Vodafone non-activation

Nebulous2

I'm with Vodafone, and they've been quite good.

I've a relative paying a lot of money to Plusnet and I helped her to sign up to Vodafone. Signed up mid-December, activation date 18th Jan, router received in good time. Router plugged in on the 18th and no internet. I visited today, spent the whole afternoon on live chat and still can't work out what is going on. Repeatedly got transferred to other departments. Was told variously that she would lose her phone number, that the order needed to start again, that the order couldn't start again as there is still an open order, and that the package she signed up to is no longer available. We got disconnected and I came home. 

Where does she go from here? She has a router which is no use, thankfully still has Plusnet broadband, but is no clearer about what is happening with Vodafone. 

flaneurs_lobster

Welcome to Vodafone's Customer Service.

Since your relative still has Plusnet it sounds like Vodafone have not given them the handover details to cease their service. Be worth checking with them to see if they have had any notice at all.

Other than that you have little choice other than continuing to try and get some action agreed with VF. Good luck.


 

SaverRate

Put in a formal complaint to Vodafone 

brewerdave

@Nebulous2 - is it possible that the move has been stopped by Openreach? Many exchanges are now being moved into a status of "fibre priority" as the full FTTP roll out progresses , this stops a new ISP being able to provide an ADSL type service to a new subscriber as they will only allow new orders for full fibre ,altho you can stay with your existing provider. 
Check the exchange status  by going to   BT Broadband (btwholesale.com)

Nebulous2

I don't understand what all the information on that checker means, but FTTP is not available, and it isn't in a fibre priority area. 

Surely if they were unable to offer the service they should have told her, and not sent out a router? 

iniltous

If the Plusnet service is still working then ( obviously ) the migration hasn’t happened, the simple thing to do is wait , when the Plusnet service stops working , plug in the Vodafone router , perhaps the migration is just delayed and will be done soon, this will be easiest problem to fix

If the migration is simply delayed, VF should have advised you , but if they haven’t raised a migration order , but a new line , then the Plusnet service won’t actually stop until you tell PN yourself ,  did you ever receive a sorry to see you leave letter from PN , if you did then they did raise a migration, if you didn’t chances are VF raised a new line order.

If FTTP isn’t available from Openreach is it available from other networks ? , VF use multiple network providers depending on the location, perhaps they have ordered ‘new’ service from one of these alternative network providers, if that Alt Net haven’t shown up to provide the brand new service , that would still be VF’s failure , it’s for them to keep you advised of any delays.

fabsaver

It sounds a bit like the experience I had when trying to switch to Vodafone a few years ago. Customer services were a nightmare and would tell me something different every time I contacted them.

My original order had failed but they had no idea why. Like in the case of your relative they couldn't process a new order, since there was an open order still in the system. My broadband and landline were disconnected and I lost my phone number. By then I wanted to cancel and stay with my old provider. However my old provider could not process a new order either and I was completely without service for almost a month.

I tried to pursue a complaint but the Vodafone complaints department was even worse. They couldn't care less as I was no longer their customer. Never again   

I believe that Vodafone are now part of the automatic compensation scheme (they weren't when I joined), so your relative should at least be able to claim something from that. https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-telecoms-and-internet/advice-for-consumers/costs-and-billing/automatic-compensation-need-know

Nebulous2

An afternoon on the phone, and it seems @iniltous is right. They had raised a new line order instead of a migration.  It was blocked by Openreach, but no-one told her. Order cancelled - new order raised and a new date for migration of 6th Feb. 

They want the router returned and they are going to send out another one. It's not clear how that will happen, she asked for a returns label, but they haven't said whether they will or not.