kinda got the impression that hadn't worked, after 10 weeks.

> Certainly complain to BT (if you can).
Complaining to BT isn't a real option: the user's contract is not
with BT.

> But you certainly shouldn't quit
Who suggested quitting?

> - bite off your nose to spit your face???
Nope, taking positive action.

Your alternative doesn't sound very promising. Perhaps you'd
explain how complaining to PlusNet, after 10 weeks of complaining
to PlusNet, will be more effective?