Faulty phone line

Had to give my Nan a support call yesterday as her Plusnet phone line and broadband were off (no dial tone, no connectivity). First I checked her complex wiring (how many sockets?!?) then I narrowed it down to a fault off the property. So I called Plusnet on my mobile and reported the fault. When I got home I checked her account and it has a support ticket:

Dear Mrs xxxxx,
Your fault has now been raised with our wholesale provider for further investigation. We will advise when we get more information.

Please note, should the BT engineer find the cause of the fault to be on your internal wiring or setup then a charge of £60 will apply.

**internal**

Fault Type:
NDT
Test Results:
LN (Fault located in local network)
Fault Ref:
TR000000xxxxxxx
All Checks Completed: Y
Customer Agrees to Engineer Charge: Y
Contact Details:
07xxxxxxxxx

Kind regards,

My question is what kind of fault is it? Also, should it take until Thursday to fix like they have said?

'LN' fault'

Local Network. Could be anything between the premises and the exchange. Loop, disconnected, battery, earth, one leg.....

Openreach are fairly busy at present, but unless she's in one of the weather torn areas, they *should* get to it before then.

I cannot believe those Plusnet muppets are still quoting £60 charge when the callout alone is £138 for a weekday and up to £206 on a weekend. You are looking at nearer £200 for a weekday callout and a little work.
http://www.openreach.co.uk/orpg/home/products/pricin...

Edited by professor973 (Sun 08-Jul-12 19:53:28)

In reply to a post by professor973:

I cannot believe those Plusnet muppets are still quoting £60 charge when the callout alone is £138 for a weekday and up to £206 on a weekend. You are looking at nearer £200 for a weekday callout and a little

They can charge whatever they like. What they get charged is irrelevant. Maybe absorbing a large part of the cost is part of their supposedly lousy CS. But £60 suffices to make users do all they can to guarantee it isn't an internal fault.

So who are you to call others muppet? Pot, kettle?

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

In reply to a post by professor973:

I cannot believe those Plusnet muppets are still quoting £60 charge when the callout alone is £138 for a weekday and up to £206 on a weekend. You are looking at nearer £200 for a weekday callout and a little

They can charge whatever they like. What they get charged is irrelevant. Maybe absorbing a large part of the cost is part of their supposedly lousy CS. But £60 suffices to make users do all they can to guarantee it isn't an internal fault.

So who are you to call others muppet? Pot, kettle?

Well I am someone who could detail a bill much better than this :- http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/685/pnbill.jpg/ But they are determined to carry on in the same chaotic way.
So who are you to call others muppet? Pot, kettle, Idiot?

So you don't dispute my suggestion about the £60 callout charge.

That's good to hear .

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

So you don't dispute my suggestion about the £60 callout charge.

I most certainly do or I would not have posted what I did. You are just spouting maybe or possibly. I know what I was recently told by a Openreach engineer. Has anyone here with iffy internal wiring or whatever ever been charged only £60 by Plusnit for an Openreach call-out and repair?
If there is a difference between what OpenReach charge and what Plusnet pass on, they have every opportunity to drop in and clarify the situation, that is if they know what is going on outside the crib-sheet.
In the case of an intermittent noise fault they cannot trace, they will bill you anyway, your fault or not.
http://www.seered.co.uk/bt.htm

Edited by professor973 (Mon 09-Jul-12 08:26:24)

A look at item 13 here https://www.plus.net/info2/legal/business/index.html turns up:-

Repair and customer visits

13. No charges normally arise with the standard fault repair service. However, Plusnet will make a charge for new and replaced items. If the Customer asks requests work to repair a fault on items that Plusnet are responsible for maintaining, and Plusnet or our suppliers are not able to find a fault, Plusnet will charge the Customer for the visit.

14. The standard requests for an engineer to visit to perform work in clause 15, and any standard requests, for example moving a socket, is £95 call out charge, then £65 an hour (or part hour) there after.

15. Where we arrange for an engineer to visit the Customers Premises for activation of the Service, or for resolution of a fault, the Customer will be responsible for any costs incurred owing to any of the following:

(a) an engineer attends an incorrect address as provided by the Customer;

(b) the site for installation does not meet the minimum requirements as agreed during the product registration;

(c) an engineer arrives to carry out the installation at the address provided by the Customer, but you no longer want the installation completed;

(d) entry is refused to the Premises, or access cannot be gained, at the appointed time, as agreed between Plusnet and the Customer;

(e) the Customer reports a fault, an engineer attends the Customer Premises, and discovers the fault is not the result of the Service;

(f) the Customer reported problem, following request for an engineering visit, cannot be confirmed; and

(g) when the Customer cancels a request for an engineering visit later than 48 hours before the scheduled visit.



Muppets I fear !!!!

In reply to a post by professor973:

In the case of an intermittent noise fault they cannot trace, they will bill you anyway, your fault or not.
http://www.seered.co.uk/bt.htm

Twaddle. I've had Openreach in my current house twice and never paid a penny. On the frst occasion the fault was undiagnosed, or they failed to inform me of the problem as it 'fixed itself'. On the second occasion it was a chipset incompatibility issue between a router and the exchange card.

They could have argued that it was my kit. They did not. Plusnet (and some on this site) were helpful throughout both occasions.

If BT are charging people for issues that are not the fault of the resident, then Ofcom need to hear about it. There may be isolated incidents, or ones where both parties refuse to accept responsibility. The fact that some of them might be elderly is neither here nor there. If there is concrete evidence that any company is targetting any section of society for unwarranted charges, the police should be notified.

You seem to have had a bad experience, but if I remember correctly, you complained about the package (60GB) before you signed up. You complained about the switch over, although it wasn't Plusnet's line at that point. You complained about their service notices, and they can be disabled. You complained about the tie in fees, although you must have read the small print.

Now you're away from them and you still complain. Please appreciate that I almost never (less than five posts in eight years) post in the Zen forum, despite leaving them for not caring for their pricing structure. It hasn't changed in the period since I left, nor will it, and I won't spend any time arguing about it.

While I do agree that some of Plusnet's systems are less than perfect, their general customer service (once you get the right people) is top notch, and their products on offer are as good as other ISPs (based on my experiences). Add in the fact that for me (opinions vary) the pricing packages are competitive, I can't complain unless there's an outage. Then I enquire, and if there's less than a satisfactory response, I complain. Once resolved, I've made my point, and that's that. No need to keep moaning if the problem has gone away. If the problems are semi-continuous, I would certainly consider an alternative provider, but only once I have established that:

a) My current provider can't / won't fix my problem;

b) Another provider can / will.

The Broadcom chip compatibility problem between exchange DSLAM & router is well known and could hardly be blamed on the customer.
What is all this "Now you are away from them" � I am not till next week and I can't wait, though forum clever-cloggs always know better.
It is not my fault I have had a bad experience with Plusnet. It is not my fault they hooked me to another persons number when switching to their Broadband, or that I lost the BB for a week again when it was put back to my number.
From the way they detail call packages twice on a bill with no mention of line rental, to the cack-handed way they allocate additional email addresses, it all seems to run as chaotic as possible � Though the pyramid selling gains much support among the anoraks, but so would a dustbin full of rubbish in a general election, so long as it was wearing a red rosette!
As for tie-in fees, I did not complain about them, other than that the years line rental up front wheeze was a chip off the old B.T. company block. One and the same in my book. Can't have B.T BB without line, can't have PN line without BB. Hilarious!

Edited by professor973 (Sun 08-Jul-12 22:57:59)