BT leaves 89 yr old pensioner

leemsutton

Jemma-T wrote: »

Must just be me but it seems the OP is living in their own little country, running cables, saying it saved BT money (how's that?), expecting a private company (BT) to arrive onsite and use a bit of cable they don't own etc etc.

I assume the panic alarm does still work? Do you have mobile phones?

I'm not sure things are as bad as the OP implies and they've complicated matters by mixing the lines for business use, private use and then further complicating it by throwing in the 'pensioner' argument for effect.

I don't wish to sound unkind but that's how I see it. BT/OpenReach will fix the fault once they've worked out what's wrong. It's not your business to be running cables and altering/interfering with BT/OpenReach's work. You've obviously had ongoing problems with your supplier so maybe you need to think about a different supplier.

Jemma,

The cable that we ran ourselves was supplied by BT. 18 months ago we asked for 25 new lines into some industrial units we had on site. The exisiting cable was not big enough to do this so BT had to run a new cable from the local exchange - about 2 miles. However they said at the time they would run the 2 miles themselves but they could not afford to do the extra half mile up our drive, so we offered to dig it in for them foc if they supplied the cable and then did the connections on site - which they did for the 25 lines but would not connect the old lines into the new line which was 5 lines at the time as they wanted £99/line.

The panic alarm is run via the phone line and it does not work if the phone line is down.

Yes we have mobiles but have you ever tried getting a 89yr old to use a mobile?

We have not complicated things by mixing business and residential as this is hou BT run the lines here - nothing to do with us.

As for changing supplier - been there done that and its a nightmare because when we have a problem - which is 4-6 times per year the supplier blamed BT and BT blamed the supplier resulting in even longer waits. So to have it all with BT is our only option.

By the way which department in BT do you work!!

Jemma-T

leemsutton wrote: »

Jemma,

By the way which department in BT do you work!!

I've been asked that more than once here, oddly. Very strange. I was just adding a bit of balance. With your new post then yes I feel you have been let down more and have more of a claim of bad service. But the 'pensioner' tool should be kept for Watchdog and other idiot places. It rarely washes with me.

Yes, BT can provide poor service but since they get OpenReach to do their work you'd get -as you know- even worse service elsewhere. These companies don't care at the end of the day and unless we re-nationalise the network it ain't gonna get any better.

Maybe you could think about embarassing BT.

leemsutton

Here we go again.

So they eventually came out and connected the 5 old lines into the new cable - job done after 15 days.

However guess what - my grandmothers line is now off again.

Called BT up today to report it and they say there is no problem on the line. I tested it with my own handset to prove its not her equipment and the problem was still there.

BT are now saying they want to organise an appointment which we will be liable for.

Absolute idiots so yet again they think its acceptable to leave an old age pensioner with no phone line, but more importantly no panic system.

I am going to the press as I've had enough of this utter incompetence.

Jemma-T

leemsutton wrote: »

Here we go again.

So they eventually came out and connected the 5 old lines into the new cable - job done after 15 days.

However guess what - my grandmothers line is now off again.

Called BT up today to report it and they say there is no problem on the line. I tested it with my own handset to prove its not her equipment and the problem was still there.

BT are now saying they want to organise an appointment which we will be liable for.

Absolute idiots so yet again they think its acceptable to leave an old age pensioner with no phone line, but more importantly no panic system.

I am going to the press as I've had enough of this utter incompetence.

BT don't care about your Grandmother. They can't as they have shareholders.

I can't imagine any of your local bankrupt press or overpaid BBC TV Watchdog uglies being interested but I suppose you could try to complicate things even more by contacting them.

Make the appointment, video the engineer doing what he does (tell him beforehand) and wait for the repair to be done.

It sounds to me you get a lot for your cash from BT so give them a chance. And try not to complicate things.

BT_company_representative

Hi leemsutton,

Not good that your grandmother's phone line as become faulty again. Could you email (address in profile) me as I'd like to help get her line back into service.

Could you also include a link back to this thread for my reference.

Regards,
Jon.

leemsutton

Jon,

I sent an e-mail through to the company representative that posted earlier on and have not had a response - more incompetence from a company that is nothing more than a joke.

leemsutton

And so it begins again. Same line same problem same bulls**t from BT saying they have tested the line and there is nothing wrong with it, even though they then admit that the initial test equipment they use does not pick up all the faults! - IDIOTS.

I was eventually contacted by somebody from BT who had gave me a contact e-mail for me to correspond with them on to report any more ongoing issues.

Guess what! BT dont respond to the e-mails - again IDIOTS.

So were back to an 89 yrs old lady who lives on her own with a phone system that does not work, and has not now worked properly for nearly 8 weeks but most importantly there is no panic system working should she fall over or something like that.

Well if anything happens to her god help BT because I will not stop until this is brought into the public domain and the general public of the UK know what a bunch of lying, uncaring people BT are. The way this has been dealt with is nothing short of disgusting and they ought to be ashamed of themselves.

Micky

Go straight to the top (CEO or chairman) by fax, cc to your MP. I thought the vulnerable person thing needed a statement from a sawbones.

But the 'pensioner' tool should be kept for Watchdog and other idiot places. It rarely washes with me.

Defies belief.

Jemma-T

leemsutton wrote: »

And so it begins again. Same line same problem same bulls**t from BT saying they have tested the line and there is nothing wrong with it, even though they then admit that the initial test equipment they use does not pick up all the faults! - IDIOTS.

I was eventually contacted by somebody from BT who had gave me a contact e-mail for me to correspond with them on to report any more ongoing issues.

Guess what! BT dont respond to the e-mails - again IDIOTS.

So were back to an 89 yrs old lady who lives on her own with a phone system that does not work, and has not now worked properly for nearly 8 weeks but most importantly there is no panic system working should she fall over or something like that.

Well if anything happens to her god help BT because I will not stop until this is brought into the public domain and the general public of the UK know what a bunch of lying, uncaring people BT are. The way this has been dealt with is nothing short of disgusting and they ought to be ashamed of themselves.

If the '89 year old pensioner' (is there any other type of 89 year old?) is in any sort of danger that's YOUR responsibility or the local council's services (did they supply the phone?). Shareholders in BT aren't going to care. She's managed all this time without a fully working phone things can't be THAT bad.

You maybe need to get a new phone line installed and leave your present supplier.

I still believe you're partly to blame for this mess as you're expecting far too much from a private company and your phone line setup seems very unclear. This is part of the problem no doubt for OpenReach.

Mark_In_Hampshire

Still with BT, I see.... you're a glutton for punishment!

Would something like this be a much cheaper and more hassle free solution:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Binatone-Big-Button-GSM-Mobile/dp/B001NMUGUI