dead phone and broadband... advice please!!

Hi all,

This forum has been recommended by a pal and this is my first post. I'm hoping for advice- especially from someone in the know at PlusNet!

Our home phone and broadband went down yesterday afternoon and remains down at lunchtime today. I called PlusNet last night who told me they'd do some tests and get back to me. They didn't. I rang them again this morning and was told the tests had shown the fault was "outside the premises" (which I already knew), and the fault had been reported to BT Openreach. They helpfully gave me their number plus the fault report reference number, comprising 15 letters and numbers.

When I got through to Openreach, I was told that 1. the reference number was "of the wrong sort" and 2. no such fault had been reported. Also that I needed to talk to Plusnet about it.

This I promptly did. They expressed surprise at BT's response to the reference number and insisted that BT knew all about it. I rang BT again, to be told I was in touch with the "wrong team" (no mention of that the previous time) and that there was nothing they could do.

So where do I turn now? I find nothing more infuriating than this game of being shuffled between parties, each denying responsibility. But I must say that I've been with PlusNet for donkey's years and have found them excellent. I'm sure the problem lies elsewhere...

Meanwhile, we're cut off from phone and internet (I'm posting this from work). Teenagers trying to study for crucial exams, teacher wife trying to do reports etc before Xmas hols... nightmare. Please advise!!

Nightmare .

Have you posted this in the Plusnet Community forums as well as here? The reps come here quite often, but are there a lot. So may see it sooner. They are good at picking up this sort of thing. Include the PN Ticket Number if you have it.

Openreach will not normally speak to consumer direct. it is responsibility of Line Provider to progress fault.
As it is a BT line, it maybe possible to find information out by entering phone number on consumer Line fault test with www.bt.com
I had a problem and was able to initiate and progress fault. However I am a BT line and phone customer.

Edited by flippery (Thu 13-Dec-12 12:50:59)

Hi knowhowe,

Can you provide me with a ticket reference or your username and I'll take a look at that for you.

Thank you very much Chris!

I have a question number: 63311839

My username is knowhowe

Hope this helps,

Steve

Hi Steve,

We've raised this with our suppliers and a engineer has been assigned and is currently trying to resolve this.

We have been given a estimated fix time of tomorrow evening and we were scheduled to check for further updates Saturday morning, however I'll keep an eye on this and update you.

Thanks for the advice. I've done that.
Cheers!

Marvellous. Thanks! Just a real shame I've had to be pushed from pillar to post today over this...

Appreciated though. I'm a Plusnet fan!

I don't know if this will help. I can see the telephone pole from my back door, with all the wires leading from the top to myself and the neighbours. Halfway down is a black object with a rounded top, resembling an old-fashioned microphone. This should be set with the rounded bit at the top but it has been hanging downwards for a long time now. I wonder if water/ice has got into it? I have tried to get through to BT to report this, with no luck. The automatic system asks for my phone number when I call 'faults' and then tells me it's not a BT number and effectively tells me to go away. Why doesn't it recognise that it's a Plusnet number- which is part of BT!!!?

Might have a bearing. perhaps yopu know how to report the issue?

Cheers.

Edited by deleted (Thu 13-Dec-12 13:25:18)

In reply to a post by knowhowe:

Why doesn't it recognise that it's a Plusnet number- which is part of BT!!!?

For the purposes of fault reporting (and everything else to do with your phone) it is irrelevant that Plusnet is part of the BT Group. You are not paying your line rental to BT, therefore only Plusnet can progress faults for you.

Getting phone faults dealt with easily is one of my main reasons for keeping my line rental with BT Retail.

This shouldn't make a blind bit of difference.

It is the sole responsibility of the ISP or Phone provider (BT Retail included) to deal with Openreach. The customer should not, in any way, shape or form, be directed towards Openreach.

I should probably make it clear at this point that I do not work or have any personal connection to Openreach.

Further to the above, in my line of work, I have been chased about phone faults (or new services) by the end customer where Openreach/ISP/Phone provider has pointed the finger in our direction. In these instances I will try and help with the enquiry as best as I can but will always advise the customer to go back to which ever company they are paying for a service to be provided from.

I think you misread my post. Or else you were replying to someone else's post. Your post doesn't seem to me to be relevant to mine.

In reply to a post by Yaz:

It is the sole responsibility of the ISP or Phone provider (BT Retail included) to deal with Openreach.

It may be their responsibility, but some are better at effecting it than others and have better and more efficient procedures in place for the customer to report and monitor voice faults. BT Retail are excellent at it.

I was replying to your post.

To clarify, sticking with BT retail for your line rental shouldn't make any difference to getting a line fault fixed as they rely on Openreach just like any other retail provider.

It's the customer service of the individual retail provider that makes the difference.

In my experience BT Retail (+ Internet) were just as bad as Sky.

2x 3 month Outages - BT only started to really help out after I wrote to the CEO. Sky simply stopped booking Openreach visits to fix the outage (this was DSL + line outage).

Not in all cases.

As per my other post, I had to get the CEO involved to get the fault fixed and it still took 3 months to fix.

Seeing as you confirm you made the post in reply to mine about why I prefer to keep my line rental with BT, I shall show why I thought it irrelevant:-

In reply to a post by Yaz:

This shouldn't make a blind bit of difference.

Agreed. But it does. Read any thread on all the forums here where there is a problem with the phone line and I warrant you very few will criticise BT Retail but many will criticise other rental companies.

It is the sole responsibility of the ISP or Phone provider (BT Retail included) to deal with Openreach. The customer should not, in any way, shape or form, be directed towards Openreach.

Completely irrelevant to my post. Which is why I queried your post in the first place. I happen to agree with you on both points.

I should probably make it clear at this point that I do not work or have any personal connection to Openreach.

Uh? WHy? Because you fear I might accuse you of being such? Perhaps you have had a bad reaction from others then, for posting similar irrelevancies to people.

Further to the above, in my line of work, I have been chased about phone faults (or new services) by the end customer where Openreach/ISP/Phone provider has pointed the finger in our direction. In these instances I will try and help with the enquiry as best as I can but will always advise the customer to go back to which ever company they are paying for a service to be provided from.

That bit leaves me completely baffled except it seems you show exactly the problem I am on about by saying I prefer line rental with BT Retail. I fail to see how any provider could blame a wireless broadband provider for phone line or landline broadband faults, unless interference from kit you have provided is suspected.

I assume you work for or even own or have a high position in vFast. Everything you said is irrelevant to my post, other than the opening statement.

In reply to a post by Yaz:

I was replying to your post.

To clarify, sticking with BT retail for your line rental shouldn't make any difference to getting a line fault fixed as they rely on Openreach just like any other retail provider.

Nonsense ...

It's the customer service of the individual retail provider that makes the difference.

...for that reason. And the reason for my preference.

In my experience BT Retail (+ Internet) were just as bad as Sky.

2x 3 month Outages - BT only started to really help out after I wrote to the CEO. Sky simply stopped booking Openreach visits to fix the outage (this was DSL + line outage).

Seemingly self-contradictory. Also confusing - are we talking about one problem or two, or even more? If a Sky MPF line I'm not surprised BT Retail weren't much help. I also fail to understand your involvement as a wireless broadband supplier.

In general, and pardon me if I wrongly malign you, your two posts seem to imply to me you have difficulties with liaising with suppliers. Or is it you are acting as unofficial agents for landline users, in which case it isn't surprising such companies don't really want you involved. DPA and contractual factors for example.
_{Edit - typo.}

Edited by RobertoS (Fri 14-Dec-12 10:28:54)

In reply to a post by Yaz:

Not in all cases.

As per my other post, I had to get the CEO involved to get the fault fixed and it still took 3 months to fix.

I agree with XRaySpeX. As indicated in my two replies just now, it seems you are meddling in other people's business and unsurprisingly getting not very far.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

Completely irrelevant to my post. Which is why I queried your post in the first place. I happen to agree with you on both points.

Part of the response was for the OP re contacting Openreach.

I apologise for any miss-understanding (late night posting and lack of direction in the post). It�s a pet peeve of mine that some people go direct to Openreach when they should deal with the company that they pay for there service.

Uh? WHy? Because you fear I might accuse you of being such? Perhaps you have had a bad reaction from others then, for posting similar irrelevancies to people.

Some people will jump to conclusions. Not directed at you in this instance.

That bit leaves me completely baffled except it seems you show exactly the problem I am on about by saying I prefer line rental with BT Retail. I fail to see how any provider could blame a wireless broadband provider for phone line or landline broadband faults, unless interference from kit you have provided is suspected.
I assume you work for or even own or have a high position in vFast. Everything you said is irrelevant to my post, other than the opening statement.

No, I don't work for any telecommunication company. I simply use vFast for my own connection.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

Nonsense ...

Sweeping statement.

...for that reason. And the reason for my preference.

I understand and respect your choices. My own preference is to trust that the company I pay to deal with Openreach accordingly.

Seemingly self-contradictory. Also confusing - are we talking about one problem or two, or even more? If a Sky MPF line I'm not surprised BT Retail weren't much help. I also fail to understand your involvement as a wireless broadband supplier.

Two separate issues. One when I was with BT Retail and the second years later with Sky. The phone line ,in both cases, was for Openreach to maintain. Both retail providers were less than useless at getting Openreach out to resolve the fault in less than 3 months.

In general, and pardon me if I wrongly malign you, your two posts seem to imply to me you have difficulties with liaising with suppliers. Or is it you are acting as unofficial agents for landline users, in which case it isn't surprising such companies don't really want you involved. DPA and contractual factors for example.

Evil, me

I don't work for any telecom company and I don't act as an official/agent for any supplier/provider. My job shouldn't be fielding calls from end users of X or Y retail providers but it does (not frequently). This is usually the case where the end user has been told by the retail provider and/or Openreach that we are to blame for delays in there fault being resolved. I will PM you later on this point.

Edited by deleted (Fri 14-Dec-12 22:57:07)

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

I agree with XRaySpeX. As indicated in my two replies just now, it seems you are meddling in other people's business and unsurprisingly getting not very far.

I apologise to the OP if this is causing a problem. Meddling was not my intension.

Perhaps I could have simply posted "Go back to Plusnet and get them to deal with Openreach."

Edited by deleted (Fri 14-Dec-12 22:56:50)

In reply to a post by Yaz:

I apologise to the OP if this is causing a problem. Meddling was not my intension.

Perhaps I could have simply posted "Go back to Plusnet and get them to deal with Openreach."

As a friend of the OP, I'm reasonably sure he'd have had no problem with you posting - you've given a different insight from the viewpoint of someone in the industry and seeing it from the 'answering end users' viewpoint, which has a minority of posters, so very few comment with experence.

Everyone should feel free to air (on topic) views on most any thread...

As for 'Go back to PlusNet...'

... I think it is really the case that PlusNet should be explaining why he got the ridiculous 'contact Openreach' suggestion in the first place - it's clearly not the correct way of going about things, when an end user is unable to get much out of Openreach [unless there is a customer liaison section where they will discuss an ongoing problem]

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

Getting phone faults dealt with easily is one of my main reasons for keeping my line rental with BT Retail.

This was pointless to the OP question.

I have never found BT easy to converse with in any respect. Whilst they were insisting that there was not a problem with my line. The web based line test showed there was and dealt with from there.
The web line facility should be available for all lines, no matter who is managing it.
I keep a BT line to enable easy movement of broadband as, it is here that I find problems more commonly appear.

In reply to a post by flippery:

This was pointless to the OP question.

Not pointless! A piece of advice, that I wholeheartedly second, for the OP to consider to take on board, particularly as his issue seems to spring from a loss of voice line and something hanging off his telephone pole.

In reply to a post by flippery:

I have never found BT easy to converse with in any respect.

No need to talk to them! A voice fault can be tested auto, reported and monitored online as long as BT Retail is your voice provider. Many other providers require you to do all this by phoning an unintelligible foreign agent.

In reply to a post by flippery:

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

Getting phone faults dealt with easily is one of my main reasons for keeping my line rental with BT Retail.

This was pointless to the OP question.

It was highly pertinent to the post I replied to, i.e. "This should be set with the rounded bit at the top but it has been hanging downwards for a long time now. I wonder if water/ice has got into it? I have tried to get through to BT to report this, with no luck. The automatic system asks for my phone number when I call 'faults' and then tells me it's not a BT number and effectively tells me to go away".

I have never found BT easy to converse with in any respect.

Maybe you don't go about it the right way.

In reply to a post by XRaySpeX:

Many other providers require you to do all this by phoning an unintelligible foreign agent.

Fortunately not in the case of PN, but then you can be given duff information by anyone, whether they be BT Retail staff or someone else. Also (when I had a line with BT for some 18 months) you don't always get very intelligible foreign agents talking to you on BT customer service calls.

I did eventually get a refund, but it was really, really, hard work getting my point across and getting them to act on it. I doubt I will ever rent a phone line directly from BT in the next 20 years, if I can possibly help it. YMMV

Sounds like a joint hanging the wrong way up on your pole. Yes, this can sometimes cause issues, usually battery faults. It would have to be big battery contact to result in no dial tone and no broadband.

If this joint is a problem, the engineer will sort it when they fix your line, if it's not a cause, in some part, they won't.

I'd agree with the comment made earlier saying, 'It's not for you to contact Openreach, you are Plusnet's customer, it is for them to report to and deal with Openreach.'