BT cancel my 1pm-6pm appointment at 5:37

rookiethegooner

Hi i ordered BT Broadband with evening and weekend calls included on 26th Oct last month having just bought my first house on the 25th October. (the £16 a month deal with half price for 12 months)

I used top cashback to buy my broadband so i got £5.05p, this has been recieved and i have also paid my line rental to BT in full for the year.

The earliest date i could get an appointment was 22nd of November (today) between 1pm and 6pm. I am not currently living in the house as the central heating needs looking at so the delay wasn't too big a deal. Anyway i booked the day off work and waited in a pretty cold house for the BT engineer to arrive and at 5:37 i got a text and email to say:

"We're sorry that your appointment didn't go ahead as planned."

I'm not too happy that i wasted a day just sitting around after they had sent me numerous emails and texts to remind me about my appointment in the days leading up and offered no explanation but just links and phone numbers to reschedule.

It is especially annoying when a few weeks back i rang them to ask if there was any possibility to bring my appointment forward but was told i could not bring it forward.

I now look on top cashback and the cashback for BT is £75.75and Sky and virgin broadband also offer decent amounts of cashback too.

I was thinking perhaps i could cancel my deal as they failed to turn up and benefit from the extra cashback either through BT or a rival company for being made to wait for over a month and let down by BT. I guess this could put me to the back of a queue however.

apologies for any bad grammer etc but just want to see if anyone had any useful advice

Jemma-T

You want more hassle or a working phone line? Have they issued a new appointment?

Phone them and ask for some compen.

The engineer always phones beforehand too so no need to sit waiting in a cold house if you're close.

whitewing

At least they bothered to cancel yours. They sent me a text telling me failed appointments are charged at 110+VAT. I waited optimistically until 6pm before I called them. To find out it was all working without needing an engineer visit (I phoned from a mobile, and didn't have a phone on site as it was premises being renovated).

When I told them I was bloody cold, the call centre chap said, "I know you are madam, I can hear your voice shivering."

BT sort yourself out - definitely not the service I expect from you.

rookiethegooner

Jemma-T wrote: »

The engineer always phones beforehand too so no need to sit waiting in a cold house if you're close.

Thanks thats good to know about the engineer ringing beforehand. I shall ring BT tommorrow and hopefully get it sorted out.

rookiethegooner

whitewing wrote: »

At least they bothered to cancel yours. They sent me a text telling me failed appointments are charged at 110+VAT. I waited optimistically until 6pm before I called them. To find out it was all working without needing an engineer visit (I phoned from a mobile, and didn't have a phone on site as it was premises being renovated).

When I told them I was bloody cold, the call centre chap said, "I know you are madam, I can hear your voice shivering."

BT sort yourself out - definitely not the service I expect from you.

That sounds worse than mine. The thing is the house already has 2 BT phone socket/points which i would assume will probably work. I am not sure an engineer visit is essential but BT arranged it. I was hoping as the engineer visit was scheduled that I would be able to get a phone socket in my bedroom assuming that is included within the price.

macman

The point is that they can't know if an engineer visit is necessary until they start the work at cab or exchange. So they ask you to be at home in case access to the property is required-very often it is not.

coolcats

I had simular problems. The engineer appiontment was made, they cancelled it a few days beforehand but forgot to tell me. The house was empty then. Second appiontment made for a week later I was told 8 till 1, he turned up at 2 saying he was booked for 1 till 6. And then when he did turn up he couldn't/wouldn't do the work, total new line in. Said I needed a hoist etc etc. Went off to make calls then told me it was all sorted for the next day. Next day came and no engineer or hoist. I phoned them again they knew nothing about the hoist etc being sorted. A third appiontment was made for another week. He turned up and did the phoneline no problem at all, in the time etc. It still took more phone calls to get the broadband set up, which was nearly 3 weeks later.

I had phoned 3 weeks before I moved to make sure the phoneline could be sorted with house moved. It was 4 weeks from when I had access to the new property before it was in and 7 weeks till the broadband was done, with many phone calls made mostly from friends phones and waiting to get answered for 45 minutes or longer!

I had emailed them about it and had no reply. I have been told to email them to complain and 12 days later I am still waiting for a reply. On the phone they said this was the best was to have the complant sorted as its in writting. This was through the post office.

brewerdave

1. You are VERY lucky you actually got a text message - more than the majority of people let down by BT Openreach do!
2. All the BT "engineer" will do is reinstate a working line to your "master" socket -any new sockets will be a extra visit at a cost of ~£199 approx. MUCH better/cheaper to get a local independent in to install an extra socket after BTO have reinstated the line.

Retrogamer

whitewing wrote: »

BT sort yourself out - definitely not the service I expect from you.

This isn't usually BT retail's fault, but the fault of BT Openreach. Both are seperate companies and most ISP's in the UK need to depend on Openreach. If they can't make an appointment then the ISP looks bad. In your case, it was BT Retail

rookiethegooner wrote: »

That sounds worse than mine. The thing is the house already has 2 BT phone socket/points which i would assume will probably work. I am not sure an engineer visit is essential but BT arranged it. I was hoping as the engineer visit was scheduled that I would be able to get a phone socket in my bedroom assuming that is included within the price.

The engine will most likely connect some wiring in the exchange, or the green cabinet in the street to reactivate the line running to your house.
Since the activation fee is the same regardless if you have a socket or not it's bad show of Openreach to charge you the same and refuse to install a new socket but this is often the case.
They will install 1 socket for free if you have none in a location of your choosing but if you already have one they will only reconnect that instead.

Pincher

I had a text message EVERY day for about a week before the BT engineer came, reminding me that if I can't make it I can reschedule online. So they get no shows from the householder as well.


I hate these 1pm to 6pm appointments, because you are at the mercy of the earlier jobs that day. BT obviously wants to pack as many jobs as they can into a day, but there's always jobs that overrun, and then they don't want to pay overtime, so if you are the last job of the day, tough.


Whenever possible, get a morning appointment, so overruns just mean they turn up in the afternoon.


After all these years, I have finally worked out the drill, and these visiting engineers love me to death.


I have already pulled the correct specification cable (black for outside, white for inside). I have already installed the back box, with the cable hole already punched through.


When the BT guy turned up at 3pm, and I said I wanted to relocate the master socket, his face dropped and moaned "Oh Great!" After I showed him what I had prepared, the relief was pulpable. He even wired in the old master socket as an extension because it was such a breeze.


Alas, he will never get another job this easy ever again.