Plusnet Slammed me!

Anyone have any advice. I am with Origin Broadband - one of their limited number of happy customers but this morning my internet stopped working..

The reason is because the line has been "slammed" by Plusnet. No warning. I haven't even looked at Plusnet let alone signed with them..

Being told it will take 14days to get line back to Origin and nothing can be done to be sped up.

I am in shock to be honest. I know its first world problems really but broadband is so important these days.

Any experiences/ advice to expedite this.. ?

Thanks in advance..

A few possibilities.

Someone else might have signed you up as a "practical joke".
Somewhere along the line there may have been an error made.

Did you not get a letter in the post? Origin should have sent you a letter to tell you that PlusNet were trying to take over the line - have you checked with Origin to see if they had a notification and whether they sent the letter or not?

I suspect there is no way really to expedite the switch back - ironically the 14 days is probably because of the 10 working day notification requirement in order to stop slamming.

Thanks Ian . No notification at all from Origin which i agree would have been very helpful!..

Explanation was:

"Thank you Robert that's great thank you for confirming they're working on it now. That is the part that doesn't make sense I've found it in the back end systems but it doesn't appear that at any time it's filtered to the main ones were notifications would be issued to us and you have been advised of it to make any of us aware, this factor has been sent to the back office for further investigation as this shouldn't be the case. If you still wish to speak to management I'd have to advise you'd need to call in I'm afraid (03300241777) but as I said the complaint itself has been logged and complaints themselves will be in contact within 5 working days of today. "]

Oh how I love irony... !

So in part the problem is down to Origin in that whilst their back end system was apparently aware of the change they failed to send you the "sorry you're leaving" letter as required by OFCOM. This perhaps combined with an unknown new Plusnet customer entering or mistyping their address or phone number when placing their order meant the order went through. Not necessarily slamming but rather an unfortunate combination of mistakes.

Yes, the system at Origin appears to have dropped the ball here and the safeguards in place to stop this happening for whatever reason didn't. It is unlikely that PlusNet set out to "slam" and actually there was a mistake (probably as you say another customer) and that the backup safeguard at Origin didn't trigger the notification that it should have done.

I used the word slammed as that was the terminology used by Origin. Apologies if it was bit hyperbolic.

I managed to speak to really nice guy at Plusnet who could see the order that had gone through and it wasn't me and he couldn't give details but it was someone newly moving in.

He promised to ring me back with an explanation and next steps - however I am not sure what he could do anyway. I think I have probably just helped the guy in the street who stole my provision


I wonder if Plusnet could just provision me temporarily or would this be impossible for such a short time? They have the line already.

Slammed is the normal term but in this case it looks like someone accidentally used the wrong address details. PlusNet did their job. Something went wrong at Origin because their systems should have picked it up and sent you notification but for some reason didn't. PlusNet could possibly provision you but as it stands would probably want to sign you up to a contract - it appears PlusNet did nothing wrong here and they followed the correct processes.

Technically you are on PlusNet but if you don't want to be with them then PlusNet have no contract with you to provide service.

As an aside it is unlikely the person who signed up for the service would get anything out of this - they aren't receiving any service - they haven't stolen your provision as they have nothing to show for it (the provision is on your phone line, not theirs). The only way this is malicious is if the person did it on purpose to cause you difficulties but it sounds like they may have genuinely placed an order but accidentally got the wrong address.

Same thing happened to my neighbour when I had a new line fitted with FTTC.

On the Install day I had a working phone but no broadband.
My neighbour lost their broadband same day.
When my isp did a line check they could see my neighbours Global4 modem.

Openreach disconnected their broadband and connected mine to my neighbours line.

Openreach came back next day and connected my broadband back to my line and all was fine with mine.

However, my neighbour had to wait a whole week to get their broadband back.

I used the word slammed as that was the terminology used by Origin. Apologies if it was bit hyperbolic.

If anyone should be apologising it should be Origin as your problem is totally down to their failings. PlusNet and yourself are the innocent parties here. Unfortunately Data Protection laws are what are preventing PlusNet telling you who initiated the change, someone who could well be an immediate neighbour.

In reply to a post by ian72:

As an aside it is unlikely the person who signed up for the service would get anything out of this - they aren't receiving any service - they haven't stolen your provision as they have nothing to show for it (the provision is on your phone line, not theirs). The only way this is malicious is if the person did it on purpose to cause you difficulties but it sounds like they may have genuinely placed an order but accidentally got the wrong address.

Yes totally agree it sounds like a mistake rather than deliberate! Both shafted lol - going to have to read a book or get an early night to night