more BT incompetence

Annabee

Did a home move recently. Suprisingly, there was no BT line in the new house. As we also wanted to keep our old number we thought we would have to go with BT for this, so also agreed to move our broadband to them. They told us if we signed an 18 month contract there would be no charge for the installation of a new line.

First of all we were suprised that we would have to wait 3 weeks for a date for installation, meaning the first few days in our new home we would be without a landline, but oh well.

Next they told us they would send us the 'BT hub' (wireless router) and I'm pretty sure they said this would be free too. Later, on checking the order details online I saw that for some reason they wanted to send this to an old address we had left over 3 years previously. Spoke to very nice chap in call centre in India, who promised this would be corrected. A few days later I logged in again, and saw they were still intending to send it to the old adress (I'm sure the people we sold the house to would be very suprised to receive it. They are now selling that house again). Long story short, after several phone calls from me wondering where our new home hub was it turned out ... they had sent it to the old house. 'Don't worry' BT said 'It's not your fault and there's no way you will be charged'. We then received a hub at our correct address.

I just checked our bill and they have charged us for 3 home hubs @ £6 each. Don't know where the 3rd one came from, and I thought it was supposed to be free anyway.

But the worst thing is they have charged us £130 for installing a new line. We were promised this would be free, how can they go back on their word? I even rang them on the day it was being installed and they confirmed it would be free installation.

Also the BT engineers weren't very tidy and left a mess of wires in the corner of the room. Husband was an hour on the phone today trying to sort it out. The are supposed to be calling back within 48 hours. They seem to have us down at the wrong address, even though they managed to send their engineers here recently.

Incompetent thieving morons, I wish to goodness we had not agreed to stay with BT, and would NEVER use them again after this.

Heinz

You're talking about Openreach, the company, separate from BT Retail, which maintains and installs the PSTN.

With the exception of Virgin Media (cable), you'd get Openreach engineers regardless of which firm you chose as your provider.

Ady87

Correct^

Heinz you sound like you work in the industry, am i right?

brewerdave

Annabee wrote: »

Next they told us they would send us the 'BT hub' (wireless router) and I'm pretty sure they said this would be free too.
I just checked our bill and they have charged us for 3 home hubs @ £6 each. Don't know where the 3rd one came from, and I thought it was supposed to be free anyway.

Pretty sure they have charged you for p&p,not for the hubs themselves.This is normal even tho' the router itself is free. However,they have obviously re-ordered a Home Hub on the system every time you phoned.to query the address!!:(

Buzby

The real issue is the installation charge - Openreach have correctly billed for the provisioning of the line/service, but BT have erred in not supressing this charge as part of your agreement to the minimum term lock-in. Call BT and remind them of the promise of free installation, and it will be removed.

Annabee

Sorry to drag this thread up again, but I thought it would give the back-story. I can hardly believe it, but ...

No problems for the last year and a bit, but recently our homehub failed. They agreed to send out a new one within 48 hours. When it had not turned up, I called them and, you've guessed it, it was sent to our orignal address that we moved out of in 2008. We have moved twice since then!

Last time this happened I posted on a special BT forum mentioned here on MSE, and it seemd to do the trick. We were refunded and assured that the old address was removed from our records.

I asked the guy in the Indian call centre and he could not explain why this happens. He assured me he is sending on to our correct address and we will not be charged, but we'll see! Thing is, we might be moving again sometime this year, and I fully expect this to happen again.

What the hell is wrong with them??? (This is costing them money as well!)

macman

What address is shown on your online account and billing then?
The £6 charge is for P&P, not for the router itself.
BTW, you are not automatically entitled to a new Hub if it fails, as it's your property and not leased from BT or maintained as part of your contract. So don't be surprised if it's charged on your next bill, unless they agreed to supply it FOC (and possibly, this being BT, even if they did).
Never mind, only 4 months to go to the end of your minimum term and you can escape the 'incompetent thieving morons'...

Annabee

That's what I don't understand, the call centre have our correct address down (so they say and I checked with them). We have paperless billing. I just logged into our account, and our correct current address is on there.

They didn't mention a charge for the homehub. As we are still tied into contract with them, how could they justify charging? I mean, we need the homehub to be working for them to supply the broadband. Otherwise, could we end the contract early? I am confused!

Yes we will defiintely dump BT at the end of the contract, otherwise this could go on for years!

macman

No, you couldn't end the contract early. Because as I said, the hub is not leased. It comes with the contract effectively as a freebie. But if it fails, BT are not obliged to replace it FOC under the terms of the contract-though they can usually be persuaded to, as is hopefully the case here.
Same as your mobile phone contract-if the handset failed out of warranty, the provider doesn't have to replace or repair it FOC, but you are still in contract for the service.
Routers/HomeHubs are available on ebay from 99p upwards, you can use any one you wish-there's no requirement to use the BT model.