Escalation

[infohound]

Apologies for the long post but I am getting increasingly annoyed that I can't seem to get a resolution to what should be a simple issue.

I was a Now TV Broadband user. They were unable to provide a fast broadband connection so, approx three weeks ago, I ordered Sky Ultrafast Plus Broadband from Sky.

The order was accepted and a date set for an Openreach engineer to visit on 19/1/2024. We stayed in all day but no one arrived.

I rang Sky late afternoon on 19/1 and was told that the engineers sometimes overrun but they could still call… they didn’t so I called Sky again and was eventually told that there was an issue as a “ghost order” had been created. Apparently this meant that although it appeared my order was progressing, it wasn’t as it had not flowed through to Sky’s other linked systems (Openreach engineer booking system). They said they would raise a form for their CRS back office team to resolve.

I advised Sky that my Now Broadband was due to disconnect on 25/1 (today) but was assured it would be resolved by then.

Clearly I didn’t want to lose Broadband altogether so I contacted Now to see if I could extend… they told me not to worry as my line would be unaffected if Sky didn’t take it over … I was reassured about this several times!.

Despite several calls to Sky and Now, I awoke this morning to find that my Broadband and telephone line had been disconnected!

I called Sky again this morning to be told that this was very unusual but it should be sorted in the next few days! I explained that this was affecting my ability to work from home or make use of all of my other Sky services and asked if this could be escalated… I was told that the only option was for Sky to resubmit a request to the “CRS team” as they couldn’t be contacted by phone.

In the interim, my Sky account is still showing that I have Sky broadband which is awaiting installation, which it isn’t - I have subsequently asked that my order be cancelled so that I can order again or find another provider. This hasn’t been done because of the backend problem and this is stopping me requesting Broadband from another provider!

I have been a Sky customer for over 30 years and am a so called Diamond member. No idea what that means as I hasn’t made one joy of difference!

Is there anyway to escalate this as it is beyond upsetting and as mentioned has left my severely impacted as I am unable to work effectively from home.

[Daniel0210]

@infohound 

As fellow customers we can't quicken the process that Sky seem to have started after your earlier contact. Be aware that wfh will not afford you any priority treatment. Sky broadband is a domestic service so any future faults or outages will result in the standard repair times which for Openreach is a target time of two working days.

[TimmyBGood]

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@infohound wrote:

In the interim, my Sky account is still showing that I have Sky broadband which is awaiting installation, which it isn’t - I have subsequently asked that my order be cancelled so that I can order again or find another provider. This hasn’t been done because of the backend problem and this is stopping me requesting Broadband from another provider!

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I'd observe that Ultrafast Plus can only be delivered over FTTP, and until optical infrastructure is installed by Openreach no other ISP could supply such a service: in addition when FTTP is available locally that usually means FTTC is no longer a wholesale option.

Putting the address into the BT Wholesale Availability Checker should indicate which provisioning type is applicable.

https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/#/ADSL/AddressHome 

It's the table and the two text lines below it which are most useful.

Remove any personal information (such as the address itself) if you post an image.

[infohound]

Thanks Daniel, completely appreciate the wfh point, this is only one additional frustration (I agree, if it was the main issue I would install a business broadband line).
My primary frustration is that I simply want to cancel my order so that it frees me up to progress with another provider. At present I cannot do that as my "line" is locked by the Sky process. This has been going on for a week. I understand that their SLA is a max of 72 hours. This has all been exacerbated by the fact that as of this morning I have no phone and no broadband despite innumerable reassurances from Sky which is preventing me seeking services elsewhere. 

[infohound]

Thanks Tim, that is absolutely correct. I would have stayed with Now TV however they are as yet unable to provide the faster speed which is odd as they are a subsidiary of Sky? 
really frustrating that I am now stuck in this hiatus which is preventing me going elsewhere 😞 

[TimmyBGood]

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@infohound wrote:

I would have stayed with Now TV however they are as yet unable to provide the faster speed which is odd as they are a subsidiary of Sky? 

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I'd speculate that's essentially an artificial situation maintained for product differentiation purposes, in the same way that Now TV is basically Sky television without a UHD option.

[mormegil]

A ghost order does not leave Skys computer systems so there is no inflight order with openreach

if the issue truly is a ghost order it would not stop you placing another order with a different provider

sound like it could be a different issue that the agent has claimed it was a ghost order without understanding the problem

it would be best to call sky again and check with the actual issue is