BT!!! Argh!!

jamief

Well, having just moved into a rented flat this week (for 3 months, until our new house is ready), I thought I would call up BT to get the phone line (re)connected. Called them up, all went okay, was told line would be setup within 12 hours. Waited 24, line still didn't work, so called them back. Apparently they needed a deposit - no problem I said. Text message at 4am from them confirming my line was now "working".

Pick the phone up in the morning, no dial tone. Tried another handset - no dial tone either. Call them up - "oh, very sorry sir, there is a fault on your line". Now, this is the bit that gets me - they absolutely can only send out engineers either morning or afternoon, monday to friday to repair the fault. I simply cannot take any time off work, nor can my fiancée to sit in all morning/afternoon waiting for an engineer to turn up. What do I do? Do I have grounds to cancel the whole debacle and get my deposit back?

hammy_the_hammer

" Now, this is the bit that gets me - they absolutely can only send out engineers either morning or afternoon, monday to friday to repair the fault. I simply cannot take any time off work, nor can my fiancée to sit in all morning/afternoon waiting for an engineer to turn up."
i presume you work monday to friday as well ...this is where the impasse occurs....if you worked saturday to wednesday for your five day week the engineers could come on thursday or friday

Heinz

I hope you central heating boiler never breaks down or needs replacing - your choice of engineers will be severely limited if you want a weekend visit (and your bank balance will suffer too).

jamief

Christmas (especially this year) is a hell of a time at my work, trying to get projects finished without shunting other projects out the way, therefore there is no way at all I can take time off work. Other times of year it is a possibility. Surely BT should realise that 9-5 mon-fri isn't suitable for most people? Or they should be able to give a 1-2 hour slot? Maybe you guys don't mind being messed around by companies when you are paying for a service, but I certainly do!

EDIT: Plus, I'll just add : If I got a boiler installed, and it didn't work from the outset, I'd suggest that the engineer should come out to fix it whenever it suitable for me. Same should be with a phone line - it didn't work from the start. As it stands, I can't get cable, so Im stuck with BT until I move house in 3 months, plus I NEED the internet at home, meaning I NEED a phoneline.

Ongobay

jamief wrote:

Christmas (especially this year) is a hell of a time at my work, trying to get projects finished without shunting other projects out the way, therefore there is no way at all I can take time off work. Other times of year it is a possibility. Surely BT should realise that 9-5 mon-fri isn't suitable for most people? Or they should be able to give a 1-2 hour slot? Maybe you guys don't mind being messed around by companies when you are paying for a service, but I certainly do!

EDIT: Plus, I'll just add : If I got a boiler installed, and it didn't work from the outset, I'd suggest that the engineer should come out to fix it whenever it suitable for me. Same should be with a phone line - it didn't work from the start. As it stands, I can't get cable, so Im stuck with BT until I move house in 3 months, plus I NEED the internet at home, meaning I NEED a phoneline.

To be fair Saturday appointments do exist, there is obviously just 1/6 less appointments available on the Saturday! They go like hot cakes, so are extremely rare, and never mentioned as they are so rare to come across.
BT did trial giving out more 'convienient' appointment slots. The day was split into 6 slots, rather than the now 2 slots. Which completely cocked up the day and led to alot of missed appointments. As some jobs can take 5 minutes, some can take 2 hours. The appointment slots they offer have worked fine for the past few years, so why change a system that works?
Also as far as the BT appointment books go, Christmas sure is a hell of a time at work!

Edit: Yes you can cancel the order and get your deposit back, providing you aren't in term for BT broadband or any other line rental offer you may have taken, but if the phone line meant so little to do that, you wouldnt be quite as upset at the above situation?

hammy_the_hammer

i always find it ironic that the people who think other people should work saturdays and sundays in fact work monday to friday themselves.

Dando83

The extra kicker is that more than a handful of time that I've stayed home during the day, the gas/elec/phone/builder has not shown up on time, or at all

As for assuming that someone will work the hours that you're not at work yourself is a bit tricky. Yeah, the very nature of a cable repairman means the repairs should take place around you, BUT would you be prepared to pay charge to cover their weekend overtime? Likely not.

It is interesting to note that with Telewest, they were more than willing to install my services on a Saturday, but have absolutely never given me a Saturday for a repair date. Hmmmm.