No internet- shocking service

[Anonymous User]

I ordered broadband on 15 April 2021, go live date was 30 April 2021.

On my go live date, no one contacted me and I waited for the broadband to work, fair enough. On 1 May 2021 there was no internet. I phoned to find out what the issue was, the gentleman on the phone said, not to worry it would go live today and he would personally phone me back. I heard nothing and when I logged online it now said the 4 May. I would have appreciated a call back to confirm this and not being reassured it would definitely be in on 1 May. Anyway.

The engineer came out on 4 May, phoned me and told me there were no available ports. This seemed strange, as the previous tenants had Sky internet. I phoned Now Broadband and communicated this issue to them (surely Now and Openreach should have some sort of open dialogues between them, and why was I the middle man).

I was advised they would take a look and that this would be escalated and could take 72 hours (what would have happened if I didn’t phone?). I heard nothing further.

At 17:41pm on Wednesday 5 May I received a text message advising Now had tried to contact me – I had no calls. I need received a text message saying an engineer would be attending the next day 6 May, at “anytime”. I work full time and had to attend the office on 6 May, so I tried to phone Now to get an idea of what time the visit would be, after several calls I was advised it was a morning slot.

On 6 May, the Openreach engineer asked me to turn my router on (it was already on from my original go live date), I believe (and again no one confirmed this with me) that the telephone line was working. I was hopeful it might still be fixed as my [voucher code removed] page still said I was to go live on 6 May so I waited.

Surprise! On 7 May, there was no internet again, no correspondence from Now or Openreach and the website continued to say good news, you’re due to go live on 6 May (Now had now managed to master time travel apparently)! I phoned Now (again no one at Now seems to be able to call anyone or update anyone). The lady on the phone advised that she would escalate the issue (was this not what was done on 5 May?) and again it could take 72 hours.

I asked to speak to a manager and was told they don’t have phones (interesting), I then filed a formal complaint in the hopes someone would take a look at what was actually going on.

Anyway, a new engineer visit was arranged for 11 May. I stayed home to wait for the hopeful return of internet, so I could successfully work from home again. The openreach engineer arrived and advised he had been asked to look at the phoneline, but there was no issue with the phoneline and that the issue was the fibre connection in the cabinet. He advised there were no notes on the system but that Now and Openreach were discussing the issue and I should hopefully have it resolved by the end of the week.

So I phoned Now again and explained what the engineer had said to me. Now said this was news to them, and it would have to be escalated again – and could take a minimum of 72 hours. So, what had been going on since I was told there were no Ports on 4 May? Why was Openreach and Now looking at the phone line and not the actual fibre connection? I mean, it’s all a bit of mystery to me and apparently an even bigger mystery to the customer services team at Now.

In summary - By the time that’s escalated (even though Openreach assured me it was in hand already), it’s likely I will have lost another week of internet.

At present I have been without internet for 12 days, I have had to buy a unlimited data sim card (£24 from Three), my roommate has had to buy boltons to her contract and has spent another £26.

Appreciate £50 may not seem like a lot, but when you’re renting in London, it sure is.

My issues:

1. Why does no one in Now know what is going on? It’s a different story every time I phone.
2. Why do Openreach and Now not have better communication between each other, so issues can be resolved or processed as is required, instead of pointless Engineer visits.
3. Why does Now never update me or tell me what is going on. I have had to phone every single time and sometimes multi times, with varying success (depending on the person you get in the office).

What I would like:

1. I would like Now to firstly communicate with Openreach and actually fix whatever the problem is OR if it’s not fixable could someone not just come out and say it. First prize would be working internet by the weekend.
2. I would like Now to waive the first two months of charge, to cover the costs of data purchasing and inconvenience caused.  
3. I would like someone who knows what is going on, to phone me and explain.

I appreciate there are a lot of much bigger issues in the world than not having an internet connection, but I’m not asking for a lot here.

Please can someone look into this and get back to me.

Thanks

Kirstin

[Saint1976]

@Anonymous User sadly, despite a very detailed post which probably took a long time to write, this is a customer community so it is only being read by other customers.

If you have the phone number, that is your only point of contact or, use the complaints department.

https://help.nowtv.com/article/how-to-submit-a-broadband-complaint1

[ukbobboy]

@Anonymous User   &  @Saint1976  for Info

Hi Kirstin

As Saint said, you posted a very detailed email of your current problem but as pointed out this is a customer led forum and the NOW team only pop in occasionally.

However, you maybe able to get help from Resolver, a free independent resolution service, their URL is:

https://www.resolver.co.uk/complaints/telecoms-complaints

Give them a try.

Good luck.

UK Bob