BT Service Levels - my rights?

scottishminnie

HI

Hoping someone can point me in the right direction.

Our home phone has been out of order since 3rd January. Hubby and I were on holiday when it happened but my mother was checking the house as there had been really bad weather and discovered phone was dead. She did the relevant checks inside etc then contacted BT - they refused to log/act on the fault report as she wasn't the account holder and we were out of the country (and, according to BT, therefore did not need the phone anyway).

Anyway, we returned on Sunday at which point I immediately contacted them. I've been told that the earliest an engineer "may" get to me is Thursday 26th. Now I understand that as far as they are concerned the fault only occured on 15th January but I would have expected a response soner than 11 days later.

Can anyone point me to the service levels on their website? - I've just been informed by one of their staff that there is "no such thing" and that they can take up to 28 days to restore my service.

I don't see why I should pay line rental and broadband rental for a service I don't have - a couple of days to fix a fault is one thing but up to a month is simply not on when I'm paying for a service I don't have.

Thanks

Browntoa

page 9

http://www.btplc.com/Thegroup/RegulatoryandPublicaffairs/Codeofpractice/Consumercodeofpractice/BTResidentialCodeofPractice.pdf

paragraph 8

http://www.productsandservices.bt.com/consumerOrders/control/termsandconditions?docId=28237&pageTitle=Terms

1. If something goes wrong, we will work on any problem that is reported to us in line with the level of repair service that you have chosen. Not all levels of repair service may be available with your service. We offer a guarantee if we delay the installation or repair of your telephone line. See the section "Our responsibility to you" below for more details.
2. We offer you the following main repair services:
3. Standardcare operates during the period (0800 – 1800 hrs Monday to Friday, excluding Bank and Public Holidays). BT aim to repair a fault reported before 2100 hrs on one working day by the end of the second working day after the day you reported the fault.

and under our responsibility

1. to repair a service failure in line with the repair service you have chosen, normally this means by midnight on the third weekday (not including public and bank holidays) after the day you report the fault to us unless a specific appointment date is agreed. We will treat a fault reported after 9pm on a weekday, or anytime at weekends or on public or bank holidays, as if you reported the fault at 8am on the next weekday after the day you reported the fault to us.

scottishminnie

Thanks for that - I'd trawled their website and couldn't find it. It's not fun only having internet access at work!

Browntoa

think they are using "unless a specific appointment date is agreed" as the escape clause here ??

scottishminnie

I haven't agreed a specific date. The date of 26th was what they said was the earliest they "might" get to me but couldn't guarantee it. They told me if I called back on the 23rd they "should" be able to confirm when the engineer will be coming.

macman

There is no SLA on a residential contract. However you should get a line rental credit for the downtime if you ask-it's not automatic.
As to repair times, OR are a law unto themselves, BT have no more control over them than any other telcom.

Browntoa

I had no line for almost a month due to a cable fault , after some bouncng between billing and faults I did finally get a refund for a months broadband as a credit as well

iniltous

If the line isnt repaired within the time quoted earlier you are due compensation, but its probably only going to be a refund of line rental for the days the line was out of order, after the 3 working days (if on a standard care contract)...the appointment bit is to stop someone making an appointment (if access to the property were reqd) for a date way into the future then expecting compensation for all the days until the appointment date....
You have to accept though that some problems can take a lot longer than 3 days to fix, storm damage for example, if this is the case they can apply a clause 'Matters beyond our reasonable control' and the dates can slip, or if for example a road needs to be excavated and the council doesnt give the required notice, then obviously any repair can be delayed