Plusnet
The Balance
2 Pinfold Street
Sheffield
S1 2GU
Friday, 21 June 2013
RE: Failed installation of fibre broadband account:
xxxxxxxx
Dear Sir,
I am writing to complain about the
service I have received from you, as well as the way in which you have dealt
with my complaint.
I am a long term customer of Plusnet,
having previously held an account since 2004. Last year I switched to Virgin
Media to take advantage of fibre broadband, but was eager to switch back to
Plusnet when I heard the Openreach had put FTTC in the cabinet on my street.
I placed an order on the 5th June. The earliest appointment I could get for installation was 20th June. For some reason my landline was activated immediately, meaning I would be charged line rental for the 2 weeks I couldn’t use broadband, but that is another issue, which I’ll come to.
I placed an order on the 5th June. The earliest appointment I could get for installation was 20th June. For some reason my landline was activated immediately, meaning I would be charged line rental for the 2 weeks I couldn’t use broadband, but that is another issue, which I’ll come to.
Yesterday, I took the day off work
for the installation, which should have been between 8am and 1pm. At 1:45pm,
the engineer still hadn’t arrived so I called your team; a ticket was raised (#71005291).
First of all, I want to quash any
idea that I missed the engineer appointment.
·
I
have a working doorbell with chimes loudly both up and downstairs.
·
I’d
included my mobile number in the engineer notes when signing up, with
instructions to call if there was any problem. No call was made.
·
I
was seated by a window, all day, with full clear view of my street. An Openreach
van passed once in the afternoon, but did not slow. No engineer attempted to
call. Perhaps he was just checking the colour of my door!
(From here I will refer to the BT
engineer as though they are part of Plusnet. Plusnet are my supplier, which you
then subcontract some services to BT)
I phoned again this morning, 21st
June, and was told that the engineer said he had called, but couldn’t gain
access to the property. After much arguing I was told that they would, of
course, expedite an appointment, and I would be given top priority. I was also told
I wouldn’t have to pay the £50 rebooking fee.
I later received an email telling me
I would need to pay a £50 charge to rebook the appointment. I phoned again, after which I was told that
the supplier (BT) was disputing my claim, based on the broad assertion that I
had a “white door”. All of the houses on my street have white doors, it’s
hardly proof that an engineer called, knocked, rang the doorbell or tried
calling my mobile. In fact, he would only have needed to pull up outside my
house, and I’d have opened my front door before he could raise his hand to
knock.
Eventually, I was told that an
appointment could be rebooked, and I wouldn’t be charged a fee. However, the
earliest appointment I could be given was the 4th July. Wait… Wasn’t
I told already that a rebooking would be expedited, due to me being messed
around? Yes! I was! I also haven’t even mentioned yet that I’ve wasted a day
waiting for this engineer – that day is worth a lot more to me than the £50
that you would charge – I should be charging you the £50, or more like £200 for
my wasted time. It also should be noted
that now, with a 4th July install, I’ll have been paying line rental
on my unused line, needlessly activated on 5th June, for just short
of a whole month.
This time scale didn’t suit me, so I
asked to cancel my order. Here’s where the line rental story gets a whole lot
worse. Due to the line being apparently a completely different service, despite
it being ordered at the same time and entirely for the purpose of broadband, it
would not be possible (really?) to
refund my 12 months saver line rental, as it was after the 10 day cooling down
period. Oh, yes, because YOU needlessly activated it 15 days before it was
needed, and 15 days before I would be completely let down by your engineer. Now
I’m left in a position where I would lose £131.88 for cancelling a service from
a company that has failed to deliver. To make this worse, my Virgin Media
broadband will now deactivate before you are able to provide a replacement
service.
Finally, I was told by your agent on
my last call, that “as it stands we do go with the engineers notes”. Essentially,
that means that when an engineer lies about visiting a property, you stick two
fingers up at the customer, and charge them £50 for wasting their time. I have
a full recording of all of the calls, as do you. You should listen to them.
So, in summary, here’s a list of the
things I’m angry about:
·
You
activated my line 2 weeks before the planned install, and now 4 weeks before
the rebooked install, costing me £10.99 in wasted line rental.
·
Your
engineer lied about visiting my property.
·
Your
support staff believe the testimony of the lying engineer over that of the
customer whose time you have wasted.
·
After
being told on the first and second phone call that I would not be charged the
£50 fee, I was STILL emailed, asking to pay it.
·
1
day of my time, wasted, at an approximate cost of £200 to me.
·
No
broadband for several days due to delay.
·
Unable
to get a full refund because (again) you activated my line 2 weeks too early.
Now I’m stuck with the provider that screwed me over for at least a year.
Nobody at Plusnet has considered how
I should be compensated for my inconvenience. Letting me off the £50 charge is
NOT compensation. I SHOULDN’T HAVE TO PAY IT ANYWAY. I’m actually still out of
pocket by: £10.99 + 1 day of my life/holiday + being stuck with a provider with
no sense of customer service. The worst
thing is I can hear you right now thinking that I should think myself lucky
that I weaselled my way out of the £50 charge.
I’m sure you can understand, I’ve had
enough of the service of Plusnet. I understand fully that this problem was
caused entirely by one of your suppliers, but that is your problem, not mine.
You have utterly failed in your response to rectify the situation.
Yours faithfully
