Help my phone line is broken

mikeopvc

Running a business from home and this morning seemed strangely quite in the office, about 10 o clock I got a call on my mobile from a member of staff out on site saying he and other people on sit had been trying my landline number all morning. I checked for a dial tone and it was there, I tried calling the office phone from my mobile but it just rings once, bleeps 3 times then goes dead.
I called my provider PLUSNET and we went through the motions of unplugging all internal equipment and inserting the phone into the test socket, still nothing.
Following that he asked me to select 3 days and an AM or PM slot, he then said someone will be in touch possibly before easter weekend if not after.
That's it, no landline.
How am I supposed to run my business for the next coming week with no phone, I dread to think what custom I might be losing, This is a busy period for my business and we don't need setbacks like this.

I'm at a loss, not really sure why i'm posting on here but am just desperately hoping someone has an idea of what the problem might be, or if anyone knows of my rights with regards to speeding up the engineer visit, surely they have engineers on call who can come straight away.

Sorry for the long post.

Any advice/suggestions welcomed.

TonyMMM

What do their terms and conditions say on the phone package you have ....assuming it is a business package, do you pay any extra for a guaranteed response time ?

mikeopvc

I got 7 emails from PLUSNET when I joined, I can't find the terms & conditions in any of them.

JasX

Perhaps they can divert it to your mobile/another number temporarily too

mikeopvc

Good idea, I'll check if they do that.
Though I'd like to think if they do then whoever I spoke to before should have offered the service.

HoofeHearted

JasX wrote: »

Perhaps they can divert it to your mobile/another number temporarily too

I know that BT do that for you when one of their landlines dies. (and Plusnet are now owned by BT)

mikeopvc

I just called and asked if the incoming calls could be diverted to another number and was told that this can only be activated if added as a feature for £2.50 per month. I suggested that considering the circumstances they might add the feature temporarily as I am potentially losing money with no incoming calls from potential customers. He was quite adamant that this wasn't going to happen so I demanded he put me through to cancellations, (short fuse I'm afraid) so he put me through to a classical tune which I stupidly listened to for about 3 minutes before realising no one was ever going to pick up.
Anyway as a result it seems they can divert calls but won't unless you pay.

espresso

mikeopvc wrote: »

How am I supposed to run my business for the next coming week with no phone, I dread to think what custom I might be losing, This is a busy period for my business and we don't need setbacks like this.

Surely if your business depends on this phone line, then you should really have a business line with business level support provided.

mikeopvc

I know this, I did actually ask for advice on here at the time of switching (see links below) but got little response other than a reccommend for plusnet.


http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=2203693

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=2204095


I know it's my own fault and need to change to a business account asap but can anyone reccommend a good business deal for phone and broadband?
please!

kwikbreaks

mikeopvc wrote: »

it seems they can divert calls but won't unless you pay.

...and you put the price at £2.50 a month. If your weeks lost business isn't worth paying that then I'd suggest you pack it all up and go on jobseekers allowance.

mikeopvc

kwikbreaks wrote: »

...and you put the price at £2.50 a month. If your weeks lost business isn't worth paying that then I'd suggest you pack it all up and go on jobseekers allowance.

I have already done the divert kwikbreaks, it wasn't the amount of cost that bothered me, it was the fact that they wouldn't offer automatically due to the circumstances along with the fact that the first person I spoke to didn't even suggest the divert. I had to come on here to get the suggestion and then call plusnet to ask for it.
I do value my business more than £2.50 (just):D
But just wish for once one of these big companies could show some compassion and focus on the customers needs rather than making a profit out of someones misfortune.

Sorry for the rant but I'm not tight, I probably just explained it badly.