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78 days, and still no broadband (Sky/Openreach, UK)

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Re: 78 days, and still no broadband (Sky/Openreach, UK)

#21

Post by lmb »

1_player wrote: post #17
qz2 wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use Zen and when there was a cable cut between the cabinet and my house recently, between them and OpenReach we were back online the next day. Had zero problems in the last 5 years.

I was extremely happy with Zen, so happy I upgraded from 76 to 330 Mb in June. Which requires a G.Fast modem and having to deal with OpenReach. Since upgrading I've been having a couple 30-seconds long disconnections every day. Zen delegates any responsibility to OpenReach, and the latter has sent an engineer [1] which hasn't found anything wrong _on my end_ (of course), so I have to pay them 165+VAT for the call. An…

Total shot in the dark: I had a similar problem, it turned out the power supply for the router was faulty.

Re: 78 days, and still no broadband (Sky/Openreach, UK)

#22

Post by DanBC »

One of the mistakes people make in situations like this is to make all their communication (and complaints) via telephone.

Start writing real letters, on paper, in an envelope, with a stamp. Get proof of posting (but not proof of delivery) and start building up a paper trail. This way you get to show them what they promised, and that they didn't deliver that when they said they would.

Learn how to write a complaint letter. (Keep it short. Explain what went wrong, and what you'd like them to do to fix it. Give them realistic time limits to do so.) Go through their complaints process. You can copy in all of the organisations.

Then, when you've exhausted their complaints process you escalate to their regulator.

Re: 78 days, and still no broadband (Sky/Openreach, UK)

#23

Post by TheOtherHobbes »

jon-wood wrote: post #7
arethuza wrote: post #2

All ISPs I have dealt with in the UK seem to be in a race to the bottom to provide the worst possible customer service. We recently had a problem with BT Broadband and got the run around for a few weeks and only got any attention when I submitted an official complaint. Does anyone have any recommendations for UK ISPs that have decent customer service?

You want to talk to ISPs that target themselves at business use, rather than consumer ISPs who are indeed all in a race to the bottom, with a side-serving of barely different custom routers. Zen Internet (zen.co.uk) have pricing comparable to consumer ISPs, but provide significantly better service, and have support staff who can actually fix your problems. Andrews & Arnold (aaisp.net.uk) are very much priced for busi…

Zen were terrible when we used them at home. Having used Zen in the past I was expecting better. They eventually provided a service, but it took longer than it should have and there were a lot of unnecessary mistakes and support calls along the way.

We were literally trying to get them to work through a set up procedure they had somehow forgotten to do - on Christmas Eve, which was at least a week later than it should have been.

A&A have a good rep among geeks but they seemed expensive and I've never used them.

The best service I had in the UK was with Virgin (on local coax). Apparently their customer service is pretty poor. But aside from the occasional random outage the service mostly just worked, and at the advertised speeds.

Re: 78 days, and still no broadband (Sky/Openreach, UK)

#24

Post by arethuza »

jon-wood wrote: post #7
arethuza wrote: post #2

All ISPs I have dealt with in the UK seem to be in a race to the bottom to provide the worst possible customer service. We recently had a problem with BT Broadband and got the run around for a few weeks and only got any attention when I submitted an official complaint. Does anyone have any recommendations for UK ISPs that have decent customer service?

You want to talk to ISPs that target themselves at business use, rather than consumer ISPs who are indeed all in a race to the bottom, with a side-serving of barely different custom routers. Zen Internet (zen.co.uk) have pricing comparable to consumer ISPs, but provide significantly better service, and have support staff who can actually fix your problems. Andrews & Arnold (aaisp.net.uk) are very much priced for busi…

We're in a rural area of Scotland so the only options appear to ADSL or 4G - I almost switched to the latter before BT Broadband got their act together.

Re: 78 days, and still no broadband (Sky/Openreach, UK)

#25

Post by C1sc0cat »

jon-wood wrote: post #7
arethuza wrote: post #2

All ISPs I have dealt with in the UK seem to be in a race to the bottom to provide the worst possible customer service. We recently had a problem with BT Broadband and got the run around for a few weeks and only got any attention when I submitted an official complaint. Does anyone have any recommendations for UK ISPs that have decent customer service?

You want to talk to ISPs that target themselves at business use, rather than consumer ISPs who are indeed all in a race to the bottom, with a side-serving of barely different custom routers. Zen Internet (zen.co.uk) have pricing comparable to consumer ISPs, but provide significantly better service, and have support staff who can actually fix your problems. Andrews & Arnold (aaisp.net.uk) are very much priced for busi…

Vodaphone Business are not to bad - I switched to them when Vodaphone finally shutdown Demon.

Re: 78 days, and still no broadband (Sky/Openreach, UK)

#26

Post by digianarchist »

Aeolun wrote: post #18

Meanwhile, getting my 2Gbit fiber cable installed and connected (in Japan) took only a few days. I’m continually surprised by these kinds of stories. Also by nobody seeming to have any idea about the situation. How hard is it to add a note to the customer file (and read it)?

The Labour Party’s national broadband policy isn’t looking so stupid now.

https://www.bbc.com/news/election-2019-50427369

Re: 78 days, and still no broadband (Sky/Openreach, UK)

#27

Post by chrisseaton »

DanBC wrote: post #22

One of the mistakes people make in situations like this is to make all their communication (and complaints) via telephone. Start writing real letters, on paper, in an envelope, with a stamp. Get proof of posting (but not proof of delivery) and start building up a paper trail. This way you get to show them what they promised, and that they didn't deliver that when they said they would. Learn how to write a complaint l…

Why not proof of delivery?

Re: 78 days, and still no broadband (Sky/Openreach, UK)

#28

Post by techsupporter »

docflabby wrote: post #13

The mistake was not using BT for a new connection - Openreach is 100% owned by BT- Sky is one of their main competitors. My experience is that BT installations get prioritized and dealt with more efficiently and go the extra mile, everyone else gets dealt with in the statutory minimum way "by the book"

I’m having flashbacks to getting Speakeasy DSL service installed in a Southwestern Bell (now AT&T) area in the States. Everything took weeks, worse if your circuit needed any kind of repairs or if the first pair the line tech tried had any issue at all.

A common “fix” was to order Internet service directly from Bell for a month then switch to your preferred ISP. Of course, only the diehards actually did this and Southwestern Bell would aggressively market at you for months after.

(Granted, it was not great but now we have virtually no such option in most of the States, so the UK has us beat.)

Re: 78 days, and still no broadband (Sky/Openreach, UK)

#29

Post by arethuza »

DanBC wrote: post #22

One of the mistakes people make in situations like this is to make all their communication (and complaints) via telephone. Start writing real letters, on paper, in an envelope, with a stamp. Get proof of posting (but not proof of delivery) and start building up a paper trail. This way you get to show them what they promised, and that they didn't deliver that when they said they would. Learn how to write a complaint l…

I remember submitting a complaint to Vodafone once and when I submitted the relevant form on their website it gave a error - so I ended up complaining about their complaints process. :-)

Re: 78 days, and still no broadband (Sky/Openreach, UK)

#30

Post by londons_explore »

chrisseaton wrote: post #27
DanBC wrote: post #22

One of the mistakes people make in situations like this is to make all their communication (and complaints) via telephone. Start writing real letters, on paper, in an envelope, with a stamp. Get proof of posting (but not proof of delivery) and start building up a paper trail. This way you get to show them what they promised, and that they didn't deliver that when they said they would. Learn how to write a complaint l…

Why not proof of delivery?

Courts presume mail is delivered. Especially when it's multiple letters over many days.
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