Compensation for BTs biblical failures, how much should I ask on small claims track?

no_choice_now

This may shock you a little but here is the summary of my problems over the last 18 months:

My phone line has been accidentally disconnected 4 times for a total of around 20 days. Twice it has been reconnected to other local peoples numbers (!) and I get their calls.

My phone line has been dead for the last 5 days and and is presently receiving somebody elses calls (these included in the figures above).

My mobile phone usage has shot up and I've spent at least £60 extra topping it up above my normal predictable topups of £5 a week.

I've had to take 3 days off work to wait for engineers. The last appointment the engineer never even bothered to show up and I wasn't called or anything to let me know.

My account was accidentally closed and now I've got to have a new number as they can't get the old one back, and I have a huge undertaking to let everybody know my new details including reprinting stationary.

I've had my garden dug up and new pipes and cables installed after they found faults with the old ones and now my garden path will forever remain wonky.

I've had to go through another credit check recorded on my credit history to get this new phone line since they couldn't reactivate my last one and as I don't have great credit I consider this quite damaging.

I've had ongoing misbilling errors, incorrect DD's taken, strange bills, charges for services I've never had etc. etc.

Various other awful technical faults including days on end of crackling on the phone.

I even bought new phones just to prove it wasn't my equipment.


Last time I went through these problems I was told by BT it "wasn't their policy to provide compensation" lol Well when I've decided a fair figure I will send them a final notice before submitting a county court claim. I believe under various Acts that BT have failed to deliver a reasonable service, BT have failed to deliver it in a reasonable time and certainly it hasn't been delivered with a reasonable cost (charging me a whopping £65 a month when I have no phone line!). Also it is clear they haven't undertaken management of my line or account with reasonable care and skill.

I'm not even going to start on potential issues of data protection with regards to the mismatching of phone lines etc.

I have a very large catalogue of biblical failures by BT which I can clearly demonstrate and having spent many hundreds of Pounds for shoddy services I think it's time I was compensated for everything above, despite what their "policy" is. The judge will decide what the policy will be.

So what do you think is a fair amount of compensation to ask for if you had suffered the above problems and incurred the same losses?

no_choice_now

Also I might add I am now again locked in to a new 12 months contract just to get my service back :mad:

useless_git_requires_wife

consumers.ofcom.org.uk/tell-us/



I would say you deserve compensation for sure....and I would also insist against the 12 month contract.

macman

Was this a residential contract that you are using to run a business? If so, then you are technically in breach of the T&C's. Since there is no service level agreement on the residential tariffs, they should offer you a credit for the downtime, and that's about it.
Any claim you submit has to be based on actual demonstrable costs (eg mobile phone bills etc). You need to work out what they come to, not ask what you might get.
But knowing BT, if you do take it to the small claims process, they probably won't turn up, so you'll win by default. The then real fun will begin when you try to collect whatever you are awarded.
What I find bizzare is that you are continuing with BT-after that experience why don't you just switch to a decent provider?

DVardysShadow

macman wrote: »

... What I find bizzare is that you are continuing with BT-after that experience why don't you just switch to a decent provider?

I doubt that there are any decent providers.

Mark_In_Hampshire

If it was a business account I'd add up all my costs, including potential loss of profit for the lost number and sue for that.

If it isn't, then you might be able to add up your time spent dealing with it and charge it at a reasonable rate per hour - the key being reasonable. For instance if it's a residential service then could it really cost you, say, a thousand pounds? A magistrate would consider an unreasonable claim to be frivolous, and it would damage your case.

If you can get a cable service then you can avoid the BT infrastructure altogether.

If you can't get cable you're at the mercy of the BT infrastructure, but some of the issues you list could be mitigated by not paying by direct debit and changing to a provider who actually might value your business.

By definition that will be one of the smaller players - for instance Zen or IDNET.