BT Complaints & Escalation

stoatwblr

You're right about "in an ideal world"

Let's be clear about something: The moment a customer complains, YOU HAVE FAILED.

What happens from that point is what determines how that customer (and others) perceive your outfit.

If they're complaining here, the failure has become abject failure.

The sad thing is, BT isn't the worst telco for rotten customer service by a long shot - and most telcos reward the architects of rotten customer service by paying them bonuses.

First rule of business: Take care of the customer, or someone else will.

merrycon

We have recently cancelled our telephone/internet contract with this company. This was for 18 months.

We paid 12 months line rental in advance, then a further 12 months rental in advance when the first year was completed.
As mentioned, this contract was for 18 months. So when we cancelled we still had 6 months pre paid line rental outstanding.
We have been told that we cannot reclaim this 6 months rental.

This we can understand, a contract is a contract, but we wonder how many other people have ended up paying for something that they are not going to get. We have also paid 12 months in advance with our current provider. So BT have been paid twice.

This is just a cautionary note. If we ever went back to them (which we won't because they made things very difficult, but that's another story), then we would make sure we paid 12 months in advance, then monthly for the rest of the contract. Or, as we have done now, just work on 12 month contracts.

Umeczek

I have been with BT now for a few years and have been paying around £38 per month for the unlimited broadband (including line rental) I went to a friends house early in March and they told me that they were paying a cheaper monthly fee but were on BT infinity (unlimited) and the BT vision (unlimited). It sounded like a good idea to upgrade and I decided to call BT to upgrade.

BT didn't give me the same deal as my friends had which was really disappointing (so much for looking after existing customers) but I still went ahead with the upgrade order.

Everything went smooth to start with, I got a confirmation that an engineer would arrive on 25th March between 8am and 1pm 10 days after I placed the upgrade order. The equipment got delivered a few days before the engineer was due to arrive. I had an email telling me how to remove the broadband talk.

THEN ALL THE PROBLEMS STARTED !!!!

I rearranged to work from 5pm on the day the engineer was due to arrive. I waited until 3pm but the engineer never showed. I telephoned BT and was told that the engineer would call me shortly. Sure enough at 4pm I had a call from the engineer telling me that he was delayed on another job and was stuck in traffic but would be with me around 5pm. I had to ask my boyfriend to leave work early as I needed to work at 5pm. The engineer arrived at 5pm but said that the installation wold take 3-4 hours and no way he could do it, so no point in him turning up anyway..After a lengthy conversation with his supervisor on the phone he said that BT would call back within 24 hours to confirm a new appointment date. The engineer at that point said that he was the only engineer in the area capable of doing the installation and that a big backlog already existed (didn't sound too promising)

BT called me back on the 26Th March saying that a new date of April 10th had been stein the system. I realised the next day (27th March) that I had made arrangements to visit London on this particular day so telephoned BT and tried to re-schedule for April 5th. BT customer services told me that they would confirm if this was possible. I never heard anything back from BT so on Thursday 4th April I telephoned them again and they informed me that the appointment for the 10th April still stood and denied all knowledge of the conversation that I had with them regarding the switching of the appointment. I cancelled my plans for the 10th April and anxiously waited on the day for the engineer. what a total waste of time !! No show from the engineer and not even a phone call with more excuses as to why the engineer did not arrive.

At this point I got extremely frustrated and asked my boyfriend to contact them on my behalf. He has had to call them 4 times since 11th April to try to find out what is going on and every time is passed between 2 or 3 departments in the South Asian call centre. Every time they apologise but say that there is a problem (obviously) and that it has been 'escalated' and that a representative would call back within 24 hours advising a resolution. These call backs never happen.

So I hae had 2 wasted days and about 5 hours worth of wasted time telephoning them to find out what's going on. As far as looking after you as a customer all they do is apologise and pass you from one department to another, even saying that a senior manager would call back, all lies !!

What upsets me even more is that I have paid a years line rental up front to try to save some money. This was over a month ago and I still do not have the service that I am paying for.

I am seriously thinking about cancelling BT altogether and moving elsewhere unless one of the customer services represantives on here can help resolve the issues I am having in a timely manner.

BT_company_representative

Hi Umeczek,

I am sorry to hear that you have had a few problems with your order for BT Infinity. I would be able to look into this for you. Please could you send me in your details, using the link found in my profile?

Thanks

Paddy

TheWizard_2

I too am having issues with BT - placed an order for a phone line and Infinity on March 10 and still no internet service. I did buy a new build property so I understand some aspects of a delay, but what frustrates me more is the seemingly total lack on internal communication in BT, and the endless chasing that I need to do to try and move my case forward. Turns out that now, despite my phone line being functional for a week, "the engineers" havent yet confirmed this to BT ! .. BTCompanyRep, I would like to send you my case details.

BT_company_representative

Hi The Wizard,

I'd be happy to look into this for you. Please send me in your details using the link found in my profile.

Thanks

Paddy

saintscouple

hmmmm i filled in a form from the link in the reps profile but have not even had an acknowledgment. Perhaps i have to post my problem here for all to read in order to get a response??
When my father in law moved address it seem BT switched his invoicing method from paper to paper free and haven't issued him with a payment card....his former and present choice of payment method. I noticed this error on his account a few weeks ago - used the online BT chat facility where i was told that the method to paper would be applied and my father in law will be issued with an invoice and payment card in post, yet 2 days a go BT leave a message on his phone saying he hasn't paid his bill........but they haven't sent him one!!!
So i emailed Kathy Wilson [URL="wlmailhtml:{97A17230-6CCC-445E-8AAA-0B6B0A9B03B2}mid://00000117/!x-usc:mailto:kathy.2.wilson@bt.com"]kathy.2.wilson@bt.com[/URL] who was dealing with an installation complaint, but she has not replied....so i used the contact form from the bt reps profile http://bt.custhelp.com/app/contact_email/c/4950 and yep, haven't had any reply!
As I've stated to BT and on here in previous posts, my father in law is a disabled oap, so in ignoring my requests I am concerned BT will restrict my father in laws service through no fault of his own.
Guess we can only wait and see if BT want to respond and allow my father in law to continue paying his bills the way he was previous to moving. I feel aggrieved that BT changed his payment method without notifying him, he's not tech minded thus is unable to see his invoice online.

cider13

I moved house at the beginning of March to a house without a phone line connection. On 28th February online I ordered a new phone line to be put in by BT, I selected an appointment for Saturday 23rd March. I waited in all morning for the BT engineer to turn up, no one did. I received no phone call/letter etc to let me know they weren't coming. I eventually got through to customer service (now that's a joke of a name) and was told my appointment had been cancelled, but nobody could be bothered to let me know. My appointment was rearranged for over 2 weeks later (Tuesday 9th April) and I was told that a Saturday appointment was not possible, so as I have to be at work my partner who is self-employed took the day off to stay at home and wait for BT. Surprise, surprise at 10.18 that morning I got a text to say the engineer wasn't coming. Too late for my partner to get to work that day and another failed appointment. A new appointment was then booked for yesterday 25th April, yet again my partner waited in....for nothing. No phone call/text/letter, just a no-show. I am furious. I have wasted countless hours on the phone/e-mailing the complaints department and my partner has lost 2 days wages and we still have no landline or internet after 2 months. I would love to cancel my order and go with someone else but unfortunately we live in a very rural area and BT is the only option for installation. BT Rep I will be sending you my details.....

macman

cider13 wrote: »

I moved house at the beginning of March to a house without a phone line connection. On 28th February online I ordered a new phone line to be put in by BT, I selected an appointment for Saturday 23rd March. I waited in all morning for the BT engineer to turn up, no one did. I received no phone call/letter etc to let me know they weren't coming. I eventually got through to customer service (now that's a joke of a name) and was told my appointment had been cancelled, but nobody could be bothered to let me know. My appointment was rearranged for over 2 weeks later (Tuesday 9th April) and I was told that a Saturday appointment was not possible, so as I have to be at work my partner who is self-employed took the day off to stay at home and wait for BT. Surprise, surprise at 10.18 that morning I got a text to say the engineer wasn't coming. Too late for my partner to get to work that day and another failed appointment. A new appointment was then booked for yesterday 25th April, yet again my partner waited in....for nothing. No phone call/text/letter, just a no-show. I am furious. I have wasted countless hours on the phone/e-mailing the complaints department and my partner has lost 2 days wages and we still have no landline or internet after 2 months. I would love to cancel my order and go with someone else but unfortunately we live in a very rural area and BT is the only option for installation. BT Rep I will be sending you my details.....

No it's not, you can book a new line provision through almost any provider, but regardless of who you go with, it's BT Openreach who do the actual work. You placed your order with BT Retail, an entirely separate company. They have no more influence over OR than any other telcom does.
The problem is BT OR not communicating properly with BTR.

BT_company_representative

Hi Cider13,

I am really sorry to hear that your appointment has been missed again. If you send me in your details using the link found in my profile, I'll look into this for you.

Thanks

Paddy,