BT is a total shambles !!

GEEGEE8

I too have had a nightmare day of phonecalls to BT.. I'm going to move to Virgin at some point I think, well, when contracts run out..
After last time, I don't think I ever want to phone them about a problem every again

devon007

macman - because I KNEW the line had not been "split" and therefore hoped that by going with a BT Broadband order I might get the Broadband sorted soonest. I did a search on samknows so knew who would provide Broadband to the area, but with the line prep what was the point in ordering Broadband through any other provider - it would not have been any quicker!:mad:
Thank you Mark in Hampshire for the info - much appreciated - I was not aware of any of that!
I have not had a reply from BT company representative, nor any message from BT and they are now 12 hours past their "on within 48 hours", read Mark in Hampshire's posting leads me to believe I have actively been lied to when they gave their time estimations.
I think I am now about to cancel the order onthe grounds of Breach of Contract but tell them to still split the line as I wish to have a different Provider, on the grounds that BT cannot be relied upon to tell me the truth about anything!

devon007

OH BTW I forgot to say this - want to know the ironical part of this saga - the BT telegraph pole is in my side garden AND they do NOT have any authority for it to be there.

Methinks my next step will be to give them a 28 day NOTICE to remove it - and the Council have affixed a street lamp to the pole for which they too do not have any Wayleave Agreement for that to be on my property!

I can see this getting nasty if BT don't get sorted! They better not try accessing that pole from my land unless they have sorted out the line! :rotfl:

macman

and therefore hoped that by going with a BT Broadband order I might get the Broadband sorted soonest.

BT Retail have no more clout with BT OpenReach than any other ISP does. They are entirely separate units.

Mark_In_Hampshire

devon007 wrote: »

macman - because I KNEW the line had not been "split" and therefore hoped that by going with a BT Broadband order I might get the Broadband sorted soonest. I did a search on samknows so knew who would provide Broadband to the area, but with the line prep what was the point in ordering Broadband through any other provider - it would not have been any quicker!:mad:
Thank you Mark in Hampshire for the info - much appreciated - I was not aware of any of that!
I have not had a reply from BT company representative, nor any message from BT and they are now 12 hours past their "on within 48 hours", read Mark in Hampshire's posting leads me to believe I have actively been lied to when they gave their time estimations.
I think I am now about to cancel the order onthe grounds of Breach of Contract but tell them to still split the line as I wish to have a different Provider, on the grounds that BT cannot be relied upon to tell me the truth about anything!

What's most farcical about your case is that everyone has had their time wasted - no need to muck around with filters, rebooting modem and so on. You should never have been told it was activated when it wasn't. An engineer should not have been sent to your house when the exchange's own records would have shown the problem is the DACS box.

I'd write to them, give them a formal date by which you want the service working, or you'll consider the contract null and void. Set out the dates and events so far and what you've been told by them to date.

If you reach that point, move the line rental somewhere else as you'll be in for an argument with BT and you don't want to lose the phone line, then order ADSL again.

The removal of the DACS box is not customer requestable nor is it something they will do if you migrate elsewhere.

If you're lucky however they will get that far, you'll move the line rental, get your ADSL up and running, and BT will have some unpaid bills.

This is all presuming you can't get cable... BT is essentially a pension scheme with a telephone company attached trying to shove broadband down ancient wiring, whereas cable is a network built for the internet.

devon007

Thanks Mark - I have written by recorded delivery giving them a time limit but to be quite frank I am now so poorly with the fiasco - it really has hit my nervous system very badly.
I went to a friend's 9 miles away to use their computer last night and their broadband was amazingly good - they are with SKY and have never had any probs at all - so very very different to BT.
The more I read all these threads the more I think it is about time all the BT customers with genuine complaints ought to bring a Group Action against them and hit them where it hurts - IN THEIR POCKETS! That seems to be the only way BT will take any notice of their own custmers :-(

I do wish I could get cable - I had it in Devon and it was amazing, reliable, etc etc. In SIX years I never ever had a problem.

I have also written to Openreach separately giving them 28 days to remove the illegally placed telegraph pole from my land and to remove the lines that cross my property without permission - at least I can have the satisfaction of watching them spend money that they would not have had to had they kept their customer happy!

mardatha

My daughter still has no line either. Got a call from BT saying that it is "in hand" and she will get £50 compensation - but she still has to pay the rest of the bill, £75. For the privilege of waiting 3 weeks and counting, for a switch to be flicked in the exchange.

iniltous

devon007 wrote: »

Thanks Mark - I have written by recorded delivery giving them a time limit but to be quite frank I am now so poorly with the fiasco - it really has hit my nervous system very badly.
I went to a friend's 9 miles away to use their computer last night and their broadband was amazingly good - they are with SKY and have never had any probs at all - so very very different to BT.
The more I read all these threads the more I think it is about time all the BT customers with genuine complaints ought to bring a Group Action against them and hit them where it hurts - IN THEIR POCKETS! That seems to be the only way BT will take any notice of their own custmers :-(

I do wish I could get cable - I had it in Devon and it was amazing, reliable, etc etc. In SIX years I never ever had a problem.

I have also written to Openreach separately giving them 28 days to remove the illegally placed telegraph pole from my land and to remove the lines that cross my property without permission - at least I can have the satisfaction of watching them spend money that they would not have had to had they kept their customer happy!

Your friend 9 miles away are probably not even on the same exchange as you, so is hardly a fair comparison of Sky broadband to BT...If you ordered service from Sky in your location you would still be having the same problems.
I dont know how long you have been in your property but its possible that a previous occupant may have agreed a wayleave with BT in the past, and even if you do get the pole re-sited, BT can still provide wires over what you consider to be your land as BT are allowed by law to do it , the 'flying wires act' as its known...also if eventually you want telephone service from a telco that uses BT Openreach network and you refuse to allow a pole on your land (if its the only reasonable place for it to go) then you can be charged the difference between the cost of that method of provision and any more expensive method, so it could end up costing you a considerable sum of money
In a rural area DACS (digital access carrier system) is an acceptable method of delivering plain old telephony (POTS) but is not compatible with broadband, if a line has DACS on it, normally a broadband order will be delayed while a solution to De DACS the line is sought, but BT is under no obligation to do this at any cost, so in a way console your self with the fact that BT havent said, on dacs, too expensive to deshare, so no broadband for you.

devon007

I DID realise it was a different exchange - I am only 3/4 mile from the exchange at my home.

I DID know about Wayleave Agreements - they do not have one, and have never paid the old lady who owned this house for 50 years any rental payment (I also know that I can go back and claim 6 years arrears but quite frankly I want the pole off my land more than I want any money!). The road fronting my terrace is littered with telegraph poles, all of which are in the road (there is no pavement) and yet the pole in my side garden is inside my property despite there being a pavement on the other side of my stone wall, the only pavement on this side of the road! - I am an end of terrace property.

What gets me more than anything are the downright lies and platitudes you experience. For instance, last night a manager from the Tech Dept promised to ring me to arrange an engineer's appointment as he was convinced the DACS was on my property (??? this follows the two appointments made for Monday when no one ever turned up but BT's records apparently show that he did and no one was home - strange that when I was in all day and my neighbours who know the fiasco have also been keeping an eye out just in case I did not hear the doorbell).

Now they are trying another tack. They did telephone this morning - they let both the mobile and the home phone ring just one ring and then hung up and never tried again. And when I rang at 1.30 to ask when the appointment was going to be, hey surprise surprise, their records show that they tried to ring me this morning :mad: I asked if their records show how long they let the phones ring for as both phones have voicemail/messaging on them - she would not answer me. And still I am waiting for some sensible information as to when the DACS will be removed!

I am so sorry to hear that your daughter is still waiting mardatha - perhaps I should be counting my blessings that I do at least have a working phone line!!! I hope she gets sorted soonest.

lemontart

the only time I ever had probs with bt is when I have had to phone india and sorry bt there is a language barrier and now when leaving bt for financial reasons the phone line got cut off 2 weeks early - not happy about that given that it is already paid for so will check refund of credit on my accout to see if the two weeks has been money had been included in it.