We'd like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum. This is to keep it a safe and useful space for MoneySaving discussions. Threads that are - or become - political in nature may be removed in line with the Forum’s rules. Thank you for your understanding.
🔔 You've got till Monday to apply to become an MSE Forum Ambassador
BT are beyond useless
dj_andy
Posts: 12 Forumite
I don't know where to start really, other than to say, BT will probably be in a small claims court very soon.
I am without a phoneline, I am without broadband, and my order was supposed to be completed yesterday.
They claim that my line is connected, and the system thinks it is working. I however can tell you catagorically that no it is not connected, and no it is not working.
The whole process has been a problem from start to finish. I've moved before and last time it was fine, this time no. Here's a time line of what has happened:
13/14 June 2012 - Order placed to move home on BT website
25 June 2012 - Order finally appears on BT system/My BT, and the order date claims to be for this day, some 11 days after my original order date. Why? I get a scheduled completion date of 10th July, I get an engineer appointment for the afternoon of the 10th July. Great. Its appaling the length of time its going to take anyway seeing as its only a small exchange. I accepted that. I book half a days holiday as the guy would be coming in the afternoon.
5 June 2012 - I get a text message to say that my service has been connected, please reply to this telling us if your line works or not. I reply NO because it wasn't working. I give it all day as I expect when you tell them NO, they're going to call me.
6 July 2012 - I check my order status, the engineer has been canceled? WHAT? So I phone BT up. I wait 20 minutes in the queue to then get "Sorry there is a fault" and get cut off. I then call again and ask for a ring back, to which I get told they cancelled the booking because there is already a line connected, and they won't need to, so I explain the landlord has told me no line was installed in my flat because she always pays for connection if a tenant wants a line, and get stuck back in a queue for ANOTHER 30 minutes to which point, I gave up and tried to find another number, to which I finally get through after 10 minutes, and get the engineer rebooked.
10 July 2012 - Installtion day arrives. I leave at 12pm as my engineer is booked between 1pm and 6pm. Get home, the BT Homehub is outside my door waiting for me, happy days. So I go and get it out of the box and get the phone plugged in with the filters and other bits ready for the engineer to come and check the line etc. 6pm arrives, I check my order status, and suprise suprise its gone from the system, and no engineer has called or attended, so I call BT, and spend another 20 minutes queing and then called back to spend another 45 minutes on the phone, to be told I have to wait till tomorrow for the order to close, and that I would get a call back before 12pm.
11 July 2012 - No call back from adviser as promised. Called BT again at 12:05, sat in the queue, and spoke to another adviser "Julyani" who spoke to the engineers department, who came back and said that July 19th is the earliest appointment they could get me, I explained this was NOT acceptable, and she said she would try and get them to arrange one within 24 hours. As soon as she finds out, I'll have a call back. I'm not holding my breath.
Since writing of this originally a few hours ago:
Been on the phone 3 times since lunch trying to get an answer, and an engineer to fix my line. The last call resulted in me waiting for a call back within 20 minutes. Its now been two hours.
Total losses so far:
About £100 on Openzone/FON/Mobile broadband charges
Half a days holiday
6 hours of my life in telephone calls. Edit: clocking up to about 7/7.5 hours now.
My marbles.
What ever it has cost my current employer for the time spent letting me deal with the problem.
The cost of being unable to support my users at my place of employment out of hours.
Potentially a lot more money for an activity that my employer as arranged for tomorrow that I will be charged for if I cancel my place because an engineer is due to come out (again not holding my breath that happens).
I also start a new job with a new employer next week. I don't think they are going to appreciate me changing my work patterns in my first week because of BT.
This is not acceptable, and they are clearly in breach of contract. I am now considering taking legal action.
These are new build flats with cabling installed ready for BT to connect a line up. I have a master socket too, but it doesn't work.
I am without a phoneline, I am without broadband, and my order was supposed to be completed yesterday.
They claim that my line is connected, and the system thinks it is working. I however can tell you catagorically that no it is not connected, and no it is not working.
The whole process has been a problem from start to finish. I've moved before and last time it was fine, this time no. Here's a time line of what has happened:
13/14 June 2012 - Order placed to move home on BT website
25 June 2012 - Order finally appears on BT system/My BT, and the order date claims to be for this day, some 11 days after my original order date. Why? I get a scheduled completion date of 10th July, I get an engineer appointment for the afternoon of the 10th July. Great. Its appaling the length of time its going to take anyway seeing as its only a small exchange. I accepted that. I book half a days holiday as the guy would be coming in the afternoon.
5 June 2012 - I get a text message to say that my service has been connected, please reply to this telling us if your line works or not. I reply NO because it wasn't working. I give it all day as I expect when you tell them NO, they're going to call me.
6 July 2012 - I check my order status, the engineer has been canceled? WHAT? So I phone BT up. I wait 20 minutes in the queue to then get "Sorry there is a fault" and get cut off. I then call again and ask for a ring back, to which I get told they cancelled the booking because there is already a line connected, and they won't need to, so I explain the landlord has told me no line was installed in my flat because she always pays for connection if a tenant wants a line, and get stuck back in a queue for ANOTHER 30 minutes to which point, I gave up and tried to find another number, to which I finally get through after 10 minutes, and get the engineer rebooked.
10 July 2012 - Installtion day arrives. I leave at 12pm as my engineer is booked between 1pm and 6pm. Get home, the BT Homehub is outside my door waiting for me, happy days. So I go and get it out of the box and get the phone plugged in with the filters and other bits ready for the engineer to come and check the line etc. 6pm arrives, I check my order status, and suprise suprise its gone from the system, and no engineer has called or attended, so I call BT, and spend another 20 minutes queing and then called back to spend another 45 minutes on the phone, to be told I have to wait till tomorrow for the order to close, and that I would get a call back before 12pm.
11 July 2012 - No call back from adviser as promised. Called BT again at 12:05, sat in the queue, and spoke to another adviser "Julyani" who spoke to the engineers department, who came back and said that July 19th is the earliest appointment they could get me, I explained this was NOT acceptable, and she said she would try and get them to arrange one within 24 hours. As soon as she finds out, I'll have a call back. I'm not holding my breath.
Since writing of this originally a few hours ago:
Been on the phone 3 times since lunch trying to get an answer, and an engineer to fix my line. The last call resulted in me waiting for a call back within 20 minutes. Its now been two hours.
Total losses so far:
About £100 on Openzone/FON/Mobile broadband charges
Half a days holiday
6 hours of my life in telephone calls. Edit: clocking up to about 7/7.5 hours now.
My marbles.
What ever it has cost my current employer for the time spent letting me deal with the problem.
The cost of being unable to support my users at my place of employment out of hours.
Potentially a lot more money for an activity that my employer as arranged for tomorrow that I will be charged for if I cancel my place because an engineer is due to come out (again not holding my breath that happens).
I also start a new job with a new employer next week. I don't think they are going to appreciate me changing my work patterns in my first week because of BT.
This is not acceptable, and they are clearly in breach of contract. I am now considering taking legal action.
These are new build flats with cabling installed ready for BT to connect a line up. I have a master socket too, but it doesn't work.
0
Comments
-
One wet and windy Saturday morning (16 June) a polite BT engineer knocked at the door and told us the line would be off for 3 hours while they replaced the pole outside.
We waited and waited for internet access to be resumed. The engineers had gone home. Phone still dead. Went to phone box to report fault. Given date of following Thur for an engineer visit! Later this was changed in a text to my mobile to the Tue after that.
Took laptop to pub for the wifi, complained on BT site.
Some days later got a mobile call saying they were very sorry and would try to come on Monday 25th. They didn't.
But then on Tue a polite engineer did come!!
And found the fault on their new pole within 5 minutes.
Can I claim compensation for the time without a line?0 -
You need to chill a bit.
Is this a Residential line install? If so, thee is no consequential loss payment for non-provision so you will have to carry tha costs yourself. Incompetence is allowed for by the courts so you'll probably find you are additionally out the court fees AND BTs, should they decide to attend and reject your claim.
Finally, until your line is actually installed and working (are you being billed for it?) you cannot claim disruption, which will be limited to the equivalent line rental only.0 -
You need to chill a bit.
Is this a Residential line install? If so, thee is no consequential loss payment for non-provision so you will have to carry tha costs yourself. Incompetence is allowed for by the courts so you'll probably find you are additionally out the court fees AND BTs, should they decide to attend and reject your claim.
Finally, until your line is actually installed and working (are you being billed for it?) you cannot claim disruption, which will be limited to the equivalent line rental only.
I don't know whether you actually read what I had to say but...
1. Yes BT claim the line is installed and working, and line tests pass. However this is not the case in my flat from the test socket on the master socket.
2. Yes I am being billed for the line, and every day that I am without it I am going to claim compensation for.
The fact of the matter is the poor communication between BT engineers, me and BT themselves.
Please take the time to read what I have said before posting.0 -
Hi dj_andy,
I can look into this for you so if you want send over your details. You can get our ???Contact us??? form by clicking on my username.
All the best,
Stephanie“Official Company Representative
I am the official company representative of BT. MSE has given permission for me to post in response to queries about the company, so that I can help solve issues. You can see my name on the companies with permission to post list. I am not allowed to tout for business at all. If you believe I am please report it to forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com This does NOT imply any form of approval of my company or its products by MSE"0 -
Another example of incompetence by OpenReach and BTw.0
This discussion has been closed.
Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply
Categories
- All Categories
- 348.8K Banking & Borrowing
- 252.3K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
- 452.6K Spending & Discounts
- 241.6K Work, Benefits & Business
- 618.2K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
- 175.9K Life & Family
- 254.7K Travel & Transport
- 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
- 16.1K Discuss & Feedback
- 15.1K Coronavirus Support Boards