At my wits end with BT

jacobtheamish

I foolishly signed up to BT to provide a broadband service and associated line rental etc.
The 'live' date was set for 1st August, I paid £6.50 for something and agreed to a 18 month contract.

1st Aug 2013 - Nothing, no dial tone, no broadband. Nothing! I called BT, they confirmed they would send an engineer out and that the problem was with their exchange.

3rd August - Wait in all day for Engineer, does not turn up. BT say that the problem is external and they will visit another day and that I do not need to be at home.

5th August - Telephone now works, broadband is intermittent. Turns out that the broadband only connects for a short period of time, in fact it drops signal 10,000 times every 24 hours.

15th August - I have given BT the 10 days they say they need to allow the line to stabilise, still no broadband. They will arrange for an engineer to visit the property, but will only provide appointments on weekdays. They have sold all the Saturday appointments to 3rd party providers (Sky etc)
I work Monday to Friday, I have taken the final 3 days holiday I had left to stay at home for BT engineers to not turn up. I have no more holiday to take off. I live alone, I have no familiy nearby and my friends work too.
Can I cancel this service?
BT have told me I would have to pay £360, I don't think this is fair, is it?

They have not provided the service they agreed to. I'm thinking I'll just go with a 3rd party such as SKY etc who have appointments on Saturdays.

Any help would be much appreciated

macman

Since it's BT OR who will repair the fault regardless, switching to another provider won't help, even if you could do it without getting hit with the ETC.
There is no SLA on a residential contact-all you can do is ask for a goodwill payment.

jacobtheamish

Sky have confirmed they can provide a BT engineer on a Saturday.

BT have told me they cannot provide an engineer as the slots have been sold the 3rd parties.

Surely if BT cannot provide the services as agreed in the contract, they have breached making it void?

Buzby

No - because it is you not giving them the opportunity to repair. The fact a another reseller offers a Sat appointment is of no relevance. Only if they stated they offered it (Mon-Sat) and refused.

You cannot cancel at no cost because of your inability to let them in!

jacobtheamish

Buzby wrote: »

No - because it is you not giving them the opportunity to repair. The fact a another reseller offers a Sat appointment is of no relevance. Only if they stated they offered it (Mon-Sat) and refused.

You cannot cancel at no cost because of your inability to let them in!

So despite taking three seperate days off from work, using my last avaliable holidays, to provide access to BT. They failed to turn up.
I currently receive no internet service but they are charging me for it anyway.
Should I resign from my job, so as to provide BT with access to my house?

BT_company_representative

Hi Jacobtheamish,

I would like to take a look at what is happening with your Broadband fault. Please can you send me in your details using the link found in my profile?

Thanks

Paddy

pelirocco

Buzby wrote: »

No - because it is you not giving them the opportunity to repair. The fact a another reseller offers a Sat appointment is of no relevance. Only if they stated they offered it (Mon-Sat) and refused.

You cannot cancel at no cost because of your inability to let them in!

The Op has taken time off to let them in , its BT who are causing the problem . Its not even a reapir really is it , its never worked properly in the first place !

I feel your pain OP , it took them 6 months to get a broadband line into our work place , then several attempts to get it to work

God help you if they send one of their subbies out ;they are bloody useless

jacobtheamish

BT_company_representative wrote: »

Hi Jacobtheamish,

I would like to take a look at what is happening with your Broadband fault. Please can you send me in your details using the link found in my profile?

Thanks

Paddy

Thank you for your reply Paddy,

The problem with the Broadband is apparently resolved today, although I am at work so unable to check currently. To be honest, the lack of broadband/service is only the minor issue. My frustration is with the way I have been treated by BT staff at the Chennai call centre and the lack of ownership taken by the Options team. In total I have spent just over 12 hours on the telephone to BT over the last 20 days, received threats from staff and service unlike no other company. Even the most incompetent person/company returns calls sometimes!

I have now written to the complaints department, in addition to providing documentation of my experience to my local Trading Standards officer. I have given BT 8 weeks to look into the issue, to resolve and compensate. If they are unwilling, I will provide Ofcom with telephone recordings and transcripts of online chats.
The BBC contacted me on Monday with regards to providing details of my experience for a television show.

Clearly receiving the award for the worst customer care has done nothing, I would love to meet the hiring commitee responsible for the appointment of the Director of Customer Sertvice at BT Retail. I genuinely would think Mugabe would do a better job of running this dreadful company.


Anyway, I think we are beyond your help. I just hope others will use my experience for research when choosing a new Telecom provider.

jacobtheamish

pelirocco wrote: »

The Op has taken time off to let them in , its BT who are causing the problem . Its not even a reapir really is it , its never worked properly in the first place !

I feel your pain OP , it took them 6 months to get a broadband line into our work place , then several attempts to get it to work

God help you if they send one of their subbies out ;they are bloody useless

Yes thank you, unfortunately as with BT, some people comment without taking the time to read and understand the problem. I should just ignore such ignorance