Vodafone FTTP delays - cancel and order with BT?

A_T

I ordered Full Fibre 910 from Vodafone on 13th June 2024 - I was given an estimated activation date of 18th July. I went with Vodafone as it was £10 per month cheaper than BT.

My property is KCI2 Assure. 3 weeks ago a sub-contractor came out and said he couldn't do the job because tree cutting was needed (even though there is already a fibre cable going through the trees). He said it would have to go back to Openreach for tree cutting and I signed some papers giving permission for this to take place.

Since then I've heard nothing. I phoned Vodafone and it seems there's been a break-down in communication between them, Openreach and the subcontractor with someone cancelling the job and not telling anyone else.

Bottome line is it there will be no activation date on the 18th and who knows when it will happen. Would I have been better off going with BT in the first place? Should I cancel Vodafone and order through BT? I can stomach the extra £10 per month.

iniltous

It’s  not unusual for contractors ( on a flimsy reason ) to pass a job back to OR to be reallocated to direct labour , that shouldn’t cause a particular lengthy delay and certainly doesn’t cancel the order ….are you sure the VF order is actually still active and hasn’t been cancelled by VF themselves…( OR cannot cancel unilaterally, that’s down to the ISP ) 
As far as reordering with BT , strictly speaking it should make no difference, however the communication may be different, as far as keeping the customer advised ( KCI , keeping customers informed ) .
FWIW a cable through trees isn’t a big issue unless access is denied, and although destroying the copper service as a consequence ( so if FTTP fails there is no way to restore the previous service )  , ‘cut and draw’ is a method used to connect the fibre cable to the copper one and draw the optical cable through the exact space the copper one occupied ….this may  needs two techs in attendance .and is perhaps why the contractor sent the job back .

VF are responsible for chasing OR if the timescales are not kept, they in that respect are failing you and may be reason enough to consider someone else .

A_T

Thanks. Vodafone haven't cancelled it so far.

A_T

Openreach seem to be the problem here. Is there a number I can contact them on?

edit. no there isn't. they will only speak to the ISP.

iniltous

Your contract isn’t with Openreach, it’s with Vodafone, what’s more , years ago , Openreach floated the idea with Ofcom that in certain circumstances they should be able to communicate directly with ISP customers , and not always have to follow the Ofcom imposed diktat that customers only speak  to their ISP , and only the ISP speaks to Openreach, Vodafone ( as well as Sky , Talk Talk etc ) shot that idea down , insisting that in no circumstances should OR be allowed to ‘speak’ directly to consumers, so the reason you cannot contact OR , yourself , is because VF don’t want you to do that .

ciderboy2009

OP - do a bit of Googling to see if Vodafone are signed up to give automatic compensation for installation delays.

When my FTTP installation with BT was delayed a few years ago the compensation ended up paying for the first 3-4 months of bills!