BT Complaints & Escalation

Devonian_Rodders

I have been a BT customer 46 years, but agree with many, Loyalty counts for nothing.
I moved to my current property some 38 years ago which had a basic installation of a phone and hard wired bell. Later extension sockets were added by BT.
Over recent months, I have noticed the hard wired bell is is somewhat weaker, and quite often it cannot be heard that well. Deafness + Age play their part.
The initial response from BT was to buy a new bell, even though their responsibility for it does not expire until Nov 2018 I am quite prepared to buy a portable bell which I could plug into any socket, BUT.....the old bell would need to be disconnected to prevent the phone circuit from being overloaded.
I started a complaints proceedure to BT via e mail pointing out the above, and was informed (by phone) that as both phone line & B Band were working there was nothing they could do.
This is despite the fact B T have taken rental for the bell since 1980 (probably a lot longer) and according to a bill in 2017 "Hard Wired BellW14 Jul-13 Aug 17 £ 0.00 IMPORTANT: Your equipment rental is now free. Your rental benefits will be free until Nov 2018, then your rental will end. You can keep the product. " This poses the question, WHAT BENEFITS.?

Obviously an engineer would call IF I was to pay £99 or so for the service.

Seems BT has not changed since this thread was started in 2011

ShakeyRed

I did start another thread with this request but no luck, I am desperate for some advise if anyone has experienced this-


On the 27 May 2017, I agreed to a new contract with BT for 18 Months which included Line rental, Broadband and Free BT Sports.

The contract was agreed as part resolution to a complaint I had which was handled via Resolver. My contract end date is November 2018.

On 14 June 2018 all my services stopped and as I had had no communication from BT I called to report a fault on my line. The fault was registered and acknowledged by BT. Later that day I had two emails from BT, one asking me to return my kit and the other saying "Your BT service is ending sorry to see you go". This second email had all my contact details except the incorrect mailing address. This was my old house I left twelve years ago.

I phoned the number on the email in the section that read
"If you don't want to miss out on these exclusive benefits, just call us on 0800 800 150 as soon as you can. The sooner you call us the easier it is to change things." I was told by the lady that everything would return to normal in 24 hours.

Anyway to try and cut a long story short, BT have been nothing but obstructive in returning my services, in fact they said the only way they can resume full service is if I enter another 12, 18 or 24-month contract and have refused to refund the money spent on data.

So I took, what I thought was an open and shut case to the Ombudsman but they have found no fault with BT and have blamed both Openreach & NowTV for slamming my account.

Has anyone experienced this behavior from a company in the past and the lack of help, my opinion, from the Ombudsman? If so, what have you done about it?

Devonian_Rodders

Following on from my previous posting, (Sept '18) I have had to lengthy calls from BT customer services stating A) The line is working, so no do, BT cannot repair or replace as the equipment is no longer in production.
Pointing out the equipment was still BT responsibility until Nov 18 they simply said that each time I raise the issue, the same CS rep will be in touch. Have now sent written complaint to Durham, this before I spotted the resolver link.

littleboo

If you believe that the bell is faulty, ask for a rebate on anything paid since it went faulty and either disconnect yourself, of find a comptent person locally. Job done.
Have you tried a plug in bell with the existing one connected? It may work fine

Vegastare

Can I vent too, I have spent two weeks living a nightmare with BT, it is made worse because I took another 18 mth contract out with them recently....stupid. Never again



I could relate the phones calls to them from call centers in Scotland Wales Liverpool and Northern Ireland( the latter at least has decent folk who listen) oh I forgot India - the denial that I waited in for an arrange call - why they contradict this I don't know as I have the e mail from them, the denail that there was a fault in the exchange when it showed on the ongoing fault page till last week.


To me it seems my problem relates to Open Reach work on my road to new offices building site and Open Reach works seems to result in my phones being out , broadband outages and weakness of wireless, first BT operative told me there was onging line work going on, next denied it ans so it goes on. Well folks it is going on, traffic lights up and Open Reach manhole covers up again, they did this two weeks back and are doing it again.....maybe my service will get back to normal..........or just continue to go down hill. Just like the complaints team - BT you need to go back to a dedication customer liason person who deals with your fault from start to finish



My next stop will be an email to BT CEO suggest we all should give it a try
gavin.e.patterson@bt.com

JJ_Egan

Has he not left ??

littleboo

Nothing that Openreach do will affect your wireless strength . I doubt that Openreach inform the ISP’s ever time they open a manhole, they have no reason to unless they expect to disrupt existing services.

johnbhoy10

Vegastare wrote: »

Can I vent too, I have spent two weeks living a nightmare with BT, it is made worse because I took another 18 mth contract out with them recently....stupid. Never again



I could relate the phones calls to them from call centers in Scotland Wales Liverpool and Northern Ireland( the latter at least has decent folk who listen) oh I forgot India - the denial that I waited in for an arrange call - why they contradict this I don't know as I have the e mail from them, the denail that there was a fault in the exchange when it showed on the ongoing fault page till last week.


To me it seems my problem relates to Open Reach work on my road to new offices building site and Open Reach works seems to result in my phones being out , broadband outages and weakness of wireless, first BT operative told me there was onging line work going on, next denied it ans so it goes on. Well folks it is going on, traffic lights up and Open Reach manhole covers up again, they did this two weeks back and are doing it again.....maybe my service will get back to normal..........or just continue to go down hill. Just like the complaints team - BT you need to go back to a dedication customer liason person who deals with your fault from start to finish



My next stop will be an email to BT CEO suggest we all should give it a try
gavin.e.patterson@bt.com

Used that route a couple of weeks ago as i had lost any faith in anyone at that company sorting out my problems which were of their creating!!! They must have cocked-up at least half a dozen times (tbh lost count) since i contacted them regarding price increase this month and renegotiating a deal!! They've paid me over £50 in credit for errors they've made and if they keep making them i'll just go straight to Exec Level Complaints and it'll cost them.....if they don't learn then that's their lookout!!

However, i would say use discretion and common sense and allow them to try and put right, which i did!! I was given guarantees, promised call backs and given false information from various departments and felt i was getting nowhere!!

Listen, i get that they're a huge outfit with millions of punters but either i've being really unlucky (understatement) or their CS is just plain awful.

Give them a chance to sort......if they don't sort when they say go straight to the top...that's my advice!!

Vegastare

Yep I am trying to keep calm, BT don't guarantee wireless anyway and the recent analogy was very enlightening, when a cake is cut in four pieces you get more when it is cut in twelve you get less, so the cake has been cut in smaller portions in the last two weeks.....as my american friend would say....go figure!


Only thing that has changed is the work Open Reach are doing on the road over last two weeks...still they are nothing to do with BT different company and owners!!!!

Devonian_Rodders

Further to my previous comments, BT have responded to my written complaint stating they cannot repair as product no longer manufactured. Pointing out their wording on the bill which states:- " IMPORTANT: Your equipment rental is now free. Your rental benefits will be free until Nov 2018, then your rental will end. You can keep the product. Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority" they simply said 'we are not charging for the bell now' but as I am NOT responsible for the product until November, then it has to be their problem.
I somehow believe the £99 charge PLUS V A T for an engineers visit is a deterrent to customers.
By contrast, other service industries roughly half for their services, a typical example being I have my gas fire serviced annually (which takes approx. 45 minutes)_and costs £55 inc VAT.

The twist to this story is I am a pensioner, and the BT charge represents 1 weeks state pension just to disconnect a bell from a circuit.

I note from the OFCOM website, they do not deal with individual cases, so it seems BT can do as they please.