Comaplaining to Openreach about wasted day off

At the time of placing the order i was told that while noone needed to be at the house for stage one of the FTTP install Zen recommended that someone was so the siting of equipment could be discussed.

I was told that the order could take 4-6 weeks which was fine with me.

Zen sent out the router and within 24 hours I had a text from BT_SMS indicating an engineer visit had been booked for this morning so I duly booked the day off to meet with the engineer.

Later that day I got a mail from Zen indicating OR were undertaking a 'desktop survey' and would be in touch if they needed a visit, I guessed OR had decided all was well and had contacted me to let me know the work was going to be undertaken today

I got up at 6 as I would do on a working day and waited.

When it got to 12.45 I rang Zen to find out what was occurring (or not as the case maybe) and explained the communication I'd had from them.

OR hadn't updated any notes to even let Zen know they'd even sent me a text.

Zen got in touch with OR who told them that a visit was not required and that the stage one work had been handed off to the contractor to do by 29 December.

Had I known this I would have cancelled my leave.

I am rather angry that they (OR admin) didn't actually have the decency to even text to say there was not going to be a visit.

Anyone know how you go about lodging an official complaint about Openreach's admin processes?

Ofcom are implementing compensation for missed appointments but it won't be in place for a while yet. I am not sure though whether this would be considered a missed appointment and it was Zen that appear to have advised you to be in rather than Openreach. It also appears that Openreach effectively said they wouldn't be visiting as they were conducting a "desktop survey" which generally means they won't be visiting the site.

Your contract is with Zen and it is Zen you should complain to. They are not managing their 3rd party suppliers properly.

Thing is why did OR text me directly on this?

Your complaint is with ZEN directly not Openreach. Any communication should have come from the service provider directly not from Openreach.

"BT SMS" is this a text to your landline by any chance? A text to your landline typically is delivered via BT SMS, but that's not the sender, just the service used to read the text.

I do not think BT openreach ever contacted you, it should have been Zen all along.

To reiterate it was Zens responsibility to keep you updated regarding openreach visits, and cancellations. Same applies to Sky, BT, TalkTalk etc. Your complaint is therefore directly with Zen as the service provider failed to inform you Openreach were not visiting on the day, typically with other providers (I've used Sky, BT, and TalkTalk), at least with BT and TalkTalk you get a portal which lets you know the engineers visiting dates and whether you need to be home or not. It also updates with moved dates and emails to inform you, I had my install date moved by openreach a few times at one property. BT chucked £50 discount when I complained, but at least I wasn't waiting around like you were, I'd be fuming at the provider!!

Don't let them pass the book, it was their job to keep you in the know-how.

Edited by ukhardy07 (Mon 18-Dec-17 19:31:05)

What did the text say exactly? It's likely to be a system generated message.

The fault here really lies with Zen - they will have received updates from Openreach about what they were doing (i.e. an external survey) and they also receive the telephone number of the engineer the day beforehand so they can contact him if necessary.

The whole point in 'View My Engineer' is that an ISP can see who the engineer is, where he is and contact him, if necessary.

In reply to a post by ukhardy07:

Your complaint is with ZEN directly not Openreach. Any communication should have come from the service provider directly not from Openreach.

"BT SMS" is this a text to your landline by any chance? A text to your landline typically is delivered via BT SMS, but that's not the sender, just the service used to read the text.

I do not think BT openreach ever contacted you, it should have been Zen all along.

To reiterate it was Zens responsibility to keep you updated regarding openreach visits, and cancellations. Same applies to Sky, BT, TalkTalk etc. Your complaint is therefore directly with Zen as the service provider failed to inform you Openreach were not visiting on the day, typically with other providers (I've used Sky, BT, and TalkTalk), at least with BT and TalkTalk you get a portal which lets you know the engineers visiting dates and whether you need to be home or not. It also updates with moved dates and emails to inform you, I had my install date moved by openreach a few times at one property. BT chucked £50 discount when I complained, but at least I wasn't waiting around like you were, I'd be fuming at the provider!!

Don't let them pass the book, it was their job to keep you in the know-how.

I’m 90% sure the Openreach system sends texts out to the contact number on the job when the engineer picks up the job?

Depends what type of task I believe, and it would appear not all CP’s ‘buy into’ this scheme.

As others have said I'd start with Zen - they may offer you 'something' for your trouble. But with BT/OR the short answer (at the moment) is they won't care and you will be lucky to even get an acknowledgement from them

The worst domestic job I dealt with had 4 aborted calls with no-shows, I'm used to at least 1 per job at the moment especially depending where it is. Outside of a business setting I've never got a thing out of anyone for failed calls.

It's just like waiting for the gas/water/electric utility people - they will be there at some time if your lucky and its your problem not ours... : (

Never had this on BT, TalkTalk or Sky. Perhaps some of the smaller ISPs buy into this then?

I had text messages from 'Openreach' when I was with Zen regarding a line fault (when the engineer took the job), but I haven't had them with AAISP via TalkTalk Business when I had a few SFI engineers to fix a broadband related fault. I don't know if that would be different however if I was with AAISP via BT Wholesale. I think it varies per ISP, some do this and some don't.