Problems with Sky and BTOpenreach

PriceofPrivatisation

Hi all,

After having finally sorted a phone line and broadband through Sky I wanted to post somewhere on the internet to try and help others having a similar problem.

We've had an absolute nightmare with Sky, and more specifically BT Openreach. Essentially our TV installation went as smooth as you like, but the line rental (and therefore the internet installation) was incredibly stressful.

I won't bore you with too many of the details, but essentially we saw four engineers over the space of three months and all of them left the property promising to return and complete the job later in the day, but we never saw them again.

Customer services from Sky were useless while BT craftily try and disassociate themselves from Openreach, despite being the same company. Nobody from BT would talk to us about the problems we were having. Now to the nitty gritty.

If you're having trouble, go to where the decisions can be made. We struggled for months doing everything by the book and contacting customer services and nothing was done. Eventually I had to send some emails to people in high places to get things done.

First, on Sky's side, there's Jeremy Darroch. I'm not sure if we can give personal emails out on here, but you can work this one out. At Sky all personal email addresses are [First Name][.][Surname]@bskyb.com

Don't forget it's @bskyb.com, and not simply @sky.com.*

You'll also want to email the escalations team. That's [EMAIL="estenquiries@bskyb.com"]estenquiries@bskyb.com[/EMAIL]

Now onto BT. Make sure you send this email to BT too as they need to know that they can't hide behind the fact that Openreach is not a provider.

*is the CEO of BT Openreach.

*

You should also email the following: [EMAIL="dso@openreach.co.uk"]dso@openreach.co.uk[/EMAIL]

Finally, you may want to call Sky's escalation team directly. You can reach them on 08442411646.

You will be amazed at how quickly people start falling over themselves to help you!

I think it's an absolute disgrace that people should have to go to these lengths just to be listened to and it seemed to me that they were only interested in my problem once someone with authority was part of the loop. Like most things it seems to be survival of the fittest where only those with leverage get anywhere.

I believe things could be done better, rather than private companies ripping everyone off wherever there's a natural monopoly. But until things change we've got to play by the rules, so get emailing! I guarantee the CEO of BT will not want to be fielding 1000s of emails about how crap Openreach's contracter service to Sky is!

Good luck everyone.

cynicalgit_2

BT are far too preoccupied pouring money into their fatuous,fantasy football channel to be bothered with everyday customers.
They're rapidly becoming the Ryanair of the Telecommunications industry.

Oli.s

What was the problem?

macman

BT Openreach and BT Retail are not the same company. They are part of the same group, but the OR have the same relationship to BTR as to any other ISP, such as Sky. BTR do not get any 'special treatment' and OR are not allowed to give it.
You have no contract with OR or BT, so your sole redress is with Sky, who employ OR as their subcontractor. Unfortunately, since OR are a law unto themselves, and are notorious for breaking appointments, there's not a lot that Sky can do when they let people down, as they're the last to know.

PriceofPrivatisation

They're not the same company in the same way that the masive multi-billion pound energy generating arms of our gas providers are not the same company as their providers.

This is Capitalism at its finest. BT and BT Openreach are the same company in all, but semantics (and definitely when it comes to profit). Why else would BT's CEO be interested enough to respond to an email about Openreach?

These companies are taking the mickey out of us and many of us defend them. :wall:

iniltous

Liv Garfield is the CEO of Openreach not BT Group

PriceofPrivatisation

Apologies, you are correct.

Doing a quick google search reveals she is in fact CEO of Openreach. Promoted by BT from a position within BT Group. I'm not particularly interested in a BT who's who, but the point still stands that they are effectively the same company and only 'seperate' when it suits them.

I didn't start this thread to debate this sort of stuff though, I was just hoping that at least one other person might find this stuff useful as when I was scouring the internet for email addresses etc I struggled.

youandiaredominoes

Thanks PriceofPrivatisation

Your situation seems to be a carbon copy of the disgraceful service I have received from Sky and BT open reach.

I was due to have my Sky broadband installed on the Sunday 8th of September 2013 but this appointment was cancelled late on in the designated window but rescheduled for the Friday 13th September. This second appointment was also cancelled at during the allocated window too. The next available slot to fix the broadband was Monday 14th October (one month after the previous slot). Again, I had to work from home and whilst the engineer did pop round he was unable to complete the job. The main reason was that he required a hoist to make the connection at the top of the telegraph poll, however, he assured me it would be completed later that day, or at the latest on Wednesday 16th October. It was not completed at all so I phoned your colleagues again to see what was happening and I was then told that the next appointment available is 18th November!

I've been promised countless call backs which never happened and spent £64 on calling and chasing Sky. I've been left on hold for 25 minutes with no answer too. My case has been batted around from person to person, with no ownership of the issue. It is an utter abomination!

I know Sky rely on BT to install it but the whole experience has tainted my view of Sky and as much as I like the TV service, I would not recommend them to anyone!

I've spoken to a helpful agent who has taken more ownership of my issue and I have been offered a goodwill gesture - but this does not cover the cost of a) not having any broadband, b) the time spent chasing, c) the money spent chasing the issue, or d) the damage to Sky's reputation in handling this whole issue.

I am going to escalate this further and explain my dissatisfaction to the people you mention. Thanks for the links - have you had much luck or response? Is it worth informing Ofcom or other consumer rights groups?

Quentin

PriceofPrivatisation wrote: »

I didn't start this thread to debate this sort of stuff though, I was just hoping that at least one other person might find this stuff useful as when I was scoruing the internet for email addresses etc I struggled.

Well...........you posted what you thought was a clever way to get round the site rules, and will have caused harrassment to the woman you wrongly told us all to contact!

PriceofPrivatisation

Where does it say in forum rules that you cannot post email addresses? I took care not to post links to personal emails directly, but provided enough information so that anyone who is having trouble could get it sorted. Is that a problem? If so I can be more cryptic, but surely information is our only weapon in these disputes?

As far as causing harrassment to Olivia Garfield. As someone has pointed out here, she is CEO of BT Openreach, a company with the worst customer service I have ever experienced.

I still can't understand why people seem so keen to defend these massive companies and the way they treat us all with contempt?

Why would you be concerned with her being 'harrassed' by people using her company's service that have been mucked about for months on end? Frankly, I hope she does feel harrassed, because that's how I felt for three months talking to useless customer service people over and over again.

Youandiaredominoes - My situation was quickly resolved after contacting these people, though why I had to go to that level to get things sorted I'll never know. My advice is email all of them. The sooner they realise that people are getting an awful service the sooner they might do something about it.

macman

I repeat-it's nothing to do with OR. Your contract is with Sky and it's up to them to resolve any issues with OR as their subcontractor (tricky though that often is).
OR are not a retail company and don't dial direct with the public.
To use your own analogy, would you contract Centrica to resolve an issue with your BG account? I think not.