Help With BT (Internet & Phone)

FarzRocks

Hi there , I would appreciate any help or advice here , this may take a while to read though lol

2 years ago I signed up to BT , got the full package , Unlimited Calls and Unlimited Internet . Not a bad price for it , but money wasnt an issue , we knew what we were getting and what we wanted ......

Move on a couple of months , and then things went wrong quickly ...... if my house phone received a call , my internet disconnected (sometimes for hours , sometimes for days), if someone called my neighbor upstairs , I was also disconnected (Yes my ethernet is connected to my hub , one for the pc , one for the xbox) .

I started complaining to BT every-time our Internet disconnected , which wasn't with every phone call , but happened near enough everyday or so . I had quite a few conversations with Customer Service and umpteen Engineers out to 'solve' the problem . October of 2012 I was told our contract had ran out in August , and wasnt renewed , so I tried to leave then and there , but ! , was given a great deal and a Free Accelerator worth £50 to cover the cost of me going without Internet for 2 weeks but still being charged for it (as they told me, they don't do refunds) so the Accelerator was an incentive to keep me , It bloody worked ! lol After a full year of hassle and being told they could not find a fault , this Accelerator was actually looking good , they told me my average speed was 2mb , and this would be bumped up a bit and give me a better internet connection , so I agreed to a great deal and the Accelerator .


Now come January the problems hadn't left , but I was working late nights and never seemed to be able to get the right person who was needed to deal with this on the phone till early January . I explained my problems , and they yet again sent another Engineer out , he said the same as the last 20 guys , no fault could be found ....... so I refused to pay my Jan Bill , not the calls or line rental , just my internet bill , as I wasn't receiving internet so I certainly wasn't going to pay for it , but , they told me they could not fix the problem or talk about my account until my bill was paid , this happened again in Feb , now its happened again in March ....... I again put yet another cmplaint in and was told another Engineer would be out , he showed up last week and said ''Your just hitting the 2mb mark , your connection box is a mile away from your house , but infinity is 150 yards away from your house , I would advise you to upgrade , oh and that Accelerator you have , its not an Accelerator , its just a face plate for your phone line ..... its useless and worth about 3 quid . Take photos of it and send it to BT , let them see what you got ...... '' I was quite shocked .


So I owe BT £130 . That's my Feb bill and my March bill , I spent 4 hours and 40 minutes on the phone to BT on Tuesday alone, went through 7 advisers (have it all written down , including names) all Advisers said the same thing , pay your bill then lets talk , but I told them that if it was that easy , I would have no phone and internet problems . Now they want the bill in full along with £30 in charges . Now its not about the money , I have the payment here , but I am not paying for a service I am not receiving , I have said this to all the advisers repeatedly , 2 of them even hung up on me Dont worry , I have names .

So basically ....

They wont let me leave said contract without paying £270 plus the bill ....
They wont upgrade me , because apparently I don't 'qualify' for Infinity ...
They wont refund me what they owe me because they don't do refunds .....
They wont fix my Internet Connection (which was promised to be at least 5mb at time of sign up) ...
Or My phone connection (brand new line btw , I paid the £120 for it) ....
They wont talk about my account till I pay bills , but when I do they just send out Engineers and they all say , they can find no fault ....


I asked them to record me on Tuesday , and told them straight , I will pay my phone line and calling bill , but not my internet , they said ' then we will charge you late payment fees and disconnect you , you must pay the bill in full' .......

I'm getting really p'off now ..... I have to pay for something Im not receiving to get help that wont work ...... how do I get out of this train wreck ?

Thanks for reading any help or advise welcome ......

macman

Broadband dropping when a voice call is made or received-classic sign of faulty ADSL filters. Did you swap them out one by one to see? Did you retest from the BT test socket behind the master socket faceplate, which disconnects your extension wiring?
These are both basic user self-tests which BT should have taken you thorough long before an engineer was called out.
If the problem is a line fault or a problem on your own internal wiring, then an upgrade to Infinity wouldn't help (even if it was available)-FTTC is still the same copper wire from the street cab.

giraffe69

Can you confirm you have done checks on your side of the wiring i.e. check the ADSL filters as suggested above and plugging the hub directly into the master socket to eliminate any problem of your own wiring. Until you have done this you are not in a strong position.

FarzRocks

Done all checks , every time I call them they ask me to do these checks , hence why I now have a screwdriver beside me at all times , I even take it so far as to mention this to them and start it off myself , with no results ......

3 times now they have sent me out new ADSL cables , nothing changes .

I should also mention , my box (which connects my hub & phone) has been replaced twice now , the last time just last week with that engineer ...... on the phone to BT on Tuesday and now they are sending out yet another Engineer ....... Its almost like I have a dial up connection , its that laggy . Right now I'm sitting at 174,755,896 on Received ...... got 2 tabs up , no other connections running (either to hub through ethernet or wifi) but I'm still lagging .

FarzRocks

macman wrote: »

Broadband dropping when a voice call is made or received-classic sign of faulty ADSL filters. Did you swap them out one by one to see? Did you retest from the BT test socket behind the master socket faceplate, which disconnects your extension wiring?
These are both basic user self-tests which BT should have taken you thorough long before an engineer was called out.
If the problem is a line fault or a problem on your own internal wiring, then an upgrade to Infinity wouldn't help (even if it was available)-FTTC is still the same copper wire from the street cab.

Yes to all . They send me out new ADSL cables , then talk me through the removal , switch connections , reset hub and then Test online , I get call backs telling me they are then sending an Engineer out ..... its repetitive . If It was a fault outside , then wouldn't they see this through the tests they perform both by phone and when the Engineer comes out ?

FarzRocks

giraffe69 wrote: »

Can you confirm you have done checks on your side of the wiring i.e. check the ADSL filters as suggested above and plugging the hub directly into the master socket to eliminate any problem of your own wiring. Until you have done this you are not in a strong position.

Yup , can confirm all tests done by me , then done by the Engineers who come out ...... no change .....

BT_company_representative

Hi FarzRocks,

I would like to take a look at your Broadband for you. Please could you send me in your details using the link found in my profile?

Once I have those details I'll look into this and reply to you directly.

Thanks

Paddy,