My Hell with British Telecom

trojanhunter007

Hi all,
I am after some advise and i warn you this is a fairly long story so please bear with me.

It all started back on the 6th October 2011 when i noticed my broadband kept dropping out every 2 mins. at this same time i notice a bt open reach worker descending from the pole in the road my phone line is connected to.

So i went over the road to talk to the guy and let him know my broadband is playing up might it be something he has done.

He said he would be back in 10 mins as he had to look at another pole but would be back to investigate.

Did i see him again did i hell so i started calling BT to log my my fault I.E broadband keep dropping out and a very very noisy phone line but i was told time and time again that they could find no fault with my line with the tests they do from there end.

So after a month they agreed to send a open reach engineer to my address to investigate the problem yippee.

I waited in all day for the engineer and he was a no show now there’s a surprise.

So i phoned the next day to complain and was again promised a engineer will call in a few days this time i wanted a top manager to deal with this problem and i was put through to a desk that deals with these sort of things.

The manager i spoke to sent me a text message confirming the day and time a engineer will call and said he would phone at 16:00 that day to confirm that the repair had been done and that i would be very happy with the out come.

The engineer called and i had my uncle here who is a ex BT engineer to translate there jargon lol.

I told there engineer about the guy up the pole a month ago he instantly got his ladder out and went up the pole he indeed found that 1 of the wire connecting our house had been knocked off and replaced the broken part all was now OK and working again.

The manager phoned that day at 16:00 as agreed and i told him it was repaired but i want to discuss compensation as i felt it unfair i would have to pay for a month of no or very little service, i was assured i would be not charged for October and that i would be very happy.

So i didn’t put the money into my BT account to pay for October and thought every thing would ok that was untill i was disconnect after being 3 weeks late for paying the so called short fall.

I phoned 6 times to complain about what has happened and asked time and time again to speak to a manager was promised time and time again a manager would call me but never did.

My daughter were due to get laptops for Christmas so i had to pay the outstanding bill to get reconnected for Christmas.

I feel let down bullied by this company who has still not reimbursed my i wrote a email complaining about and have received a letter through the post this morning.

They say under the customer service guarantee scheme compensation will only be paid for TOTAL LOSS OF SERVICE.

Then i go on to say pay the bill or we will terminate your account have a nice day.

Can you believe a fault caused be one of they workers at the very beginning and i the one who has suffered and has to pay.

I did have complete and total loss of service for at least a fortnight and very patchy service through out that month.

What can i do they seem to be playing the whole thing down if i could afford it i would take them to court for this.

stu

iniltous

Not paying your bill wasnt the best thing to do, if you got an offer of some compensation it would be as a credit to your bill not by missing a payment....is your phone and broadband BT or do you have different suppliers ?, did you report the broadband faulty or the phone side faulty, because (in the case of BT) the broadband and telephony sides are separate...probably the best you could do is write a letter to the billing department of whatever part of BT you reported the fault with, stating that as you had no service for several days you want a refund of those days rental, but bear in mind that if its the broadband you reported they proabably can see when your line was in sync and when it wasnt,

Buzby

Well - the point about the rebate for loss of service is you wait until it appears on your bill, then pay this reduced amount. It is not up to you to arbitrarily pay a lesser amount, as until it appears on the billing system, will cause all sorts of horrors - pretty much like you've just experienced.

You need to fully document your service issues, patchy service is hard to prove, but providing you are reasonable, they're usually minded to believe you. Total loss of service is easier, and results is a refund based on the daily rate for loss of service based on your package, you may get a little extra but nothing that could be described as compensation.

DUTR

trojanhunter007 wrote: »

Hi all,
I am after some advise and i warn you this is a fairly long story so please bear with me.


stu

You also wrote


It all started back on the 6th October 2011 when i noticed my broadband kept dropping out every 2 mins. at this same time i notice a bt open reach worker descending from the pole in the road my phone line is connected to.

What you had done if had had not ust so happened to notice the guy up the pole?

So i went over the road to talk to the guy and let him know my broadband is playing up might it be something he has done.

That is not the fault reporting proceedure,

He said he would be back in 10 mins as he had to look at another pole but would be back to investigate.

Did i see him again did i hell

correct he has a list of jobs to complete and yours was not on his list
so i started calling BT to log my my fault I.E broadband keep dropping out and a very very noisy phone line

Which is what you should have done initially.

but i was told time and time again that they could find no fault with my line with the tests they do from there end.

So after a month they agreed to send a open reach engineer to my address to investigate the problem yippee.

I waited in all day for the engineer and he was a no show now there’s a surprise.

So i phoned the next day to complain and was again promised a engineer will call in a few days this time i wanted a top manager to deal with this problem and i was put through to a desk that deals with these sort of things.

The manager i spoke to sent me a text message confirming the day and time a engineer will call and said he would phone at 16:00 that day to confirm that the repair had been done and that i would be very happy with the out come.

Not sure how/why they would predict how you may feel if the fault has not been yet rectified.

The engineer called and i had my uncle here who is a ex BT engineer to translate there jargon lol.

What jargon?
Your Uncle if ex BT would be able to explain to you the proceedures

I told there engineer about the guy up the pole a month ago he instantly got his ladder out and went up the pole he indeed found that 1 of the wire connecting our house had been knocked off and replaced the broken part all was now OK and working again.

Great

The manager phoned that day at 16:00 as agreed and i told him it was repaired but i want to discuss compensation as i felt it unfair i would have to pay for a month of no or very little service, i was assured i would be not charged for October and that i would be very happy.

What does the terms and conditions say on the agreement you signed up to? As I am sure no provider would gaurantee 100% service availabilty 100% of the time. Are you sure you have a valid claim?

So i didn’t put the money into my BT account to pay for October and thought every thing would ok that was untill i was disconnect after being 3 weeks late for paying the so called short fall.

Yep, you cannot be the judge and jury on your perception of a resolve

I phoned 6 times to complain about what has happened and asked time and time again to speak to a manager was promised time and time again a manager would call me but never did.

My daughter were due to get laptops for Christmas so i had to pay the outstanding bill to get reconnected for Christmas.

Yep that would be in the T&Cs you agreed to.

I feel let down bullied by this company who has still not reimbursed my i wrote a email complaining about and have received a letter through the post this morning.

They say under the customer service guarantee scheme compensation will only be paid for TOTAL LOSS OF SERVICE.

Which is in the T&Cs you agreed to, your Uncle would have been able to explain the jargon

Then i go on to say pay the bill or we will terminate your account have a nice day.

Can you believe a fault caused be one of they workers at the very beginning and i the one who has suffered and has to pay.

You don't know that the 1st engineer caused the fault, your Uncle would be able to explain that to you.

I did have complete and total loss of service for at least a fortnight and very patchy service through out that month.

You either had loss of service or intermittent service, make your mind up

What can i do they seem to be playing the whole thing down if i could afford it i would take them to court for this.

If you believe you have a case then take them to court as you would be awarded costs, but you know what, hand on heart, you took matters into your own hands at the outset, you have defaulted on the agreement and now you want them to recompense you for that. You know you are not onto a winner, have a cup of tea and just put it down to experience.