BT compensation is a joke!

SusanM_3

I'll try and make this as short as possible but after 10 days of dealing with complete numpties it might be a little difficult!

4th Nov - phone went off. Daughter reported fault and my a/c showed there was a fault.
6th Nov - sent 3 complaints as still no updates, asked for them to contact me via email
7th Nov - sent another complaint as still no contact and no "out of service" mess put on as requested.
8th Nov - phoned from work. Advisor promised to ring me at home that evening at 6.30pm when I'd done the socket test. Said they hadn't known how to contact me! Daughter was not asked this when she reported fault but I'd told them via email. Advisor never rang me back and my mobile was on and not in use at all that night. I rang them from my daughters around 9.15pm and said I'd done the test and still no line. Had to agree to a possible charge of £125 as test their end showed fault inside. I was told engr would call 10th Nov.
9th Nov - received reply to one of my complaints. It asked me to do socket test - I'd already done this and they would have seen this if they had read my notes!
10th Nov - engr came at agreed time. Confirmed no charge as fault was o/side.
Later than night I received this message....You scheduled an appointment for: 10 November 2009 PM. An engineer arrived at the agreed time, however we were not able to gain access to your premises. Please reschedule your appointment using the adjacent link. If you do not do so then we will not be able to progress your repair.

I was disgusted to receive this as I had been in and had seen the engr.

Sent another complaint that night and phoned from daughters again. Again asked for "out of service" mess and was told this would be done.
11th Nov - sent complaint letter to their Durham office - rec/del
12th Nov - workmen arrived to dig up o/side. Engr had told me on Tues that they would be following right behind them when I saw this happening but no engrs arrived.
Sent another complaint as still no updates were being shown.
Got a reply that night to one of my complaints. They referred to the dig being done on Fell View!! I don't live on Fell View, no idea where that is.
12th Nov -my BT a/c still showed repair would be completed by 10th Nov!!
Fault eventually repaired by 13th November.

10 days to repair fault
No "out of service" mess
My phone engaged for 10 days for anyone who rang me. Anyone ringing had no idea I had fault
I couldn't make out going calls for 10 days
Internet connection affected and cutting out all the time
Very few updates and most of them incorrect
Slow response to my many complaints

I also added that I hoped my compensation would reflect the inconvenience and distress I had been caused. Part of BT reply to this...

"Turning to the matter of your claim, I notice that you have included stress and inconvenience. While it is certainly not my intention to make light of the problems you encountered or to undermine your position in any way, I must advise you that I am unable to consider these elements, as they fall outside the strict parameters of the Customer Service Guarantee Scheme".

My reply

I have now considered your comments about stress/inconvenience. The stress and inconvenience results from BT far exceeding the usual length of time to effect a repair, and demonstrating an extreme degree of incompetence while doing so. I consider that this constitutes an exceptional set of circumstances, thus justifying the claim. Or are you saying that BT is this bad when doing everyones' repairs?

Today, I received a call with their offer of compensation - £3.50 :mad: Is there any point in me taking this further as I am morphing into Victor Meldrew. Any suggestions you have would be appreciated.

mrtom21

They technically only have to pay you for the service you have not had... ie the 10 days of line rental and broadband. You may be lucky to get more than £10 for your inconvenience.

I also think that 1 complaint would have been just as effective as 7... 7 complaints is giving yourself unneeded pressure when your services are down don't you have a mobile phone to receive calls?

Gothicfairy

I have had problems with BT but for me it is that they said they came to my house but didn't and the call centre staff refuse to believe me.I am able to prove that they did not come at the time they supplied or in fact at all, So much for the customer is always right (I wouldn't mind so much but I am a new customer so not even paid my first bill )

If I were you I would complain for no other reason then they are taking the pee

gabyjane

Hi we are having a similar prob with something in our house..i posted about it last night as it was really getting me down and was told to post something more life threatening basically..i can see how annoyed you are and completely sympathise with you.

When we moved in here we had a nightmare with BT..it went on for weeks and the compensation we got was our line instaltion refunded..was around £125 off the top of my head..so you can get more..ide keep going as i will not put up with rubbish service!! Just today i ahve had a reply in regards to my issue and it's a total cop out..letter written and back in the post and an email..i will not give up!!
Good luck x

SusanM_3

The reason I complained so many times was for one thing, I was not getting any replies and they were continually making more mistakes. As for diverting calls to my mobile, it's a mobile I use for work. With the job I do, I really couldn't be accepting personal calls whilst at work. All that was needed was an out of service putting on my phone, at least folk would know I wasn't actually engaged all the time. Yes, I will continue with my battle with them and I too will not give in to the "big boys"! Good luck to anyone else with a problem like this.

Dutchie71

In future, if you can, avoid BT like the plague. Change to another Service Provider when you have received your compensation and your contract has run out. BT are more hassle than they are worth. The best way to let a company know this, is by voting with our feet and leave them. I will never use BT again with my experience with them.

SusanM_3

I so want rid of BT but even if I change to another provider, wouldn't it still be BT who do any repairs to the line? I could get rid of my landline all together if it wasn't for wanting the internet. However, if I did this, wouldn't my only options be cable or a dongle to still get on the internet? Neither are available in the area I live.

DVardysShadow

SusanM wrote: »

I so want rid of BT but even if I change to another provider, wouldn't it still be BT who do any repairs to the line?

It would be Openreach, who area demerged part of BT

I could get rid of my landline all together if it wasn't for wanting the internet. However, if I did this, wouldn't my only options be cable or a dongle to still get on the internet? Neither are available in the area I live.

I find Post Office competent, apart from anything to do with Openreach. With Post Office, you get the same choices for broadband as with BT

SusanM_3

Oh thanks! I keep saying BT when I mean Openreach! I think BT forget that just one dissatisfied customer usually tells eight to sixteen other people of their bad experience. To say nothing of all the forums available on the internet where we can tell a good many more! Surely a customer is the most important person in any business, after all, we pay their salary. Not very good advertising for them is it? Remember...."it's good to talk" LOL.

SusanM_3

Well not a brilliant result but slightly better than the silly amount of compensation I was first offered. Had no replies from my written complaint. Decided to write to Otelo that's mentioned on the back of my bill. Within days I got a phone call from BT. Have now given me one months line rental back. OK not fantastic but at least it paid not to give up. They blamed all their mistakes on a system failure LOL.

dave-_3-2

Just for information.
We got £20 compensation eventually from BT for them changing contracts, sending us threatening letters to recover bills for service we didn't ask for and ringing us up on false pretences.

I had to use the web contact form about 3 times to get them to agree to compensation and then a few emails to Assistant to Chairman and CEO BT Retail to actually get the money as BT don't really know how to send cheques. The whole saga went on for 9 months.