BT - What We Got Here Is Failure To Communicate

fl3tch_2

Recently moved into a new flat, got my OH to set-up BT reconnection and Unlimted package as I'm out of the UK frequently. Brief summary below :-

1st phone call - 'yes no problem', 'no engineer required', 'phone will be active 30/10 and BB 03/11, we'll send out a hub and phone and take a £25 deposit for a new customer' - wanted to charge for reconnection, argued and got the free reconnection along with an 18 month contract.

30/10 comes and goes no active line.

2nd phone call - (over one hr on mobile) - 'sorry but your order has 'failed'' - 'we dont know why' - 'oh an engineer has to visit', 'you'll have to place a new order', 'we'll need another £25 deposit', 'yes the first deposit has been 100% refunded, I can assure you !' - ' and we want the reconnection fee' - argued the toss for free reconnection.

'Oh I was unaware of that offer ! - why didnt you say that in the first place !' - 'I'll have to cancel the second order and restart the process' - 'We'll need another £25 deposit' - 'yes the first 2 deposits have been refunded, I can assure you' - 'Ok an engineer cannot visit until the 17/11 (morning) - you will have to be home etc.'

We both work on a Tuesday so I pull the short straw for decreasing my precious annual leave.

Shortly thereafter letter arrives with successful 1st order - quoting our new phone number and DD details. Next day Homehub and telephone arrive.

3rd phone call - bounced around customer service and faults department, turns out theres a fault at the exchange and is remedied next day - phone and BB active. '3rd order has been cancelled' - 'terribly sorry' - 'yes your 2 other deposits will be refunded'.

Thought the matter was resolved until this morning - another letter with DD details for the third order arrives - 'Sorry but the cancellation 'failed'' - 'teribly sorry' - 'we are refunding your money now'.

Through all this time no contact from BT by phone or email. Apart from the other day whilst I was in NY at 0430 local time wanting to speak to my OH on my mobile number. I suggested tersely that they call back on out new Landline number which they never did.

At no point have any refunds been applied and were fully expecting to get 2 bills at the end of the month, all we've had are insincere apologies and told to be grateful as we now have service.

What should be my strategy for recourse now? as my OH refuses to talk to another BT CS rep.

Heinz

Welcome, Norman Stanley.

I am sure BT company representative will be along shortly to personally take charge of this sorry situation and deal with it quickly and efficiently.

BT_company_representative

Hi Fl3tch,

Can you send me your order number(s), contact details and forum username to me at btcare@bt.com and I'll get this sorted for you.

Thanks,
Jon.

fl3tch_2

Ok follow up to the first post.

Replied to the CSR here with the relevant details and got a phone call from BT on Saturday morning.

The CSR on the phone said she was responding to a tweet I had sent, duly corrected her on that one ! She then went on to say that she had no record of the payments sent to BT regarding the deposits on the failed orders.
I responded that after all the previous hassle I couldn't believe that I have to argue the toss over whether they received payments or not. She then wanted to know if there was a reference against the my bank statements. Went to have a look but BOS was unavailable due to flooding.
She advised she would look again and call me back.
15 mins later she is back on saying yes she found the payments and that they were now being refunded by cheque. Not to me but to my OH and not directly back on the card (debit) as they dont keep records of card details.

At this point I nearly lost the rag and expressed my disgust in the fact that I/we had been lied to on 4 separate occasions by BT representatives regarding the status of the refunds for payments, that should never have been taken in the first place. (First of all being an instant refund back on the card, then 2-3 days back on the card, then up to 7 working days back on the card; when they were never going to refund using that method).

She wound the conversation up saying that we were getting 1 months free line rental as compensation and thats all we are entitled to !

Thanks again BT for fueling my blood-pressure over the weekend and being entirely consistent with your CS :mad: At no point did I ever agree to loan them money, in fact they obtained it under false pretenses.

fl3tch_2

Another update on the ever-flowing stream of incompetence from BT.

Thought matters had been resolved and that the refund of £50 was to be added as credit to our next bill.

Only to find a bill for £133 mostly comprising a cancellation of contract charge, and no sign of the promised credit of £50.

I was out of the country again, so my OH handled the CS phone call. To find out what the flying F they were up to this time. They had cancelled the WRONG account, i.e. the account that was attached to the working phone line, not the one THEY opened in error. PLUS charging US for the priviledge !

Thankfully my OH managed to escalate the matter to supervisor/manager status and was told that they had "switched" the accounts and that we were left with the original working account, with no charges for cancellation.

But the £50 credit was still not applied ! The CS rep did not have the authority to issue the credit against the bill, but stated that it would take up to 2 hrs to place and she would confirm by email.

True to form - no follow up email, my OH contacted them again the next day and that CS rep is was not in the offiice, they replied that she would be left a note, with alternative email addresses for contact.

Still nothing ! Looks like were gonna have to go down the direct debit guarantee route incase they try and take £133 instead of around £40 not including the ever promised credit.

In summary - about 20 CS phone calls so far, 1 boilerplate reply from BT REP here, 1 response from CS from the posting and absolutely no resolution.:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

oops forgot - the 1 month free line rental compo mysteriously vanished also