Broadband switching: Horror stories are putting me off!

Teapot55

kwikbreaks wrote: »

That's why you shouldn't use ISP email addresses...

Sounds good. Maybe I could change, but what's best, please?

kwikbreaks

I like gmail. There will be other recommendations though I'm sure.

There are also paid options or you can register your own domain and forward the mail to (say) gmail.

patchwork_cat

yes gmail all the way.

Spidernick

Well, I've done it. With three teenagers in the house (on their various gadgets), I've decided to go for BT's fibre optic, which still works out cheaper than Sky before the increase.

I've looked back and up until January 2015 I was paying £26.40 for my broadband package. Some of that may have been the transitional arrangements when they took over, but that is still one hell of an increase in two years. Fingers crossed BT is OK.

The advice here is that I don't need to contact Sky and BT will handle it all. However, whilst going through the BT application process it did mention advising the previous provider (but that may well be just if you are also switching over TV services). Can anyone confirm that the MSE advice is correct and that with just the phone/broadband I don't have to do anything further with Sky? Thanks.

Hawie

You are right to be concerned about switching service. I recently switched from Plusnet to Origin Broadband and it has been an absolute nightmare. No broadband access via Origin, long long waits on the telephone trying to get through to their customer services department, no responses to emails or Web chat comms, and now waiting for a refund from them. I really wish I hadn't bothered, I would have saved myself from loads of stress and money. Don't do it!!@

System

To counter that I switched from BT to Plusnet a couple of weeks ago. Phone was switched over at 6am on the day it was supposed to, fibre switched over by 8pm the same day.

Mike_ChannelFader

You may be lucky and have no problems. But if you do have any problems, expect a very rough ride.

I've been biting my tongue about Origin Broadband for almost two months. So this is not a moan, this is long-overdue scathing feedback. I checked out all the forums and feedback and I could see that Origin got way more than its fair share of moans, whinges, and problems. It was clearly cheap, but I gambled that I wouldn't be one of the people who encountered multiple problems and found that the customer service was appalling. My gamble didn't pay off.
Origin took my money (12 months to get a decent saving) at the end of 2016, and I had to chase several times over the next three weeks just to get a provision date (a further 10-14 days). It turned out that Origin did not even contact my current ISP (PlusNet) to get a take-over date until the fourth time I contacted Origin. Yes, Origin just took my money and forgot about me, despite chasing and escalating. PlusNet confirmed to me that Origin did not even contact them for almost a month, and Origin sort-of admitted to it. (No apology.)

The take-over went smoothly.

But so far every single one of the automatic emails from Origin has been either incomplete (missing dates) or misleading (bills being ready when they are not).
Customer Service are all friendly people, but they give me a different answer every time. I have no confidence left that they will do what they say. And if they say that they will email another department, I have lost all trust that they will actually do it. If they eventually do email that other department, there's no guarantee that the other department will do anything about it. Settle in for several phone calls, long hold times, and lots of Brian Blessed sound-alike recorded messages telling you how they are unexpectedly rather busy.
The Origin people are clearly intent on building a huge customer base as fast as possible, but the Origin processes are creaking at the seams, and Customer Service is just not good enough to cope.
If they offer you an even better deal by paying 24 months up front - SERIOUSLY THINK HARD because I do wonder if they will still be in business.

Spidernick

Thanks, Mike - the level of negative feedback on Origin seemed too high just to be 'moaners', which is why I gave them a very wide berth. I hope you manage to sort things out with them.

Spidernick

Apart from my broadband being down all morning yesterday (during the changeover) when BT said 'up to 30 minutes' which is impossible by the sounds of it!), fingers crossed this has gone smoothly.