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Anonymous User
Not applicable

New broadband order not gone live still after 10 days - cut off from old provider!

I'm currently not having a great experience switching to NowTV Broadband.

 

Placed the order which was due to go live on the 5th April. Engineer disconnected our old Sky broadband, which we have had for years, then came to the house and said he couldn't complete the new connection due to an issue. He then left without any further explanation, how long it was likely to take etc.

 

I called Now TV to find out what was going on and told this was logged with Tier 2 and an update would be available later, but it was an issue that had been handed to Openreach to resolve. Called day after day, to be told that I'd get an update on the 15th (today).

Called again today to be told no update was available, but that it likely would be after 6.30pm or tomorrow.

Apparently there is no way for Now TV technical support to contact Tier 2 for an update or escalate an issue, other than wait for an update on the system. So here we are 10 days after the broadband was to go live, with not a clue what the actual problem is, and 'maybe' I might get an update later today or tomorrow.

No idea when we will actually get service!

 

Surely it would be sensible to check that the service can be provided before cutting off our current service and leaving us with no broadband whatsoever? We have a disabled, bedbound person in the household who relies on the Internet for contact with the outside world, carers etc, and this is causing major issues. 

Nobody at Now TV has any idea what the problem is, can't or won't contact Tier 2 or Openreach, so we are totally in the dark!

Seen as we had broadband with Sky over the same phone line, I really do not understand why there should suddenly be a problem.

 

I'm at a loss as to what to do now. I certainly would recommend people avoid Now TV if they want any kind of decent service. Oh and that's not even mentioning how difficult it is to get a contact phone number to actually speak to a person. It's 0800 7591213 for the benefit of anyone searching.

12 REPLIES 12
Anonymous User
Not applicable

That does seem very unusual. As Now is delivered over the Sky network I wouldn't have thought an engineer was needed at all, unless you were going from ADSL to VDSL.

Other than badgering the helpdesk constantly I don't see what you can do other than raise an official complaint. NOW complaints procedure and codes of practice (nowtv.com)

Anonymous User
Not applicable

Thanks John, yes I just don't understand why there is an issue, we have not changed the type of service as far as I'm aware. I have logged a complaint, many thanks for your advice 🙂

 

Ben

Anonymous User
Not applicable

I had exact same problem... 3 engineers later and 11 days past my go live date I was connected.. ( only for 4 days as its gone off) my fist engineer came said fault underground ( tier 2) second one fixed one problem but left another, 3rd one switched lines from exchange and was working.. half the engineers can't be bothered or simply don't know what they are doing. and there's more chance of winning the lottery than anyone at NOW customer service actually helping you other than reading you the same stuff off their computer...

Anonymous User
Not applicable

Thanks Nick, yes it's incredibly frustrating isn't it.

The Customer service team tell me there is absolutely no way for them to get in contact with Tier 2 let alone Openreach, all they can do is wait for an update to be posted on their system.

Everyone I spoke to says 'there is nothing I can do'. They can't escalate the issue or speak to anyone who actually knows what the problem is.

 

I simply wouldn't believe that any company could be that inept, but I am here experiencing it!

 

I would cancel and go elsewhere if I didn't think that it's going to cause me even more delays. 

Anonymous User
Not applicable

very very frustrating.... I moved from virgin and currently wish I didn't bother.. they have cost me 95 quid today as had to get a smarty sim and put 20 on it for unlimited data plus a 4g router to put it in ... as I said I was only just connected after a delay on Monday then it's off already. and when I called them yday the bloke said it might get sorted today, hang on mate you just said 2 seconds ago it would take 2 working days and he tried to tell me today was not a bank holiday... so no proper broadband until at least Wednesday.. and that's if I'm lucky and get a half decent engineer who knows and wants to sort the issue 🙄 

Anonymous User
Not applicable

if you have not had any updates by email I wouldn't get exited when you get one. it will only tell you what u already know... something along the lines of... hi sorry your broadband is delayed this is due to a line plant issue and we hope to have it resolved in the next 48 hours please be assured the openreach team are working on it. 

redchiz1
Champion 2

@Anonymous User I sympathise with anybody and everybody who falls foul of the dead hand of Openreach, who are almost invariably the culprits here and any ISP on their network is in thrall to them. Moving from a non-Openreach provider like Virgin creates different hazards.

 

@Anonymous User When you ordered NOW did you choose the option to keep your existing number, or did you cancel with Sky? This may explain why your existing service stopped before your new one started. 

Anonymous User
Not applicable

I asked to keep our existing number but was told that wasn't possible for some reason. I didn't mind as we never use the landline anyway, but there was no indication that there was going to be loss of service for all this time.

 

The 15th came and went, and no update about the situation at all...

Anonymous User
Not applicable

Still no contact from Now at all, so yesterday we contacted Sky to ask if there was any way our old service could be re-instated in the meantime.

They were not aware that the line had been cancelled, and as far as they were aware our account and service was still active! They were really helpful and arranged for an Openreach engineer to come out to check why it wasn't working, and he did today.

He told us that the wires at the junction box coming into the property (overhead line) had been cut! He reconnected them, plugged the original Sky router back in and we have Internet again!

 

So, what on earth has happened? The original Openreach engineer cut the wires, left site, and Now have given me a load of rubbish about how it's been escalated to Tier 2 support and they have no way of finding out the problem until they get a response back from Openreach. Yet Sky can get hold of an engineer and get them out the next day to fix the problem, (which seems to have been caused by the original engineer)?

 

What is a bit worrying is that I'm now told that the original Openreach engineer had no ID and a plain white van - I wasn't at the house myself when this happened, so this is being relayed to me by my family. We have the footage of him arriving on our Ring camera, and I will be definitely following this up with Now through the complaints procedure, and Ofcom if necessary.

 

Needless to say I will be telling Now to stick their broadband service. It's been quite some time since I came across a company that is so utterly incompetent as this, and will NEVER go near them again! How they can let a new customer wait over 10 days with no broadband and no communication, and deny that they have the ability to contact their own internal Tier 2 support department to find out the cause of the problem is beyond belief.